One of my favorite things in music is the ninja drummer. With minimal (apparent) effort, the ninja drummer barely moves, and strips a part down to its bare essence. Listening casually, these drum parts may not be noticed at all. Listening more carefully, you can discern the intent of the drummer – usually laying off and allowing the melody to do the work, but bolstering the entire effort with a perfect percussion pattern to match.

Here’s a good example – check out the first half of this song: [St. Vincent – the party] on the off-beat, where there’s no snare drum, there is a double kick – that’s the precursor for the change to the next section. This is super subtle, but it’s a definite pattern, stripped bare.

I posted about ADHD recently, and while their drummer is not exactly a stealth ninja, his efforts are very efficient. And he kills. And I would like his sweatshirt:

Next, the absolute beast, velvet hammer metronome known as Nate Smith. I could watch this cat perform sonic surgery all day long. No sweat.

Okay – one more. The drummer from Helms Alee sounds like a caveman with an attitude problem, smashing the hell out of everything in sight. Imagine my surprise the first time I saw this video:

Hozoji: “Hold my beer.”