Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Split Cranium or Discharge
Wikipedia tells me that D-Beat was named after Discharge and is characterized by its distinctive drum beat (see: unrelentingly pounding, small step behind the rhythm instruments). D-Beat is like Crust Punk if Crust Punk is too artsy and doesn't spend enough time singing choruses with phrases like "The fiery father will come down from the sky."
I first heard of D-Beat (which I always hoped stood for Death Beat or something unnecessarily dark) when I discovered Disfear while reading Tom Breihan's old hip-hop blog Status Ain't Hood at the Village Voice. I checked them out because I had never heard of them and because Disfear is clearly an awesome name. I loved it the moment I heard it.
D-Beat is so unrelenting and uncompromising. It's a blunt object, a tidal wave, a rhino driving a dump truck down an icy hill. It's an emotional listen, to be sure. There's not a whole lot going on, yet it demands your attention in a way more simple and atmospheric music never can. I can't say it makes me angry or tense or anything other than mildly amused. If you are in the right place, it's a good time.
This is my latest find, thanks to the AV Club's Loud feature, which is one of their better pieces of music journalism.
# posted by seventeennightsinthecity @ 9:09 AM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]