Hypnodrone Ensemble
by Aidan Baker / thisquietarmy
Young Mister Baker has outdone himself with this latest release. Circular bells spiral down down and down into a menace that tolls death (and worse) across the planet only to rise from the pits of despair with two fists—no gun, no rock, no weapon, just body and guts and brain.
I introduced drone to a mentally challenged friend of mind, @TheRealGarySand, who exists in a short-term memory loop lasting approx 30 – 90 seconds. I thought Gary would like drone. Thought he would be able to both lose himself and enjoy the hum and the pattern. I especially thought he would like this album. Hypnodrone Ensemble rises again and again from slow pools of hopelessness to spectacular heights of optimism, defiance, joy.
Two minutes into Hypnodrone Ensemble Gary said he would kill me if I didn’t shut it off.
Wait for the drums, I told him.
The drums came. Gary listened. His weak limp right wrist began rocking in time to the beat. Perfect time, too. Take that, brain damage: some parts of us are invulnerable. Gary felt the beat, the defiance. His blasted eyes were far away, the music had taken him somewhere else.
And I breathed a prayer of thanks and praise to Aidan / thisquietarmy. Also, I realized I had found the album that would define Fall 2014. Because I can’t stop listening to it.
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