Get the latest gossip

Early Life Forms ft Marc Ribot review – freewheeling guitar heroes wing it in style

Belgian guitarist Vitja Pauwels and his new band get it on with the Tom Waits collaborator – live and unrehearsed

“Big in Belgium” may not seem the greatest compliment for a musician, but guitarist Vitja Pauwels has made waves beyond his homeland with an adventurous mix of electric and acoustic fretboards and electronic effects, nicely captured on 2022’s Drift By/Sink In. The pattern for much of what follows has Pauwels casting long lines of notes that are punctuated by Ribot’s characteristic distorted chopping. Elsewhere, on cuts such as Release and Return, the Brussels-based bandleader goes into moody ambience that has Ribot twitching on one side rather than blazing away.

Get the Android app