Sadhappy

Evan Schiller on drums and Paul Hinklin on bass launched Sadhappy as a self-described “power duo,” rendering the phrase “drums n’ bass” newly potent across musical contexts. Through their own Periscope label the pair foregrounds an intricate dialogue of progressive bass and jazz-inflected drumming. Guest musicians augment every release: saxophonist Skerik appears on 1992’s Depth Charge, 1993’s Live, and 1994’s The Good, The Bad... and The Scary; guitarist Bill Frisell contributes to one track of Live; and Windham Hill bassist Michael Manring joins 1998’s Good Day Bad Dream.

Heavy emphasis on the bass, paired with tracks such as “Home Lobotomy Kit” and “Everybody Thinks I’m an Asshole (But I’m Really Just a Skull Bongo),” has prompted frequent comparisons to Primus. The band’s lineage, however, reaches further back to the early-1970s bass-fronted jazz-rock trio Back Door, whose drums-bass-sax format anticipates Sadhappy’s own. Their present configuration of two basses and drums recalls Magma’s pairing of “Air Bass” and “Earth Bass.” Executed by lesser players the double-bass approach would likely collapse, yet Sadhappy sustains it with striking success. A preference for spoken word removes any obligation to lyrics, freeing the musicians to follow every instrumental impulse.