“How many you drummers have you got?” Someone asks a member of Shit & Shine before their set.
This is always the most important question for a Shit & Shine gig. It can be anyway from none to fifteen. Tonight the answer is three. The same number again are on some combination of keyboards, samplers, and vocals.
Tonight’s set is built around what sounds like a two stroke guitar note and mechanised sample beat. The three drummers lock into a groove on top of that.
The beat is surprisingly danceable. For a Shit & Shine gig it’s a floor filler. The vocals are processed to hell. They’re more textural than anything else. Cutting through the live sonic mixing that those who aren’t manufacturing the heavy rhythms are engaged in.
It’s one long continuous piece. The electronic washes evolve sinuously. Subtly shifting through the course of the set.
Those drums though forge onwards. Always forwards, always onwards. The act of repetition becoming a powerfully creative force.
Your mind deadens. But at the same time that liberates it. Your thoughts drift away. Replaced with mental blankness.
Finally the piece collapses inwards. Slowly toppling in on itself. It’s a gentle reintroduction back to the normal world.
