James Blackshaw

Join Share

28 members| 10 shouts

Leader: TheBlackPope
Join Policy: Open
Created on: 15 Jan 2009
Description:
This group is dedicated to the beautiful work of James Blackshaw.



Initially inspired by the guitarists of the 60’s Takoma label to teach himself fingerpicking, James Blackshaw writes long-form pieces primarily for solo 12-string guitar that are heavily influenced by minimalist composers and European classical music and which use drones, overtones and repeating patterns alongside a strong inclination for melody to create instrumental music that is both intelligent, hypnotic and emotionally charged.

Born in 1981, Blackshaw has so far released six solo studio albums, one live recording and has also appeared on numerous compilations in the last five years. "O True Believers" (2006, Important Records/Bo’weavil Recordings), "The Cloud of Unknowing" (2007, Tompkins Square) and "Litany of Echoes" (2008, Tompkins Square) have received huge critical acclaim from printed and online publications including Pitchfork, Billboard, The Wire, The Observer, The Times, Uncut, The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, Magnet and Acoustic Guitar Magazine. "The Cloud of Unknowing" was also listed as one of the 50 best albums of 2007 by The Wire (no. 24) and Pitchfork (no. 34).

He has toured extensively in Europe, US and Japan and currently resides in Hastings, England.

http://www.jamesblackshaw.com/

Recent Journals

See all

Weekly Top Artists

Connected Artists

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

  • sirjelind

    Just noticed that at the moment only one of the 12 conneceted artists' photos is not black-and-white!?!

    July 2011

  • vashsanz

    I love James Blackshaws music especially the song Transient Life In Twilight. Thanks for those links. Hes awesome and a true inspiration.

    March 2011

  • sirjelind

    Yair Yona's skype interview with James Blackshaw http://en.smalltownromanceblog.com/?p=1143&sms_ss=facebook Interesting :)

    September 2010

  • sirjelind

    saw James with Ensemble in Leuven. it was a new experience - James talked and even sang: one, two, three, four ... and altogether it was great, one cannot save it on cd or vinyl but brain only.

    January 2010

  • TheBlackPope

    Yesterday my vinyl-copy of „Glass Bead Game“ arrived. It's a bit sad, that they decided to drop one track off the vinyl. The should have done it as a double-vinyl instead.

    July 2009

  • TheBlackPope

    A radio feature on James Blackshaw: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8020000/8020106.stm

    April 2009

  • evilai

    i saw him live this weekend and it was incredible. he only played 3 songs but, as is the always case, they were epic! the first 2 of them were new but he finished with Past Has Not Passed which is simply stunning. managed to pick up a copy of the new album too, which is amazing!

    April 2009

  • TheBlackPope

    New studio album, "The Glass Bead Game", due May 18th 2009 on Young God Records

    April 2009

  • ISKRA1903

    gastkommentar: hier ist ja noch weniger los als in der loren connors gruppe!

    March 2009

  • TheBlackPope

    James is releasing music since 2004 and until now there has been no group dedicated to his music on lastfm... strange!

    January 2009
See all 10 shouts
James Blackshaw’s Group Radio

Newest Members (28)

See all members

Recent Activity

Events

See more