I could say i have a sort of love/hate relationship with grindcore, mostly because when its well made, it’s completely and utterly awesome, but most of the times its just an amalgam of noise and not in the good sense, also i could say i have the same feeling with electronic music in general, so when Aaron Specter’s Drumcorps pulls this “Grist” saying it’s a mixing of grindcore and breakcore… i tend to take it with a grain of salt.

It all starts up with “Botch Up and Die” and it’s pretty grindcore, kinda of a homage to Botch, with the eccentric guitars over a grind blast beat, its not only amusing but quite groovy, nicely done, “Down” is kinda dance meets noisecore with distorted samples and guitars into the mix, okkk, “Pig Destroyer Destroyer” has some nice drumming building to a slowed down chopped distorted noise filled beat … are we making fun of Pig Destroyer?, is this supposed to be a compliment or a satire, anyway it all builds up to a distorted guitar breakcore fest, mixing real life drumming with beats and distortion….

“Terrible Things” tsss is a kind of atmospheric interlude to build up “Forgive and Forget” going heavy on the guitars and groove breakdown, pretty awesome beats and catchy samples, it all works pretty well, even with the constant distortion and changes of pace (i guess it’s the point…right), it all goes flat at about 2/3 in… letting it die with echoes and guitar feedback, then it goes into “Grainbeast” that just builds on that feedback… working as another interlude to “Saddest RMX” and back to a more pure form of grindcore, great variety of beats and of mixing them up, but yet short simple and to the point, i liked it, “Incarnate” brings us home to … Amen Break land, old school beats and simple samples…. that get worked up and mingled into some form of breakcore thrash metal, pretty good, i like the old school feel… you can even headbang in the end muahahah

“Worse” starts with some drum work to some spaced out samples, well it feels like another intro to “Time” that builds from the last track into a smooth beat guitar work, that is until it goes all out into grindcore planet, what i like about this is that even when something doesn’t sound that good… it doesn’t matter, since nothing stays on loop for long, and the diversity is very well mixed together… then the last track “Grist” again gives a toned down funky beat … joined later with guitars and sampled vocals, still pretty groovy, the track goes on with different mixing of the same samples, giving them more speed or power, but keeping the same rhythm, it’s pretty nice, until it eventually dies down.

One things is for sure, you have to listen to this from start to finish, at first i tried a couple of tracks and i didn’t know what to think of it, now that i’ve listen to it a couple of times, i can say that this is one funky album, its good for the headbanger metal head that likes it hard and fast, and good for the breakcore noisecore crowd, i enjoyed it… so if your into this kind of music or you want to try something with a bit of an aftertaste, than give this album a go ^^

Official Site Drumcorps
MySpace Site Drumc0rps

Drumcorps - Botch Up and Die
Drumcorps - Forgive and Forget

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Venetian Snares or should i say Mr. Funk, and the Mr here is appropriate, this isn’t rap were there is a tendency to add things were things aren’t supposed to exist, well Venetian Snares is the brainchild of one Aaron Funk, more like a stage name, Uhhh? just call me Venetian Snares, because… well my name sucks (and everybody pauses for a moment… but it’s Funk…Funk is cool…no?), back to reality, the new album is called Cavalcade of Glee and Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms, uhhh it has that warm feeling of electronic music, the longer the title the smaller the…, yeah it’s glitchcore (and noisecore and now that i think of it all breakcore) and i have to say that i quite enjoy this types of electronical music.

As a side note, this album, in retrospective with his latest releases, sees venetian snares… humm how can i put it … more mellow? well more like giving up on that garage band experimental sound, for a more clean cut pseudo commercial sound, the formula seems to be repetitive, there are almost always 2 distinct (sometimes 3 or 4) tracks normally at least one is playing in a normal or slow pace and the other ones are in hiperdrive mode (mostly cut beats, that only someone like him can do) and when i say hiperdrive is just because if he turns the bpm up a point you will hear a continuous horrible sound, that’s how fast it goes.

The album starts with “Donut”, and it’s a really nice track with a large build up, that goes to one of his mixtures of cut beats, not going overboard, more like a intro so you’ll get used to it, next comes “Swindon” and you start to get the big picture this is all about the beat the rest is there just to make it sound better and to give ambient sound for the continuous deconstructions of the beats, next comes “Pwntendo”, that goes for that classical and comfortable 8bit sound, that Nintendo inprinted on the back of everyone’s mind, well its that, but at stupid speed “OH THIS SHIT IS GREAT” kind of thing, next comes “Xiii’s Dub” that sounds more like a interlude, but a nice one, good after that mind blowing blast from the last track.

Next comes “Vache”, amazing just like the next one “Plunging Hornets” full speed in a sea of apparent randomness all the way, “Twirl” again slows it down, it has a lot in common with “Xiii’s Dub” it gives you a break from all that sonic aggression, next comes “Tache” and its a lot like “Swindon”, but in this case slowing the album down to “P” and this one is… a bit weak, a pure interlude to the last track “Cancel” and it actually sounds like something more experimental and not in tune with the rest of the album, nice, but nothing especial.

I have to say i always like Venetian Snares, sure this album is a bit played down, and i always have that feeling that if he spent a couple of more weeks working with the material that it would have been excellent, I’ll have to say that although most tracks are excellent that the album seems and feels like a patchwork, i have the tendency to listen all the way up to “Plunging Hornets”, and disconnecting on “Twirl”, no point going on or maybe I’m just tired, yeah because this kind of music tends to become tiresome, not only because of the randomness and aggression of the beats but i think most likely because even though it’s a work of art the way that he deconstructs the beats, it all seems to follow the same formula and pattern, and that makes it predictable and therefore lacks that replay value, nevertheless like i said i love his work, and so should you, hehehe.

Venetian Snares - Vache

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Abelcain’s The Garden EP is a nice piece of industrial/metal inspired breakcore which has a certain goth/horror movie feel that sets it apart from other works in the genre. As such, it has a permanent mist of darkness which helps to contextualize the *cough* poetic vocal snippets that Abelcain sprinkles over his characteristic sound.

I would say the first song immediately demonstrates the rythmical intricacy of this album. The Garden starts with some soft legato strings followed by meticulously sequenced mid-paced breaks that quickly mutate into some evil distorted breakcore. After a brief pause, it picks up again with a grumpy bassline accompanied by some cutup distorted percussion. The music then proceeds into a few minutes of breakcore iterations (woohoo!), ending with the sound of cellos, which provides for a pleasent transition into Black Bone Orchid.

This second song begins with a really nice (albeit sad?) intro, performed by the string section, to which is added some slow breaks. After a while, the mood of the music kinda changes as a playful violin enters the party. Then, as always, the song swiftly changes again into jungle/breakcore mode with the addition of a wobbly distorted bass and some seriously mashed-up breaks.

The third “song” is quite amusing actually. Uhm.. I think i would classify Bitter Moon Blossom as a mixture of cut-up metal meets breakcore until halfway through, then proceeds into some creepy ambience and finishes off with some gabber mindfuck action.

This album wraps up with Danse Macabre. This song starts off with some subtle strings followed by a few bars of mid-paced breaks (which kinda remind me of Bogdan Raczynski and Datach’i). Then it takes a turn towards a more rude drum arrangement, as the string instruments increase in tension. The “trademark” of this song are the hyperactive harpsichord/clavichord staccato ramblings, masterfully interweaved with some seriously mashed-up breakcore action.

Abelcain - Bitter Moon Blossom

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Well we all know what Gorillaz is … Blur famed Damon Albarn’s Pet Project, that turned bigger than, well, Blur, hehehe does that make you think, or what?, anyways after about 4 year, her comes a new album, full of promises and well a bit more of the same, Gorillaz sound is far from being stale, it ranges from the alternative pop/rock, through things like hip-hop, funk, gloom*, to some forms of electronic i guess, even thought it seems the main concern is finding out the exact age of Noodle, their underage Japanese guitarist, even thought it is a fictional character…

Well off with their heads, and lets have a look at the music, overall the album seems more focused than their debut album, even thought the feel is the same, “happy bummed” music, some of the tracks borderline self indulgent like “O Green World” and some of the fillers, but when the really good tracks do come, they are surprisingly fresh, seems Damon Albarn was really the man behind the show, tracks like “Dirty Harry”, “Feel Good Inc” or “All Alone” are excellent, and there is even time for some surprises like the old school dance music* from “Dare” or the electro funk* on “White Light”.

This one thought album to talk about, very different stuff happening all over, so can one listen to it on one go? well sure, it beats listening to radio if that’s the point, and quality wise is top notch, i just feel its a bit more of the same, their debut album had that unfinished feeling to it, like it’s a “side project kind of thing”, but with “Demon Days”, its much more balanced, even thought its a bit confusing and mind numbing at times, with all this different music coming from everywhere, in the end it’s ok, yeah i said ok, if your into Gorillaz or you like eclectic albums this one is surely for you, just don’t be fooled by the singles.

(* Note: I Need To Stop Inventing Stuff Up )

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc

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