Adam Betts – Colossal Squid

Album Review by Andrew Gordon | 24 Nov 2016
Album title: Colossal Squid
Artist: Adam Betts
Label: Blood & Biscuits
Release date: 25 Nov

Upon hearing the cymbal cyclone that closes Drumbones, the seismic opener from Adam Betts’ solo debut Colossal Squid, you might be wondering whether the titular sea mollusc is actually Betts himself; certainly whoever’s behind the kit must have an extra set of limbs to fling around, maybe two. But no, a quick YouTube browse confirms the Londoner – a member of experimental rock outfit Three Trapped Tigers – is just an ordinary guy with computer smarts and spectacular stamina who can count time like nobody’s business.

On these boisterous and entertaining seven tracks, Betts collides powerhouse percussion with glitchy electronics until the line between analogue and digital begins to disintegrate. Beneath the synths hovering stormily at cloud level everything merges to a howling murk, sounding at times something like jazz improv, thrash metal and techno played all at once on oil drums and dustbins.

Crucially, it’s all executed live and the physicality of the performance is what gives the record shape as you hear Betts meander either side of the tempo, sometimes master of the throng and other times valiantly playing catch-up. FUB is an eerie, industrial banger carried by a repeated fill that aims for catchiness and mosty gets there while the energetic, delightfully messy Substance Abuse is practically one long drum solo broken up by brief wafts of fizzy keys. It's all thrilling if occasionally a little abrasive. 

So while the icy xylophone plonks on Aneek are alluring enough and Tadala will make a fitting soundtrack to your next cyberpunk showdown, it's Bett’s showmanship and tenacity that are the real draw here. Colossal Squid was captured in a single take and nearly half of that session is available to watch online, presumably with the rest to follow. And that’s the best way to enjoy this album – what the audio alone lacks in nuance, the full package delivers doubly in spectacle.

http://www.adambettsdrums.com/