Skip to main content

Guitar Player's Pick :: Robert Buras

By

Guest blogger Drew Zackary needs a day off. We wonder where he finds time to send us his guitar player's pick each month.


The underground eats the years, breaks all your E strings; spits out death, obscure city workers, and suburban gardeners decades after the cocaine and long hair. . .

I Digress.

Robert Buras. 1975-2007. Found dead in his apartment in Oslo (here's an amazing video of his band with him as the corpse). Lead guitarist for Mudugrada. Lead singer and guitarist for My Midnight Creeps.

I loved Mudurada for years before I understood it. Buras had the secret down. He played his soul through his right hand, man. Typically, when we watch the guitarist on stage, we focus on his orher lefthand. But the soul--the damn soul comes from the right hand.

We can all marvel at the hyper speeds that the best players finger; the frets, pentatonic minor scales forward and backwards they play with their eyes closed. But it's those staccato upstrokes; the hard pounding; the palm mutes; the marathon grooves and chordal structures that never let go of your neck that--that halt the blood and bring it to a boil.

Buras's work combines an deep understanding of American blues, Anglo-American punk, pastoral Bible Belt terror, British pop, early American underground grooves, and the dark, deep desert of European misfortune. This is a hard guitar player pick to write about. Either you understand his references or you remain confused ( was that lick lifted from the stooges? did he switch keys on me during the breakdown? ).

Here is a list of songs to help you get to know Robert Buras. Guitar playing is one thing, but guitar writing is quite another. Mudrugada is one of those bands you play at parties and have people approach sheepishly and ask, "um, this is good...who is this?"

I don't believe in the afterlife. But if I'm wrong, Buras gets a pint from me.

Speaking in Tounges-My Midnight Creeps
Blood Shot Adult Committment-Madrugada
Ramona-Madrugada
Beautyproof-Madrugada
On Your Side-Madrugada
Proxy-Madrugada
Norwegian Hammerworks Corp.-Madrugada
Hard to Come Back-Madrugada
Don't let 'em bring you Down-My Midnight Creeps
The Frontman-Madrugada

Drew Zackary plays guitar for Denver band Dicky Jaguar and the Five Percenters. He also drives an ambulance.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Buras had the secret down. He played his soul through his right hand,he make people happy through there guitar.I think there lover remember there fan for long time.
29 August, 2008
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May Day Is Lei Day

By
For the past 31 years in Honolulu, the Brothers Cazimero have hosted an annual May Day variety show at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheatre (because May Day is Lei Day!). When living there, I had the privilege of attending twice, the last time being the 30th anniversary, and just after the sad passing of the legendary Don Ho. Both times were, at the risk of allowing my cynical mask slip, magical. The May Day show is great fun, and follows the format of an old time variety show -- there is an aura of glamour interspersed with a decidedly camp sensibility, with hula stars of past and present gracing the stage. Spirits are high, and the banter among the performers is priceless; at times it feels as though you've wandered into a family reunion, and are a long lost cousin -- instantly at home and enveloped in the warmth. It's a time to celebrate the spirit and culture that truly do make the islands such a special place. There's a song that plays before the Sunset On The Beach movies...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Racoon Wedding :: Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth

By
Download The Paper Boy from The Racoon Wedding's album, Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth Sounds Like : they're gonna rip your ribcage out and find your heart RIYL : White Rabbits, Portugal. The Man, Fanfarlo, Rolling Stones ala Beggar's Banquet From the Press Release : Forming from the ashes of Vermicious Knid, and authoring songs in the basement of the all ages not-for-profit art space they own in a nook of the city’s forgotten downtown, frontman Tim Ford and company boast a sense of loyalty to their community that few other bands share. On their debut LP, Gather Gather Bones/Rattle Rattle Truth , issued this October via their own Ford Plant Recordings Co., the band enlisted the help of engineer Leon Taheny (of the Final Fantasy recording credit) and hammered out a record that teems with the spirit of long-forgotten roots music. It’s indebted to the history of mighty back porch music: unbridled, unedited, beautifully intense.
Post a Comment
Read more

Contest! Design the Official Decemberists Show Poster

By
On March 18th, The Decemberists will give the debut live performance of their epic new song cycle The Hazards of Love when they headline NPR Music's SXSW showcase at Stubb's in Austin. To mark the occassion, Capitol Records (who will release the album on March 24) and Imeem are inviting fans to design the official poster for the showcase with a contest -- the winning design will be hand-picked by the band and contestants can enter on the Decemberists' Imeem page . The Decemberists will play The Hazards of Love, in sequence, in its entirety. Joining all five members of the band on stage will be Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, who lend leading vocals to the album. Opening bands are North Carolina trio The Avett Brothers, set to debut songs from its forthcoming album produced by Rick Rubin, and bluesy rockers Heartless Bastards, riding the success of its third record, The Mountain. The concert will begin at 10pm CST and will be str...
1 comment
Read more