Number 75: Gb City by Bass Drum of Death
Release: April 12th, 2011
Genre: Garage Rock
Favorite Tracks: Gb City, Nerve Jamming, Velvet Itch
Where I heard it:
For at least the last four years, I've afforded the luxury of listening to my own music over a proper speaker at my job. When I transitioned jobs a couple years back, I was quickly deemed the resident DJ of the restaurant. Suddenly, finding different music to listen to for eight to nine hours, five days a week was a necessity. I exhausted my personal libraries within the first few months, eventually contracting user-created playlists from Spotify to do the hard work for me. Usually, I'd just search a particular genre that might support a fast-paced work environment with high tempo and higher volume. Through this process, I've listened to my fair share of both wonderful and terrible music (mostly the latter) and discovered a handful of my favorite artists in the present day. It's a little strange to talk about bands like Bass Drum of Death with the same reverence as other groups on this list when I've only first heard Gb City less than a year ago. Yet, Bass Drum of Death fulfills a musical need for me that I had always yearned for, but didn't have knowledge of its existence until recently.
This time you've caused me too much pain
Got thrown back and rippled into rain
But I got you and you got me
These hoops are out here in my way
But gin forgets you through the day
~ Gb City
What to expect:
While there are examples of breakthroughs into mainstream outlets with features on video game soundtracks like Sunset Overdrive and Grand Theft Auto V, Bass Drum of Death mostly maintains a small yet dedicated fanbase among the underground scene. The band's barebones production style helps preserve their alternative image despite rising popularity over the decade plus since the release of their debut album Gb City. This stripped-down approach towards production is taken both deliberately and accidentally, namely through John Barrett's decision to write, perform, and mix every part on Gb City by himself. Perhaps due to this limitation, Bass Drum of Death applies a heavy lo-fi filter which embraces intentional technical flaws as a stylistic choice. The grainy distortion gives off the feel of a band you'd find at an impromptu house venue, warts and all to bare for an audience that cares less about the music and more about the party. That said, Bass Drum of Death provides plenty of nuance throughout Gb City, fusing the intensity of garage rock with the attitude of surf punk to create an album with frantic highs like High School Roaches and delirious lows like Spare Room. Although its composition is structured around simplicity, Gb City utilizes every note and chord to its advantage with strategical force between instruments. What Bass Drum of Death lacks in outstanding musicianship is made up for tenfold by its decibel level. The volume allows the clamorous culmination of noise to get up close and personal in the listener's face, even on the album's downtempo tracks. Stopping just short of aggression, Gb City sports an overweening aura that openly taunts those who scoff at its legitimacy as music.
Once you need it the most
Once you got it
Kinda pissed I'm gonna be stoned
You need to piss off, play with your own
Right, fuck you
~ Get Found
Why it's my favorite:
It's not that often anymore where I'll hear a new band which meets the criteria for my particular niche of musical enjoyment. Once in a while though, there's a band that catches my attention as I wade through the hundreds of bands that sound like nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it was John Barrett's distinct vocal register that made it easier to identify a Bass Drum of Death song out of the bunch, but the high energy songs from Bass Drum of Death quickly became a favorite of mine at work after hearing them across multiple playlists. I had always envisioned a punk band that straddled the line between hardcore and mainstream, and the track list of Gb City was the perfect balance in tone for me. Barrett being the sole mastermind behind Bass Drum of Death allowed him to engineer every piece of Gb City perfectly together, and that effort certainly did not go unappreciated by me once I learned of this fact. His independence displays a level of knowledge about music that transcends fundamentals and theory, focusing instead on the greater dynamic of a band's cohesive relationship through the point of view of a single artist. I hate to sound like a music pundit, but I see utter genius within the imperfections of Gb City that establish Bass Drum of Death as one of the greatest musical projects of the 21st Century. And even if that's not true, at least Gb City pumps me up for another day at the old grind.
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