So when I got to review this new release on DaDa Drumming from Texas, I said ‘yes, please’ because I knew I was in for a treat. And yes, I was. Not because of the same reasons I love other releases, but because this album tells a beautiful story of Kevin Novak on the Road, maybe subtitled a masterclass on how to use your machines without getting boring or repetitive. I’ll explain: The eight tracks are all live recordings relatively close to each other (October 7 & 9 and July 7, 8, 12, 14, 15 & 17), so there is a high probability these live shows were created with (approximately) the identical setups (October and July) and Kevin recorded the shows on the tour, making this album. Now, some noise artists have the same stuff for a few shows and do a sort of the same set by choice of sounds, flow and performance. Let me tell you, Kevin doesn’t, and that makes this album so amazingly interesting.
Sure, if you’re not into noise and listen to this superficially, it’s a fucked up thing, and you won’t understand it at all. But suppose you listen with a musician’s ear and try to follow the chosen steps and structures from the October and July series. In that case, you hear that you’re dealing with a great artist who might be noisy as hell but who is excellent in what he’s doing and original at all moments. And maybe that was the magic that triggered my mind when listening to that split from 2005 (yes, almost 20 years old). Perhaps I was already receptive to recognizing quality. Who knows.
Comments
Post a Comment