Dane Rousay - Blip [No Label]/Dane Rousay - Anatomize [Kendra Steiner Editions]

Dane Rousay is a San Antonio, TX-based percussionist who was unfamiliar to me until a month or so ago. I love solo percussion though so I was more than happy to get acquainted with this double dose. The opener "Blade" keeps things relatively conventional (if solo percussion can ever be considered conventional) with a thumping bass pulse and a clanging melody on a bell of some sort. Over the first few tracks, Rousay lulls you into a false sense of security that you're jamming a reasonably consonant drum tape when he drops the harsh clatter two fister "Tusk" and "Clear" like an ice pick to the temple, the bowed cymbals on the latter are particularly nasty. This all leads into Rousay's finest moment; he really kills it with "Most Broad" bowing a drum (or maybe he's got a cello mounted on his kit???) in addition to traditional short attack/short decay percussion sounds. Slowing things down to a crawl before a truly beautiful snap & squelch freakout, you'll be hitting the REW button many times over. Oh, did I mention that Rousay recorded all these jams live? So he's got a bit of octopus DNA in there somewhere.
On the eponymous--and by far the longest--track, Rousay works in a guitar looping pedal into his arsenal, using it, for instance, to keep a bell ever-rattling while he works the toms. The track runs over ten minutes and it's actually kind of great to hear Rousay sprawl over a larger canvas (three of the prior tracks clock in at 71 seconds or less). Nice way to slip out the door and into the empty hiss.
My qualm with the tape is not about the sounds but the old pet peeve of unbalanced side lengths; there's a long stretch of empty tape after Side A's program concludes. Considering the brief lengths of the tracks, grouping more on the A-side would have assuaged some of the bother, and considering Rousay's statement that "these tracks/sides are not required to be listened to consecutively" it seems a track re-sequencing could have solved the issue altogether without sacrificing artistic vision. It's a minor complaint seeing as how the sounds are awesome, but just sayin'.

Moving onto the Anatomize disc on Kendra Steiner, "Systems" focuses heavily on bells/chimes forming a rather pleasant archway to enter into the album. However, Rousay follows it up with "Tissue" which is a bit testier from the get go. Some of Anatomize is made up of compositions for percussion (rather than live improvisations) and "Tissue" appears to be a good example of that side of Rousay as it features stereo sweeps of cymbals and multi-tracked rattling chimes. The latter effect appears on "Bent" as well as Rousay appears to be dueling with himself creating quasi-melodic rim rolls that come at you from both channels. "Interactome" finds Rousay attacking his drum head with just his fingertips and it's sweet fuckin' music to my ears.
Taking a page out of the Hollywood playbook, Rousay reboots "Most Broad" as "Most Broad: For Two" with Svetlana Zwetkof in tow, contributing layers of vocals. The more spartan, abrasive version on Blip gets my vote but it's interesting to it hear it re-worked as a duo piece. "Aloof: Voice, Drum, iPhone" takes a long, goofy detour into a zone of vocal drones, sporadic percussion and a choir of iPhone ringtones including that 'reactor meltdown alarm' one laying down the back beat. The stellar title track closes the disc as Rousay clanks, rattles and rolls into the sunset.
Blip sold out it's initial run but lucky for the world, there's a second pressing (well dubbing) of the cassette. Buy it here. Anatomize dropped last month on Kendra Steiner Editions and can be purchased here. Both get my vote.