The Carrier

Joe Satriani has been on the music scene for more than 20 years, storming the spotlight with his groundbreaking album, “Surfing With the Alien,” which changed the instrumental guitar album forever. Known not only for his wizardry on the guitar, but for teaching other great guitarists, such as Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett and Alex Skolnick, Satriani, or “Satch” as he is referred to by his fans, is still putting out fantastic material. On April 1, his 13th solo album, “Professor Satchifunkilus and the Musterion of Rock,” hit the shelves.

Unlike some musicians who have been around for a while and peaked years ago, Satriani continues to mature and to produce music of excellent quality. “Professor Satchifunkilus” is an excellent testimony to that fact, exploring a number of epic themes, and is one of Satriani’s most interesting journeys yet. He said in an interview with the Web site Myplay that he whittled the list for the album down from 30 or 40 songs, as per usual, saying that he wanted the songs on the album to be ones that he could continue to explore night after night, and that he wanted to find something new inside of him.

The album begins with the track “Musterion,” which refers to a slight mistranslation in the Bible from Greek to English, in which the word “musterion” was translated to mean mystery when the meaning is closer to secret. Satriani said he found two chords and a melody that came to him one day, and he couldn’t figure out exactly how they were connected, thus resulting in the title. The track itself sounds very secretive, giving off the aura of something locked away somewhere.

The album then goes to the track “Overdriver,” a more straightforward hard rock song about a car with a mind of its own, and then to the album’s big single, “I Just Wanna Rock.” This track explores Satriani’s interest in science fiction and the human facets of robots by telling the story of a robot’s experience of finding a purpose in life. The song is another upbeat hard rock track, and a great display of Satriani’s technical mastery. The album’s title track, (featuring Satriani’s son ZZ on the tenor saxophone) is next. This track, as its title suggests, is a funky style song about a cartoonish mack daddy, according to the Myplay biography.

The next two songs are great examples of Satriani’s ability to convey lyrical ideas without using words, but simply through the expressiveness of the guitar. The next song, “Revelation,” is a personal ballad about the recent passing of his father. The song has a reflective sound to it in the harmony and melody, with more than just a hint of sadness. The song comes to an emotional climax during the solo of the song in which Satriani pours out his feeling into every note he plays. It is the third song he has written for his father, the last two being “Cryin’” and “Into the Light.” 

The next track is a love note to his wife Rubina, titled “Come On Baby.” This is another fantastic example of Satriani’s ability to express emotion. The song ranges from a quiet intro to an more expressive middle section in which he captures his affection for his wife perfectly. It fits in well with the songs he has already written for her, most notably “Always With Me, Always With You” on “Surfing With the Alien.”

The next track, “Out of the Sunrise,” demonstrates Satriani’s skill not only as a musician but as a storyteller and as an artist who paints pictures with music. The song’s introduction paints a perfect picture of what the title suggests. The song is about a man who has been up all night, looks at the sunrise and, in that moment, realizes all the evil things he’s done; at the same time he realizes that it’s a new day and that he has a chance to change. It’s a track that almost anyone can identify with and makes for a very good touch.

“Diddle-Y-A-Doo-Dat” is the next track, and is more of groove song in which the guitar line introduction mimics the title and continues through a mad dash of swing. The last two tracks are a tribute to Turkish saz (a four-stringed instrument) player Asik Veysel. The first of these two, called “Asik Veysel,” is a song in which Satriani celebrates hearing Veysel’s music for the first time. Satriani uses a slightly different guitar technique where he plays more lightly to achieve a more saz-like sound. The album’s closing track, “Andalusia,” is written in memory of Asik Veysel and is also inspired by the beauty of Spain’s countryside, where Satriani paints vivid pictures of the country’s natural beauty.

All in all, the album is a project of truly epic proportions: deep, personal and heavy despite being only ten tracks long. Satriani pays close attention to every aspect of this album, tightening up every loose end and making sure that it is a great experience all the way through, and he succeeds brilliantly. His virtuosic playing and brilliant use of word-painting and melodic themes to express lyrical ideas, though instrumental, make this album another great achievement for him.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Arts & Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.