Toby Dammit
Top Dollar
OmPlatten
Mr. Dammit takes his moniker from a late-‘60s Fellini film, but that’s about as artsy as this gets. Instead of humorous calamity and dysfunction, think of drums drums drums, layered atop each other like a lead guitarist’s first day with the portastudio. Dammit anchors his songs in heavy propelling beat, then adds fills, filligrees, and other percussive noises to build songs that have about as much to do with dancefloor anthems as they do with breakbeat samplers.The opening “Number One Famous” kicks off in a spray of dust, inexorably grinding towards you like an untended running bulldozer, and you with your left foot stuck in that silly gopher hole. The closing “Escape From Fire Island” is a fifteen-minute race through a forest of sound effects and kettle drums, with the leaden pounding footsteps of pursuit ever behind you. Where’s the melody? The bassline? I guess they couldn’t keep up with Dammit’s pace. Definitely hypnotic and unique.
OmPlatten: Box 230712, Ansonia Station, New York, NY 10023; http://www.omplatten.com
