L.A. based composer/musician Bryan Lee Brown releases his new album American Instrument today under the Dark Brown moniker. Each song features guest collaborators, including surf guitar legend Dick Dale, Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk, Queens of the Stone Age drummer Jon Theodore, L7 leader Donita Sparks, Battles' John Stanier, Alfredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys, Gogol Bordello) and more. Hear/share American Instrument via Bandcamp and all DSPs HERE.
Watch the complete 12-episode series of mini-documentaries Backtrack: Stories and Inspirations Behind Making of American Instrument in which collaborators discuss their involvement in the album via YouTube HERE.
The previously released lead single, "Rhythm Surfer" features one of the last recordings of guitar icon Dick Dale -- lending his legendary and oft-imitated "Machine Gun Staccato" style to the track, alongside L7 guitarist/vocalist Donita Sparks on the entrancing tune.
American Instrument is conceptually just as expansive and ambitious as the lush soundscapes within. An 18-song album featuring an array of legendary guest musicians, its theme likewise embodies a profound meditation on selfhood and the Other.
Dark Brown is the creation of Los Angeles composer and musician Bryan Lee Brown. American Instrument is the fifth album under that pseudonym, but 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, as well as numerous stints as a session musician.
The album was recorded over a 12-year period at 7 different studios. It features guest appearances by surf guitar innovator Dick Dale, John Stanier (Battles, Helmet), Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave), Alfredo Ortiz (Los Lobos, Beastie Boys), Eric McFadden, Jon Theodore (QOTSA), Donita Sparks (L7), marching percussionist Marcus Joyner, Dave Catching (Desert Sessions), Jose Medeles (The Breeders, Author) and more.
The predominantly drummer-heavy line up 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 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 2 album tracks, recorded in 2013 at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, bring all of his larger-than-life sonic imprint 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 psychedelic 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 is available digitally via Memory Bulldozer Records on October 4th, 2024. Order/Save HERE.
Album: American Instrument
Record Label: Memory Bulldozer
Release Date: October 4th, 2024
02. Maximum Effect I
03. Time Vector II
04. Restoring Force
05. Miami Rute
06. Great Plains
07. Rhythm Surfer Intro (ft. Dick Dale)
08. Rhythm Surfer (ft. Dick Dale, Donita Sparks)
09. American Instrument
10. Passage
11. Jose In The Hole
12. Side Drum
13. Spacetime
14. Time In My Mind
15. Walking with Louis Bellson
16. Inside The Set
17. Skyhook
18. Fabric Of The Universe
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