Six Strings of Tension

About Six Strings of Tension

Conversations about guitar with the best underground guitarists currently tickling the strings. From acid folk to avant-garde, and death metal to minimalism - if there's tense wood and tense strings, we are willing to embrace tense conversation. Hosted by Duncan Park in Durban, South Africa.

Publisher

Duncan Park

Category

music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 May 2022

Latest episode

3 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

26 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Jul 2026

   SSOT 26 - Shane Parish

   It is an immense privilege to welcome genius guitarist extraordinaire Shane Parish to the show. Incredibly kind and humble, he radiates an essence of calm and clarity, while seemingly pulsating with musical vibration, excitement and wisdom. We walk through Shane's history as a player, discovering guitar and music as a teenager, and effectively dropping out of high school to work as a self-taught guitarist and musician more broadly. His journey is truly unique (and immeasurably admirable) in that as a self-taught guitarist he learned how to read music, and actively drank from whatever wells of musical knowledge and theory he was able to access from a diverse and unexpected range of sources (shout out to Freddie Bryant). Bear in mind that only a fraction of the folks who have been on this podcast are capable of even the basic rudiments of reading (let alone transcribing) music. And so today we have the Shane Parish we know and love who is capable of transcribing Bill Orcutt's digitally constructed compositions for four guitars (we also hear how this monumental meeting of some of the greatest minds and fingers in the world of guitar came to pass), and decoding the electronic music of Autechre to create a solo acoustic guitar album, which to my ear sounds as informed by John Renbourn as British electronica. The conversation is seriously one for the heads, and it delves deep into conceptual frameworks for understanding and interpreting guitar playing (and things like mechanics, timbre, kinesthetic feel, dynamics, entering a trance state, etc.), composition, transcription, improvisation and performance, as well as Shane's application of philosophy, and specifically Aristotle's Poetics to inform his playing and sequencing on the album "Undertaker Please Drive Slow". There's a lot to dive into here, and it's impossible to try and summarise the whole conversation into any kind of meaningful blurb. I cannot thank Shane enough for taking the time to talk. Seriously, do yourself a favour and listen to the whole thing - this is a conversation about guitar not to be missed. And above all else - get out there and listen to Shane Parish!

2. 

   19 Jun 2026

   SSOT 25 - Josh Moss (The Modern Folk)

   Very rad conversation with all around excellent dude and main man of The Modern Folk, Josh Moss. Remarkably prolific, immeasurably active in the scene, and a seriously deep thinker without the veil of pretentiousness, it's certainly a conversation that is worth your time to check out. We talk about musical exploration, and the constant evolution and experimentation of the Modern Folk and its numerous iterations, as well as Josh's musical history with roots in Appalachia, and now as a well established mainstay of the Portland, OR underground. This musical voyage is inextricably tied to Josh's love of recording, starting with recording his teenage punk band (which, amazingly, is available on bandcamp - link in episode description), and the undeniable magic of creating a physical object which holds the music you have created. I mean, that's a feeling I struggle to explain, but Josh articulates it beautifully here. One of my favourite topics is also touched upon, which is the question of what is folk music? Josh has some really solid thoughts in this respect, and also checks me back into gear (in the most kind and diplomatic way possible, with some cold hard insights) when I start my slandering off the folk purists. Again, the conversation lands on themes of participation and building a community around, and ultimately transcending, the music itself, and Josh is a real example to those of us who find ourselves becoming too insular and focusing on our own creative output. The man has run blogs, written for various websites, recorded countless shows and other artists' music on their behalf, coordinated compilations, put together shows, played on other peoples' songs and albums, and is constantly contributing to something bigger than his own personal musical explorations. And then on top of that there is the Modern Folk's insanely prolific output! We are lucky to live in a world with J Moss <3 Enjoy the episode!

3. 

   15 May 2026

   SSOT 24 - Michael Potter (The Electric Nature)

   Just a super cool and inspiring dude, playing insanely rad music, running excellent labels, pressing vinyl like a boss - Michael Potter is for sure one of my favourite people I I have been fortunate enough to interview. We talk about Michael's experience of living in Minneapolis under the ICE reign of terror, and other horrors the American experience has to offer. But swiftly get back on track and unpack Michael's musical journey from childhood to the present day, discovering Sonic Youth, writing letters to Bruce Russel whilst in middle school in rural Georgia, and forging a pretty unique and singular musical path, resulting in a rich, extensive and eclectic discography to show for it. But Michael is just a thoughtful, interesting guy who's done a whole lot of living, made a whole load of music, and collaborated with an endless list of incredible musicians, so I'd suggest kicking back and listening to the man share some tales and drop some wisdom. Most importantly, go and listen to the Electric Nature - Mount Analogue is a great place to start. Take care folks.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Contact Six Strings of Tension

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.