Bass Drum of Death - GB City on Inflated Records

Inflated Records sent me this album, and it turned out to easily be one of the contenders for best album of 2011...easily.
If you love and or appreciate punchy, dirty, garage recorded in the bowels of a rapidly sinking metal room of a ship, this one is for you.
More elaborate description over here.

Live: Bass Drum of Death at Pianos 1-19-11

Thanks to the latest communication technology (the twitter acct, what can I say? We're slow to change in the 7" vinyl offices), I was reminded that the great John Barrett was going to be playing last night at Pianos.
I've had his advance full length from Inflated Records in rotation for the past couple of days, so the garage-punk gods deux ex machina-ed me at just the right time.

John Barrett and his drummer were convincing from the first note, sticks flying, killing the drum kit, with John, a lanky Thurston Moore - played the hell out of his recent album of punk pop. It reminded me of the first time I saw Cheap Time, they happened to be on the bill with the Crystal Stilts, and like every good band they blindside you, taking advantage of the opening slot and the crowd to be completely mind blowing. I knew what to expect and I'm sure that would have happened. I don't know how old John is, but let's just say he's got a ridiculous amount of time left to keep writing and reinterpreting this genre. Those singles from Fat Possum and Play Pinball were just the beginning, this full length, next month is going to be impressive. I'd hold it up to Home Blitz's Out of Phase and Artificial Clouds from Bare Wires as a classic touchstone for the genre. An example of everything done exactly right, you couldn't say beforehand what those things exactly are, but simply put together in this way, it's right. Two amps on folding chairs, a couple of pedals, lots of that wet reverb and the rest comes from bad ass talent.
Like Ty Segall, the melodies are classic garage punk, which is increasingly becoming a crowded field and John can easily alongside all these references.

But forget all these pointless words and just listen.
You'll have to crank it and forgive my pathetic ipod mic, I'm no nyctaper, but after relistening to this last night, you only have to hear two minutes of this to be banging on Inflated's door.

Bass Drum of Death on play pinball records

I talked to John Barrett in the middle of his last tour last summer, just after his single came out on Fat Possum Records.
I don't know how I came across his latest on Play Pinball Records, but I wanted to make sure no one missed out on Bass Drum Of Deaths's punk-pop garage jams and then I found out also a full length will be coming soon from Inflated Records in about a month or so.
I happen to have heard said full length in fact and it's been really helping my rock out long walks through the unshoveled sidewalks to the train.

Bass Drum of Death has really honed this fuzzy as hell, dirty sound into a super loud layers of bluesy string bending. John keeps it deceptively simple, and let's face it, this attitude demands everything from the rhythm, not the melody. You should be able to play 2 or 3 notes and kick the ass out of a song...there's no doubt John is capable of exactly that on the track "Get Found" on this single. I love that these drums are super overblown in the mix, but it's not unlistenably distorted...it stays pretty clean, and just barley contained. Like Ty Segall, the sheer level of sound both of these guys are able to coax out of a track is seriously impressive. I'm definitely picking this up and looking forward to getting a full length and it living on the shelf right next to Ty, Cheap Time, and Jay.
All balls.

Get it from Play Pinball Records, who don't have many copies left. You will regret definitely regret it.

The second single from Oxford Mississippi's "Bass Drum Of Death" and it is a monster. Three of our favorite tracks of the year are on it. "Get Found" could start a revolution. Righteous punk/garage rockers with a slight stoner vibe with members of The Unwed Teenage Mothers, Flight and The Sleepwalkers. Pressed by Baby Don't Records in Nashville, TN.

John Barrett and The Bass Drum of Death Interview

Episode 65 - download the MP3 here, or listen on the streaming embedded player lower right.

Talked to John from Bass Drum of Death this week about his single on Fat Possum, the tour he's currently on and a new single on Baby Don't Records sometime in January. Stick around at the end for the track 'Sucker Free' which is bad ass hyper fuzz garage blues. Nice.

John and The Bass Drum of Death are hitting the west coast the next few weeks, if you get a chance check them out live:

Nov 14 2009 8:00P	five stars bar (w/ lover!)	Los Angeles, California
Nov 15 2009 8:00P	bar pink (w/ lover!)	San Diego, California
Nov 16 2009 8:00P	yucca tap room (w/ lover!)	Phoenix, Arizona
Nov 17 2009 8:00P	burt’s (w/ lover!)	Albuquerque, New Mexico
Nov 18 2009 8:00P	three kings (w/ lover!)	Denver, Colorado
Nov 19 2009 8:00P	replay lounge (w/ lover!)	Lawrence, Kansas
Nov 20 2009 8:00P	o’leavers (w/ lover!)	Omaha, Nebraska
Nov 21 2009 8:00P	the bloodline (w/ lover!)	Chicago, Illinois
Nov 28 2009 8:00P	529 (w/ gg king, barreracudas)	Atlanta, Georgia

Bass Drum of Death on Fat Possum records

There's something about the solo vision in music, everything exactly how you want it. Every sound is going to be yours for better or for worse. It's an interesting niche of music creation, there's no collaboration...no jam and not the singer songwriter folk dude, who probably doesn't record at all, sticking to the live performance. The solo artist I'm talking about here has the technology (relatively) to put it all down track by track. It can be the best thing if they really know exactly what they want or it can make everything sound like an overworked mess.
It rarely (if never) works this well in the rock/blues genre. Put Jack and Meg together, both fighting for a kick drum and the guitar and you'll have the Bass Drum of Death aka Mr. John Barrett.

To maintain this energy on this single is a feat recording all alone. The loose spontaneousness... that King Khan rough.... JSBX (without the screaming) or a hi-fi Doo Rag blues needs to sound right. You can hear the single mindedness, the determination to force this onto wax, but it keeps all the energy of the good fight against all kinds of bullshit. There's nothing too overworked, it's clean and separated but still loose and gritty and electric blues.
Of course there is a bass drum in these tracks, but there would be so much stomping anyway, on the ceiling, the wood floors... he doesn't even necessarily need a real kick drum in some venues I'm sure. It has to start with that rhythm though, stomping on the kick pedal and a tambourine every other beat so the guitar just effortlessly happens, improvised in the places between, all bent strings through a cracked cone amp.

The A - Side 'Stain stick skin': Quite honestly I don't know what this track is exactly about. Seriously, when I try to focus and listen for a storyline or message.....I just go back to the riff...it's all feeling...like a pure blues Jay Reatard, John could let this song continue forever, the pop structure is there essentially, it has a killer opening. He's got to happy with how this single sounds, it's been mastered loud for turning up, it's so crisp that the mess of distortion cuts all clipped and gated.....nice.
This has loose elements of something like Death from Above.(?)...what I'm talking about is that level of performance when you aren't necessarily relying on the instrumentation...the details... it's raw....pounding out a catchy song irregardless of equipment, space, PA's. This vocal could very well be accompanied by just the kick drum....of he could whip out a harmonica and blues the shit up around the campfire. It's dirty, electric, kind of surf, tons of distortion...coming from Mississippi, it just gives it that extra level of authenticity, I'm totally buying it.

The B-side 'The Bandit of Ballad X' breaks out the acoustic and handclaps, to accompany the drum. Far flung echo vocals.... set it all up for picked snarl distortion guitar. All about a new truck... this sound exists in dirty abandoned lots...or a country junkyard...with rusted out metal pickups, all they are good for is target practice. What's left of a crumbling coffee can...you can't even touch it, it's crumbling to orange dust.

But the real question is how 'one man band' is this live? How much of this will be backing tracks or band for his SXSW dates coming up in march? Some Youtube clips show John stomping away behind a kick, tearing it up on guitar and a friend shaking the tamborine...poor bastard...shake that thing man. Maybe it was audience participation? This is going to just get better when played live, at night, and in a smokey dirty room.

This is on Fat Possum records for $4...who just released some Townes Van Zandt vinyl by the way which I've been eyeing... I think it's kind of a unique label with a long term vision that seems like they are interested in sincere artists working with traditional and modern incarnations of blues and country (?)... whatever any of that still means.