Jimmy Chamberlin Complex
Life Begins Again

Drummers' albums are often really terrible.
It's no coincidence that their names rarely appear in the credits of tracks, indicating that they usually do not contribute to the writing of the music. Not to mention my previous personal experiences in this regard—I remember a bitter disappointment linked to an album by Omar Hakim, a phenomenal musician in the service of others, but embarrassing in his solo effort that I had the chance to listen to. This is to say that without the intervention of the trusted musical pusher, someone else would have bought this CD. And instead, now it is here spinning in the player, and it represents a pleasant surprise.

Surrounded by the musicians of Complex and high-level collaborators/friends (the presence of Corgan is predictable), Chamberlin lets loose his exuberant drumming, managing to almost always stay on the edge without crossing into self-serving exhibitionism. The music is a rock that obviously contains references to the '90s "alternative"—Smashing Pumpkins (Loki Cat) and Sonic Youth (Love Is Real)—and mediates them with a psychedelic sensitivity (Neverwaves) and elements of jazzy rock that at times evoke the work of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's seventies memory (the opening "Streetcrawler," and then "Owed To Darryl," for example).

To be clear, there are no miracles to be heard here, but it is nonetheless an intelligent work that deserves a listen if the aforementioned coordinates fall within your preferences, and with which Chamberlin takes a risk by putting himself in a less immediate field than the one to which he owes his fortunes.
And this, along with the far from negligible result, should be recognized.