We’d never heard of Marni Stern before we read about her in the New Yorker last week, in Sasha Frere Jones’ “Note by Note: Marni Stern’s rapturous guitar“. Something she said made us go to Amazon to check out her music:

“The idea of potential and possibility is the only thing that drives me to keep going with music.”

We can totally get with that.

Stern’s music is loud, wild, nervy and powerful (be warned); she’s known as a guitar shredder because her playing is so FIERCE. At first she can seem like a tidal wave, then you begin to notice what’s going on INSIDE the music. Yet her lyrics are full of little gems like…

The future is yourself. Fill this part in___”…

from the song Transformer, on the album This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That, a phrase borrowed from Alan Watts, the great Zen man. You can sample that album here. Her new album is simply called Marnie Stern and you can check it out here; we especially like Risky Biz.

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