What makes an album like Donuts by J Dilla so supremely relistenable? It’s the beats. The rhythms. The breaks.
Tapping into that magical power of timekeeping, Maximalist Minimalisms, Vol 1 is a new collection of almost entirely instrumental drum breaks by Reed Michaels, laying bare the kind of funky sonic grooves that form the backbone of jazz, funk, and hip hop. Michaels—who has played with Secret Sidewalk, The M-Tet, and several other funky groups in the Bay—threads between his drum playing here the lightest traces of basslines, sound effects, and kalimba (also known as mbira or finger piano), adding the faintest touch of ambient musicality to the record.
This is a drum library, not intended to be a work of art, so you could say it’s really meant for musicians in training or maybe for DJs and producers to mine for mixing. But (and maybe this is a drummer’s bias) it’s also a joy to listen to like any other album, a gratifying platter of rhythmic delicacies.
