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Daniel Menche, "Animality"
The mad man from the Pacific Northwest creates an album based solely on the sound of Native American percussion, with the processed results as wild as the roaring bear that adorns the album's sleeve.
Daniel Menche has been involved in the experimental/noise scene for a number of years and still continues to change his style and approach, resulting in a massive body of work that never comes across as stagnant or dull. My previous exposure to his work has been of his more physical variety, being based on loops of contact mic'd metal percussion run through batteries of effects, and sound sourced from his own body. Hearing that this was a percussion centered album, I was curious as to how this instrument based approach would be, and I must say I'm quite thrilled.
The album opens with what amounts to raw percussion, no effects or anything, just the sound of the drum. The untreated percussion does not last, however, as Menche soon piles on the effects. The drum sounds are manipulated to resemble woodpeckers, gamelan percussion, etc. It is one of those albums that each listen brings a new revelation, a part of the track that wasn't heard the previous time that makes you wonder if that really is just the sound of a drum you're hearing.
You can hear a world of native percussion in Animality. Beyond the obvious Native American sounds, there is Indonesian gamelan, African ritual drums, Japanese Noh sounds, etc. It shows the universal and primitive animal nature of percussion. Although Menche is often associated with the so called "noise" scene, Animality never reaches the ear-shredding harshness associated with that genre, it has so much more depth than just shrill feedback and electronic roars. The sound of percussion from all over the world is on this album, even if it is just Mr. Menche, a drum, and a bank of effects. It's a brilliant disc right down the the excellent packaging: a cardstock folder that the CD "pops up" from upon opening. Both the label and Menche get high praise.
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