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JAMES BLACKSHAW/THE GLASS BEAD GAME/ Review
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Eye Weekly Toronto / by Chris BoltonBlackshaw’s seventh album The Glass Bead Game — played on a 12-string acoustic guitar and piano with occasional string and vocal accompaniment — is nothing short of elemental.Eye weekly / toronto James Blackshaw: The Glass Bead Game YOUNG GOD BY CHRIS BILTON June 10, 2009 21:06 If you haven’t heard of James Blackshaw, here’s hoping that the Londoner’s move to ex-Swans singer Michael Gira’s Young God label will help spread the word of his stunning talents. Blackshaw’s seventh album The Glass Bead Game — played on a 12-string acoustic guitar and piano with occasional string and vocal accompaniment — is nothing short of elemental. Frenetic piano figures cascade in a mesmerizing swirl, exuding mood and melody rather that stating them directly (especially on the 18-minute “Arc”) while his guitar playing echoes Alice Coltrane’s harp work. The Glass Bead Game is challenging and soothing, as well as very easy to become wholly absorbed in....
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JAMES BLACKSHAW/THE GLASS BEAD GAME/Review
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Village Voice / by Shawn Bosler...his newer material, especially the recent The Glass Bead Game, moves more into classical and experimental territory with noticeable tips of the hat to minimalismVillage Voice James Blackshaw / Live Preview BY SHAWN BOSLER 6/02/2009 Majestic finger-style and 12-string player James Blackshaw is probably best known for his John Fahey-like pieces on local label Tompkins Square, the gold standard for guitar nerds. TS not only uncovered lost folk legends such as Robbie Basho and Sandy Bull (two artists he's more similar to than Fahey) but new wünderkinds such as Kaki King. Blackshaw's deep and atmospheric work deserves to stand in such company, but his newer material, especially the recent The Glass Bead Game, moves more into classical and experimental territory with noticeable tips of the hat to minimalism using drones, piano, and strings. With Koen Holtkamp....
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James Blackshaw/The Glass Bead Game/Review
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Textura.org / by Ron SchepperThe Glass Bead Game ultimately registers as an uplifting and moving recording that's hypnotic and emotionally-charged. If all this sounds like gushing, consider it well-deserved. Music-making of this high caliber deserves nothing less.Textura.org http://www.textura.org/reviews/blackshaw_glassbead_wissem_allthatismade.htm James Blackshaw: The Glass Bead Game Young God Records Josef Van Wissem: It Is All That Is Made Important By Ron Schepper 5/29/09 Simpatico collaborators James Blackshaw and Jozef Van Wissem follow their sophomore Brethren of the Free Spirit release The Wolf Also Shall Dwell With The Lamb with solo releases that find the two pursuing equally satisfying though divergent paths. With instrumentation limited to thirteen course Baroque and ten course Renaissance lute, Van Wissem's It Is All That Is Made perpetuates the stripped-down approach of the shared release while Blackshaw's semi-orchestral The Glass Bead Game (the title presumably inspired by the Herman Hesse novel) opts for a comparatively more dazzling and kaleidoscopic sound-world. Though Van Wissem is said to cut and paste classical pieces and weave electronics and processed field recordings into his recordings, It Is All That Is Made doesn't noticeably incorporate such strategies. If electronic sound manipulation is present, it's imperceptible, as the lutenist opts to stay faithful to......
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James Blackshaw/The Glass Bead Game/Review
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Pitchfork / Joe Tangari,James Blackshaw has made quite a name for himself in the post-Takoma school of guitar playing, coming closer than perhaps anyone to fulfilling the guitar-as-orchestra ambitions so many have harbored. He's an experimentalist, but rarely an obtuse one, and he's created some amazing, enveloping music. On The Glass Bead Game, Blackshaw's guitar is, as always, a heavenly instrument, but he continues to move further from the guy-and-guitar approach that established him, bringing in more varied instrumentation.Pitchfork http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12972-the-glass-bead-game/ James Blackshaw The Glass Bead Game [Young God; 2009] — Joe Tangari, May 29, 2009 James Blackshaw has made quite a name for himself in the post-Takoma school of guitar playing, coming closer than perhaps anyone to fulfilling the guitar-as-orchestra ambitions so many have harbored. He's an experimentalist, but rarely an obtuse one, and he's created some amazing, enveloping music. On The Glass Bead Game, Blackshaw's guitar is, as always, a heavenly instrument, but he continues to move further from the guy-and-guitar approach that established him, bringing in more varied instrumentation. Piano, also featured on last year's excellent Litany of Echoes, plays a far more central role here, and the record includes wordless vocals from Lavinia Blackwall, strings, flute, clarinet,......
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JAMES BLACKSHAW/THE GLASS BEAD GAME/Review
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Blurt Online / Jennifer KellyThe Glass Bead Game is a dizzying achievement, showcasing not just Blackshaw's musical skills, but his vision and spiritual depth as a composer.Blurt Online http://blurt-online.com/reviews/view/1162/ 05/29/2009 James Blackshaw The Glass Bead Game (Young God) By JENNIFER KELLY Twelve-string phenomenon James Blackshaw has long been known for conjuring luxuriant, symphonic sounds out of his guitar. Indeed, even on pure solo guitar recordings, like "River of Heaven" from the first Imaginational Anthem compilation, it is hard to believe that one person, playing one instrument could be responsible for all that cascading, shimmering, iridescent beauty. But however expressive, however versatile Blackshaw can make his acoustic instrument, it is apparently not quite enough. Here in his eighth full-length (and first for Michael Gira's Young God imprint), he extends that palette even further, adding guest vocals, violin, cello and flute to the toolset - and even switching from guitar to piano for two tracks. It is bold move, but it pays off. The Glass Bead Game is a dizzying achievement, showcasing not just Blackshaw's musical skills, but his vision and spiritual depth as a composer. The album begins with its densest and most elaborately orchestrated piece, the long, lovely "Cross." Here......