Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Artport, USA


Artport - s/t. 1982 private.

Wanted to give an extra day for the Ginga Rale Band to settle in. In the meantime, I started tackling a new stack sent in from Midwest Mike. His posts definitely resonate with our fusion base of readers. I've still got a few more I need to get out of the archives and give a fresh post, as he's turned in quite a bit of these type of fusion albums over the years.

Late 1970s and early 80s American fusion isn't my favorite subgenre of the progressive rock movement, but I'm starting to catch the vibe that fellow explorers MM, AC and long time good friend Jeff Nintzel have been emanating for years.

Artport is the kind of album I find very pleasant to listen to. Perhaps not something I'll froth about, but is easy to appreciate their technical ability, melodies and composition style. The main differentiator with Artport is the guitar is entirely acoustic. This is a very welcome sound in an all too predictable environment. You still get the 80s slap bass and sterilized shopping mall slickness - but the guitar is extraordinary. I can easily recommend this to private fusion collectors. Artport are from Minnesota, and the album is obscure, though not necessarily expensive.

Priority: none

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