Peter Ciluzzi

Peter Ciluzzi builds his own steel-string guitars and plays his own compositions on this CD. He fits in well with the rest of CandyRat's guitar roster, many of whom play atmospheric solo pieces in altered tunings. Ciluzzi does this, but distinguishes himself with a sensitive delivery that draws the listener in. "Nocturne" is easily one of the best tracks, due to Ciluzzi's strength as a composer. Things get a bit lighter on "Gospel," although the low bass strings create a pensive feel (Ciluzzi most often tunes his bass strings down a full third or fourth, putting them in the register of a baritone guitar). "Sojourn" features strong melodic lines, played both vertically across the fingerboard and horizontally (i.e., tending to stay on one string). True to its title, "Elegy" evokes sadness. "Soliloquy" follows, recalling good times in the company of friends. Ciluzzi's tribute to Michael Hedges, "March," uses some of Hedge's techniques, including slaps and octave runs. At least two tunes on this disc, "Aria" and "Isola," were composed for settings other than solo guitar. Their inclusion reveals more about the breadth of Ciluzzi's musical interests; perhaps his future recordings will have some vocals or ensemble pieces. Peter Ciluzzi is an individualistic, yet very listenable, artist. He bears watching, which you can do at www.myspace.com/peterciluzzi (videos of Ciluzzi playing several pieces from this disc are posted on this site).
- Minor 7th Reviews

Peter Ciluzzi “Music Without Words” 2008 CandyRat Records

A new guitarist on the CandyRat label is Peter Ciluzzi. The style
Peter Ciluzzi presents is different from most guitarists on the
CandyRat Records label. Peter Ciluzzi is more a poet and creator
of atmosphere on his guitar. His compositions touches ones soul
very deep with an excellent choice of guitar pennings. All the cuts
are written in altered tunings, and it's a wonderful journey of the
unconscious mind in poetic written sound escapades. Peter Ciluzzi
describes his music as inner reflections of what's happening in his
life, as beautiful painted landscapes in any part of the world. It's
an exceptional gift to play so much music with so less notes. A
truly talented guitarist who is able to touch a person's soul with
so much warmth and impact. All the music which flows out of
his hands, has that magical feeling of tenderness, an outstanding
connection with nature and the reflections direct drawn from the
inner force, the heart. All pieces demonstrate a serenity while
his guitar just gentle cuddles forwards into a new experiment.
Personally I think it is one of the best guitar CD's I heard for
a long time. The title of the CD says it all “Music Without Words”.
A truly gifted guitarist but foremost a first-class composer and
musician.
- Bridge Guitar Reviews

CandyRat is a blazingly hot label featuring a new crop of guitarists destined to be regarded as some of the best of the moment, hopefully longer. I've reviewed the very talented Antoine DuFour before (here), and this DVD has him along with two label compadres. The set opens with Peter Ciluzzi, who favors a mellower approach, more a Towner-ish chamber sound rich with harmonics and a fair amount of the tapping so common to the new wave. Ciluzzi's pieces are short but tasty, classicalist in intent but a good deal more modern than any Romantic composer. Music for a rainy night or overcast day, the cuts are evocative, not toe-tapping; impressions, not delineations, and neither urgent nor ennervated but perhaps a skosh too brief for their own good. His body-tapping and string dampings are subtle, very occasionally the slightest bit outré, always returning right back to the pastelline etchings set moodily in the fog and lowering day.

Craig D'Andrea is a different case. Starting a good deal more energetically in complex patterns, in Crazy is Catching he combines thumb flatpicking with fingerpicking, taking to unorthodox chord fanning with picked patterns and repetitious motifs, creating a serial style that's not minimal but definitely hypnotic. As his cuts progress, it's obvious the guy's much more chordally based, anchoring the broader sound into his runs, which are also dense, revolving around the base like seagulls wheeling above tidewaters. In some ways, D'Andrea has taken to Kottke but tossed out the slurs and inhumanly tweaked inflections, preferring a base that's secretly almost medieval…not like Fahey though there are certain distant affinities. He doesn't go in for tapping, but then he doesn't need to: there's an elder air in his playing that wouldn't be served well enough by the mode. The bright tempo and somewhat airier presentation of Guess Who's My Favorite? somewhat unhinges all that save that D'Andrea sticks to a baseline temperament despite what might otherwise have drifted into hi-toned New Agery. By the time you make it to Morrison County, you understand why he's on a label with Andy McKee.

Antoine DuFour has a bit more swing to his work, an underlying organic pulse that carries the melodies along like a river glinting in the sun, undulating ever oceanward. His work fits between Ciluzzi's and D'Andrea's in presence and tempo—where D'Andrea is commanding, DuFour steps back a pace or two; where Ciluzzi's atmospheric, DuFour fills in the spaces, the backgrounds. He's here sometimes a little more thoughtful than on his Existence release, measured, august, as though wanting to ponder the effects more fully before launching back into involved wheeling matrices. A Hiding Place for the Moon features some clever tapping, giving the viewer insight as to why the audio releases sometimes sound like there are two players present (t'ain't the case, Magee!).

These presentations are not unlike the YouTube style videos but sharper, with better fades…and ultra-pristine sound. The music works just as well visually as engrossing audio fare but watching these guys lets you know just how far guitar playing has come in the last decade or so and how blatantly and how subtly the mechanics have changed.

- FAME Review