Guitar

Guitar is the pseudonym adopted by musician Michael Lückner, who fuses organic and electronic sounds into music that embraces his wide range of influences, from cool-era Miles Davis to the shoegazing chaos of My Bloody Valentine. Lückner was born and raised in Germany, and picked up his first guitar when he was 14, after seeing a performance by John Martyn. Lückner already had a tape machine, and began lo-fi experiments in recording his music. In his early twenties, Lückner started playing guitar with a jazz ensemble while studying philosophy, psychology, and media in college. While Lückner continued to perform, his music took a dramatic new turn in 1995 when he bought sampling software and began using electronics as a medium for composing songs and constructing arrangements. Later that year, Lückner formed the duo Computerjockeys with Wolfgang Hagedorn, in which they used their computers to create sample-based music in real time on-stage. In 2000, Lückner began releasing solo studio recordings under the name Digital Jockey, and in 2002 adopted another moniker, Guitar. The first release from Guitar, Sunkissed, featured regular collaborator Ayako Akashiba on vocals, and Lückner would further explore his interest in Japanese music and art with Guitar's second international release, 2006's Tokyo, which included four vocal performances from Akashiba as well as several instrumental tracks employing traditional Japanese instruments. (A revised version of the album was released in Japan under the title Saltykisses; in 2004, Lückner recorded an album exclusively for release in Japan, Honeysky.) In May 2007, Lückner released a new Guitar album, Dealing with Signal and Noise, which included an unusual cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey," while a compilation bringing together highlights from Guitar's Japanese releases, Salt & Honey, was scheduled for release in the fall of 2007. ~ Mark Deming