HADDOCK

HADDOCK is the alter ego of studio and live drummer JonoMagro. Formed officially in 2013, the gestation period for this music has actually been ten years. After trying to find a replacement for the monotony of a metronome, he found that juxtaposing real live drumming with the precision of electronic instrumentation and sounds created a fascinating musical dichotomy.

As a seasoned drummer, he had immense experience behind the kit but had to modify it to fit the demands of his new project. That was the genesis for this five track E.P. rEVOLVED. The five instrumentals are a perfect balance between synthetic electronica and real, expressive drumming.

You can certainly recognize elements of his various influences. Among them, he lists Daft Punk, The Prodigy and film composers like Tyler Bates and Hans Zimmer. It all combines to create a unique style and sound that has the excitement and dynamism of dance with the brooding intensity of soundtrack music.

Opening track Kilgore is an excellent example of this, starting with pulsing low-end synths combining with dark high-end melodies to set an intense tone. Then the punchy,raw sounding drums enter with the impact of a breakbeat by The Prodigy, but this beat is constantly shifting under the listener’s feet in a 14/8 time signature.

This later becomes standard 4/4 and 2/4 later in the track and the way he constantly shifts the accents and syncopates the beat is superbly inventive. The synth riffs holds the music together, aided by some Daft Punk style vocoder effects towards the end of this arresting first track.

Second track Break is lighter in mood and features a repeated vocal sample throughout, which works as a good hook. The drumming on this one alternates between a standard four-to-the-floor dance beat to the highly intricate, almost tribal sounding tom-tom patterns of the middle section. Musically, it employs two synth melodies, both short and very catchy. You could really imagine this being played in a club and going down a storm, especially as the danceable beat stays constant throughout.

Detroit Slim, the third track, is a big change in sound as it features an electronic Daft Punk style 2/4 disco beat that most would assume is a drum machine (presumably played by triggering samples through his modified drum kit). This makes it pure electronica in the house/disco genre, with some funky synth riffs and more vocoder effects thrown into the mix. It’s another track perfect for the dancefloor, but very enjoyable to simply listen to.

Cave Thing again employs mostly electronic soundings drums but also incorporates the snare sound from the ‘real’ kit in parts. This track is my personal favourite on the E.P. as it seems the perfect encapsulation of the disparate musical elements involved. It features a superb hi-hat heavy dance beat (bringing to mind 90’s stadium house duo The KLF) which grabs you as soon as it enters. It has the brooding intensity of the first track with rising synth lines and insistent EDM-style snare fills that help maintain the tension.

The final track My Salvation continues in this style, though this time uses an almost hymnal synth melody over a deceptively fast house beat, and has a futuristic, soundtrack feel (think something like Blade Runner.) Its hectic BPM rate would make it a great track to finish a DJ set with and it makes a fitting finale to this E.P.

Intriguingly, right at the end, the original drum sound that we heard at on the first couple of tracks returns, bringing things full circle. Finally, the drums fade out leaving us in a sea of synth sounds…

Overall, this is a genuinely innovative and original piece of work that also manages to be accessible and commercial. It blended and balances elements of dance and rock, as well as human and synthetic very successfully, and every single track has a strong sonic identity which isn’t easy to achieve with instrumental music. With some very intriguing ideas for performing this live also, I think Haddock will become known as a pioneer in the electronica scene and look forward to hearing a whole album.


Alex Faulkner - The Faulkner Review

HADDOCK – rEVOLVED – EP Review

What an excellent transition on our playlist here this morning at sleepingbagstudios! Not only did we start our day based in electro through the smooth and subtle sounds of the latest album from Chanks but we’ve moved perfectly into a more innovative, energetic and involved sound here on the debut material from electro-percussionist and assembly-expert, HADDOCK. Unintended as it all might have been, it makes for an absolutely excellent switch in the energy as the day continues to brighten around me…and a logical one that my brain, ears and typing fingers were at the ready to accept. The resulting ride from these five songs was an electrifying rip through some brilliant combinations and blazing, exciting sounds that truly jump, shake, and bump right out of the speakers.

Opening the EP with “Kilgore” was a very smart decision. This gripping electro-assembly is wildly captivating and the rhythm is purely intoxicating. Excellent ideas put forth with astounding execution; “Kilgore” lays the foundation for the sound of HADDOCK and really showcases some of the incredible depth of skill put into the music and production. Featuring everything from dark melodic textures, to brightened-up old-school record-scratches…this first cut alone has enough innovation and invention to be spread out over an entire album. All of this is somehow combined by the expert studio-hand of HADDOCK in a tremendous effective way – it never finds itself overcrowded as each idea blends perfectly into the next; his use of spacing and timing is every bit as effective as the notes themselves.

Heading into the gloriously drum-filled “Break” – this track is a song for all you electro-percussionists out there that can’t get enough of the way that drums can become a lead instrument.

HEY! Stop that right now – I can hear some of you snickering…

REAL drums…at least in my opinion…whether electro or standard-kits can be the heart and soul of ANY band out there when allowed to actually write dynamic parts and not simply keep the beat. When this happens, something magical does too – songs come ALIVE. Bands, artists and especially drummers that understand this principle…they make it to their end-goals…I swear you could line them all up throughout the world and find this to be true. The writing becomes captivating, expansive, and versatile in ways that a guitar and bass simply cannot come up with on their own without that kind of exceptional innovation supporting them from the drums. Very much like the grooves you could find in the electro-infused world of Propellerheads back in the day, but much like their music what HADDOCK is putting together now is still a massively relevant sound out there in today’s modern world.

“Detroit Slim” sees HADDOCK bring in a bit of the ol’ funk! This shifty little number really moves with a vibrant pulse in its every step. Each beat and movement is precisely placed for maximum enjoyment with energy you can truly FEEL…its rhythm becomes intensely hypnotic but the added electro-elements into the mix really break this one up; each time the melody-line sends you drifting off to your own headspace, HADDOCK brings you back with a clever sound or seven. It’s a subtle departure from his overall sound encompassing the EP, but one that seems to again sprawl out logically to your brain…it’s a great track to have right smack in the middle where it is to send you guessing a little bit as to what might make up the sounds & style of the final two cuts to follow.

At its outset, “Cave Thing” starts out as potentially menacing as “Astro Creep 2000” by White Zombie once did. Thankfully, it’s much more akin to something you’d find in the music Apartment 26…you know, just the right amount of danger and darkness and without the pointless vocals that only took away from that incredible song…that kind of thing. I don’t know if the “Cave Thing” is a specific creature or not…but it certainly sounds like a formidable beast! Definitely a little more of what you might typically expect to find within traditional electro-music as opposed to some of the other material on the rEVOLVED EP, but still expertly assembled and still a viably great beat. In many ways, I can see this being one of the most latched-onto beats HADDOCK has created on the EP as this one will certainly appeal to a lot of the electro-fans out there no matter which sub-genre they claim to ONLY listen to.

Ending with “My Salvation,” I’ve got to say…it feels like we just GOT here! Admittedly, I’ve gotten to this EP later than I would have liked to…but this BLAZED by didn’t it? How did we get to the end already?

Smart choice in ending the EP with “My Salvation;” every bit as smart as the beginning to the EP itself with “KilGore” really – this final song becomes an ever-expanding sonic journey to bring rEVOLVED to its final notes and tones. Thirty seconds in you get an irresistible beat to accompany the synth-line melody as the track shortly bursts bright before breaking down to come back even brighter. Confident, cool and collected, this track manages to shift and pulse through several layers being added along the way seamlessly and captivatingly right through to the end.

An excellent debut from HADDOCK here…definitely songs that have real rhythm & groove and sound authentically made by someone with real love for the genre; you can hear the creativity and the innovation through the assembly and production. I’d say mission accomplished here on HADDOCK’s rEVOLVED EP – I’m definitely interested in hearing anything else that would come my way from this enthusiastic and energetic electro-wizard. - Jer @ Sleeping Bag Studios