Dredg

Dredg is a band name that may lead one to think they portray a very hard, rough sound. That's at least what I had in mind prior to the show this last week. The Los Gatos-based group who just released their second album, El Cielo, on Tuesday actually carries a bigger sound than I expected. Their sound featured thick guitar and almost dream-state vocals, punctuated with very tight drumming and bass playing. Their music seesaws between grand, floating choruses and tightly syncopated verses. Their show largely followed the concept-style that makes up their album, though they did also pull some music from their first album, Leitmotif, which they had self-produced.
The new album is a fine work of production and involved the hands of Ron Saint Germain (producer of such groups as Tool), Tim Palmer (primary mixer of Pearl Jam's Ten) and assistant engineering from Chico's own low-profile mixing wizard, Evan Sanchez. The fundamental tracks were recorded at Skywalker Ranch at George Lucas' famed Marin Compound and additional production was completed at Longview Farms in Maryland. Their new album actually reminds me a bit of Radiohead meeting the parts of Incubus I actually like.
They played for around an hour-and-a-half and had all of the listeners there attentive to the music. On stage they had art and some relics from the time they spent in the desert prepping for the album. Their sound was huge and I almost think it was too big for such a venue. Their stage levels were out of hand and it consequently forced the engineer to put the vocals back in the pocket of the mix, as he was worried he would blow the house speakers (which he told me after the show). The sound engineer actually did an amazing job mixing them live. Between cueing up what seemed like drone vocal samples, looping and generating intentional feedback and overall, incorporating as much of the album production as humanly possible, he was really the 5th band member (as all good engineers are). Overall the show was very good and not what I expected. They will remain on tour in the US before heading back to Europe, where they will gig with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age.
- Colby Barr

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