Happy 4th of July weekend to you and yours.

If you are feeling patriotic tomorrow and this weekend, go pick up some American flag drumsticks and start playing away.

Happy 4th of July to everybody reading this blog. I’ll be back on Monday with more Drum news.

Russian Circles new album “Station” contains a lot of elements you’d expect from the band, which is one of the reasons why its a good record.  The album starts off with the track “Campaign” which begins with a mathy riff set over an ambient droning guitar, and sounds almost too pretty for the band. The song increases its build with many layers of delayed, ambient guitars and eventually gives way to…well…another mathy riff, before Turncrantz cymbal and snare rim hits lead the band into a soft groove followed by a heavy tribal section.

The expectation is one of the best things about this album, just when you think a song is going to get loud and punishing it keeps you guessing and waiting. Turncrantz drumming helps the anticipation build a lot, everything that made the percussion on the first album great is displayed here again…solid grooves, fast fills, cymbal flourishes and heavy tribal tom beats.

I am really enjoying this album, I feel that the band has all evolved as players. The production on this album, once again is great, everything can be heard clearly, when the guitars kick in they are intense, the snare, bass drum and tom sounds are all crystal clear and the bass guitar is punchy as well. I think the band has managed to trump themselves, as I may like this one more than their first album “Enter”.

Another drummer that I’m a big fan of is Aaron Harris of the band Isis. Isis’ music, in case you aren’t familiar, is a blend of post-rock and art rock and has a heavy vibe to it, similar to Tool. A lot of the bands songs have large portions with no vocals, when there are vocals, they are more tonal than traditional, usually not emphasizing words but sounds.

Aaron Harris is the pulse of the band. Usually emphasizing weird accents and including a lot of syncopation into his playing, he tends to push and pull the songs, a bit like a jazz player.  His drumming through odd time sections is usually keeping a steady, simple yet effective approach, until Isis’ last album “In The Absence of Truth”.

After becoming good friends with Tool drummer Danny Carey, as well as tour mates, Aaaron Harris’ playing became noticeably more complex and involved.  His playing on this album defintily shows Danny Carey’s influence but also some new techniques all together. I highly recommend checking out his drumming on this album, it is some of the best I’ve heard in the past few years.

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*(Photo courtesy of Heilsound.com)