Boy Eats Drum Machine review
Boy Eats Drum Machine
Pleasure
(self-released)
Imagine, as a songwriter, having one of your city’s best drummers at your disposal. Now imagine having five of them.
That’s exactly the situation Jonny Ragel found himself in while recording Boy Eats Drum Machine’s debut, Pleasure. The singing turntablist/songwriter discovered Bridgetown Beats, an album of original, live drum tracks played by some of Portland’s elite skinsmen like Kevin O’Connor, Josh Skins, Charles Neal, and Danny Seim, and sampled, looped, twisted, and tweaked the beats to his liking, making them the rhythmic backbone to nearly every one of Pleasure‘s 11 songs.
What Ragel does is relatively simple: He makes a breakbeat, then loops
a guitar hook (“Introduction B”) here, a infectious keyboard riff there (“Pleasure Theme Song”), maybe a few subtle odds ‘n’ ends samples (“Stepping On Your Grave”), and adds his vocals. The formula isn’t complicated, but extremely effective. Ragel has a surprisingly soulful voice, like a less-polished, less-schmaltzy Seal, that meshes perfectly with infectious electro-poppers like “Introduction A” and “Eunuch,” where Ragal sings, “something sweet can happen/when your mouth begins to sing.” We agree.
– Trevor Fisher
