Guitar - 2006 - Saltykisses

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Unfortunately, Guitar's "saltykisses'" aren't really as awesome as their "sunkisses." It's a little hard to get a grip on Guitar's discography, but I believe that this qualifies as their 'sophomore slump.' Group mastermind Michael Luckner was clearly trying to expand his palette or sounds, but seems to have abandoned a bit of his muse in doing so. This album takes aim at including more acoustic sounds and touches of indie rock without quite hitting the mark, but tends to sideline the immaculate walls of tripped-out sounds found on Sunkissed. Still, there are a few definite winners on this disc.

"At the Seaside" features male vocals, which the previous album did not, and actually manages to best the tracks found on Sunkissed. The songwriting is sharper, and the production is a little more gritty, which serves to make this come across as sounding like a great, lost Loveless outtake. "If I Didn't Meet You" is the best of the more stripped down/downbeat flavored tracks and is one of several tracks to feature vocalist Ayako Akashiba. "Saltyme & Saltykisses" serves up the best psychedelic, shoegazer sound trip on the album, while the instrumental "I Dream the Sand" is a fun backward looping ambient track, although it's not as great as "Hot Sun Trail" from the previous album. The other tracks tend to be a little bland, but the only one that I absolutely need to skip is the folk misfire "Jodelei," which actually features yodeling.

Definitely begin your exploration of Guitar with Sunkissed. I bought this album four years ago due to its entertainingly Loveless-aping cover, but it took me four years to give another album of theirs a shot (and that one turned out to be fantastic). Still, you'll find a few songs here that nicely supplement their first.

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Guitar - 2006 - Saltykisses

Guitar - 2002 - Sunkissed

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.75 out of 5

While it's not really a match for the prolific quality of krautrock, folks like Ulrich Schnauss, Thomas Fehlmann, and Michael Luckner (responsible for Guitar) have certainly been bringing on a surge of awesome shoegazing-ambient-electronica sort of stuff. The album is pure aural honey, sort of like crossing My Bloody Valentine with some of the better downbeat albums. No, "Sunkissed" doesn't get any major points in originality, but the execution is so well done and the sound so tripped-out that it really doesn't matter.

Most of the tracks feature the vocals of Donna Regina and Ayako Akashiba. Both fit the shoegaze dynamic quite well, although I slightly prefer the strangely pronounced, almost cutsey vocals of Akashiba (although I live in Japan with a Japanese wife - so I admit there may be a touch of bias). Usually I'm not a fan of 'cute' vocals, but they do extremely well against walls of psychedelic distortion and backwards loops. Regina definitely manages to shine, however, on "House Full of Time," which pits her against squalls of amazing guitar distortion. Akashiba's best spots are on the gently floating "See Sea, Bee, and Bee," and the almost club-ready "How So Bright of Universe." There's one instrumental in the presence in the form of "Hot Sun Trail," which ends up being a highlight due to its production showcase of what Luckner can do with thick slabs of backwards sound.

Although I've only recent come across this album, I it's made a quick line to my top ten albums of the past 10 years. It's certainly not a perfect disc, but it's easily found itself in constant rotation on my stereo and there is much to explore within its dense grooves.