Home at last

The first time the Purdie Shuffle was splained to me was about ten years ago by the man himself. Well, not directly but when the focus of the Classic Albums special on "Aja" shifted towards his contributions I was easily drawn in.

If you're not familiar with the drummer skip ahead to the 2:25 mark of this video. You'll get a bit of his background from the person who loves talking about him the most. Himself. Don't be put off, though, as the man has earned his right to brag.

COME ON. How could anyone resist that man?! For a more isolated breakdown check out the next video and try not get too hypnotized by his shoulder movements. You'd be hard pressed to find another drummer who lays down a more solid, ghost-noted, confident groove.

Due to the beat being so unique it really jumps out if I hear someone else interpret it. One example is Toto's Jeff Porcarro who used it for the song "Rosana". He explains his method in the next video:

I'm not about to pretend that I'm a Toto aficionado and my knowledge of them goes no further than listening to the cut Africa from their record "IV", which my parent's owned on cassette. However what really gives me a jolt is when I notice the Purdie Shuffle in metal songs.

Check out Martin Axenrot's use of the pattern in the Opeth song Hessian Peel. He introduces it at the 2:12 mark so don't be a lazy bimbo and just start the video from the beginning, instead of skipping ahead.

Pretty great, oui?

I wish I had a bunch of examples of the shuffle in metal but I only have two and the next one is the reason I bothered writing this post, because it's a new song. Abe Cunningham of the Deftones uses the beat pretty sparingly in the first single Rocket Skates from their new record but it's in there enough to have caught my attention.

Give it up for Mr Purdie.

Twennehten

Everyone wants to have something to say and frustratingly for the most part the web gives them the opportunity to have their own platform. The result? Dead blogs everywhere. The information super-highway is littered with rotted out web-journal roadkill.
Not that this is much of a concern as the majority of what has passed as creativity lately is to simply copy and paste links to embed videos:



...or to add not-funny to semi-funny captions to not-funny, semi-funny, or already funny pictures.

Combine all of these things with the trend of 200+ blurry and repeating pictures in a vacation album posted on facebook and we’re left with sympathy for bandwidth and a bad aftertaste from “I couldn’t care less about what the hell is online anymore” sandwiches.

Not like I’m remotely better as this page, aside from a few scattered jabs to its pretzel fueled heart, has been Chaosdeadandburied for years. In fact, I don’t even know if this post is worthwhile considering my unwillingness to commit to a follow-up, and I’m not quite ready to lazily switch over to twitter.com/chaoslame yet.

So to what purpose do I owe this sudden inspiration? I have NO IDEA. Do I have anything remotely new and interesting to say about heavy music and what I like about it? MAYBE?

Let’s see what kind of run-down I can provide.

- Favourite record of 2009: Addicted by Devin Townsend.
Not even really a metal album but the heaviness is there. The guy just delivers some of the most satisfying cuts I’ve ever known. Never one to hold back on vocal and six-stringed inyourfaces he once again proves himself to be arguably the greatest talent in the country although criminally unrecognized by the ones he likely doesn’t care to be recognized by. Even after listening to the song “Numbered” countless times I still almost barf a rabbit when what’s her name starts belting it out at the 3:49 mark.



- Converge
I’m not much of a fan but the first song on the new album can only be compared to taking a hit of Incredible Hulk. I’ve never grocery shopped with so much non-visual tension in my entire life. I was SLAMMING those bagels into my basket (In my mind. Totally normal in real life).
Outstanding production.



- Impious, Death Domination:
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (Read this like each “R” is a snare hit) RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Fine, I get it, blast beats have been appropriated by everyone and has become the new qualifier for crap bands who write “we’re metal…right?” songs, but it’s becoming too much. Impious isn’t one of those bands and in their defense the album is savagely insane, but after 3 songs I can’t get passed the lack of memorable guitar riffage.



- Shannon Lucas:
Is still the new American metronome. I can’t say that I fell for the newest BDM record much but golly does he really let loose. A drummer this consistent is a rare thing and I've watched enough footage of him online to at least get a basic impression that he seems to be a pretty down to earth, overall nice-guy. The video below is nothing short of intimidating.

This:


There you have it. Maybe I’ll be back in a week to a few years or so. Chaosbeard isn’t dead yet.