Rhythmotomy

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			37:13

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Description

Home Spun

Rhythmotomy: An American Prayer

Say what?: Band names don't always come easy, even
with the aid of a thesaurus. In Rhythmotomy's case, it was-
n't just a name they were looking for. Their whole sound
trip was a language, and a word had to be created to
translate their sonic hieroglyphs. On the CD, Rhythmoto-
my is defined as 1) surgical severance of rhythmical
boundaries; 2) a group of like-minded individuals who
take percussion to new dimensions; 3) Steve Sandstedt,
Jim Long, Tom Hollow, Bob Dreisbach.

Sacred grounds: The men found each other at a Thou-
sand Oaks drum circle in 1993. Thanks to Robert BIy and
the men's movement, drum circles were all the rage, but
the men who would form Rhythmotomy were already
well versed in the rudiments of drumming. The group still
resides above the grade (literally and figuratively) and can
be found the third Sunday of every month at Conejo
Creek Park invoking the drum lords and indoctrinating
the curious.

Psychedelic paradiddles: Rhythmotomy's self-titled,
self-produced debut CD is a percussive peace pipe that
"combines ethnic rhythms and technology" to create
what they call a "new music for the 21st century." It's
music to be to, do to, dream to and most definitely
dance to. It's been called psychedelic drumming and
could be classified under "new age," but will never be found in a woodenrack full of "soundscapes" at Target; it's
too good. When pushed to categorize their atmospheric,playful and provocative compositions, the term "worldfusion" is favored.

Bang a gong: If Rhythmotomy's sound is light years from garage rock, their extensive and eclectic collection of
instruments would leave little room foran automobile. Aluminum and ceramic doumbeks, anklung, artillery casings, balafon, djembe, ngoma, shaman drum, slit drums, apple chime, gongs, congas, harmonium, garage door spring, energy chimes, Tibetan singing bowls and a variety of synthesizers and samplers are some of the tools the group employs to effect the textural complexity heard on the CD. For their next recording (they're currently in the studio), Rhythmotomy is experimenting with glass chakra bowls, which are tuned to resonate with the human body's energy centers, or chakras. The idea is to create music that's not only pleasing or evocative but also healthy.

Banking on bliss: "Do what you love and the rest will
follow," is a noble dictum to be sure, but the cost of bliss
can be steep. Just one instrument in Rhythmotomy's
cache, the bass waterphone, is made by just one man in
Hawaii and runs about $1,600. Unlike many of their fel-
low musicians in the rock genre, these guys don't resent
their day jobs. They understand that having extra dough
in the pantry allows for more freedom on the cutting
board. The lack of financial pressure serves the creative
process. That's not to say they haven't tasted success.
Rhythmotomy is regularly solicited for soundtrack work
and the field is wide-open in terms of opportunity. Rhyth-
motomy can be found at cdbaby.com, Wally World Music
and the outer realms of consciousness and possibility.

Michel Cicero

VCR June 20, 2002