Baritone Guitar + chorus. Nothing crazy tbh, just hasn’t really been seen in modern music much bc everyone is chasing the whole “neo soul” sound and playing the same damn style and tone. So to have someone like Mike come out of nowhere and play a Bari with chorus and strange pedals/tape machine is a bit of change.
@@VanBaylendefinitely has to do with how he plays too. but also i believe he runs parallel distortion on his reverb or something like that? i’m not great with the terms lol but the rumbles the guitar make when he really pushes it is why i find it so captivating
@@ColeBSimpson that effect you’re referencing is actually a combination of two factors. One being a pedal he uses by a company called Rainger FX. It’s a reverb pedal that has a volume threshold, that when played with a certain attack and “loudness”, activates this wild fuzz tone that we hear when he strums loudly. He’s also known for using a Tascam Portastudio 414, which saturates a lot of the loudness that gives him that distinctive “distortion” type effect. It really is mainly those two elements. But yes, his playing does inadvertently affect those two components lol I saw him talk about it in a video about his rig.
@@VanBaylenI think I saw that video too! I want to look into getting that rainger pedal someday but i feel like i’ve been able to get a similar tone in my daw just not sure how to replicate that volume threshold component
@@ColeBSimpson Just a suggestion: a send to a aux track with a pretty hard noise gate, and then into a saturation/distortion plugin. That way, anything that goes over the gate's threshold will then be put through the distortion. Just blend that to taste with your original "clean" signal. Try it out and let me know if it sounds the way you want it to.
Yeah, I just gave the recentish album a go, and it didn't hit for me due to the mixing decisions that were made, but I find these live "back of the car" tracks to be pretty darn compelling! There is something about a recording that features the environment that really works here!
For those of us at just the right age, this sounds like something beautiful from our childhood in the 80's that we can't quite recall, but also completely and wholly futuristic, a nostalgia that is completely tingly and exciting. Just discovered Mkgee, but already in my top all-time favorites, you can sense the longevity in the taste of where he's coming from. Can't love him enough.
Yes, that word. Ever since I found that word, I've connected with it. And this song is all the life vibes of growing up through the 90's and being alive now. @@goosethenun486
These live versions just have more "umph" in the shred of the guitar than the studio versions. I need an album of all live versions, asap. Mk.gee, you're a legend.
I’m about to start glazing like crazy so if you’re not for that then don’t read this: I’m 31 years old and I have been playing guitar since I was 13 but never really taking it seriously until I got to my late 20s. I never had a guitar hero like most other people that start guitar. I had the misconception of musicianship = corny. What I was really doing is projecting my own insecurities as a guitar player. Then out of nowhere this dude shows up with a whole new sound and a completely unique way of approaching the instrument. Great songwriting, but man can this guy play. I haven’t wanted to emulate another guitar player in years and now he’s got me wanting to tune all my guitars down to baritone tuning. I think his approach to the instrument is so unique and inspiring. It’s not that the playing is flashy. It feels like magic. I’m in disbelief sometimes about how intricate his guitar parts are because his guitar sounds like there’s two or three different instruments all playing different parts. It’s so inspiring. It brings back the feeling of discovering Nirvana for the first time and stumbling onto Smells Like Teen Spirit when I was a kid. Big comparison, but it’s true. Mk.gee, Dijon and the rest of that wrecking crew are the future of music for real. I can’t wait to see what they do next because it feels special. Mark my words, the next 5 years their sound is gonna influence the current landscape of the music industry and the next generation of artists.
@@khrisnakhristian No one said you had to Bro I’m just passionate about music and guitar playing and sometimes a RU-vid comment is a way I like to express that
Naw you’re so right, from someone who doesn’t play any instruments. His style of layering, vocals, tuning, distortion, idk the combination of all of it is very deeply touching. It’s so cool when music takes you to an almost tangible whole other space inside yourself and then to get a whole album of that feeling? It’s honestly magic. I’m like thisssss is what I’ve been waiting and wanting to hear in music FOREVER, without even being able to name it before I heard it. I think you should check out music by Cruza too. Another artist/band where every song for me just hits on another level. If you like that low tuning, distortion and bass and kind of romantic vibe I think you’ll dig it.
I'm 51, and haven't heard music this fresh and engaging in a long time. I have only heard a few songs, but I can tell I will be on a deep dive for this artist. Absolutely phenomenal.
i mean considering you know about mkgee you probably already are pretty familiar with him but if not you should fs check out dijon. absolutely is probably a top 10 favorite album of all time for me
Don't you worry about that, every couple of years I find someone like this in different genres that blows my mind... they come when you need them most and hit you when and where you never expected
This is absolutely what music and the world needs right now. Your sound and vision is one of a kind, Mk.gee. (If you did a live version like this for "I Want", I could die a happy man!)
This comment mostly aimed at guitarists and uses good amount of jargon. It sounds so familiar and comfortable like its a demo song from the 80s but also so unique at the same time. I love that kinda style. Looking at his pedalboard too it makes 0 sense lol its like a noise gate, analog delay, hall reverb, a kinda weird and fuzzy and uncommon overdrive then into a tascam portastudio then DI to a mixer. Usually people with that kinda set up use their guitar more for ambient kinda soundscapes and textures like in shoegaze which hes kinda doing but he's also got chops like one of those 80s LA studio musicians. Idk never heard guitar playing like it ever and Ive heard a lot of guitar playing. Cant remember last time I heard a guitar player that was this impressive. I mean i cant think of any genre where someone is not using a guitar tone thats so wildly out the ordinary. Country still twangs, rock still using tube screamers on everything, hip hop its sample on records and usually just a dude with a marshall live (young thug, kendrick, future, they have live band videos on youtube) Metal tones kinda do cool, unique stuff but im not rlly a fan of tht kinda music. I guess Tobin Abasi has a hyper distinct sound but he also might as well be playing a different instrument with different techniques in a way. If anyone knows of others let me know. Having a normal guitar sound isnt bad tho. I mostly just use a strat > klon > plate reverb > fender princeton which is as basic as you can get on paper. Also last thing, i love that when he hits the guitar hard its this big, blown out reverb trail that abruptly cuts off and it really sounds like a gated snare drum. Its cool as hell.
it’s a Rainger FX reverb with a knob to add distortion to just the reverb signal as well as a gate switch that can almost glitch that distorted verb. really unique pedal
Like everyone is saying. Please put the live ones on Spotify or at least a full film on RU-vid. I can’t even listen to the album without thinking about how good the live vids are.
The comment section below mk.gee's uploads is special. His music (even tho growing in popularity) is still so underrated IMO, that coming here always validates the feelings I have for his music and performances. Like so many of you are already mentioning, he is a once in a lifetime artist and I am so grateful for everything he's doing. He's the kind of artist, that could make big money with some generic indie/pop album, but chooses to stay true to an explorative, curious and pure way of creating that I think he deserves more credit. Please come to Berlin one day!!!
Mk. I don't know if you're reading this, but this album is helping me get by life. I want to thank you for making music into an emotion of happiness of life. 💯🙏🏿
been obsessed by this dude for the past week and the thing that intrigues me the most is that the approach to the harmony is extremely "simple" in comparison to the textures, tones and guitar playing or even the songwriting he brings to the game... mostly diatonic approaches, but man those sound like new corners of the world no conquistador had gone yet. extremely refreshing.
Awesome song, awesome tree branches dodges ! I just hope there still another clip for Riley and I, that's my fav of the album ! Also fingers crossed we will soon be able to order the vinyl again ! Love from France !