Ty Oliver

Ty Oliver can be characterized by today’s standards as a non-traditionalist, as his musical trends don’t follow the mainstream. As an independent artist he chooses to paint a sonic landscape of sound built on the back of his fluid guitar playing. His style falls within the Joe Satriani/Steve Vai School of expressionism and experimentation. His tone strives for recognition and depth whereas today’s mainstream players get by on the latest trends and technologies.
’08 finds Oliver following up his ’05 debut studio release Healed Through Time with Heartstrings. Oliver’s latest musical collaboration continues where Healed Through Time left off back ’05. By name alone Heartstrings should signify Oliver’s continued emotional exploration of notes and rhythmic passages molded into ten unique compositions. Oliver is not one to spend hours on end practicing his ability to shred. Rather he spends that time constructing elaborate passionate songs that resonates deep within his being.

The comparisons of Joe Satriani's performance style are uncanny. And what Oliver lacks, which is Satriani’s musical theory knowledge, he more than makes for it within the context of his fluid and stylistic playing. The music on Heartstrings features catchy, energetic burst of explosive notes that is fresh and captivating. The lack of dark scales push the music into a positive light very similar to the guitar phrasing of Eric Johnson.

It’s hard to pick the music apart on a track by track basis because the music finds itself captured up by receptive ears. By title alone the songs display their positive connotations; “Sunset Sky,” “The Dream of Love,” “Chasing Angels,” and even with songs such as “Filled With Tears,” Oliver manages to keep the theme from being dark and depressing.

This is a highly recommended release and well deserving of a listen by any instrumental music fans
- Hardrockhaven.net

Northern California native guitarist, Ty Oliver, turned some heads back in 2005 when he released his debut solo, instrumental album Healed Through Time. The comparisons to Satriani and Vai were plentiful and rightly so. Now, three years later, Oliver returns with a follow-up release in Heartstrings and proves that he has the songwriting skills to be more than a “Young Steve Vai.”
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the term “heartstrings” as “the deepest emotions or affections,” which seems like an apropos title for this release, as Heartstrings sees Oliver focusing on more of a melodic, emotion-filled approach than its predecessor release. This translates into a few more passive moments and the fact that Oliver focuses not on “melting your face off,” but applying more attention to song structure and entertainment. This translates into some spectacular melodies (e.g., on opener “Sunset Sky” and the track “Made Of Memories”) that are memorable and actually tug at the listener’s emotions … and dare you say it … “Heart Strings.”

The memorable album opener in “Sunset Sky” is followed by the equally impressive “Chasing Angels,” which opens with some harmonics and reverb that is reminiscent of Missing Person’s Warren Cuccurullo. Awkwardly, the song seems to ride on a simplistic, straight and narrow drum timing foundation that is thankfully rescued by some impressive fretwork by Oliver. “Made Of Memories” is the true highlight of this disc with its strong, fluid melody and nice “wah-wah”-based guitar lines by Oliver. This track alone represents how mature of a songwriter Oliver has become since his debut.

“When Then Was Now” is another high energy-filled rocker that is fuelled by more artistic expression by Oliver and his guitar. All of this is capped off by the track “Space Jam,” which features guest solos from some of the underground guitar scene’s most talented prospects in Matt Cafissi, and Neil Rambaldi, as well as a guitar appearance by otherwise drummer, Matt Sotelo of Decrepit Birth.

Bottom line, Heartstrings sees Ty Oliver progress more as a songwriter versus delving deeper into unentertaining guitar meanderings. Oliver shows on this release that he can write a memorable melody that leaves an everlasting impression on the listener and propels Oliver into being more than a Steve Vai sound-alike. While the release contains a fair share of slower tracks within it, there is still plenty here for the guitar aficionado to chew on!
- Metalexpressradio.com

"Oliver could be tagged as "Mr. Harmonic," as he loves punctuating his supple single-note lines with somewhat unexpected harmonic pinches. The effect adds surprise, heat, and interest to what could otherwise be defined as pretty, yet conventional melodies. Good move!"

By Micheal Molenda-May 2007 - Guitar Player Magazine

Ty Oliver is a young ambitious shredder, who really makes his point clear enough form the first notes on the fret board. He is here to shred and fight for domination among the fastest guitar tamers in his filed of music. His debut consists of ten songs all-instrumental compositions, heavily influenced by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai (especially the latter one!), but this is quite normal as the majority of new or older guitarists pay their homage one way or another to the previously aforementioned guitar theogonic duo.

His songs and compositions range from Melodic Rock, plus some beautifully crafted ballads as well as Satriani-c speed tempo songs - carefully composed and ideal company for driving - especially by yourself. He manages to cover a really wide spectrum of emotions and this makes his work quite appealing. You also get the occasional repetitions from time to time - and comparison with other work is also inevitable here but in the end he achieves to transfer you unique feeling of musicality and sensitivity.

I think that this is one of the most promising debut guitar instrumental albums for this year. Ty seems eager enough to fight for his own recognition amongst the other mega shredders and in my opinion I think that he has quite the potential to do achieve this! His music on the whole describes happiness sadness melancholy and so on - all delivered through his six-string commandment.

Moreover, "Healed Through Time" was recorded and mixed by Matt Sotelo at Legion Studios while it was mastered by Colin Davis at Imperial Mastering. Highlights of this album can be considered - amongst the other - the following ones: "Lost In Thought", "Surrounded By Beauty", "Driven", "Race Day" and "Inside Your Heart". Just grab on your bike or car, put "Race Day" in your stereo system and play it on 10 scale!...ugh, and don’t forget the speed limit!

- www.metal-temple.com

TY OLIVER is an amazing guitar player from Santa Cruz.
He has just released his new CD ‘Heartstrings’ which, like
Matt Cafissi, is one of those rare guitar albums that will blow
you away due to the passion and melodies inside the record’s
grooves. Ty was born and raised in Northern California, Santa Cruz.
‘I’ve been playing guitar for about 14 years now,’ he says. His influences range from Vai and Satriani to Goo Good Dolls and
Matchbox 20. ‘I love great song-writing and I love great guitar
playing. I like to try and blend the two.’ Which he has managed
to do with great effect on ‘Heartstrings’.
‘It’s a really good representation of what I want to accomplish
musically. It’s melodic, heartfelt, and has some flashy guitar work in the mix to kick things into high gear at the right moments. I focused really hard on making music that
was well composed, and that had feeling. I want the music to
appeal to more than just guitar fans. I think if you take a well
written song that comes from the heart, inject it with a great
melody and sprinkle some exciting guitar work on top, you’ve
the ingredients for something very special.’
Ty recorded all the guitars with Stan Hinesley Custom Pickups, and ran everything through a MILLS Acoustics 4x12 cabinet. ‘Most of the tracking was done at a high end professional recording studio using Universal Audio hardware preamps and compressors, as well as mixed with UA plugs at Synergy Sound where we did the majority of the recording.
The engineer JD Keiser did a really good job of making everything sound cohesive, and polished. The recording was not without its little problems ‘The record label had to put the entire project on hold because at the time they totally flaked out on paying for the studio time they had previously promised.’ Ty found this very frustrating
but it’s not an unheard of story in this game. ‘I was anxious to
get the project finished and wasn’t able to get back into the
studio until a year later. Everything happens for a reason they
say. The sessions were fairly smooth, so it worked out for the
best in the end.’
Talking of Matt Cafissi, Ty also guested on his new album,
on the track ‘Inside Out’. Both guys are the new breed in guitar playing and you will be hearing much about them in the future. Check Ty out at-
www.myspace.com/tyoliver and www.tyolivermusic.com - Fireworks Magazine UK