Woah. Big thanks to all Ukraine fans for two of the most amazing gigs ever. A pointer to the west - eastern europe has VERY tight online communities that actually pay attention (and trade LOTS of files)… & just because you don’t sell records there doesn’t mean you’re unknown. the russian language forums had been trading my tunes around like crazy and i had no idea, and a BIG following had been building up over the past two years. Kiev @ Cinema Club - hundreds of people outside the club before doors had even opened, madness…… absolute connection & enthusiasm from the people. Dnipropetrovsk - Jungle party of dreams. Oh my. a sea of people rocking out - everyone singing along - pretty dready girls - lots of dudes screaming for Drumcorps … signed autographs for what seemed like hours. who brought that 10 pound solid metal urn samovar to sign??? wtf?? They had told me Dnipropetrovsk would be more underground and they were right - it was down a few flights in a bomb shelter / bunker, straight up raw. no disco balls or fog machine nonsense - under yellow halos of the sodium lights - but all loving it…. the stage here was in the middle of the floor - a writhing sea of people on three sides - i was really low to the ground and basically in the people, no borders.i like playing these raw spaces better than normal clubs even though they’re always a huge pain the the ass logistic-wise - it’s a horrible stressful mess setting up over piles of everyone else’s gear & beehives of important-looking electrical cables everywhere - certainly not the nice clean comfy stage you get at a proper festival or club. but being all up in everyone’s face gives me a sense of urgency & energy that you can’t get any other way - and it comes out in the music. thanks ukraine, both gigs were truly special. will be back soon.
12.23.07
tokafi.com // pure, unchannelled energy
deafsparrow.com// Drumcorps gets to me because even its drum and bass backbone has a real feel to it, like it is truly flesh and bones, not machine made or mass manufactured
invisibleoranges.com // Drumcorps appeals to me, and not just because he samples metal; DHR and gabber have done that already. Rather, Drumcorps fuses metal and drum & bass without trying to be either… Hyper-chopped breakbeats explode and mutate through shuddering edits. Drums and guitars pitch up and down through timestretching that wallows in gritty digital artifacts. Songs veer through various speeds and time signatures, with ambient bits in between. Bands sampled include Botch, Converge, and other sources I couldn’t place. Unlike your average over-produced d&b 12″, Drumcorps lets the grit and edges hang out
disquiet.com // Grist builds on the legacy of metal-tronic hybrids like Godflesh; it switches gears expertly, locating choice samples amid the riffage of Slayer and the splattered beats of Drum & Bass
liarsociety.tripod.com // Drumcorps advances the evolution of extreme mechanical music a step or two. Owing an equal debt to Big Black and Slayer, Grist is really the album Ministry should have made by now. Other bands have merged a hurricane of guitars with an electric chair of spasmatic breaks, but this is the first time I’ve heard it fused and explored so successfully over the length of an entire disc
12.20.07
woah. so many thoughts.. the gig - what a connection. people were open. some mad disorganization regarding many aspects of the club, but it all worked out in the end. (not without a significant amount of effort..) the land - woah. there’s something immediately humbling about stepping onto ground pulsing with history, a place where people have lived, built, and died for thousands of years. i don’t get this feeling in berlin because everything was destroyed and rebuilt new in ww2… and i DEFINITELY never got it growing up in the usa, where 100 years is considered ancient history. in old city jerusalem we walked the streets of the souk, stones worn smooth by thousands of years’ foot traffic, crumbling roman columns, a spot on a wall jesus supposedly touched, its stone worn smooth by two thousand years of pilgrims also touching it. the western wall… regardless of your personal beliefs, you can’t escape a feeling of quiet reverence… the people - first off - being jewish anywhere else around the world, you feel like a weirdo. nothing fits, nothing is built for your weirdo frame or complexion, you gradually learn that the rules of the christian west don’t apply to you. i’d never seen a group of jews larger than a few hundred and that was only at temple. in IL, it felt like coming home. the women are dark & beautiful, the food tastes unreal delicious like it’s custom tailored for your taste buds… even dreadlocks aren’t so unusual. people on the street look at you in an accepting neutral way, not a “woah who’s that” way. subtle differences. i can see how it’s easy to fall into the trap of becoming one of those obnoxious and dangerous american zionists. i harbor no illusions of goodness - i know israel is guilty of some of the worst atrocities - i walked the streets in sabra, lebanon a few years ago… the west bank separation barrier is visible from mount zion. ak47s all around, with spare clips dangling, the bullets neatly packed and visible… everyone gets along - for now - but you’re filled with the sense that at any moment it could all go up in flames. a country the size of new jersey surrounded by enemies. the immediacy of death makes people treat each other well though - eye contact and love - but a constant feeling of “oh shit” pervades. what a cool place, i can’t wait to go back. we met the grandson of jacobo timerman (1, 2), he’s totally into ragga jungle and spins all the tunes. a lot of kids have absolutely amazing tattoos - if i get work done thinking of going there. (not germany, plahhh…) big up and massive respect to the sensi sound crew, big thx to friends for showing us around jerusalem. music connections mean even more in such a place.
12.19.07
Drumcorps & Aaron Spectre recent press.pdf [1.4 MB]
articles & reviews from Vice, XLR8R, Pitchfork, Knowledge
Aaron Spectre Lost Tracks press kit [4 MB]
Lost Tracks promo sheet, high res art, high res photo, bio
Aaron Spectre press kit.zip [4 MB]
high res photo & bio, more jungle/breakcore oriented
Drumcorps press kit.zip [5 MB]
high res photo & art & bio
12.11.07
