Third Coast Percussion
Perspectives

For Those Who Like: Jlin, Bang on a Can, banging on cans
The Story: These four Grammy-winning gents from Chicago, who pound on anything from vibraphones to steel pipes, found a surprisingly simpatico collaborator in Jlin, whose suite Perspective is this album’s centerpiece. The electronic music artist and Gary, Ind. native has transformed the hyperbeat footwork style of music and dance from the clubs and house parties of Chicago into a realm wholly her own. She crafted a 30-minute suite for Third Coast Percussion, which the band transcribed to its unconventional arsenal of instruments.
The Music: At upwards of 160 beats per minute, Jlin’s suite is far more than just a toe tapper. Metal bowls filled with water give the third section, “Derivative,” a woozy swagger. Elsewhere, the album offers more traditional fare from some familiar names. Danny Elfman‘s Percussion Quartet weaves colorful threads in a transparent way, while a laid-back arrangement of Philip Glass‘ Metamorphosis No. 1 will appeal to the glockenspiel-obsessed. Another successful collaboration features the duo Flutronix in a three-paneled suite that begins with jitters in flutes and ends in breathy tranquility.

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