Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Drones of North America

I don't entirely know what to make of this band. All I can say, with any certainty is that I think like minded individuals should get on this
But what do I mean by "Like minded"? I  mean people who like very loud guitar rock that dips into hybrid pools. There are post-hardcore elements, there are metal elements, there are even a few noise and punk elements. 
To describe them, I want you to imagine a country. Call it "Outoftheloopistan" or "Backwardia", but the idea is this- imagine a place where they have no first-hand knowledge of all the minute subgenres being purveyed on Bandcamp. All they have is a music shop that sells  only punk rock instruments, and they can recall hearing some doom metal, and and a math metal track or two, when they were visiting friends in more civilized places. Got that? This is the noise they would make. From video evidence, there are Rickenbacker and Telecaster instruments, and they're a three piece. While I can hear that, there are also sections that sound, for all the world like an Ibanez guitar with a humbucker, and a Fender P-bass- so, I don't know how to give you my standard spiel- the overall impression is that unlike others who talk about torturing their instruments- these guys have made their instruments dance in ways they weren't meant to. I think it's in Exodus, somewhere : "Thou shalt Not maketh thy Telecaster to play Doom Metal melodies". I could be wrong, but I think it's there, in some translations. The vocals are in the Fugazi school of yelling in ways that approximate being in key, without ever being in key. 
What I'm saying is that it's really good stuff, but it blows out my mind, by defying my expectations in multiple ways- much like Tyranny is Tyranny- it defies both the band it comes from ( members were in straight metalcore bands before) and my preconceived notions of what are logical progressions. So, I'm still processing. But, I think you should process it, too.

8 comments:

  1. OK. I'm intrigued. Will check it out...

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  2. Rusty- the only way it won't be your thing is if it's too familiar- I really could hear these guys on a bill with you- lyrically, nowhere near as advanced, but still...

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  3. Listening now. Good stuff. I like the vocals especially because they're more hardcore/emo sing-shout than straight-up noiserock yelling. The production is a bit disappointing though. It seems somehow, I dunno, flat... soft... Not barbed or vicious enough. Not even halfway through though and I know I will be downloading and listening again, more than once. Thanks for the heads up. Great find.

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    1. Glad you like it- yeah, it's got traces of a sludge metal demo- bass gets a bit farty, sometimes the attack on the riffing gets a bit swallowed- which I'm ok with hearing for a Bandcamp release. And I prefer that to the V shaped mixing on most Metal stuff. A warning though- this Tweedy guy's stuff on his own? Not.my.thing.

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  4. "Andrew Tweedy, former guitarist/vocalist for Buried Inside, has a new band called Drones of North America." -- http://lambgoat.com/bits/7098/Drones-of-North-America-debuts-new-song

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  5. Dude Chronoclast by Buried Inside is an amazing record.

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    1. I'll give it a shot. Metalcore usually ain't my thing, though

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  6. Definitely not metalcore. ugh. no. More like hardcore-influenced post-metal.

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