Tom Geldschläger, aka Fountainhead, is a name that you need to know if you don’t already. I first heard about him through his playing on Obscura‘s 2016 release Akroasis. Geldschläger has since parted ways with Obscura and he is enjoying a rather badass solo career. Tom’s playing immediately stuck out to me as being unique, because not only is he an incredibly gifted and original player, but he also employs the use of fretless guitar. With most guitarists I am able to somewhat understand what it is that they are doing no matter how technical it may be. However, with Tom I honestly can’t figure out what he is doing most of the time (in a good way) due to the microtonal nature of the fretless guitar. Dammit Tom! Stop messing with my ears that have been finely tuned to Western intervals!
In this video Geldschläger continues down his path of general badassery by showing us that he needs no studio trickery to blast through “Ascension” from his album Reverse Engineering in one take. He also uses the Ebow in ways that I’ve never seen anyone attempt before. Where does it end with this guy?!
Again, I can’t recommend this guy’s stuff enough and if you’re interested in picking up his music you can do so on the Fountainhead Bandcamp page. Also, be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel for more shocking demonstrations of guitar wizardry, such as this crazy cover on fretless axe:
