Wednesday: Mestis - Pura Vida

     Regular readers should by this point have picked up on the fact that I dig instrumental music, and they may have heard me talk about Animals as Leaders a couple of times, so it should come as no surprise that I'm excited to hear about the upcoming full-length debut from AAL guitarist Javier Reyes' side project Mestis.

     Even better, Polysemy will be out in less than a month. Better still is the fact that we can all have a taste of the new material in the form of first single "Pura Vida", which even features some guest guitar work from members of another proggy instrumental outfit, CHON. It's a track that manages to be a little heavy and a little chill at the same time, with lots of interesting guitar stuff going on but none of it too over the top. Mestis has always been a somewhat different beast than Animals as Leaders, and Polysemy sounds like it could be a big step forward in the evolution of Javier and Mestis. Check it out if that sounds like it could be your thing.

Animals as Leaders - Lippincott

     The Joy of Motion, the latest disc from the instrumental guitar proggers in Animals as Leaders, is chock full of good grooves and riffs, and since the animals themselves recently saw fit to demonstrate some of said riff and grooves for a podcast from the Guitar Center in Holywood, I think it's the perfect time to put one of their tunes before you once again.

     "Lippincott" has a very Meshuggah feel to me, with lots jagged edges and angular riffs. But Animals as Leaders tend to rise above their djenty peers by throwing their own twists and turns into the standard Meshuggah formula, twists like some sweet two-handed tapping and even a little finger picking. We all know Tosin and Javier are incredible guitarists, but seeing some of these techniques, especially the finger picking, used in new and interesting ways in a genre like metal is what sets Animals as Leaders apart.

     Unless of course you think I'm out to lunch. Do you find Animals as Leaders too mainstream? If I really want to hear some new and interesting uses of this technique or that technique, should I be listening to band X, Y or Z? Leave it in a comment!

Song of the Day: T.R.A.M. - Endeavour

     A quick instrumental jazz metal post for you this evening, and a riddle: what do The Mars Volta, Animals as Leaders, and Suicidal Tendencies have in common? Give up?

Song of the Day: Mestis - Te Mato

     This evening you're getting another dose of Mestis, the latin-jazz inspired instrudjent side-project of Animals as Leaders guitarist Javier Reyes for the simple reason that I finally got around to ripping my copy of Basal Ganglia and throwing it on the old mp3 player.

Song of the Day: Animals as Leaders - Song of Solomon

     Since tonight is Tired Tuesday, and I want to make it Sleepy-Time Tuesday as quickly as possible, we're just going to go with something tried and tested and call the whole thing Tasty Tuesday, OK?

Song of the Day: Mestis - Menta

     Today's song comes from an act that's kind of a friend-of-a-friend sort of thing. You see, there's this instrumental prog-tech-jazz metal type band you probably know called Animals as Leaders, and in this band there are two guitarists: Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes. These two slingers of many-stringer guitars are so full of ideas that they're in another band together, the jazz-influenced T.R.A.M. Even more than that, Reyes is so super chock full of material that he's got his own solo side-project called Mestis. It's from this project's first EP that I've drawn today's song.