four

          One activity that I greatly enjoy is being able to listen to music that is new to me on a regular basis. Sometimes someone I know might recommend an artist or composer, or I might read something that inspires me to seek out their music. Many times the latter happens by reading about a musician and others that they collaborated or studied with.
          One of my favorite rock groups, The Mars Volta, is often a starting point for me, as I enjoy almost all of their music. I was reading a timeline and decided to do some research on one of their former drummers, Blake Fleming. I went to his bandcamp (a music hosting site that allows musicians to digitally sell their music) and listened to the first song on his album Time's Up, entitled "Intro/Mi casa su casa you kassa." The introduction was subtle and combined some ambient whirling noises with fleeting percussive noises. Fleming then segued into the song by fading in the main rhythmic motif, a syncopated pattern that interweaves cowbell and djembe (I think). As different overdubbed percussive elements were added, it became apparent that rhythm was Fleming's focus, which is often considered one of the most important aspects of drumming. As some elements were added, others were taken away. The resulting sound was one that was able to change rhythmic patterns from phrase to phrase without any sort of pause of noticeable transition; the use of many different percussive elements allowed the piece to sound like a well-organized drum circle. I particularly enjoyed the light distortion applied to the drumset part. Pitched percussion (introduced at approx. 2:48) was used to add to the palette of timbres without lending any tonality to the piece; it can even be argued that it causes preliminary tension (before the more rhythmically-tense double-time feel at 3:18) by introducing a long tone, which in this setting has the ability to temporarily shift focus from rhythm to pitch. The lack of tonality throughout the piece eliminates the percieved necessity of cadences, tonic, and harmonic motion, which allows the listener to hone in intently on the rhythms being played.
          I listened to the rest of the album and enjoyed everything from field recordings to distorted timpani, and am glad I found Time's Up. I have not heard much like it, and would recommend this to anyone looking to add a different beat to their daily rhythm.