Barry Cleveland is an LA-based guitarist, composer, recordist, journalist, and author

David Torn

The Art of Sky Gazing

Guitarist, composer, and interdimensional sonic shape-shifter David Torn has pursued a singular musical vision for more than four decades. His outré approach to guitar playing and electronic manipulation had already begun to fully crystallize by 1982, when he made his first record for the ECM label … Read More

Music for Picture

Barry Cleveland’s compositions have been featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, CNN International Asia, CNN International Europe, Erin Burnett OutFront, Crime Watch Daily, Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers and other programs… Read More

Recent Works

Joe Meek’s Bold Techniques

Legendary British producer and technical innovator Joe Meek, the “Telstar Man,” has become a cult figure since his tragic death in 1967. Joe Meek’s Bold Techniques explores the recording iconoclast’s career in great depth, with special attention paid to the equipment and techniques he used to craft his singular sounds. The hardcover Second Edition updates the original 2001 publication with a new Introduction, new information, and an additional chapter. Also included is a meticulously restored version of Meek’s visionary 1959 stereo album about life on the moon, I Hear a New World, made available in its original form for the first time.

“This book really opened my eyes to what an innovator Joe Meek was and even gave me ideas to toy with in future sessions of my own. Everyone reading Tape Op would enjoy this book!” —Larry Crane, Editor, Tape Op… Read More

Mu
Richard Pinhas & Barry Cleveland
With Michael Manring & Celso Alberti
Cuneiform Records

Unfettered by genre conventions, Mu is a mesmerizing combination of entirely improvised music and Cleveland’s post-production compositional development. The four pieces unfurl as a confluence of overlapping musical currents informed by art rock, ambient, electronic, avant-garde jazz, and various world music inflections.

“Mu is an entirely improvised, yet extremely focused effort that explores the intersections between myriad genres and influences … Incredibly strong stuff.” —Anil Prasad, Innerviews

“Mu is fearlessly powerful, rich, and HUGE—the sounds of heavy metal jazz meeting electronic maximalism, guitars as freed by Jimi Hendrix in orchestrations rivaling Led Zeppelin’s, rock-solid drumming supporting it all. The effect is oceanic.” —Howard Mandel, Jazz Beyond Jazz

“Similes of a scenic tour into a Black Hole star with grooving pulses come to mind. Hence, the guitarists’ streaming and phase shifting notes and the rhythm section’s undulating cadences along with melodic overtones and ghostly apparitions are other sensations that prevail throughout the production … Think of space rock with a college education as the band paints a dexterous, intertwining sonic-scape from start to finish.” —Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz

“Nothing short of a masterpiece, beginning to end.” —Peter Thelen, Exposé Online … Read More

Hologramatron
Barry Cleveland
Moonjune Records

An avant-rock 21st Century protest album featuring Robert Powell, Michael Manring, Celso Alberti, and Amy X Neuburg, with Harry Manx, Deborah Holland, Erdem Helvacioglu, Artist General, Rick Walker, and Gino Robair.

“There are a handful of albums in my life that hit me the way this album did. For me it sits in a small group of very special musical experiences: David Byrne and Brian Eno’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Bill Bruford’s Feels Good to Me, NIN’s Downward Spiral, and King Crimson’s Discipline.” —Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure)

A fantastic, essential rock album. Several of its ten mini-epics explore the precarious state humanity finds itself at the present moment, with deep insight, humor, and wit—not to mention some ferocious playing from an avant all-star ensemble.” —Anil Prasad, Innerviews

“Hologramatron has really bowled me over, so much so that yesterday I had to remain sitting in the car long after I arrived at my destination and long after the complete album had finished playing … An artistic rock album in the best sense of that term, with multilayered influences … Exciting from start to finish … Honestly, this year I have not heard a better album.” —Sal Pichireddu, Babyblaue-Seiten

“An imaginative progressive rock-oriented release … The songs are rich in sonic texture, and with panoptic social political messages that require a close listen … a delightful milestone.” —Mark Redlefsen, All About Jazz … Read More