I believe, at some point and most likely on this site, I have extolled the virtues of the Walkmen’s song “The Rat,” from their 2004 album Bows + Arrows. While good, Bows + Arrows is not their best album. Their most recent two — 2008’s You & Me and last year’s Lisbon (recorded, in part, by Dallas’ own John Congleton) — would probably vie for that title. But “The Rat” is most assuredly (okay, fine, IN MY OPINION) the band’s best song. And a giant reason for that is drummer Matt Barrick. I guess you might have gleaned that from the title.
If I were to make a pie chart to graph the factors contributing to the over-the-top greatness of “The Rat,” Barrick’s drumming would look like Pac-Man (or Ms. Pac-Man — no gender bias here) and singer Hamilton Leithauser’s sort of annoyed, sort of desperate baying would look like a small helping of pie, like an I’m-on-a-diet-but-okay-just-this-once slice, and everything else would pretty much be a line.
Yes, YouTube’s benko25 — “ridiculous drumming,” indeed. As you can glean from that video, or maybe you’ve gleaned it before, Barrick 1) pretty closely resembles director Spike Jonze (though I tend to think all white people look alike) and 2) he’s pretty small of stature. The first fact-pinion is irrelevant, but the second makes his booming backbeat all the more impressive. Or it does to me, but I still am impressed when short guys can dunk or ride bikes or whatever.
You can hear in the studio recording of the song just how much Barrick’s drumming suits the song, serves it. It is necessary. Flashy, but necessarily so, the insistent hi-hat forcing the song ahead maybe faster than it wants to go, the chaotic snare & tom fills heightening the tension further. It’s like a chase scene in a movie, but on fast-forward. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times (probably) and it still leaves me breathless.
Barrick and the Walkmen are playing on Saturday at the Granada. Watching him do all that in person is even better.
Photo via wikicommons.
