What is KEVIN DRUMM up to?

please god tell me what else sounds like 'impish tyrant,' something metal. chrrrrriiiist...

unbelievable stuff. i really wonder what he's up to. i think he played at some things but i lost track...

there's a cd collaboration between him and prurient that just came out. reissue of a cassette. still 'evil' apparently.

oh cool thanks for the info, will check out.

so, who's heard imperial distortion? I'm.... not sure what I think of it.

the various descriptions sound good to me, a left turn from Sheer Hellish Miasma but hey...it's KD, it surely is good

mine is in the mail

it's very similar to the "snow" tape (and actually includes both sides). so if you were into that, you'll most likely be into this as well.

but I got it from the prurient dude's table at no fun fest and he's like, "this is crushing. just brutal. I've been trying to release it for years." so, that just set off the SHM comparisons in my head right then and there and imperial distortion is really a pretty different beast. kind of like the subtle background details from SHM with everything else stripped out.

it's just so slight that I think I like it but I'm not quite sure if I do just because the KD name is on it!

sick deicide poster in the inlay, tho:
http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/g/hos134detail.jpg

So a local shop just got a slew of Kevin Drumm releases into the used section, and I'm trying to figure out where to go next. Thus far I only have Sheer Hellish Miasma (fantastic, but a harsh listen, gotta be in the mood for it). Here's what I found at the shop:

Frozen by Blizzard Winds (w/ Lasse Marhaug)
Sheer Hellish Miasma (reissue w/ bonus track "Impotent Hummer" - I have the original CD issue)
Impish Tyrant
All Are Guests in the House of the Lord (w/ Prurient)
Imperial Distortion
Imperial Horizon

Which of these can you guys recommend; anything good in there?

Frozen by Blizzard Winds (w/ Lasse Marhaug)
Imperial Distortion
Imperial Horizon

all good

I thought Imperial Horizon was a little boring tbh. Do they have TRIANGLES? Get that

Yes Triangles, that and Sheer Hellish... are all I have.

imperial distortion

just ordered the Necro Acoustic 5 cd box set woooooo

lot of <3 for him in the eoy's

really?? i think i saw him on The Wire's list (right?) but that's about it

he's really put a lot of stuff out there over the last two years. new material and reissues. pretty nice change of pace after a couple of lean years.

the john weise collabo lp and the first disc from the box set were my highlights from the new material for the year. lights out in particular - it's stunning. (if a bit of a queasy listen.) the 7" with michael esposito was also quite good.

still have to listen to the stuff with tom smith. (never really cared for TLASILA, so I've been putting that off...)

bump

have you heard humid weather? can't blame you if you haven't with all of these cd-r releases but it's great.

I also LOVED the blast of silence triple album, but it's actually barely audible, so ymmv.

tannenbaum is a very satisfying wash of slightly unsettling drone but I'm still digesting. last track reminds me of the inland empire soundtrack.

I received a copy of Relief on vinyl in the post today - as part of a larger order I placed a while back. I haven't put it on yet (currently on Aluk Todolo's Finsternis), but will definitely give it a go this evening...

humid weather is incredible

relief def makes for a nice home listening experience and it's fun to try and parse out all the layers of sound, but I have to say, I do find it a bit overly static...

ghybbrish is another really awesome one from his run of micro cd-r releases. nice yin/yang thing going on with the one disc of thick, harsh noise and a second one that's a bath of sparse high tones.

actually, my memory was off. first disc starts off harsh and gradually dials it down.

thanks for the info! need to explore further. i ran across a copy of the kevin drum / axel corner collab from way back and it made me realize i haven't kept up at all.

a lot of this small run cd-r stuff sold through his blog is now on spotify. brave new word...

d/l'ed 'the damned sort', enjoyably dour antisocial hardcore hisssssss dark ambient palette kinda stuff. also dl'ed "the abyss" done with jason lescalleet, lots of variety on that one, p ambitious, going to take a few listens to digest, might be too macho nonreal 4 me, idk.

Just got a promo for an upcoming album, "Trouble," today. It's out mid-Oct on Editions Mego. The quietest thing I've ever heard from him; hell, the quietest thing I've heard since the glory days of early-'00s microsound, period. Gorgeous, though.

http://olewnick.blogspot.com/2014/09/kevin-drummjason-lescalleet-abyss.html

title track is nice

i'm glad olewnick is doing what he's doing but personally i find him off-putting, i just can't read it without cringing. same with that tinymixtapes review. i run into this every time i "fall back" into checking out stuff in the area of erstwhile-related nerdy noise. the music is mostly pretty exceptional but the discourse around it is like really lame whitemale rock crit. i wish there were more geeta dayals writing about this kinda stuff, a woman's perspective would be very welcome especially on releases made by women, but i guess it's not like anyone can make a living writing about experimental music even if they're good at it (hi pshrbrn!). anyway, i feel like there's something still exciting and crackling about what kevin drumm does, he's a minimalist who just does not want to be bored or by-the-numbers and i get lost in the act or mystery of making when i'm listening to his music.

yeah, i suppose i find olewnick's blog useful for getting info (usually descriptive) on unusual recordings.. out of my own complacency, not sure where else to look besides Dusted in Exile, forums etc. don't have a twitter account (should i get one?), not sure who to follow. agreed, a female perspective would be refreshing, especially for more brutal-sounding recordings like this.. while i'm not too familiar with his discography, Drumm seems to keep his output somewhat varyied and fresh. "Humid Weather" is pretty nice.

yuko zama writes a lot about wandelweiser/erstwhile type of stuff, tho not nec from a gender specific perspective

that olewnick guy seems like someone who perhaps enjoys riding the free promo gravy train a little too much

a whole nuther bowl o' tapioca although also not exactly what one might have expected from this pairing

The quietest thing I've ever heard from him; hell, the quietest thing I've heard since the glory days of early-'00s microsound, period

exciting. was playing blast of silence heavily for a while there and that one really takes over the space where you're listening in a quietly disorienting way. subtly overpowering or something like that, I dunno. I like him in this mode.

really looking forward to hearing the abyss too. lescalleet rules.

"that olewnick guy seems like someone who perhaps enjoys riding the free promo gravy train a little too much"

not that it matters so much, but he buys a lot of what he writes about.

Kevin Drumm @Bandcamp SALE! All releases $ 2 each and the full discography for 22 (including many releases that aren't in the subscription). The depth and breadth of that package make it the musical bargain of the age – highest conceivable recommendation. https://t.co/vFXhKci1fg

— frozen reeds (@frozenreeds) March 30, 2019

Recommendations?

Just get everything. I bought the whole lot for high bitrate files of Sheer Hellish Miasma alone.

113 releases for $22.60

holy shit!!!!

Very tempted by that. Such a massive bargain.

new bandcamp thing, !, is $1 and incredible

also looks like 174 releases for $28.30 atm. dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

KD bandcamp subscription also recommended!

it’s a gift that keeps on giving. still doing regular releases. still the best deal on bandcamp.

i probably will do the sub soon. new thing "pcm 3" is creeping dread of the finest quality.

Erstwhile Records
·
coming later in 2024:
a 20+ years later double CD sequel to one of the great abstract records of all time.
Kevin Drumm-II (ErstSolo 009-2)

oh baby

it's imperial distortion season

mmm hmm

and maybe a little tannenbaum, and hell, blast of silence too (it is named after the best xmas movie after all...)

and maybe a little tannenbaum

so beautiful. i hope we see that erst release eventually!

could be quite soon according to this mailing list update I got 13 days ago!

still aiming for 2024 release (I know we’re cutting it close), digital this month, CDs shipping in January:
Kevin Drumm - Sheer Hellish Miasma II (ErstSolo 009-2) (a 20+ years later sequel to one of the great abstract records of all time.

also, this is fun!

Music To Ease Your Disease - Kevin Drumm Christmas Special

tip of the hat

I love having a Kevin Drumm bandcamp subscription cuz I have like...200+ releases? Perfection

this new collection of old icy drone tracks is _outstanding_

https://vaagner.bandcamp.com/album/neither-here-nor-there

This was absolutely fabulous.

Imperial Ambivalence

(I really like it, am just poking fun at Drumm's creepy but innocuous drone-zone default mode that this set draws from, which is my fave zone of his since I love falling asleep to it which you def can't do as easily when he's in a Sheer Hellish Miasma harsh digi mood)

This was absolutely fabulous.

― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, January 7, 2025 4:34 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, stunning. i wonder if kevin drumm meditates. either way his stuff is very "all arises from emptiness" imo, noisier and smoother "ambient" alike. his work has never been dark in the obvious sense. more like a disciplined contemplation and then evocation of void as containing all things. beautiful, breathtaking, mysterious. so happy to have this set this winter.

the nts show linked above introduced me to a few extremely good things in this category of "quiet drumm" too

There's an insane amount of this shimmering drone stuff on KD's Bandcamp, so it's nice to have also some curated selections of it.

chill/atmospheric/nightime kevin drumm?

Some drone/chill/atmospheric/nighttime Drumm from BC that come to mind, this is just a quick selection:
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/phantom-jerk
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-nights
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/trouble (*really* quiet)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/recline-116-minute-ep
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-pipes
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/another-odyssey-of-waiting
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/the-wizard-of-east-dubuque (one of my favourites)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/and-another-thing-longer-version (shimmering stuff)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/big-dream (bit more tense oscillator waves)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/grey-screen
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/1616 (some piano and environmental sounds alongside droning)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/syncope (majestic drone)

The three "big" Hospital drone album releases are also on KD Bandcamp:
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/imperial-distortion
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/imperial-horizon
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/tannenbaum
plus https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/middle-of-nothing that was released on a Hospital 4-way split compilation.

...and of course the second-latest BC release, from Jan 1st:
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/odd-ways

great roundup!

I'm also partial to -

https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/press (a simple but effective trick)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/pcm-8 (mmmm crunchy)
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/another-time (sine bath kinda thing; ymmv but I find this stuff relaxing)

Thanks misters.

this is a brief but decent roundup by Ed Howard of his KD picks from 2011-now

nice

ghybbrish rules

humid weather remains a fave, working in a few different modes on that one:
https://kevindrumm.bandcamp.com/album/humid-weather

thanks for that list, will queue these up

the hits keep coming... sheer hellish miasma ii: the new batch preorder up on erstwhile!

very excited to put this on preorder, you can DL the entire thing now upon purchase, hope you all enjoy!!

https://erstwhilerecords.bandcamp.com/album/sheer-hellish-miasma-ii

🙏

excerpt does not disappoint, brings me back to the summer of 2002, walking around campus with kd in the discman

god tannenbaum sounded regal today. i don't usually meditate with anything playing but i left this on and it was complimentary.

nice interview piece and roundup in the quietus last month: https://thequietus.com/interviews/strange-world-of/best-of-kevin-drumm/

new album on repeat here

good interview that

which new one, heh? (there's always one or two...)

I've only spun SHM2 a few times since it seems like the kind of thing you really have to commit to. also helps if nobody is home and you can crank it, so I've had to wait for the opportunity. but I've found it very rewarding the three or four times I've played it through. feels a bit like taking a bath hot enough that your skin is tingling when you get out.

and thanks for sharing that interview! I'll be enjoying that with a bagel and coffee momentarily...

oh guess it's a few months old now but 'neither here nor there'

xp Thanks for posting that Quietus interview, map! I leave this anomalous (for me, at least) demo I made 3 1/2 yrs ago heavily under the Drummfluence (esp w/r/t 'improper' gtr playing fwiw) as token offering to based coiner of home studio names throughout Chicago https://kunudusuvuntu.bandcamp.com/album/riums-nud

Some good friends of mine have very softly mentioned a couple times that I should do something about the DC offset of some files, explaining that I might not hear the offset, but my stereo/speakers will notice

anyone that knows more about this kinda thing than me (low bar) know any KD tracks that have this offset issue? curious if I'd be able to hear it...

picked up the new box and what a joy its been going thru it

https://idealrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/if-tomorrow-gets-here

sounds fantastic (mastered by lasse marhaug) and a little curation of the massive bandcamp sprawl is very welcome

“horror of birth” disc an early highlight. sure sounds better than my old tape!

cool