Drum-Related Blathering and Minutiae
Check This Out!
My personal recommendations
Robert Mitchell 3io: “Teardrop”
Jun 14th
This is a pretty awesome rendition of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”.
Keeping It Simple
Jun 7th
Typically, stick tricks make me roll my eyes. Not because I think they’re lame—quite the contrary, I love a good show as much as the next drum geek. No, what makes me groan is that more often than not the flashy drummer in question has obviously spent time perfecting these tricks to the detriment of drumming. The time will fall apart or the sound will be inconsistent. To me, tricks are done well when you can close your eyes and not hear the visual.
I think this video fits the bill. Yes, it’s hilarious because it’s completely out of place, but the drummer’s sound and time remain quite consistent while doing some of the craziest tricks I’ve ever seen:
And, just because, here’s some from Virgil:
Arto’s Bottle
Jun 3rd
I have a great love for “found objects”, or homemade/improvised musical oddities. These videos of Turkish-Armenian artist Arto Tuncboyaciyan rocking a glass bottle and a tambourine are just wickedly fun. There are several versions of this YouTube, but here are a couple I like best:
Travis Orbin: One of My New Faves
May 3rd
I’m very excited when I get my YouTube subscription update and there’s a new Travis Orbin video link inside. In a sea of Internet “superstar” poseurs, this guy’s the real deal. It doesn’t hurt that the production of his videos is excellent either!
His influences are clear, and comparisons to Mike Mangini are inevitable, but he nonetheless has a very unique style. I’m particularly impressed with his dynamics, ambidexterity, and super-clean feet-and-hands runs around that cool Mangini-meets-Bruford set-up. There’s a lot of really inspiring stuff here that makes me wish I could lock myself in a practice room for a week straight!
Here’s a video of a session Travis did with Pete Peterson. It’s a really neat, complex tune in the vein of Zappa / Mike Keneally / Mike Patton (the Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and solo stuff). I’d love to see a chart for this thing. It’s rife with meter changes, polyrhythms, and metric modulations—and that’s just the rhythmic stuff!
More Travis vids here.
Craig Ferguson on “Justified”
Mar 30th
Craig Ferguson, Jake Bartfield, & me at my senior recital 12.02.04
It’s quite a surprise to see someone you know on TV. You think you’d be all nonchalant about it, but you usually wind up screaming at everyone in the room “I know him! I know him!”
I had a moment such as this over the weekend while watching a DVR’d episode of the new FX series “Justified”. In this episode, two incarcerated musicians in a prison band loaned to a private party are planning to flee.
So, who did I spot in the band? My fellow Berklee alum Craig Ferguson. Craig and I played many sessions and recitals together. He’s an amazingly skilled and versatile musician, and it was always a rewarding experience to play with him. I was very lucky to snag him for my own senior recital.
Check out his solo album, Nobody but the Moon and Me, on iTunes. Also check out the “real” band, Cliff Wagner & the Old #7 .
Craig Ferguson (right) on "Justified"
Congrats, Craig!
The “Weird Al” Biopic: Portrait of a Tortured Artist
Mar 23rd
You many have noticed “Weird Al” Yankovic on my Musical Influences page. No, it’s not a mistake or a joke. Silliness aside, the band’s creativity and versatility have always been, in a strange way, an inspiration.
This is hilarious:
Alex Rudinger
Mar 14th
Very cool stuff here. Fast, clean chops; ambidextrous grooves. Sweet…
And more videos here.
Marco Madness!
Mar 12th
Here are some great Marco Minnemann clips I just found. Awesome, inspiring stuff. It’s especially thrilling to hear him, Mike Kenneally, and Brian Beller slamming statistical density off each other.
