Big Business - Mind The Drift

I love to dig. It's a great pastime (and if you're lucky, a form of employment). Handily, I've found someone willing to pay me good money for the privilege of digging their garden. It's going fine, I've got about 7 hours left of the job I'm doing and the weather's good, so the next few days should go fairly smoothly. Apart from being a way of exercising without actually trying and a way to spend all day outdoors, digging allows me to spend a lot of time listening to music. I've been constructing a couple of blog posts whilst on the job so with any luck this week might be fairly busy for Radstock.

Most of my friends don't listen to heavy music. I don't blame them, it's easy to be put off by bad experiences hearing awful metal bands that all sound the same. The dress sense and smell of those who affiliate themselves with such music also leaves a little to be desired. I don't think all heavy music should be tarred with this unforgiving brush however. I think there's a time and place for such music and I believe I've found that place - in the garden, digging.

Listening to 'Mind The Drift', Big Business' third record really enhances the digging experience. If I was reviewing this album for a digging magazine I'd probably write 'the primal noise the band makes spurs the digger on to attain previously unreachable depths with his spade'. Since I'm not doing that, I should probably talk about the album in broader, more everyman terms. Big Business are a duo from somewhere cool in America and also happen to make up the rhythm section of The Melvins, one of the all time great noise bands around. On this new album, released in May, the band are joined by a guitarist, presumably to fill out the sound a bit more after two albums of bass and drums noise.

The reason I'd recomend someone 'Mind The Drift' is the fact that Big Business' brand of heavy music is so coherent. Instead of coming up against a wall of impenetrable noise, the listener can hear each individual instrument amongst the chaos. I guess you'd say they're allowed to 'breath'. The vocals which sit nicely above the music actually sound like someone singing rather than someone coughing up blood or having darts chucked at them. As for the drumming, this guy does play in The Melvins, so it's safe to say that his performance on this album represents some of the most brutal yet clever examples of drumming since...the last Melvins album. Cool.

I REALLY think everyone should listen to 'The Drift' which can be found here. The lyrics are funny and there's a degree of irony throughout 'Mind The Drift' which tells me that the band have taken into consideration the first rule of good heavy music - don't take yourselves too seriously. 'Cats, Mice' is another great one off the album. You can hear that they used to just be a bass and drums duo in the way they write the songs. Check out that heavy bass! Here's a good Youtube video of Big Business in action recently. Enjoy listening.