"Kevin's albums are artistically relevant, curious, and impeccable at a sound level. The art of Kevin Kastning and of musicians Szabó and Siegfried, who flank him, is innovative, courageous, hypnotic. These albums are a summary of innovative music and well-captured sound." - OnClassical (ITALY)

"Kevin is primarily a fretted acoustic player well known and respected for his modern classical abstract intuitive style which feels something like quantum physics in sound form - however in recent years he has been drawn deeply to the fretless acoustic guitar. Featured as the 'exit' track on the new UNPLUGGED UNFRETTED compilation CD, we are all eagerly awaiting new acoustic fretless guitar offerings from this immense talent."

- International Unfretted Artists

  "You are a great addition to Acoustic Player Magazine, and someone pushing the limits of the acoustic guitar. I think what you do is great. Keep up the fine work." - Doug Jones, Asst. Editor; Acoustic Player Magazine   (USA)

  "Kevin writes beautiful, thoughtful, highly original music. His work is not to be missed."  - John La Grou, President, Millennia Music & Media Systems  (USA)

"Hi Kevin,

Your Music remembers, in my mind, different ice places, cold winds, but not with a negative sense!  I've never listened to this kind of music."

Best regards,
Luca Soattin (ITALY)

"CIAO, KEVIN!!

Yesterday I received the CDs ... WHAT A GIFT FOR ME!!  For me it's something much more important of a precious jewel... money will never buy a feeling, or a true emotion!!  I have a secret (I speak only for myself..) that permit me to appreciate at maximum level your music, Kevin, that is: "When you hear something from KK, you have to forget everything you knew before".

Now I will 'dive' in this new ocean, living new experiences in music....  At first hearing, let me say, I finally can hear the whole extension of the guitars, low tunes are something really new for me.. some chemistry between wood and gauges.. but also the high ones sound so clear.. is it a miracle? For sure you know the secret!  This for the technical impact of the sound on my ears.  But, if you want, I will tell you the most important part of feeling that I have with your music: the emotional one!  So, dear Kevin, you give me a complete new experience with music, the one that I love, so how can I thank you enough??  With this thanksgiving I salute you, be sure that your fan is now enjoying your wonderful creations.

Now I have your CDs, I'm listening the marvelous sound of two guitars, I'm starting from the heart (tracks 4 5 6 7 8) of Resonance going toward the frontiers of it and then exploring Scalar Fields, learning and appreciating the differences between the playing of Szabo and Siegfried...they are great musicians; now I can recognize your playing in the tracks, and it is the one that I like so, so much, (it's a matter of feeling, not easy to explain)..., than, as final, I will explore Parallel Crossings.

I'm happy to hear that you are working on new albums, I will sure buy them when they will be available.. you are the kind of Artist that I appreciate so much, a never-ending research and work for music. I'm in good company now, listening your music I feel like to live in a magical world. Thank you so much, Kevin, have good & creative recordings as (only) you are able to do, I'll wait for them.

Ciao, Kevin, e arrivederci a presto."

- Daniele Demunari, guitarist (ITALY)

"Hi Kevin,

I took the time to purposefully listen to Parabola this week. Within seconds of turning it on I received a sensation of an image - both visually and emotionally. This does not happen to me all the time and I can't put my finger on what exactly triggers it - but when I am given this gift, I know enough to not question it and just go with it. I absolutely love when this happens which is why I love the creative process - so thank you!

Here is what your music inspired me to create. If I was to describe your music in words, and what the painting is representing, is although you work with one instrument (creating a very concentrated/direct sound) there is an entire "life" around that sound. The pieces are so much larger than just the instrument and the artist. They just felt so much bigger to me - and this sensation came to me immediately - it was not from a deep intense analysis of your work.

Anyways, thank you again for connecting me to my most inner being - that is a true gift to give someone."

- Jacquie Gouveia, artist (USA)

 

"Dear Kevin,

I listened to the three albums after each other on a chronological order.
1. Book Of Days
2. Bichromial
3. Scalar Fields
With these three CDs you seem to occupy the empire of atonality. Nowadays I miss the atonal music a lot on guitar. There are some classical composers who write some atonal things but the "all on nylon string" limits the possibilities.  So I was very glad to hear that at last someone writes (improvises) real contemporary guitar music for steel string guitars using atonality.  I see a big evolution from the first to the third one. The first had vertical dimension, then in the third album the chord appeared which is really very nice in such an atonal texture. The recorded sound of the Scalar Fields album is really phenomenal in any aspect. Detailed, atmospheric, personal, serves the music perfectly.  I also loved the sound of the Bichromial.  I have an absolutely different image how a baritone guitar should sound. When I listened your short MP3 samples I told myself: That's it! At last there is a guy who made a really nice baritone sound.  My first thought was that you are a very important figure in the modern guitar scene.  To tell the truth I am always continuously searching for new modern guitar music and it is so rare when I find one which is really high level in any aspect.  The baritone guitar is a new thing, theoretically it exists for a while but there are not really brave and inspired guitar players to try it. So it is not accident that I am so much interested what you do and compose.  All together, I can say that these albums are very valuable pieces of my acoustic guitar music collection.  So Kevin, congratulations for this very disciplined music carrying a shady beauty all the time!  Just keep on composing such a very special music.  I would be very curious on hearing some solo compositions. 

Kevin, I was very much impressed after you mentioned that the bigger part of the music was improvised. Actually I compose by improvising. I love freely improvised music. This is the only way which can keep the music organic. So knowing that you both improvised made the albums even more valuable for me.  The SF is a really very original and deep album that I very much miss in the modern guitar scene. L'art pour L'art.   I do not exaggerate if I tell you that your Scalar Fields album made a big impression on me. I said to myself: Wow, there is a guy who is not really known and created something really strong which is missing so much from the guitar world. Your music is strong, original, beautiful, soulful....it has a lot of properties that has a big value. There are a lot of famous players who actually do NOTHING just waste the notes.....according to that, you showed a possible, very important direction, a possibility for the guitar world...YOUR MUSIC, YOUR PERFORMANCE, YOUR SOUND.

In the last days I listened to only your albums. I have a deeper and deeper view on your soundscapes.

I am absolutely blown away by the sound quality of Scalar Fields. The 12-string tracks are really fantastic. I never heard such a fat sounding 12-string before...!!!Wow!

What you do is absolutely satisfy my taste and demands in music. It is so fargoing and new that it is not possible not to notice that. Your baritone approach is also absolutely original. I would like to encourage you to continue on this path. It is for the future!!!!!

So that is all for now and I think I will listen to the Scalar once more...

Thank you for the great musical experience!"  -  Sándor Szabó, guitarist/composer, (HUNGARY)

  "Listening to Scalar Fields. This is some amazingly beautiful music. Amazing guitar tones on this recording, very pure, clear and present; beautifully recorded. It's pretty rare to hear unadulterated acoustic guitar tones and it feels good. I am excited about your music, it is not often I discover something that sounds fresh to my ears. I've been listening to quite a bit of acoustic guitar lately, but your music is quite original!  It's beautiful music."  - Laurent Brondel, Tone Casualties Records recording artist; audio engineer for Bill Frissel, Cuong Vu, Myra Melford   (USA)

"I think your CD is a product of your mind, and you express yourself with a guitar.  Obviously, this is no commercial project, but more like a personal expression. Great CD's like this should happen!" - Michel Wegen, Wegen Picks, (THE NETHERLANDS)

"If I may be permitted a bit of a ramble, I do enjoy your website. You appear to be striving for something I want in my own life; that I think was best captured (until now) by the post-medieval concept of the Renaissance Man. That, within an individual, there is no conflict between art and music, science and technology, spiritualism and humanity. I read your notes for 'String Quartet No. 5' and I understand hearing the music of the trees as they flash by. I also think the baritone guitar is a splendid vehicle for expressing the transcendental qualities of the guitar. Well done." - Betz, Acoustic Saver  (USA)

HI Kevin!  What amazing music. Hope to hear more of what you do.  - Fareed Haque  (USA)

"I've recently purchased several copies of "Scalar Fields" for my massage therapy practice. Although not a musician myself, I've enjoyed listening to this music...I find it lovely and very creative. I've played selections of "Scalar Fields" for some of my clients during their sessions and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I have several copies on hand to sell to those most interested....hopefully I'll be ordering more from CD Baby soon!  Thanks for this wonderful, artistic music!"  - Cindy Rush, Massage For Health  (USA)

"I love the circular stave graphic when used in conjunction with your website. I find that graphic really says something about your music because it is both old and modern... and it is twisted.  And from the opposite direction - it starts outward in the sense that you take musical influences and take them inward." - Kenneth Moreland, musician; Austin, TX; (USA)

"I’m an inventor. I need to think outside the boundaries.  Kevin Kastning and Siegfried write music to think to… it pushes the boundaries and nudges open doors to new ideas.  All the best, Nick"  -  Nick Campling, The G7th Performance Capo England, (UK)

 

"Very impressive stuff!"  - Acoustic Player Magazine   (USA)

"I'm really digging your CD and I am blown away. I don't even know what to say. Wow. I want to hear more. You have no idea how impressed I am. I like it because it really makes me listen carefully. It's lovely."  - J. Armstrong; Washington (USA)

"It's so great when I meet fantastic musicians and hear new music, like yours. I truly do love your work. The more I get into my own music, I realize how much I enjoy the spaces between the notes. There's just so much power in that moment when we hunger for the next note. I am definitely going to paint to your music very soon. It's inspiring. I'm very picky about what I choose to listen to while I'm being creative because it influences my work. I absolutely LOVE your music. Your use of silence and space is so wonderfully refreshing. Your music evokes so much imagery." - Marie Stone van Vuuren, Classical Guitar Instructor and Performer (USA)

"Your music needed my full attention. It is thought-provoking and wise. Keep pushing those boundaries, and making the rest of us think and contemplate...."
- Sora, singer and musician  (CANADA)

"Your music is the sweet and eternal gem for the soul. Airy and intense pieces of dreams. You light up the interior landscapes. And the delicacy of your world strokes the hopes. Thank you."
Yours,
Deborah"- Deborah Link  (FRANCE)

"NICE CD ( Resonance )! THIS IS WAY COOL! I really love this. Really great. I want to spend some more time listening then I'll ask you some questions. I love your harmonic "thing."

- Ken Kugler, film score composer (USA)

"Dear Kevin,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your music. It isn't every day one comes across music that one wants to listen to again and again. Your music feels and sounds very particular, precise, full of complex thoughts, it is very special. I am sure you will go a long way.

My reaction to your music comes straight from - well, more than the heart, really, music touches something more than that when it does touch like that, whatever that something may be.

Again, I wish you all the best for the road that you are traveling on - it's the kind of road that doesn't always travel easily and requires perseverance, above all. But the rewards are, of course, beyond what most people in this world can ever hope to reap.

Thank you again, wishing you all the success in the world (I'll point you out to my Chinese musician friends and some in Berlin - that's the best I can do to thank you for the pleasure of listening to your music!)

All the best,
Kerstin"
- Kerstin (Beijing, CHINA)

 

"I am listening a lot to your 2 CDs (Resonance and Parallel Crossings) with Sandor ...those CDs are really magic. What I like so much is the absence of form... it is so refreshing in a world so dominated by structure and form - this music gives a total relief from that, and the effect is deeply relaxing."

- Edward Powell, (CANADA / TURKEY)
 

"Kevin:
Your talent, intelligence, knowledge makes you a once in a lifetime legend."

- Mr. Fady Dairy
(LEBANON)

 

"Greetings Kevin,

I checked out your website and myspace page. Words can not express how blown away I am by your music, writing and images. I've been pouring over the instruments, listening to clips and reading about the gear and your writing process. It is so wonderful that you have taken the time to open all this up and put it up on the website.

Your guitar work and tone are just amazing. The string quartet compositions are just amazing. The string quartet hit me the most. You can listen as it is one instrument, you can listen and also hear each individual part. Please forgive me but at times it almost sounds like the great Mellotron tones from the past. Almost like the quartet is being played on an organ. Just amazing. I will be going over your website for many moons.

I do love classical guitar and Elliot Fisk is my favorite player. I've always enjoyed any kind of acoustic music that is played well. I always kind of dug Michael Hedges type stuff but what you are doing with the guitar is way beyond that...."

- Edward Connors
South Carolina (USA)

 

12-String ManiaPosted by Teja Gerken, Senior Editor on May 20, 2009 at 11:12am
View Teja Gerken, Senior Editor's blog
"I’ve been immersed in 12-strings for the past few weeks, the main reason being an upcoming review of six such instruments in the August 2009 issue of Acoustic Guitar. Following the format of our recent reviews of dreadnoughts and mid-size guitars, the article will feature six guitars ranging in price from $330 to $3,900. Frequent Acoustic Guitar contributor—and great 12-string fingerpicker—Pete Madsen and I had a lot of fun checking these guitars out. I’m not going to give away too much about the article yet, but it was very encouraging to see how far 12-strings at all price levels have come in terms of playability and tone—not a single guitar in our bunch resembled the hard-to-play and overly jangly 12-string instruments that many of us have experienced in the past. Besides facilitating the article itself, I was also roped in to shoot video of all six guitars, and I’ll be sure to post a reminder when that footage is live.

In a case of coincidental timing, Bay Area luthier Tony Yamamoto began coming to some of my local gigs with a succession of experimental 12-strings in tow. Yamamoto has built a reputation among Northern California pickers for his baritone guitars and has been trying to apply the concept of low tunings to his 12-strings. Up to now, these have included two 26.6-inch scale baritone 12’s and the very latest, a multi-scale 12-string that is designed to be strung with octave pairs or strings for all six courses. This may need some explaining: while 12-strings generally use octave strings for their E, A, D, and G strings (low to high), their two upper courses (B and high E strings) are usually doubled, similar to the unison strings on a mandolin. Interested in what would happen if all six courses of strings were arranged as octave pairs, Yamamoto set out on a research project, eventually discovering that guitarist Kevin Kastning had experimented with such arrangements on a custom instrument made by the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. However, depending on the tuning used, a regular 25.5-inch scale tends to result in too much tension for the octave treble strings. Realizing he’d have to tune the guitar down from standard pitch, Yamamoto settled on a short 22.7-inch scale on the treble side of the fretboard, while keeping a 25.5 inch scale for the bass, thereby reducing string tension enough to tune the guitar from A to A.

Although the prototype I’ve gotten to play is clearly still at the experimental stage, the sonic potential is quite fascinating. With thunderous lows and harmonically rich yet very high sounding trebles (due to the octave courses), Yamamoto’s guitar has an incredible range, and it really sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. Granted, it’s a very specialized instrument, and many 12-stringers will be better off with “regular” guitars such as the ones we’ll be featuring in the August issue, but it’s cool to see curious luthiers taking guitar design to new places.

All this examining of 12-strings has made me get out my own guitar (a Taylor 355) for a bit of double-course fun. I tend to go through waves of interest in playing the 12, but I think I’m going to ride this one for a while longer!"