A Serendipitous Lapse in Common Sense
You enter a rock club somewhere in upstate New York. At a distance you can already feel the tremor of a thumping kick under a palpable wave of bass, the brooding muted chug of a thrashy rhythm guitar, and the occasional eruption of a beaming shred solo over the top of it all. Intrigued, you dodge and weave your way toward the stage to check out the line-up. Catching a brief opening amid the mass of revelers, you push upfront to take in the scene. To your surprise, the spotlight is occupied by only two musicians locked in one epic duel of unrelenting melodic riffage; on the right, shiny head bobbing above his white Carvin DC127 is Danimal Cannon, brow furrowed in concentration as his flying fingers carve out another face-melting retort. On the left, eerily still as he grunts back with a barrage of plosive percussion and serrated synth, is his unlikely companion: a Nintendo Game Boy. You heard right–the unmistakable source of this imposing wall of sound is no more or less than one man and his hand-held.
You see, luckily for us, in conceiving Roots, the new full length release from Ubiktune records, Danimal Cannon seems to have suffered from a serendipitous lapse in common sense: he saw no reason why one guitar and a Game Boy can’t sound like a five piece band. He saw no reason why Prog-Rock, Metal, Electro and Pop couldn’t be woven seamlessly into a one album that nonetheless declares a sound of it’s own. And he saw no reason why Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata shouldn’t be thrown in for good measure. No, Danimal Cannon couldn’t see why any of these unlikely factors shouldn’t add up to one bad-ass solo debut. And now, one powerhouse record later, neither can I.
In fact, the irreverent approach in Roots hangs together so well, so organically, that you tend to forget, as you bounce your way through it’s deep and dynamic grooves, just how much musical ground has been covered. That’s because, no matter how extreme it’s stylistic transitions Danimal Cannon knows to let one thing lead the way: the music. Unconcerned with genre tags, he follows the groove where it takes him, perpetually playing with time, tempo and texture–sometimes landing squarely in an established genre only to tweak it into some twilight hybrid that defies ready categorization, but with such finess that you barely notice a change. Always present, grounding it’s stylistic forays is some energetic and compelling groove which, whether it’s a four-on-the-floor dance hall thump or a glitchy prog-style 7/8, functions like a musical navigator, lending to the music a sense of fluidity, cohesion and ease.
But above all, this record just plain rocks. It’s finer nuances are grounded in a fun-loving energy that can be appreciated by music journalists and arena rockers alike. This rare balance–it’s subtle yet unpretentious quality– gives Danimal Cannon’s music an unusually broad appeal that will no doubt take him far. To be sure, Roots is a strong recommendation to all chip fans, prog and otherwise.
By John Tiberio, Megabeep
The record is due out December 1st, available at Danimal Cannon’s Bandcamp site and at Ubiktune.org
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