L.A.-based composer/musician Bryan Lee Brown has assembled an eclectic new album by his project Dark Brown, which features a wide range of guest stars, including the late, great Dick Dale in two of his final recording appearances. In addition to Dale’s “Rhythm Surfer,” American Instrument includes tracks with Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, Queens of the Stone Age drummer Jon Theodore, Alfredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello), and more.
During the creation of the album, grunge metal band L7’s guitarist Donita Sparks joined Dale on “Rhythm Surfer,” and was thrilled to hear his often imitated “Machine Gun Staccato” style in the track.
American Instrument is the fifth album under the Dark Brown moniker, and Brown has an extensive life-long career in music: Scoring Dave Grohl’s HBO series Sonic Highways (2014) and documentary film What Drives Us (2021) as well as countless other films, TV shows and commercials, drumming for Dick Dale, and playing as a session musician for many artists.
Brown’s new album was recorded over 12 years at seven different studios. The list of special guests is astounding: Dale, Sparks, Wilk, Ortiz, Theodore, John Stanier (Battles, Helmet), guitarist Eric McFadden marching percussionist Marcus Joyner, Dave Catching (Desert Sessions), Jose Medeles (The Breeders, Author), and more.
The predominantly drummer-heavy lineup is another element of the album’s exploration into Brown’s relationship with drumming, both musically and socially. Brown has a personal connection to almost everyone who played on the album. In a way, the album unites many common threads (personal and philosophical) throughout the musician’s life.
Slated for release in Fall of 2024, American Instrument combines abstract minimalism with melodic psychedelia to create a vast ranch of soundscapes. Brown’s now signature sounds of melodic percussion, droning guitars, tremolo, and propulsive rhythms permeate the tracks, with each guest musician’s personality leading the songs in many directions with each of their unique personalities shining through. Case in point, Dick Dale’s unmistakable guitar pyrotechnics on two album tracks, recorded in 2013 at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, bring all of his larger-than-life sonic imprints into a completely new world where the surf guitar meets counterpoint rhythms, post-rock ethereality, and anthemic hooks.
“Spacetime” (feat. Brad Wilk) finds the Rage Against The Machine drummer’s powerful backbeat driving a mood-altering haze of Hendrix-style guitar warped through haunting-sounding tubular bells. “Miami Rute” (feat. Jon Theodore and Alfredo Ortiz) juxtaposes Latin percussion with soaring Pink Floyd-ian drones and ominous vocal chants. Throughout, a wide variety of sounds and musical styles explore the very meaning of rhythm and impact of the uniquely American instrument, the drum set, and its place in the course of human history.
American Instrument Tracklist
- Night Bloom
- Maximum Effect I
- Time Vector II
- Restoring Force
- Miami Rute
- Great Plains
- Rhythm Surfer Intro (ft. Dick Dale)
- Rhythm Surfer (ft. Dick Dale, Donita Sparks)
- American Instrument
- Passage
- Jose In The Hole
- Side Drum
- Spacetime
- Time In My Mind
- Walking with Louis Bellson
- Inside The Set
- Skyhook
- Fabric Of The Universe
WATCH THE 12-PART DOCUMENTARY FOCUSING ON DICK DALE’S FINAL PROJECT
