COREY MADDEN - Taste The Hour TAPE

AI this is not. 2024 finds guitar journeyman Corey Madden stepping out and into his own zone. An NYC expat, and a founding member of the Los Angeles based Color Green, the eight tracks found within Taste The Hour touch upon a wholly different shade of Madden's muse. If Color Green leans into riffing grooves and heady micro-jamming, Madden's solo exploits are more contemplative and nuanced; think: Kevin Ayers and Robbie Basho, Syd Barrett and John Cale. A couple years in the making, Taste The Hour's patchwork roots began to take shape in transit during the pandemic following Madden's trip from New Jersey back to LA to a semi-isolated desert compound in New Mexico. Imbued by the solitary expanse of the southwest, the bedroom demos followed Madden, eventually hooking up with producer/engineer Mike Kriebel at Glassell Park's Golden Beat studio.

While psych-folk touchstones serve as the LP's main aesthetic, Madden buttresses the collection with a grip of spirited homespun 'rockers' highlighting the collection's versatility and songwriting, not to mention the guitarists' deft playing.

Like Madden's nylon finger-picking, taken as a whole, the resulting brew feels at once familiar yet fresh. No small feat, and just a taste of what's to come...