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Gordian Knot | |
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Background information | |
Origin | United States |
Genres | Progressive rock, jazz fusion, progressive metal, alternative rock |
Years active | 1998–2020 |
Past members | Sean Malone |
Gordian Knot was an American rock band directed by bass guitarist Sean Malone. At times its shifting lineup included Steve Hackett of Genesis, Bill Bruford of Yes and King Crimson, Ron Jarzombek from Watchtower and Spastic Ink, as well as Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, several of Malone's former bandmates from Cynic, and John Myung from Dream Theater. Sean Malone died on December 7, 2020. [1]
The music of Gordian Knot is a stylistic mixture of progressive rock and metal, instrumental music reminiscent of Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft and his solo work (e.g. compare Gordian Knot's song "Grace" with Robert Fripp's "Evening Star"). Notable is their use of counterpoint, often presenting several complex intertwining layers of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structures. The music of Gordian Knot also relies heavily on diatonic guitar melodies although sometimes encompassing later resolved dissonances to add a jazz fusion-like flavor. The interaction between the various instruments, all played by accomplished instrumentalists, allows for communication of various melodic lines, harmonies and rhythms among guitar(s), bass, and (concerning rhythms) even drums.
Also, Gordian Knot cannot be categorized without disregarding certain aspects of their music. For example, the piece "Komm, süsser Tod, komm sel'ge" is a transcription of a piece of the same name by Johann Sebastian Bach, while some of their other pieces, most notably "Grace", have a distinct classical, even baroque Bach-like flavor, being constructed in an almost counterpoint-like fashion by interweaving several independent diatonic melodic lines from the Chapman Stick.
Other songs, such as "Muttersprache" (German for "mother tongue") or "Code/Anticode" work with on-beat/off-beat, interplay between two guitars and/or the rhythm and melody section, incorporating jazz chords and dissonant intervals to create tension and form the basis for a mixture of jazz fusion and progressive rock/metal.
Malone recruited a different line-up each time when he was recording and playing live with Gordian Knot.
The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, chords, or textures. Designed as a fully polyphonic chordal instrument, it can also cover several of these musical parts simultaneously.
Jazz fusion is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyboards that were popular in rock and roll started to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll.
Sean Landon Reinert was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and cofounded the progressive metal band Cynic along with Paul Masvidal until leaving the band in September 2015.
OSI was an American progressive rock band, originally formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002. Chroma Key keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore is the only other full-time member of the band. The collaboration may be considered a studio project, as its members and contributors write and track most of their material independently, sharing and developing tracks long-distance, only coming together at the end of the process for mixing and additional tracking. The band's name is a reference to the Office of Strategic Influence, a short-lived American government agency formed in 2001 to support the War on Terror through propaganda. The band has featured a number of guest musicians on its albums, including Sean Malone, Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Joey Vera and Gavin Harrison.
Office of Strategic Influence is the first studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by Inside Out Music on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut.
Jazz Café Suite is a live album by ProjeKct One, one of the four sub-groups known as ProjeKcts into which the band King Crimson 'fraKctalised' from 1997 to 1999. The album was released by Discipline Global Mobile records in 2003.
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for being in the progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003. He plays Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick instruments.
Sean Malone was an American musician who played primarily fretless bass guitar and Chapman Stick. He was most famous for his work with progressive metal band Cynic, in which he developed a strong partnership with the drummer Sean Reinert. Malone and Reinert played on several records together outside Cynic, making them one of the most favorable modern progressive rhythm sections. Malone also did a number of session jobs for various bands and musicians.
Focus is the debut studio album by American metal band Cynic, released September 14, 1993, through Roadrunner Records. A remastered version of the album was released in 2004.
Spastic Ink was a progressive metal band from the United States.
Gordian Knot is the debut album of Sean Malone's progressive rock project of the same name.
Emergent is the second and last album by American progressive rock band Gordian Knot, and is the only album apart from Focus to contain all original members of Cynic.
Aghora is the self-titled debut album by progressive metal band Aghora, released on March 24, 2000. "Jazz-metal" is another style commonly associated with this band. The album features Sean Reinert and Sean Malone from Cynic.
Ink Compatible is the second full-length album from Spastic Ink. It was released in 2004 after a four-year process via Ron Jarzombek's EclecticElectric label, except for Japan and Southeast Asia where it was released by Avalon/Marquee. It was released in Russia on Iron d.
Cortlandt is a studio album by jazz artist Sean Malone. It was released in 1996.
"Larks' Tongues in Aspic" is a musical suite by the English progressive rock band King Crimson. Spanning thirty years and four albums, the series comprises five parts, all of which carry unifying musical motifs. Parts I and II were released as the introductory and final tracks on King Crimson's 1973 album of the same name, part III was featured on their 1984 album Three of a Perfect Pair, part IV appeared on 2000's The Construkction of Light, and the final part, "Level Five", was included on the 2003 album The Power to Believe. Despite breaking the naming convention, Robert Fripp, King Crimson founder and only constant contributor to the suite, insists that "Level Five" is part of the pentalogy.
At War With Self is the project conceived by multi-instrumentalist Glenn Snelwar, best known as one of the guitarists on the Gordian Knot debut album which featured members of Cynic, Watchtower, King Crimson and Dream Theater.
Cynic is an American progressive metal band formed in Miami, Florida by Paul Masvidal in 1987. Masvidal original served solely as the band's guitarist, but later took over as lead vocalist and chief songwriter. Cynic incorporates elements of progressive rock, alternative, and metal.
Arch/Matheos is an American progressive metal project.
Live at the Orpheum is a live album by the band King Crimson, released by Discipline Global Mobile records in 2015. The album was recorded on 30 September and 1 October at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California on the band's The Elements of King Crimson US tour of 2014.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/cynic-bass-player-sean-malone-dead-at-50
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