BDK Playlist July 2010

photo : Chelle Wooten

I've compiled 25 songs for a playlist I think gives a broad example of great drumming from various bands I've posted about and some I havn't gotten around to yet. I hope that you load it onto your Ipod and listen to it loudly through good headphones, the way music should be heard.

You can download it HERE.

Here is the tracklist.

1. Battles - Race: In

2. Broken Social Scene - KC Accidental

3. Can - Vitamin C

4. The Flaming Lips - Waitin' For A Superman

5. Deep Purple - Highway Star

6. Deerhoof - The Perfect Me

7. At The Drive-in - Arcarsenal

8. The Clash - Clampdown

9. Bloc Party - Luno

10. The National - Brainy

11. The Constantines - Young Lions

12. MGMT - Brian Eno

13. Contrived - I Don't Ever Want To Get Married

14. Fugazi - Epic Problem

15. Do Make Say Think - The Universe!

16. Refused - The Deadly Rhythm

17. Maserati - Show Me The Season

18. Spoon - Jonathon Fisk

19. DEVO - Uncontrollable Urge

20. Shad - Keep Shining

21. Elvis Costello - No Action

22. The Inflation Kills - Bad Wolf

23. Trans Am - I Want It All

24. Modest Mouse - Bury Me With It

25. Think About Life - Sofa-bed

BDK Interview - Paul Banwatt

photo : Marc Hodge

I posted about Paul Banwatt (of The Rural Alberta Advantage and Woodhands) back in June. Figuring that he might not be that hard to get a hold of (he wasn't), I sought him out for an interview. Here it is.

1. What drummers (local or otherwise) influenced your particular style growing up?

Steve Shelly, John Bonham and Mitch Mitchell. And I still respectfully rip them off every day.

2. What was the musical climate like when you started playing in bands?

I started playing in the Mississauga and Brampton high school band scene. I love how DIY it is for kids who want to put on shows but are not welcome in most bars. You find every space that will have you - rec centers, churches, friends' basements. I'm sure it is still the same way today. The only sad part is that it creates a separation between the kids and the adults.

3. How does your approach differ between your two projects (RAA and Woodhands)?

They are very different bands, but they are each fronted by an extremely talented songwriter. There is something universal about great songwriting, regardless of genre. I think I try my best to pull each band towards the same middle-ground, which is less boring than it sounds.

The RAA BFF4EVA

photo : Patrick Leduc

4. Is there any particular gear or equipment you have an attachment to?

I have grown very fond of my pearly Rhythm Traveller. I am using it in a way that it was not intended, but it is holding up like a champ. And with new heads and hardware, it is a sturdy little kit.

5. What kind of process do you use when working out rhythms?

I start by listening to vocal melodies and blocking out everything else. Ideally, I like it when my drums compliment and accent the vocals. Then, I listen to everything else that is happening to out the rest of the rhythm. Neither band I play in has a bass player, and I feel like that gives me a little bit more freedom rhythmically.

6. Your approach on some of the RAA songs is fairly involved for that particular genre, are you ever asked to tone it down?

All the time. But honestly, even more often I am asked to be more crazy. No one will believe me, but it is often me telling Nils that I don't want to ruin his beautiful songs by playing something too insane. It is one reason why I love playing in that band though. We will let each other try anything, no matter how strange, before rejecting it. And we all can have input on every aspect of a song.

7. What are some albums you feel are underrated in terms of drumming or percussion?

I'm not sure if it is underrated, but the drumming on Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca is incredible.

Next on the docket perhaps?

8. Do you have any particular rituals on tour to keep your energy up and stay motivated?

No rituals. I just need 8 hours of sleep. I also try to limit the amount of time I spend in venues. If I spend the whole day in the venue before playing, I feel less excited.

9. Is there any particular recordings you've done that you are most proud of?

I have always liked Drain The Blood, just because I didn't quite know how to play the beat I could hear in my head for that song, so I worked on it and learned it. I am better at it now than I was then, so it is fun for me to listen to that and feel like I am still improving.

"hey wait, what if we tried the rhythm method?"

Paul will be coming to the Maritimes when Woodhands plays the Evolve festival at the end of the month. Make sure you take a break from the hula hooping and fire dancing and go see them, it'll be worth it.

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

There is something about this album that is inherently Canadian. It's slower paced than most indie rock records, and it's a little noisier, but it is extremely well orchestrated from start to finish. It's the perfect record to listen to if you're driving through the rockies in Alberta, or the farms of Manitoba, or the rolling hills of Quebec, or even the shoreline of the East Coast. It's feels like it came out of nowhere, from everywhere. This has been a good year so for Canadian music, and it's because of quality albums like this that our bands are getting international recognition. The Besnard Lakes are in the running for the coveted $20 000 Polaris Prize, and by golly, I think they might just win it, and so do other people. (read Halifax is Burning's Polaris predictions here).

Now, I talk about myself probably a little too much on here, but I don't care. Why should you listen to me if you don't have any grasp of my own experiences as a drummer right? Right.

Ok. There are two things that I used to do all of the time that I don't do so much anymore. They are:

1. Practice drums.

and

2. Play drums along to records.

However last week I found myself in an empty room with a drum kit, a PA, and an hour to kill before the rest of the guys showed up. I hooked up my iPod to the PA, put this album on, and learned how to play the whole thing. It didn't hurt that I had been listening to it non stop for the last three weeks.

It gave me a whole new respect for this album. Kevin Laing's smoothness as a drummer is really what gives this record it's relaxed but strong feel. I could lock into his playing really easily but I could never hit the transitions as well as him, the timing is flawless. He has incredible time, and he really knows how to draw out parts by adding small variables as songs progress.

He can keep songs marching forward, like And This Is What We Call Progress where he plays the same pattern through the whole song with small washes of cymbals and tom builds thrown in once in a while to accent the vocal. He can also stretch and maneuver around time fairly fluently. In Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent his snare rolls leading into the chorus give a brief taste of off time, only to come in perfectly on the first hit of the chorus.

His patience as a player also really stands out. He waits almost five whole minutes before coming in on Light Up The Night, bursting through the dense noise at the end of the song to carry the weight of it the rest of the way. The way his kick drum locks into the bass keeps everything grounded while vocal parts soar over top, definitely something that would be incredible to see live, which I'm hoping to do when The Besnard Lakes come to town with Wintersleep in the fall.

You should probably come too. it's going to be loud.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

The lo-fi recording techniques Broken Social Scene had been using for their albums used to really piss me off. Sure, it worked when BSS was more of an idea than a band, sort of a recording project between friends, but once everything took off it made no sense to keep making albums in the same fashion.

For those of you who don't know who Broken Social Scene are (I know you're out there, it's ok) I'll give a short, slightly confusing rundown to get you up to speed.

- There is a band called Broken Social Scene.

- Originally started as a recording project between Kevin Drew and Brenden Canning, it sort of developed into a giant band full of some of the best talent Canada has to offer in this modern musical climate (Feist, Emily Haines of Metric, most of Stars, some of Do Make Say Think, and Bill Priddle, the guy who apparently made Treble Charger awesome because they sure went to shit after he left).

- In 2002 due to the critical and slight commercial success of their second album You Forgot it in People, they were actually able to make some money, and they found themselves in a better position than 95% of Canadian indie bands.

- The success of BSS alumni bands like Metric and Stars kept people interested for the next few years, and the international success of member Leslie Feist's second solo album in 2004 brought them even more attention. The influx of cash into their shared label Arts & Crafts didn't hurt either.

- Anticipation for the follow up record was high among critics and consumers alike. Unfortunately for lack of a better term, it kind of sucked. I mean, it's still better than probably anything I've done, but for the potential that was there it was lackluster. Then Broken Social Scene broke up. Sort of.

- Now they're back. Sort of.

I'm telling you all of this because every mistake that was made on the follow-up record has been corrected and improved upon with their new album, Forgiveness Rock Record. This is the album they should have put out in 2005, but better late than never.

They kept the best parts of their recording techniques and really improved on my biggest gripe with their previous albums, the drums. Justin Peroff has always been an incredible drummer, but his ability would sometimes get buried in the lo-fi marshes of the Broken Social Scene "sound". Finally he gets the huge drum sound he deserves, and it makes for a much more full bodied album (This probably has to do a lot with hiring drummer John McEntire of Tortoise to produce).

Justin is in great form on this whole album. When he alternates between a snare rim/tom pattern and a huge half time rock beat on the opening track, World Sick it sets the pace for the rest of the record, which has some fairly epic songs. He keeps things straight on Meet Me In The Basement, and he uses well timed shots to really send the song off. He can rock it when he has to, like on Forced To Love, or he can keep it buried, like the mixture of drums and electronics in Texico Bitches. I Think my favorite part of the whole album is when the drums come in amid the up tempo eletro beat in Chase Scene, but really this whole record makes me excited. It's nice to see BSS found the right balance of proper and experimental recording, and it's even nicer to hear the intricate playing of Justin Peroff without having to put my stereo on 9.