Hang Massive

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Embenny
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Hang Massive

Post by Embenny » Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:00 am

So, in keeping with my resolution I made in my Moon Hooch thread, here's another eclectic, non-guitar group I can really get into.

Hang Massive.

They started out as a couple of buskers with two hang drums and caught a bit of a viral video wave nearly ten years ago, so there's a chance you've seen them on a random YouTube binge. Hang drums are a 21st century branch of the steelpan family of polyphonic idiophones, meaning they're drums whose bodies resonate, rather than using air, membranes, or strings to generate their tones.

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They're played with the hands rather than mallets like steel drums. They're basically steel drums, inverted, with two convex surfaces instead of one concave one.

They're diatonically pitched, like a dulcimer, so you can't really play any sour notes on a single drum. This has made them popular in hippie jam circles, and make them easy to busk with since you can play one for hours without seeming to make any mistakes. That is, if you can afford a $1500 instrument to busk with. They're also popular for new age meditation type soundtracks, again, since you can play one for hours if a trancelike state is the goal.

But Hang Massive are different. There's a real sense of composition to their material, and chemistry between the two of them. They capitalize on the rhythmic capabilities of the instrument without losing direction melodically.

Their early material featured a single drum each, since they were busking and that's all that was practical and affordable. Once Again is a great example of their early stuff, blending melody and rhythm with a simple two-drum arrangement.

As they evolved musically, they started adding drums, first going up to two each, and more recently going through five- and even six-drum setups, jumping back and forth in terms of who's playing what. The five-drum, two-player arrangement is super interesting, because they picked the pitches of their drums to allow both of them to play together in the same key, while also having access to chromatic scales that don't exist on the instrument when playing a single one. They move around the setup and change roles regularly in terms of who's playing rhythm and lead.

The Secret Kissing of the Sun and Moon is a more recent, four-drum composition of theirs in a more melodic, less rhythmic style.

Over time, they've incorporated increasing levels of technology into their live sets and studio recordings like loopers, drum machines and MIDI triggers. The Warmth Of The Sun's Rays is a good example of that.

They're open practitioners of a branch of Tibetan Buddhism, and religious themes permeate their titles and music, but unlike much of the handpan music you encounter, it's not just a vehicle for meditation. These are structured compositions that capitalize on the unique tones and structure of a 21st century instrument, which is the kind of musical innovation that we often lament that we don't see in guitar playing, so I'm hoping some folks here will give them a listen with an open mind.

They're not a group I listen to every day, but when I'm in the right mood, there's nothing quite like them.

If you're into it, they posted an awesome quarantine live show from their garden in Goa, India a few months ago that is absolutely worth your time.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

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