Justin DeHart: Landfall (Rattle)

 |   |  1 min read

The New Music Dance (composer Robert Bryce)
 Justin DeHart: Landfall (Rattle)

Many decades ago when this writer had a free-format radio show playing whatever music took his fancy, for perverse pleasure and to elicit a response, he would play tracks by the percussion ensemble From Scratch.

Within a couple of minutes the calls would come in requesting – demanding actually – that they be taken off.

From Scratch were a group which worked best when seen rather than just heard. It's a problem for most listeners when drumming/percussion is uncoupled from the visual experience of seeing it created.

Only hardcore Led Zeppists could listen to John Bonham's solos, same for Cream fans with Ginger Baker, although to be fair the latter did translate pretty well to record for the Wheels of Fire album.

So here, on this album subtitled New Zealand Percussion Volume 1, the internationally acclaimed American percussion player and lecturer/academic Justin DeHart – now a resident teacher at the University of Canterbury – presents 11 pieces from a variety of local composers including Glenda Keam, David Downes, Simon Eastwood and Chris Gendall. Some of these names will be familiar to Elsewhere readers.

It is the diversity of the writers and their distinctive approaches which gets this collection well past the preconceptions of “drum solo” or “percussion ensemble”.

Here DeHart is offered compositions which explore sounds from the expected (skins'n'cymbals) through melodic marimba, chimes, gamelan-influenced art music and stones slapped together to objects made from wood and ceramics.

Objects are scraped and caressed (Plateaux) as much as hit, and DeHart coaxes real tension/release in many of these pieces.

The background to each of these different pieces is helpfully explored at the Rattle website here which we recommend.

Special interest listening for sure, and doubtless better witnessed than simply heard.

But because of their melodic and sonic qualities, this writer would readily play many of these pieces on radio

Not just to elicit a reaction (the switchboard would light up) but to introduce music by New Zealand composers performed by an internationally respected artist which rewards close attention.

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here

.

These Further Outwhere pages are dedicated to sounds beyond songs, ideas outside the obvious, possibiltiies far from pop. Start the challenge here.


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Further Outwhere articles index

ROTOR PLUS INTERVIEWED (2014): The slow music movement

ROTOR PLUS INTERVIEWED (2014): The slow music movement

One of the most interesting albums/projects Elsewhere heard last year came from a New Zealand artist who goes under the name Rotor Plus (variously rotor plus, rotor +). With the release of the... > Read more

Alan Brown: Murmur (Rattle Seventh House Music/bandcamp)

Alan Brown: Murmur (Rattle Seventh House Music/bandcamp)

Keyboard player Alan Brown's recent ambient and improvised work has frequently found favour at Elsewhere because he often steps beyond the Eno-obvious and into rather more allusive soundscapes.... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE BARGAIN BUY: The Real Count Basie; The Ultimate Collection (Sony)

THE BARGAIN BUY: The Real Count Basie; The Ultimate Collection (Sony)

The Count Basie Orchestra -- which plays a short New Zealand tour in a fortnight -- must be one of the longest running jazz outfits anywhere. In the current line-up they have players appointed by... > Read more

THE JESUS PAPERS by MICHAEL BAIGENT: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here

THE JESUS PAPERS by MICHAEL BAIGENT: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here

When the court case between two of the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and Dan Brown, author of The DaVinci Code, was being played out in London a couple of years ago, commentators... > Read more