The sonic equivalent of a savage ass beating.
Lightning Bolt has been lucky enough to have this unique sound captured on CD. This is definitely a band that if presented incorrectly could be ruined. It needs to be seen live, but their producer has done an outstanding job making sure it's captured just right. But how would you describe their sound to someone who has yet to have Lightning Bolt's music penetrate their hearing holes?
Every band leaves its own musical finger print that you can only describe so much. If you chose just the right words and avoiding the vague ones, words can come pretty damn close to describing music without even pressing play. Obviously you can only get so close to describing something, especially music. In this blog, I've tried desperately to avoid words that define far more than just the band I'm reviewing. Words like "loud" or "heavy" I feel paint the vaguest picture ever. When you break it down, you're making that person think of bands they think are heavy and or loud. You can never be too sure what they are comparing that to in their head with such a throw-away description like that.
I've always called Lightning Bolt the sonic equivalent of a savage ass beating. The low end of the bass rumbles like a never ending freight train that has gone off the tracks, traveling at high speeds. The high end of the bass cuts through the mix like a chainsaw. Buzzing like a swarm of 100 foot mutant bees. The bass lines are always sinister, but still extremely catchy. An untrained ear would not necessarily notice every bass line to be played on a bass. At points it sounds like a synth, other parts it sounds like a middle eastern instrument. Almost every song of theirs has a lot of dynamics to it. It isn't just random notes over and over, but it strays very far away from generic musical arrangements.
The drums at first glance sound completely random and spazzy. They do however lock in with all the bass movements, but since they're both so loose and out of control - it just sounds like the drummer is having a seizure. All fills all the time. They're fast and all over the place. While typical bands have the snare coming on on the 2 and 4 of a 4/4 song.. this is just chaos. They are by no means traditional "drum beats" however some songs do have breaks where they follow a more traditional groove to break up the madness. The drums always bright, snappy and very clear in the mix. The bass drum slaps rather than thumps like the bass, brilliantly separating the low end of the kick drum from the bass guitar. This creates a wider, much more dynamic audio field for the mix. It really works in the favor of there only being bass, drums, and vocals.
The vocals have delay and overdrive on them to where it sounds like its own instrument entirely, rather than a singer. On record, it has a tendency to wrap around the mix in a really clever, dissonant way. This is the final touch to make Lightning Bolt stand in their own genre.
I've heard plenty of duo bands with bass and drums, but nothing that sounds like Lightning Bolt what so ever. A truly unique and refreshing band!
I've heard plenty of duo bands with bass and drums, but nothing that sounds like Lightning Bolt what so ever. A truly unique and refreshing band!
-Novak