Deantoni Parks

Technoself

BY Daryl KeatingPublished Dec 2, 2015

8
Having played as drummer for acts as diverse as Flying Lotus, BOOTS, John Cale and the Mars Volta, it's hard to know what one should expect from a Deantoni Parks solo album. If, for some reason, you expected him to hammer a sampler, precariously perched atop a kick drum, while simultaneously working the rest of the kit one-handed, then give yourself a round of applause: Though split between live performances and one-take studio recordings, Technoself is made from nothing but that setup.
 
In a sense, it's all percussion; the samples are hit in real-time along with all the other parts of the drum kit, yet it's funky, wistful, and above all raw as hell. It has infinitely more depth than other percussion-based projects, such as the maddening disaster that was Janet Weiss, Matt Cameron and Zach Hill's Drumgasm album. Technoself is, on occasion, reminiscent of Hill's other band — a little group called Death Grips — and one of those occasions is the superb "Our Shadows" which, along with most of the album, is rife with quick, dirty cuts that sometimes go into overdrive (as they do on "Bombay") and at times slow to a trot (as on "Down"). When Technoself hits that perfect pace, however, such as on the thoroughly danceable "Fosse in the Grass," it really shines.
 
Technoself is certainly conceptually intriguing, and for many that will be its selling point, but it's so much more than just an impressive display of dexterity — it's an impressive display of music, full stop.
(Leaving)

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