Sunday, February 16, 2014

This/not this: death metal

By popular request (well, one guy), here's another one of these— we'll take this in reverse order:

Not this:




This:



[h/t to Bo]

Bonus Melvins after the break:


Hog Leg, from Eggnog, still my favorite Melvins album:




The same song played live— audio quality is totally beside the point— or it totally is the point...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's pretty funny!

Not sure what the first guy is trying to communicate and he kind of fluffs his rolls round the set. Metal used to groove back in the day.

Todd Bishop said...

And some of it actually rocked. But that's the top guy doing the current thing. It is kind of funny that even with all the insane technique they are still, ah, relying heavily on the old junior high school fill-- four notes per drum down the tom toms. You could get pretty wasted if you took a drink every time he did that one.

John Olson said...

Yikes. Just watching George made my calves hurt....and I'll take Phil Rudd on "You Shook Me All Night Long" over this musical masturbation every time. I have seen "extreme drumming" in a more musical context....Virgil Donati comes to mind. And I like your forays outside of the traditional jazz drumming context....what are your thoughts on Topper Headon from the Clash? (one of my favorite, under-rated drummers)

Todd Bishop said...

Phil Rudd is a god to me-- I should go back and find every single example of him playing more than two 16th notes in a row on a record. You can probably count them on both hands.

I'm kind of embarrassed to say I was never a big Clash guy-- they're one of the great bands in rock & roll, but I never listened to them much. What are the great tracks for the drumming?

Anonymous said...

Check out Guns of Brixton and listen to the album London Calling if you haven't already.

John Olson said...

This could take a week (they're one of my all-time favorite bands).....No need to be embarrassed - we can't listen to everything, right? I still regularly experience "A-Ha" moments on bands I know nothing about.

I would start with "London Calling." (every song) This album is a classic for so many reasons, but not just because Topper's drumming is great. Such an eclectic mix of pop, punk, skiffle, et al....this album deserves it's place at the top of any critic's throne.

As for single tracks, "Washington Bullets" and "Charlie Don't Surf" from Sandinista are two of my Topper favorites. I also love "Armagideon Time" from Black Market Clash. Topper's playing defied genres....Rock, punk, funk, ska, reggae...he nails them all. Most people don't realize that "Rock The Casbah" (from Combat Rock)is his own bass, piano and drum parts, with Joe Strummer's lyrics finishing the song that Topper wrote. It's such a shame that substance abuse lead to his dismissal from "The Only Band That Matters."

Check these out and tell me what you think....I've got more!

sublicon said...

I'll never understand why cats waste that kind of foot speed playing 32nd notes forever... it's great that they got it up there, but like... do something with it now. So boring. And I like death metal, don't get me wrong.