On its latest song and video, "Night Skiing," the instrumental rock group L.A. Takedown confirms that the guitar solo is alive and kicking.
As the video opens Stephen Heath, one of the guitarists, is stranded in the desert after his car breaks down. He heads out on foot to find help and eventually comes upon an old van with a strange, wild-eyed man in it, played by the band's composer and frontman Aaron M. Olson. He gives the stranded motorist a pill that magically transports him to a phenomenal but surreal desert jam session. The money moment comes about the 2:45 mark in when Heath, standing on a craggy rock, rips through some blazing riffs before jacking the whole song towards the upper limits of rockdom, accompanied by the full L.A. Takedown band. (It does not, however, end well.)
"Night Skiing" is from L.A. Takedown's upcoming full-length titled, in a Google-beating move, II. It's the band's followup to its self-titled 2015 debut — which was one, 45-minute instrumental track.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
