Saintseneca is the collection of Zac Little, Steva Jacobs, Grace Chang, Luke Smith, Maryn Jones, and Steve Ciolek. Being that they all grew up together in Columbus Ohio they like to say that "Childhood and Chance" brought them together. It's a beautiful thought which reflects both the immediate appeal of their sound and the depth of their sentiment. The band is in the fortunate company of Denver and Barna Howard on Mama Bird Recording Co. and if you've been keeping tabs on us at TWD you'll know that Denver is a favorite around these parts (previous articles).

The streaming EP below was released in October of last year and I have been absolutely loving Saintseneca's broad emotional pallet and forthright vocals. Saintseneca sounds like a modern day revival meeting where both emotion and music flow abundantly. While they are not currently on tour you can keep in touch with the band via Facebook and I look forward to following the band's work in the coming months and years. Saintseneca is shaping up to be one of my favorite new discoveries of 2013. You dig?

Jonny Corndawg is easily one of my favorite artists I've discovered this year. He is an earnst singer/songwritter and a cornicopia of hidden talents. His newest album, Down on the Bikini Line, came out at the tail end of August and after living with it for a couple of months I'm comin' at you today to reccomend it. Your ears will thank me once they've been inflitrated by his quarky sense of humor wrapped up in a healthy dose of country lovin' and smoothered in that special Dawes backing band sauce.

But seriously, I love this album and so will you.

Jonny Corndawg: Chevy Beretta

Jonny Corndawg: Life of a Bear

Andrew Kolb has illustrated himself right into my heart with his visual interpretation of David Bowie's classic Space Oddity. This simply put is wonderful. The children's book spin on this song seems so appropriate it's a wonder it took this long for it to happen.

The story is linear, engaging, and allows plenty of room artistic license. The only thing it is missing is animated hand claps. 

Thank you to David Gutowski of the music blog Large Hearted Boy and How to be a Retronaut for bringing this to my attention today. 

David Bowie: Space Oddity

A few days ago the musician/blogger Tiana Feng (Ride the Tempo) posted a musing on her personal blog (Teepoo's Scribbles) entitled, Sometimes You Need Time Apart From Something to Miss It. The basic gist of this piece was that she is a piano player who had taken a hiatus from the instrument and was now looking to dive back into things by learning some new repertoire. This is a simple enough concept and an experience every musician has felt at some point in their own lives. 

Tiana's post, and our subsequent conversation about it, is the inspiration behind today's intsallment of the TWD series, Episodes in Virtuosity. For me, writting about classical music in this series has served as one of the catalysts I need as a classical guitarist to keep my own practice motivation up. Today's selected pieces are:

Pierre-Laurent Aimard: Allegro con Spirito – Musica Ricercata by Gyorgy Ligeti

Gerald Garcia: Alfonsina y el Mar by Ariel Rameriez

Le Grande Terrie – II Eclosion by Olivier Bensa

Sergio & Odair Assad are two of the finest guitar players on the planet and I was reminded of this last night after listening to their performance of Cancao off their album Alma Brasileira again for the first time in a long time.

Hearing this music again made me want to share it with you good people in the Episodes of Virtuosity series here on TWD. Break out the noise canceling headphones for this one because you're going to want to miss a note. You dig?

Sergio & Odair Assad: Suite Brasileira – Cancao

In 1994 renowned composer Byran Johanson (b. 1951) composed a piece for guitar quartet entitled On All Fours. Nevertheless, the piece was not recorded until 2009 when the 1 East Guitar Quartet would give it a home in their very capable hands. The quartet is members were, Zoe Johnstone, J. Scott Matejicka, Kevin Shannon, and Paul Martin Wu. Unfortunately, the ensemble has disbanded, but not before leaving behind a memorable recording of a massively under appreciated piece.

1 East Guitar Quartet: On All Fours

This is a video of world renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saëns while LA dancer Charles Lil' Buck Riley interprets sound into movement. His liquid movements are a perfect response to Yo-Yo Ma's music and prove to be an immensely engaging few moments between an unlikely duo. 

The interaction of these two improbable artists was lucky enough to be caught on camera by Spike Jonze and furthermore, Yo-Yo Ma has an unexpected sense of humor at the end of the clip. 

I was lucky enough to get the chance to see 74 year old blues guitar legend Buddy Guy the other night. Without hyperbole I have to say this was one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Yasuji Ohagi is one of my favorite young musicians and an unabridged master of the guitar. His technique gives him the capacity to do anything with the instrument he desires and his musicality gives him the creativity to make it worth listening to.

Although prodigious, his recordings can be hard to find on this side of the planet so I have had to get them shipped to me via ebay and amazon. Regardless, they are worth the trouble and I would like to share one of my favorite selections from his album Bleu here today.

Yasuji Ohagi: Jacinto Chiclana