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SPIZM is a drum and bass group from Chicago consisting of David Marzalek, drum, and Pablo Pascoll, bass. David, aka SPIZ, is a member of electro-music.com. When he introduced himself on the forum, I checked out his web site and heard some amazing drumming. When I saw he was coming to play in Philly, I decided to make the gig. When I learned he was playing with M.E.S.S., also a member here, I was really charged. I recently met David, GSGA, here on the site too, only to find we live only about two miles apart. This was an electro-music.com nite.
Anyone who has hung around here for a while knows I'm not a big Drum 'N Bass fan. To me, it often seems very uninteresting, and often I find it boring. Well, listening to SPIZM has certainly changed my tune. These guys take DNB to a level I've never heard before.
Dave is a virtuoso drummer. He plays complex beats with incredible speed and precision. His beats are fascinating - patterns I used to think could be made only with complex drum and groove machines. I now know can be played beautiful on a modest acoustic trap set. On the unprocessed drums, these glitches, slips, and shuffles are glorious.
Pablo is a fine bass play - no surprise. He's equally at home on stand up as electric. He like to play very simple bass lines and wild convoluted avant garde explosions - at the same time. The result is interesting and fun.
Together Dave and Pablo dazzle their audience. We were carefully listen to every beat and note. I enjoyed their playing tremendously.
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Well, listening to M.E.S.S. has opened me up to this form of electro-music. Akili is always, excuse the expression, messing with the loops so that things are always changing even though the basic construction is always the loop. He runs several simultaneously. The different loops have contrasting timbres and meters. The music transitions from section to section almost continuously. The sounds are pleasant in interesting. There is almost always a beat going on, but it's rarely overpowering.
SPIZM and M.E.S.S. played a small set where they jammed together. It was quite good, as you might expect. Dave played amazing complex rhythmic patterns the synchronized with M.E.S.S.'s loops. It was fab...
SPIZM also played a set with a Sax player, a guest performer whose name I didn't get. Maybe someone can post his name in a reply post.
[Editor's note via PM from Spiz 23-sep-04:... the saxophone player is a chicago cat named Joe Grez, that plays tenor in my other project, Trioizm (which is also breakbeat/jungle oriented but more of a jazz feel...not so heavy as spizm, more fx on the electric bass as well). http://www.trioizm.com to get info and mp3's... ]
After the concert I realized that, thanks to SPIZM, I accept DNB as a classical music art form. With just acoustic drums and bass, it is as pure a musical expression as a string quartet. It's much louder though.
