One of the great tragedies in modern music is that the mediocre often overshadow the exceptional. This is an epidemic in the pop world, but it also permeates the niche markets of the music industry. For example, what names that come to mind when someone mentions progressive rock? Rush? Dream Theater?
Sure, but this blog is about grooves, and neither Neil Pert nor Mike Portnoy could groove themselves out of the way of an oncoming train. That's right, I said it. Neither of those guys have enough soul in their systems to physically play a note behind the beat without being forced by man or machine. And they play a LOT of notes, so there is no lack of opportunity... They're like........ Lars Ulrich, but with talent.
I first heard about Porcupine Tree about 2 years ago during a conversation with a health insurance salesman that cold called me. He was collecting personal info for the policy when I told him I was a musician. Flash forward 20 minutes into our music discussion, and he says "BUY THIS ALBUM. TODAY. YOU MUST TRUST ME. PLEASE, YOUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT." Even though his pitch was reminiscent of a Heaven's Gate devotee trying to convince me to drink the punch first, I blindly took his advice and (*GASP*) bought Porcupine Tree's 2002 release, In Absentia. Check out out The Sound of Muzak from this album:
Gavin Harrison on drums, Colin Edwin on bass, Richard Barbieri on keys, Steven Wilson on guitar.
It's hard to believe that these guys fit in the same genre as Rush and Dream Theater with back beat grooves like these spearheaded by the newest member of the "porc tree" lineup, Gavin Harrison on drums (PLEASE click this link and watch the videos of him playing). His live performance switches between double bass heavy metal riffs and odd-time jazz polyrhythms is a refreshing and inspiring addition to the genre.
Steve Wilson and Porcupine Tree have been at it for over 20 years since their origination in 1987, and only recently received their first major label release in 2002. That's a long time to persevere without significant recognition.
If you like this track, check out their newest album, Fear of a Blank Planet (2006).
A friend and I always toyed around with the fact that we thought "The Murky Depths" was the greatest unusable band name ever... only because when someone announced "PLEASE WELCOME.... THE MURKY DEPTHS!" it would sound like they had a terrible lisp and nobody would ever really know the name of the band.
That's why it seemed appropriate to use it to title my new installment-based-sub-blog about the deepest, stinkiest, funkiest grooves in modern music because all you have to do is read it. Unless you have an internal lisp, in which case you will have a jab to your self esteem every time you read it. I apologize in advance to those of you that fit into this category.
I'll be posting tracks periodically with rhythm sections that blow my mind. Funk, rock, hip hop, jazz, reggae... whatever. Anything that makes people make the "I smell shit" face when they hear it. If you have any suggestions for tracks that should be included in this category, please feel free to contact me - I'll give it a listen!
I'm going to kick things off with the lead track off the album this blog is named after: Kid Charlemagne off Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam":
Bernard Purdie & Chuck Rainey rhythm section. Legendary Larry Carlton guitar solo. Brilliant lyrical content. A+ in my book.
Check out the details about the track here: Wikipedia.