Hostile Machines: Genghis Tron Share a Playlist of Their Favorite Drum Machine Tracks

With the cybergrind-turned-mathy-prog band’s first record in over a decade out today, Hamilton Jordan shares his favorite programmed drum tracks.
Playlist
Hostile Machines: Genghis Tron Share a Playlist of Their Favorite Drum Machine Tracks

With the cybergrind-turned-mathy-prog band’s first record in over a decade out today, Hamilton Jordan shares his favorite programmed drum tracks.

Words: Mike LeSuer

March 26, 2021

Recent news of the first new Genghis Tron album in over a decade were quickly overshadowed by the unexpected sound of the record’s first single—Dream Weapon’s title track is considerably more relaxed than the chaotic, electronic din of GT classics like “Endless Teeth,” with the cool vocals sounding like those of Nick Reinhart, and—to further the Tera Melos comparisons—the drums fully analog. 

The rest of the record heavily endorses terms like “soundscapes” to describe the uncharacteristically spacious, minimally electronic, and fully hypnotic post-rock atmospheres they create. The live drumming provided by SUMAC’s Nick Yacyshyn injects a metallic sheen to the whole endeavor, making Dream Weapons just a bit harder to convert into a Board Up the House remix.

“Nine out of ten times, when a band uses a drum machine in heavy, guitar-forward music, it sounds flat and disappointing,” shares guitarist Hamilton Jordan, who along with Michael Sochynsky are the group’s only two original members. “If you’re trying to create powerful and energetic heavy music, using a real drummer is almost always the way to go! That’s part of the reason why my band recently started working with a real drummer on our new album, where drum samples take a backseat to Nick’s incredible playing.  

“But some bands manage to pull off the drum machine thing incredibly well,” he continues, “whether by using drum samples to bring a chilling and sterile energy (like Big Black or Godflesh), to reach absurd and probably inhuman speeds (Agoraphobic Nosebleed), to conjure haunting atmosphere (Blut Aus Nord or Jesu), or to blend samples with live drums (like Nine Inch Nails or HEALTH) to create a killer blend of the organic and electronic.”

To give us a quick rundown on which bands do electronic drums well, hear the full playlist Jordan put together for us below. Make sure to check out GT’s complex new LP—out today via Relapse—here.