Double Feature

FELIX MARTIN — A LEFT-HANDED TAPPING VIRTUOSO WHO PLAYS TWO EXTENDED-RANGE FRETBOARDS AT THE SAME TIME — TRULY GOES TO TOWN ON CARACAS

- Gregory Adams

WITH ITS PENCHANT for marrying Latin rhythms with progressive metal dexterity, Venezuelan-born tapping virtuoso Felix Martin’s latest album, Caracas, comes across as a loving homage to his home country. However, beyond integrating Venezuelan folk textures into the guitarist’s explosive, double-fretboard exploring technique, the collection also is dedicated to the millions of people he marched alongside in the South American country’s capital during the spring of 2017.

“There were huge protests, people dying every day — the country was paralyzed,” he recalls, alluding to the violence the grassroots Resistencia faced during clashes with a militarized state force. “I spent a week protesting in Caracas, smelling gas bombs and watching my friends get hurt and go to jail. It was really bad. I had to leave Venezuela because I had a U.S. tour, but I felt really bad, like, ‘Man, I’m leaving my people here fighting, all my family’ … I felt like I had to do something.”