Khompa - The Shape of Drums to Come

  by Adrian Janes

published: 22 / 12 / 2016

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Khompa is the solo project of Stearica’s Davide Compagnoni. This album has his drums at its heart, allied with an impressive battery of technology that includes a laptop, four drum triggers and a custom stepsequencer, which altogether allow him to be the 2016 version of a one-man band. But in music if not Marxism, the means of production is of less importance than what is produced. So what does emerge from the speakers? ‘Nettle Empire’ opens the album with a thumping, compulsive rhythm which is overlaid by a simple but catchy gamelan-style melody. Even if a good drum sound is to be expected, the depth and power here is none the less satisfyingly exemplary, as is Compagnoni’s athletic roaming round the kit. The album’s title is a homage to Refused’s ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’, and the track ‘Religion’ is pretty much electronic thrash, like something from a 1977 world where ELP were accepted. Others like ‘The Shape’ or ‘Louder’ also show Compagnoni’s ability to play ultra-fast, to the extent that on the former the interplay of galloping drums and synth makes the hoary term ’technoflash’ come to mind, ironically triggering repressed memories of the progressive rock punk strongly reacted against. These tracks are, however, less one-dimensional than ‘Religion’, at times also shifting gear into grinding industrial grooves. ‘Upside-down World’ is enlivened by the crazed Japanese and English vocals of Taigen Kawabe (Bo Ningen), its brooding piledriver rhythm and haunting tune suggestive of a hip hop Einstürzende Neubauten. Like most of the album, when the overly clever playing is avoided, Khompa’s music does have a certain physical power which links it to both the industrial heartland and the Big Beat of the Chemical Brothers. The complex stop-start rhythm of ‘D.A.C.’, interwoven with synth bass and a discordant high synth over the top, ultimately has a primitive, thunderous excitement to it and typifies where the album is most successful. In the end, despite the complete contrast that is closer ‘Wrong Time Wrong Place’ (a piano and string-led piece of minimalist, melancholic beauty), ‘The Shape of Drums to Come’ is less of a listening experience than a physical one: clubs and festival fields are where it will come home.

Track Listing:-

1 Nettle Empire
2 Religion
3 The Shape
4 Louder
5 Upside-Down World
6 Make the Operator More Productive
7 D.A.C.
8 Wrong Time Wrong Place

Band Links:-

http://khompa.com/
https://en-gb.facebook.com/khompaofficial/

Label Links:-

http://www.monotremerecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MonotremeRecords
https://twitter.com/Monotreme_Recds
https://www.youtube.com/user/monotremerecords/

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