Nick Neuburg

I occasionally read the Bandcamp Daily "Best Of..." columns (Best Experimental Music, Best Ambient Music, etc.) and sometimes check out some of the albums that pique my curiosity. Obviously, these lists are not the "best" of anything. If it were the actual "best" experimental music on Bandcamp they would have written about me! No, it's a reviewer's opinion, and it's filtered through Bandcamp's system for submitting promo material. My understanding is that you have to send them a promo version of your album (uploaded to Bandcamp but not made public) far in advance of the actual release date (8 weeks recommended) before they will consider reviewing it. Why? Anyway, the Bandcamp Daily articles ARE a way to discover interesting artists and albums. Which brings me today's post.

I like free improvisation (no surprise there) and really enjoy drums and percussion in a free improv context. Some of my favorite improvisers are drummers. So, I naturally had to check out Brooklyn-based drummer Nick Neuburg's new album "Cryptic Exaltations".

I'm not going to review the album here. You know the drill - if I'm mentioning it, I think it's worth listening to. It's a good album, you should check it out. I will say that I don't think it breaks much new ground. I would guess Neuburg is a pretty solid drummer and improviser, and this album is a good document of what he has to offer. I'm sure I would enjoy seeing him perform live. At the same time, I have heard other drummers produce very similar work. While Neuburg deserves his spot on the "Best Of.." list, I can name half a dozen drummers right here in Toronto that are equally deserving. In fact, I will - Nick Fraser, Joe Sorbara, Ambrose Pottie, Bob Vespaziani, Germaine Liu, Tomasz Krakowiak. And just for the heck of it, here's a few more - John Halfpenny, Mike Gennaro, Robin Buckley, Dave Clark, Glenn Milchem, Rick Sacks, Mark Segger, Brandon Valdivia. That's just off the top of my head, a few drummer friends that I have performed with over the years, all deserving of critical attention and praise.

Anyway, I won't belabour the point. Best of lists are bullshit. And whoever gets to be the big names in the scene...also bullshit. The meritocracy is a lie.

Here's the link to Nick Neuburg's "Cryptic Exaltations", an excellent album of percussion-based improvised sounds (nice cover art too, by Zoe Christiansen) - https://1039records.bandcamp.com/album/cryptic-exaltations

- W.A.Davison

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