Monthly Archives: February 2021

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Wayne Krantz unearths Music Room 1985 – The Thrilling Lost Solo Debut from Guitar Iconoclast. Previously unheard one-man recordings to be released on March 19, 2021 by Abstract Logix.

Few musicians invest so much in the moment as guitarist Wayne Krantz, whose career has been defined by a fearless embrace of risk and a willingness to charge headlong into uncharted terrain — testing himself and thrilling an ever-growing legion of dedicated, adventurous listeners. Existing in a state of relentless forward motion, Krantz rarely has the time or inclination to look back, which makes the emergence of the newly rediscovered 1985 recordings gathered as “Music Room 1985” all the more extraordinary. To be released on March 19, 2021 on the Abstract Logix imprint, “Music Room 1985” was laid down by Krantz alone in a Reseda garage studio in the summer of 1985, with Krantz handling all the compositional and instrumental duties himself. Its six tracks predate his first solo album by five years. Not long after committing a final mix to tape, “Music Room 1985” was left behind — a victim of the machinations of the music industry and Krantz’s own rapidly accelerating career as both a bandleader and a hired gun. Even Krantz himself didn’t manage to hang on to a copy. When reminded of the project in 2020, he reached back through his contacts and unearthed a safety copy in a now-obsolete media format. With much legwork, playback was achieved and a high-resolution transfer was made. As evidence that Krantz’s singular talent was already well established even at this early stage, “Music Room 1985” is entirely convincing. Simply as an album of music long lost to time and now only being heard, it is staggering, offering an entirely unique brand of agile, intelligent instrumental pop defined by taught rhythms and insidiously infectious melodies. Every snarled rhythmic figure is offset by soaring melodic gestures and pensive, reflective spaces. “It wasn’t based on anything happening at the time,” Krantz says. “I was already on a contrary path and “Music Room 1985” was my version of ‘alternative’: jazz / instrumental music that worked more like pop, melody-centric with verses, bridges, hooks and few solos.” While he reached back to these recordings out of his own curiosity, Krantz quickly realized that “Music Room 1985” has value not just as a snapshot of his journey’s progress at that moment, but in and of itself. “It held up,” he says on the eve of the project’s first release — to which no re-recording or remixing has been done. “The sounds on it aren’t very trendy, so it doesn’t sound too dated to be relevant. It’s fun to listen to: it still has the vitality, mojo, and integrity that initially made it sound good.”