James Blackshaw - Tonight in Boston

from the most recent non-event update:

Wednesday, October 10. 7:30pm. $8.00.

End of an Empire Presents:

James Blackshaw (Tompkins Square, Important Records)

plus Black Forest/Black Sea (Secret Eye)
and Eli Keszler (Red Horse, Jandek)

Mills Gallery
Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont Street
Boston (South End)
617.426.8835
http://www.bcaonline.org
Show starts promptly at 7:30pm and is all ages.

BIO:

Performing and recording since 2003, James Blackshaw's name is frequently mentioned alongside the likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Sir Richard Bishop and Glenn Jones as one of the most foremost modern pioneers of solo acoustic guitar music. Now at the age of 25, Blackshaw, an untrained musician born and still residing in the suburban environs of Greater London, draws as much inspiration from early religious music, South-Asian folk music and composers such as Arvo Part, Simeon Ten Holt, Steve Reich and Charlemagne Palestine as he does from John Fahey, Robbie Basho and the early Takoma Records roster, constantly breaking boundaries in what could be conceived as a somewhat limited medium. In his part improvised and part written songs, Blackshaw makes expert use of Eastern and Western scales, chord changes reminiscent of European classical music and incredibly intricate fingerpicking patterns to make a sound that is both challengingly minimalistic, yet warm and approachable to anybody who might hear it, with a rare sensitivity that conveys both immense beauty, hope and sadness.

"In recent months, 24-year-old UK guitarist James Blackshaw has burst fully-formed onto the folk underground, his remarkable talents already seeming at peak maturity... Blackshaw has established himself as an instrumentalist of astonishing grace and delicacy, seeming as though he's gobbled and digested whole the primitive folk canons of Takoma and Vanguard. Relying primarily on 12-string guitar, Blackshaw's intricate creations web together Robbie Basho's wayfaring mysticism, Ben Chasny's soft-focu sed acid tongues, and the rustic fantasias of Sandy Bull... Blackshaw is able to differentiate himself through his exotic lyricism, stray pan-ethnic flourishes and pure unmasked virtuosity." - Pitchfork

http://www.jamesblackshaw.com/
http://www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=James+Blackshaw

Upcoming End of an Empire Shows:
November 2: Alasdair Roberts, Charalambides, and Heather Leigh Murray at the Nave Gallery
November 13: Tiny Vipers and Alela Diane at Venue TBA

For more information on End of an Empire go here.

Upcoming Non-Events:
October 12 (this Friday!): Local Experimental Music Showcase IV with Tim Feeney & Vic Rawlings, The Human Hairs, and Max Lord at Studio Soto
October 26: Julien Ottavi (France), Seth Cluett, and Mike Bullock at Studio Soto
November 10: Tatsuya Nakatani and David Stackanas at Studio Soto