4 out of 5

Label: Monitor Records

Produced by: Various

Definitely not what I expected, but likely a ton better as a result.

Membranophone, from Mirriam-Webster: any of a class of musical instruments (such as a drum or kazoo) whose sound is generated by striking, rubbing, or singing into a stretched membrane. Phonics, from Mirriam-Webster: the science of sound. Membranaphonics: 10 tracks by notable drummer-folk, like Damon Che of Don Cab, Brendon Canty of Fugazi, Jeremiah Green of Modest Mouse and more. So teach us some drumming, yeah?

…And while knowing that these are compositions from drummers certainly makes one focus on that component, this is not an album of all drum solos. It also hangs together miraculously well, despite featuring dudes and dudettes from various musical backgrounds of indie, pop, punk, etc.

Christina Files indicates as such with her low-key opener, Nite Cap, but it’s really when Kyle Crabtree (Shipping News) kicks in on track two that the album’s possibilities as a way for, perhaps, “unheard” compositional talents emerges: To Drown Is To Live is a brilliant six-minute journey, as deep and dense as anything Crabtree has otherwise worked on. Later on, Jeremiah Green echoes this expansiveness, but on his own terms, delivering something much harder edged and obtuse than his Red Stars Theory / Modest Mouse work, and then Chris Freeland (Oxes) doubles down on surprises with the soft-hearted Bursts. Some stuff is in line but still quite good: Canty’s atonally-sung Semi-Detached kinda sorta applies that moniker to a latter day Fugazi beat, and Damon Che gets all Damon Che on the last part of Oh Suzanna.

There are a couple of off moments – Jon Theodore’s Cruisin’ E. Loraine St. has a nice electro buzz but becomes obnoxious at length, and the album boffs its pretty perfect sequencing by pairing two improv-y tracks at the end – both of which are the longest songs here, by the way – with Pat Sampson / Tom Paynter as Varsity doing a 7-minute busy, but wandering, ditty, backed up by Kevin Shea’s ten-minute jazzy tip-tapping.

When I bought this as a Don Cab fanboy, oohing and ahhing at Che’s stuff, I was puzzled by the lack of drum solos elsewhere on the disc. Years past, fanboy cap lost in the wash, I can appreciate how cool of a collection this was, and how well all of these different players ended up playing together.