(01.25.06) I think I need to drink about a case of Red Bull to be able to talk
about Kevin Sawka’s drumming. Ten or so years ago, this record would
have been lost in the haze of drum ‘n’ bass that was currying favor on
every street corner. Now, drum ‘n’ bass has that sort of tired whiff
to it that says, “I didn’t age well coming into this new century.”
Unless you’re Kevin Sawka. Why? Because he does it all live with
just two hands, two feet, and a head for rhythm. Synchronized
Decompression is a mind-blowing excursion of extreme BPMs where
every drum kick, snare pop, high-hat snap and rolling breakbeat is
done by hand. In real-time. By one guy.
Working off a kit that seemingly needs an octopus to properly trigger,
toggle, wiggle, “press play” and otherwise made noise and lights with,
Sawka builds tracks that lie somewhere between Squarepusher and the
Ninja Tune stable while still retaining an atmospheric lightness that
keeps his work on the cusp of downtempo stateliness. “Ancient
Wedding” is wrapped around a strip of vinyl that has a single
spoken-word warning about the destructive nature of our modern
fascination with the weapons of war. Sawka dances and darts around
this looping phrase, his drums and triggers fluttering about as a
cascade of percussive jabs and pops. Atmospheric electronics gurgle
and noodle in the background like the constant titter of adoring fans.
In “Sapphire,” a downtempo chanteuse croons a dreamy lament about the
disappearance of magic from our lives while Sawka shuffles and
whispers around her like a whirlwind of dry leaves and heavy rain
drops. His rhythms add a LTJ Bukem sheen to an otherwise
Portishead-style track, lending a flurry of motion to the dreamlike
downtempo movement of the singer’s voice.
Sawka moves like a hummingbird, his arms a blur as he layers drums and
triggered events into a syncopated soundtrack for “Psycho,” a bit of
cinematic chase music that clatters with a chaotic intensity on the
edge of high velocity BPM. His assault on the snare drum in “For Oily
To Normal Skin” is a frenzied burst of stick work alone and the fact
that he surrounds this rhythmic fury with a winding synthesizer melody
and a stack of triggered events and drum kicks continues to build the
mythology that he’s more human than human. “Scrappin'” swaggers with
its strings and sultry synthesizer tones but underneath it’s all
percussive chaos as Sawka churns up the bedrock with a profusion of
charged rhythmic movement.
Synchronized Decompression will give you brain cramps if you
try too hard to deconstruct it. Sawka has disassembled the rhythmic
punch of drum and bass and recreates it on-the-fly with his monstrous
assembly of real and digital instruments. Blurring the distinction
between reality and artifice, he demonstrates that the truth isn’t
that we need to fear computers, it’s that technology needs to fear us.
Because we will adapt and catch up. Sawka is next-generation.
Synchronized Decompression is out now on Wax Orchard.
