The Beat Fantastic is a new 12" single by Blake Fleming the drummer for among others The Mars Volta, Laddio Bolocko and the Dazzling Killmen, Blake played produced, mixed and recorded everything himself before Andris Balins mastered it all. Due to the experimental nature of this 12" my review may not reflect which actual track was playing as I wrote about it, this has been mixed and remixed in the spirit of the sounds on the record.
The A-side opens with the sturm un drang of First Transmission ambient squalls without cones, dark strings and hand drums take us into Dessert Frame One with changing outer space noises leading to a drum freak out, with heavy ink Blake finds inspiration in tandem with The Girl With The Electric Pants. Shape shifting shard like beats signal Devolution Revolution Evolution snares for military two step patterns, distinctly searching for a different sort of change to what was on offer at the ballot box.
Desert Frame Two making sure we all Get Up with several ways to get down into the groove being manipulated around us, allowing time slip away like a distressed metronome in conflict with the bass drum, making a bed to freestyle over. Tunes slip and slide into each other, one instrumental woven between the other ones, a twanged bassline out does it. Funky riddims, tambourine beat, lots of percussive gymnastics rumble on. Tonal shifts into a darker realm systemically intriguing shifting castanet.
The b side opens with the frantic Drum Killah sending messages across time and distance of ancient troubles manifesting a new, tribal synaptic sounds click into place, visions of Mani lead toward Dense Jaki polyrhythmic universes open to deny hatred connected to ancient vines rumbling throughout. Propellers swarm through the room, you cover the danger and power of Paleocyberkineticism (For the MC5) stripped to the cowbell. Time to get together doing the Delancey Stomp, minimal blocks expand on that dancefloor, hard as nails riffing beats, bass extolling virtues before The Shadow Cast into new spheres of percussive energy, wide-screen Dr Who expanding universe of sounds, key changes altering perceptions classical inferences to dichotomy un-seen ready for this bedrock to be transformed into a panorama of sound intent.
Find out more at https://blakethedrummer.com/# https://www.facebook.com/blake.fleming.338 https://blakefleming.bandcamp.com/album/the-beat-fantastic
This video will give you an idea of where the album is coming from without actually being a straight video of a tune on the album.
