CASSETTE REVIEW: killer BOB / Wei Zhongle split (New Atlantis Recordings)

http://killerbob.bandcamp.com/album/split-w-wei-zhongle

            This is a split cassette and both of these artists are new to me, so I’m just going to do this as a standard sort of Side A/Side B review, saying a bit about each artist along the way.   No gimmicks or inside jokes to start us off here, although this might just be a gimmick as even Chris Candido would tell you that having “No Gimmicks Needed” is still in and of itself a sort of gimmick.

            Killer Bob starts us off right with jungle industrial beats.   The percussion is such a big factor throughout this Killer Bob experience that I feel like someone needs to start making genres based around it.  I keep hearing these really good pieces that I always leave the same note for (“Oh, the percussion”) and so I think we need to really establish that and let people know that the drums aren’t just for the background anymore.    

            There are loops with only the slightest of progressions and then it turns into a distorted guitar riff.  I can hear something come through that is probably the guitar because I cheated and looked at the instruments list, but it sounds like a harmonica.   Almost country sounding undertones come through as this is just a flurry of rock that is heavy on the percussion but will still leave you in awe.

            Wei Zhongle is similar to Killer Bob in the sense that they both rock.   Side B sounds like hip hop at first, but turns to more of a rock based music sound, as it could be somewhere between math rock and Primus, though I’m not sure exactly it falls in between there but it’s just the complexity of it all.   While it can get a little bit funky, it has that whole medieval / Robin Hood / renaissance type of vibe to it.

            Oh, and one of the key components in the structure of Wei Zhongle is the clarinet.  While the clarinet does obviously exist in other music, one of the first names that came to my mind when I heard this was obviously Moth Cock.   The thing about this though is that it doesn’t sound exactly like Moth Cock  or even really that close I just think that they use similar styles.  (As to whether I prefer this to Moth Cock, well, I’m reviewing this cassette and have yet to getting around to theirs, so, take that for what it’s worth)

            So while these two artists are different, they are also similar and they present enough originality to keep you happy through both sides which seemingly just fly right by.