Dale Crover ‘Rat-A-Tat-Tat!’ Review: Melvins drummer keeps it eclectic on sophomore solo release.
For Dale Crover’s 2017 solo debut The Fickle Finger of Fate, he delved deep into his quirky musical soul, and spat out a truly strange and singular work.
For The Melvin drummer’s new sophomore solo effort Rat-A-Tat-Tat! (out January 15th via Joyful Noise Recordings) he doesn’t totally go it alone, bringing in a unique cast of collaborators, including Melvins/Redd Kross bassist Steve McDonald, multi-instrumentalist Toshi Kasai (who co-produced the album with Crover), bassist Dan Southwick and saxophonist/percussionist Mindee Jorgensen.
The band aspect is clearly felt in I Can’t Help You There, (where Crover’s vocals sound akin to Melvins’ frontman Buzz Osborne), the psychedelic boogie of Tougher, and the melodic garage rock of Shark Like Overbite.
Those tracks all espouse a loose, communal feel, allowing for the occasional musical left turn.
Elsewhere Crover stays closer to his more experimental, drum based solo work, like the discordantly spooky Stumbler, the cacophonous Supine Is How I Found Him, and New Pharoah, a track so buried and diffuse it sounds like some strange alien transmission.
But much of Rat-A-Tat-Tat! hovers in-between a more band-like aspect with bizarre esoteric elements, like the gloomy folk of I’ll Never Say and the bluesy skronk of Untrue Crime.
The Bowie Mix lives up to its name with a 70’s glam beat, glimmering keyboards and an overall ethereal vibe, while Piso Mojado is a cavernous cavalcade of punishing beats echoing into eternity.
The album comes to a close with Kiss Proof World, a low-key number with warped backing vocals and loungey atmospherics. Is it a song about a world lacking romance, or an ode to one of his favorite bands? Who knows? But it ends Rat-A-Tat-Tat! in fine fashion.
Rat-A-Tat-Tat! is a fun, bite-sized slab of sonic goodness that never overstays its welcome, while also kicking off a busy year for Crover, who has a new Melvins album out next month, along with several reissues of classic releases. But be sure to give it it’s due as a pallette cleanser for the soul as we start a much needed New Year.
