There are countless bands out there right now who claim that the music they make is a throwback to the days when rock and roll was less jaded. Instead of meshing themselves into the modern music scene they choose to write and play their music in the stylings of decades that have come and gone. But most of those bands miss the mark, a lot of the time lacking the knowledge and the skill to play anything that could even dare to be compared to the bands that influence them. Unfortunately, the music that most of these artists make are just sloppy imitations of what they interpret was being played by bands like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

But every once in a while there comes a musician that is able to front a band that has the skill and the finesse to make music that can proudly be advertised as heavily influenced by 60’s and 70’s era rock and that actually doesn’t suck.

Marcus Nepomuc Deml is a Prague-born guitarist who has lived in Germany, Austria and in the United States. Deml was named one of the “Top 3 Guitar Heroes” by Guitar Player magazine in 2005 and was presented this award by fellow guitarists Steve Lukather and Joe Satriani in Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s a common name among guitar junkies and after listening to some of his work it becomes completely obvious why that is.

To create Modern Hippie, his band’s third release, Deml teamed up with bassist Frank Itt and drummer Zacky Tsoukas to complete the newest line-up of Errorhead.

This album sounds almost unrehearsed, but not in a way that makes it sound amateur. The tracks “That’s Good” and “Yeah Man” aren’t songs at all, but are a few seconds of talking between, who I’m guessing to be, Kai Fricke (the engineer on this album) and Deml himself during the recording session. These tracks give the album less of a tailored feel and sort of make it seem as though what you’re listening to isn’t an album, but rather just a few musicians casually playing together. You know, jamming. Well, that is if Deml’s idea of jamming is instantly belting out precise Hendrix-style guitar like in “Connected” and “Temporary Impression”, the two songs that I consider to be album’s best moments. “We Came In Peace” is Modern Hippie’s token political song that’s, surprisingly, one of the most upbeat songs on the album with a very funk/jazz feel. Errorhead closes this album with one of the most perfectly titled songs, “Tata”, that acts as an upbeat “thank you” and “goodbye for now” to its listeners that makes you feel like in you’re walking through some sort of awesome rock and roll carnival.

This is an album for anyone who loves classic rock, but wants to hear it done with a modern twist. And if nothing else, the innovative and skilful guitar work definitely makes it an album worth listening to.

TRACK LISTING

That’s Good

Connected

For My Brothers

Dave

Temporary Impression

Yeah Man

Watch My Cloud

Northern Lights

Heaven

Bhangra Baby

We Came In Peace

Follow Your Dream

Tata