The Eternals - s/t
(DeSoto)
Post-rock has long been influenced by dub, dating back to
Tortoise's "Tin Cans and Twine." The other elements to the
fusion--jazz and electronica--were given higher billing, but
the bass was often pure dub. The Eternals take that
dub-influence one step further, pushing back the other elements
and making dub and reggae the centerpiece to their music, like
all their Coltrane records got so worn out that they just
tossed them and replaced them with a Lee "Scratch" Perry box
set.
The key ingredients to The Eternals' brand of reggae are,
naturally, vocals and bass. Wayne Montana's bass is nimble
and fluid. Those only used to rock music may get physically
tired when first listening to this music because the bass is
comparatively frantic, always moving, with melodies like those
from a snakecharmer's flute. Damon Locks' singing is actually
more like chanting, sounding like Locks is casting incantations,
using the rhythm of his voice to engrain his political ideologies
into your brain. Locks' preaching is less policy and more just
standard post-Godspeed apocalyptic rabble-rousing, his
anti-establishment and anti-technology prose a definite highlight
to the music.
The other elements to The Eternals' music is standard Chicago
post-rock: select one of the musicians who worked with Miles
Davis and study their post-Davis-collaboration prime in detail.
The Eternals have seemingly selected Herbie Hancock and The
Headhunters as their brand of fusion has a heavy amount of
keyboards with some light touches of jazz-based funk. The
keyboards and organs produce short burst of melodies and
random squiggles of sound. Drums are also a key, and The
Eternals use both jazz-based live drumming and modern drum
machines well, along with lots of other odd percussive noises
and effects.
Last time reggae influenced bourgeois white boys, it gave us
a decade of punk rock. That is, unless you count Twelve
Inches of Snow. The Eternals isn't likely to insight anything
like the former, but it is a new iteration on a trend. Hopefully
other artists will take note.
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