The title of these releases are as straightforward as can be: drumming extraordinaire Mike Pride made a set of recordings of him performing on a marimba this past July, and again on drums during August. This is Pride taking DIY to the extreme, not only in recording these solo, but also in engineering, mixing & mastering these series of improvisations by himself in his home studio. And, he’s selling ’em himself via his Bandcamp site.
Marimba, July and Drums, August are just the first of Pride’s ambitious “one album a month” project that will eventually total twelve long players. They won’t all be solo: some duo, trio and ensemble albums are also planned. It’s a career’s worth of music done in the typical time span of a single release. But Pride is holding nothing back and the whole scheme puts nothing between himself and his audience.
The three solo albums have not just afforded the chance for Pride to just let it all hang out, but to do so on instruments apart from his prime weapon, the drum kit. Another percussive instrument, the marimba, is one of them (the glockenspiel is the other, and that album is now available, too).
Much of the time during Marimba, about the only sound heard is that of Pride’s unvarnished marimbas, which he plays with a lot of muscle. But there are a few odd accessories like the artificial buzz of some night creatures on “Deck .110293148” or some hissing on “Steeping,” and “May Day Barring” has some sort of loop delay with effects applied to add intrigue. Meanwhile, the echoing sonority of “Wizards (for Ralph Bakshi)” is altered for a truly mystical effect.
Drums is more like the Mike Pride we are used to hearing, and he kicks things off with the commanding twenty-minute “Murmur Knifing,” which covers a lot of goodies from his trick bag. That’s followed by more concise performances that sometimes includes more of the odd accompanying samples (“With Bugs”), some percussion instruments a little out of the ordinary (“One Drum Three Gongs, Under Pressure”, “Full Metal Racket”) and a little howling here and there that all helps preclude the monotony of the endless drum solo.
Pick up each of Mike Pride’s twelve albums as they become available on Bandcamp. They can be had for $7.79 each, or $77.79 for the whole dozen once the whole project is completed.
