{"id":805171,"date":"2020-03-12T11:21:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T17:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=966240"},"modified":"2020-03-12T11:21:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T17:21:35","slug":"hear-pearl-jam-melvins-blondie-drummers-team-up-on-experimental-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/hear-pearl-jam-melvins-blondie-drummers-team-up-on-experimental-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Hear Pearl Jam, Melvins, Blondie Drummers Team Up on Experimental Track"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For around 20 years, Toshi Kasai has been a fixture in the world of heavy, offbeat rock. He\u2019s engineered and played guitar and keyboards for the Melvins<\/a> and various projects in their orbit, along with dozens of other acts. Now he\u2019s launched a solo project, Plan D, built around Melvins drum ace Dale Crover and other giants of rock percussion, including Pearl Jam\u2019s Matt Cameron<\/a> and Blondie<\/a>\u2019s Clem Burke.<\/p>\n

Plan D finds Kasai melding live drums with triggered analog synths to create dense experimental soundscapes. The results will be heard on four limited-edition 12-inches due out this year from Joyful Noise, as well as in the digital format. The first release, SW<\/em> \u2014 named, like the others, for directions of the compass and featuring treasure-map-style artwork by Mackie Osborne \u2014 is out in April and features contributions from Crover, Cameron, Burke, Big Business\u2019 Coady Willis, Qui\u2019s Paul Christensen, former Shins and Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer and Troy Zeigler, who has worked with Serj Tankian and Juliette Lewis.<\/p>\n

The first track to be revealed from SW, <\/em>\u201cGolden Voyage,\u201d starts out with tumbling beats blended with ominous synth lines, which become increasingly scrambled as the drumming grows more hectic. Later, the track breaks into a prog-like series of shifting synth-drums passages, as different drummers come to the fore.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was listening to a soundcheck take I recorded with Dale on DAT,\u201d Kasai says of the origins of the project in a new teaser video that shows his studio setup with its many synths and pedals. \u201d I thought the drums themselves [were] singing and I was wondering if I could trigger some other instruments by the individual hit of the drum take and put some notes over it. Around the same time, I was really getting into analog synthesizers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explains how he tried sending the drum audio through a vintage synth before finding a Moog that was better suited to the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlan D is a musical demonstration built for dimension, duration and dynamics,\u201d Kasai says in a press release. \u201cMy long-time desire became real and it\u2019s even better than I planned because of the support from talented, experienced drummers. The unique and individual styles of drumming each tell a different story. It became an experimental, conceptual project. I directed their stories by writing notes on the synthesizer and triggering them by drum hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToshi Kasai understands us drummers,\u201d Matt Cameron says of the project in the release. \u201cThis amazing collection of drum vignettes is a perfect example of how Toshi hears the music in our rhythmic patterns. I am not sure how he did it, something including MIDI I presume, but none of that matters, Plan D stands on its own as a completely new musical entity and I\u2019m super proud to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other renowned drummers will be featured on future volumes in the EP series. In a whiteboard shown in the studio video, we see names such as C. Smith, G. Bissonette and M. Chamberlain, suggesting that we may hear contributions from the Red Hot Chili Peppers\u2019 Chad Smith, live and studio veteran Gregg Bissonette and Matt Chamberlain, who has worked with everyone from A Perfect Circle to Bruce Springsteen. For more info on the project, visit Joyful Noise\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n