American Fear

by Eric Hofbauer - Solo Guitar

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Matthew T Grant All around incredible and surprising work.

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6 panel gatefold card case. Liner notes feature a rare interview between Eric Hofbauer and Fear itself.

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1.	Everybody Wants To Rule The World 05:29	buy track
2.	Twenty Questions 02:37	buy track
3.	Her Hiding Place 01:17	buy track
4.	Hot For Teacher 04:41	buy track
5.	Bailout Blues 03:19	buy track
6.	Monsters in The Closet 00:55	buy track
7.	Monsters Under The Bed 01:24	buy track
8.	Moose The Mooche - Cash Style 02:25	buy track
9.	Black and Lost Blue Highway 06:17	buy track
10.	The Jump Jump 01:32	buy track
11.	La Ligne de Chance 02:34	buy track
12.	Smells Like Teen Spirit 07:03	buy track
13.	Black Fire 04:45	buy track
14.	Broke Down... Breakdown 01:41	buy track
15.	American Wonder 01:32	buy track

about

American Fear, Boston-based guitarist/composer Eric Hofbauer’s second recording as a solo guitarist and third under his own name, is the sequel to his 2004 debut, American Vanity (CNM 003). Like that earlier release, American Fear dissects and examines American culture though spontaneous original compositions, stripped-down interpretations of music from the likes of Andrew Hill, Nirvana, Tears for Fears and Van Halen, and eccentric real-time mash-ups of Johnny Cash and Charlie Parker and Fats Waller and Hank Williams. “You might call this a biography of fears,” Hofbauer explains. “I’m examining not only my own fears, but also how fear is reflected and manifested in American culture and society—the fear of death, childhood fears, racial fears, fears about failure and the current political and economic environment, etc. The jazz historian in me finds a lot of fear—and overcoming of fear—in the history of the music, making it perfect for this type of exploration of the human condition. That said, most of this music is fun and playful, and I think fear is a powerful force for creativity, not just a negative. After
you deal with fear, you come to a sense of wonder about yourself and the human condition—and about America, too.

Boston-based Hofbauer, who, in the last decade, has steadily asserted himself as an original if not maverick exponent of the guitar to be loosely aligned with the mighty Marcs—Ducret and Ribot—and Tortoise’s Jeff Parker, provides a wily and at times engrossing demonstration of those possibilities on this sequel to his 2004 set, American Vanity. Hofbauer skims right over the art-pop divide by interpreting Tears For Fears (Everybody Wants to Rule the World), Van Halen (Hot for Teacher), Charlie Parker (Moose the Mooche) and Andrew Hill (Black Fire). But as successful as his deconstructions and wry commentaries on these monuments are, he perhaps reaches his creative peak on nine originals, the bulk of which actually last no longer than a couple of minutes. Hofbauer is more than able to pen a pithy little riff but he really hits heights as a soloist when investigating timbres, and after striking up a guitar equivalent of a saxophonist ‘slap tonguing’, he makes it clear that he won’t settle for what his instrument can do when he can explore what it really ain’t supposed to.
—Kevin Le Gendre, BBC Music

American Fear is his second solo album (following 2004’s American Vanity) and presents an original player with his own view of history. Covers of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” and “Hot For Teacher” indicate his musical ethos was formed in the ’80s, but versions of Hank Williams’“ “Blue Highway” and Andrew Hill’s “Black Fire” show he goes a lot deeper than that.The fact that his originals sound both improvised and composed proves his creative impulse is wide. Technically Hofbauer can obviously play the standard jazz guitar game, but it’s clear he doesn’t want to be hemmed in by the clichés of its tradition.
—Robert Iannapollo, Signal to Noise

credits

released July 2, 2018

Recorded January 2009 in CNM studios – Microphones loaned from Notable Productions
Mixed and Mastered by Daniel Cantor at Notable Productions, notable.com
Executive Producer – Eric Hofbauer
Produced by Creative Nation Music and Notable Productions
Artwork and Design by Benjamin Shaykin
Liner notes by Ed Hazell
Photo by Marcus Stern
Publicity by Improvised Communications
Copy right and published by CNM 2010
All songs by Eric Hofbauer unless otherwise noted
All songs are single takes without overdubs of any kind with the exception of track 14 (Broke Down… Brakedown) which is two solo tracks mixed together
Eric Hofbauer plays Guild Guitars and uses Traynor Amplifiers.

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Eric Hofbauer - Solo Guitar Boston, Massachusetts

“His aesthetic evokes old blues, Americana, Tin Pan Alley, bebop, and further frontiers. There’s a rule-breaking spirit but also an impeccable rigor, a foundation of sheer chops and knowledge, that put Hofbauer in the top tier of guitarists.” - David R. Adler ... more

erichofbauer.com

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