JOBOJ - "ORANGE" (INDEPENDENT)
Joboj is a relatively unknown guitar player who has released two full-length guitar-oriented albums, the last one entitled "Orange". He appears to be good friends with Ron Thal, and musically it's easily seen: Their styles are both zany yet technically gifted, so if you're on the look-out for standard neoclassical/shred music, go look elsewhere.
Even within the, if you will, 'zany guitarist doing instrumental stuff' genre, "Orange" is virtually impossible to pigeonhole. So let's not. The album features acoustic tracks ("Sleeping", "Garden of Eggs"), full-out guitar virtuosity ("Inner", "The Twiddle", "Raw Sausage Finger"), even 60's (or is it 70's) Dick Dale-type playing. Joboj wouldn't be Joboj if he didn't couple Dale's surf sound with oriental scales, making for an interesting track, "Chumley". And for those of the experimental persuasion, after the final tracks there's the whole album backwards again - not my cup of tea, but who knows it might be yours.
On the whole, "Orange" is a non-run-of-the-mill guitar album for those ready for a sonic challenge.
RK
Written October 1999