#123
“Like The Dust Under A Mother’s Knife” with Leif Elggren
A fantastic live recording with a fantastic collaborator. “Like The Dust Under A Mother’s Knife” is one long piece. It starts off with the noises (presumably provided by KD solo) in the background as Leif Elggren speaks some meandering free verse for about 20 minutes, which includes some repeated phrases and recurring images. You’ll hear the title spoken shortly after the 7-minute mark, in case you’re seeking that out. I had to turn the sound way up to hear Leif clearly. Then, for the last half hour, the electronics get louder and louder; so much so that I found I had to continually bring down the volume. I’m guessing this is where Kevin and Leif are having a conversation through noise generation, although it could still be KD alone. Lots of the things you might expect: Static, buzzing, humming, crackling, sparks, drones, etc. There is a real intense energy to the noise part of the proceedings. This is available through the JMY page on Bandcamp.
Shame on me, but I was not familiar with Leif Elggrem previously; now that I’ve listened and explored, I’m a huge fan. He’s an artist who has worked in many disciplines. But what really caught my attention is that he is the cofounder of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland (KREV) where he is one of two kings. Some detail of KREV from their website: “The Kingdoms…were proclaimed in 1992…[KREV] is the largest – and most populous realm on Earth, incorporating all boundaries between other nations as well as Digital Territory and other states of existence. Every time you travel somewhere, and every time you enter another form, such as the dream state, you visit Elgaland-Vargaland.” Outlandish and awesome.
Rating: Kevin Drummmmm
#122
“End Of The Year Tracks #2”
Kevin released several EOY tracks in December 2019, this being one of them. There is also a #1 and #3 released at the same time, but we’ll get to them when we get to them; I won’t fight the random rule I use for this diary. This one starts with an ominous bass drone that carries on in some form for the full term of this piece. A few other-pitched drone sounds are also in mix as this slides along at its leisurely pace. While I wouldn’t say there are any huge changes in the sound throughout, the mood went from ominous to dreamy to hopeful, and then back to ominous at the end. I can’t figure out if there were subtle musical changes that caused this, or if it just something inside my mind that led to these feelings.
Rating: Kevin Drummmmm
#121
“Technology”
The base noise for this piece is skittering electricity; sometimes it’s the main sound, and sometimes it’s more in the background, but always there. Some of the material sounds like the innerworkings of computers when something goes terribly wrong with the hardware. While those may be sounds you don’t want to hear coming from your actual computer, here they help create a sonic experience that seems very alive. Among the thank you’s listed on the release page are Jon Abbey (who runs Erstwhile Records and recently released KD’s “Sheer Hellish Miasma II”) and VOIVOD (who have an album called “Killing Technology” but I don’t know how/if that relates here; maybe they are just pals).
Rating: Kevin Drummmm
#120
“Battering Rams”
The cover of this album looks to me like a father and son exhibiting some tension and/or emotional distance. Combine that with the title and I was poised for loud noise. Instead, this almost feels like a mini four-track story told in sound. The ambient-industrial of “Fire” starts us off with the sound of junk metal being moved around mixed with drones. “Glory Once Only” is barely-there incidental music for a horror movie, serving as a palate cleanser for the two longer tracks to follow. In “Dreams Now Major Events” there is a slow, steady, subtle build of tension over 12 minutes. Finally, “Old Shoes” carries us with a more peaceful and relaxing feel. Maybe all is forgiven in the end. Or maybe this is just a collection of interesting music with no deeper meaning than the sound.
Rating: Kevin Drummmmm
#119
“Be Like A Tree”
There are three tracks here coming in at a little over 14 minutes each. The first and third tracks, “Be Like A Tree I” and “Be Like A Tree II,” are (spoiler alert!) similar. They both feature nice building drones and sustained tones that flow and overlap. I imagined I was eavesdropping in on a forest of trees communicating through their root system and contributing to the hum of the earth. Both tracks felt slightly unsettled but, if it was indeed the trees communicating, why wouldn’t they be? The middle track on this album, “A Stranger In Town,” is a similar vibe, but I noticed some very subtle pulsing. My problem with the middle track is a personal one; some of the sound composition used didn’t mesh will with my tinnitus, so I ended up more distracted than focused. As always, your mileage may vary.
Rating: Kevin Drummm
#118
“Lightest Elements” Cassette 22 of 40
For details of this diary entry, see this post.
Rating: Kevin Drummmmm
#117
“The Western Buzzer”
A relatively relaxed mix of bubbling static, feedback and tone waves up and down the scale. Perhaps the title and photo are suggesting that some sort of modified vintage Western Electric buzzer system was involved in creating the sounds. In a weird way, it all sounded like an extreme deconstruction of the electronic parts of the song “Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group. Go figure. Aside from the sounds, the other interesting thing about this piece is the rabbit hole it sent me down. In the notes on the release, there are just a couple links to the JMY Music on Bandcamp. There I discovered some more Drumm material, including an intriguing cassette only release that, of course, I had to order. More on all that soon.
Rating: Kevin Drummmm
#116
“All the Voices”
I’m finally listening to a new one from the expansive Drumm catalogue. This hunk of harsh showed up in my Bandcamp collection a few days ago as Kevin’s latest release. It’s one 20+ minute track of abrasive noise with occasional vocals; absolutely indecipherable vocals way down in the mix, but vocals nonetheless. Oh, then there’s that hard stop with a few minutes left as the track runs out to something that sounds like someone typing on a computer next to a campfire. Burn, baby, burn.
Rating: Kevin Drummm
#115
“Winter”
This was released Christmas Day 2024. In the spirit of the season the cover art offers a small festive scene. The notes for this release include: “Regards to the DC-Offset Police.” My limited research indicates that DC Offset relates to the removal of DC components from recorded audio signals. Did Kevin want the DC? Did he have trouble removing it? Is this recording made up of DC components? What does this all mean? No idea; I’ll need to refer you to one of your sound engineer friends for help with the technical aspects. As for the music…“Winter” is one half-hour track that sounds like several electronic hurdy gurdy drones intertwined with very slightly varied pitches. I would describe the experience of listening as mesmerizing ambient with a slight edge to it. It’s a really good Xmas present.
Rating: Kevin Drummmmm
#114
“Nothing Under A Microscope”
Time to get back to the Drumm Diary. And what better way to dip my toe back in the Kevin Drumm waters than with the shortest release I’ve listened to so far. This is a 5-minute ditty that was released on a compilation in 2024. It is a drone-based track that comes on like a deep and distorted electric guitar chord. Occasional “strums” keep the heavy intensity going. There also seem to be chattering metal crickets, plus a voice (sample?) buried way down underneath. It all ends like a controlled building demolition explosion. I couldn’t help thinking this would be an awesome walk-on piece for a really heavy band to play before they kick off their set. This is so good it has earned the coveted Trapezoid “5 m’s” and it also inspired me to sign up for an annual KD subscription…you should too.
Rating: Kevin Drummmmm