JONATHAN KANE
The Little Drummer Boy

A most unexpected holiday release, THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY EP by Jonathan Kane shocks for a few reasons. One, it's a genuinely touching holiday number from the former drummer of the Swans, the legendary downtown band whose m.o. seemed to be the evaporation of eardrums everywhere; two, Kane foregoes vocals and plays all the instruments (drums, bass, and guitar) himself; and three, the rendition clocks in at 14:38 and finds more commonality with the propulsive insistence of Junior Kimbrough on the one hand and Krautrock on the other than with traditional Christmas carols. All these elements combine to form a wondrous take on the classic song by one of the most gifted thumpers in experimental music.
CD Universe



'Tis the season and Jonathan Kane is in quite a giving mood this year. The ex-Swans man re-imagines this holiday classic, turning "Little Drummer Boy" into an epic, 14-plus-minute long journey, layering Phil Spector walls of guitar over a marching cadence that is guaranteed to leave you hypnotized in a Christmas trance before song's end.
Other Music Digital – #2 top selling download – December 2007


Christmas music. I have mixed feelings about the season as well as the
soundtrack, but I do actually love a nice holiday song done right. And
Jonathan Kane...he does it right! A fifteen-minute version of the
holiday classic "Little Drummer Boy" might sound daunting, but when
it's done you just want to start it all over again. It's a typical Kane
production, blending minimalism and melody, repetition and movement,
and with a sweet simple riff like this, what you get is a truly great
performance. The track starts with tight military snare drumming, and
adds layers of guitar and "snow-drift deep" bass, warm and inviting but
I promise it is anything but cloying... this record is as good as
Kane's wonderful I Looked at the Sun, and I think even your mom might
like it. It provides the aural equivalent of staring into a blizzard
from the warmth of your front window, cup of hot buttered rum in hand;
hazy, hallucinogenic, disorienting, but embracing and warm.
Other Music


When the insane bustle of the holiday gift grab wears out your synapses with Santa-strobing frequency and the crippling effect of option paralysis, turn to no-wave legend Jonathan Kane and his take on “The Little Drummer Boy” for an almost 15-minute-long opportunity to reflect on the real meaning of the season. Appropriately, the Swans co-founder opts for a Glenn Branca–style guitar drone over the trademark marching pattern, slowly introducing additional rhythms and, eventually, the melody. Things don’t really get interesting until Kane drops a Mike
Watt–sized bassline into the mix, as well as an inevitable third drum kit — all of which he plays himself
Eye Weekly
 

Awesome arrangement. The song had me listening over and over again. And some people would wonder on that score, because the song's so repetative. Or so it seems. It repeats and repeats (help), but only to multitaskers. This is
a piece that must be listened to as you would in a concert hall (which
is where I'd love some day to hear it), with the treble nice and high,
because the bass is heavy. What seems to repeat is not repetition. This
one's rich with filled with, nuance. I don't like jammin', but this is
not jammin'. This was very thought through with a mind for subtlety and
an appreciation for a great chord progressions and great anticipation,
natural to the classic X-mas song it is. And the drumming, and what else
Eye Weekly reader comment



The thin line between Genius and irksome cunt Just got way thinner
VueWeekly


A Yuletide curio from the Table Of The Elements camp, this fifteen-minute festive emission from multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Kane has predictably little in common with the Bing Cosby version. Eventually, wafts of the song's conventional form appear, its melody announcing itself amongst a militaristic tangle of chord-strumming regimentation, pounding snares and strolling basslines, but for the most part this sounds like a post-rock joint that threatens to kick off at any moment,
though never does. That in itself establishes a kind of highly
economical krautrock-derived sense of potential energy, which over the
quarter-hour duration reinforces itself as a kind of mantra. Some of
the song's seasonal resonance gets somewhat lost in translation, but
what did you expect from Table Of The Elements? Sleigh bells? Yeah, me
too actually.
Boomkat



Ex Swans drummer Jonathan Kane has gone all festive on my ass covering The Little Drummer Boy. Oh yes! Table of The Elements have brought this festive feast to your ears and it's a a long percussive 14 minute thing which is reasonably
faithful to the original... allbeit more driving and ever so slightly
pummeling. Amazingly it's rather sweet sounding as well and now I want
to eat mince (meat) pies.
Norman Records



I actually thought this one-track EP by Jonathan Kane (best known as the founding drummer of post-punk stalwarts Swans) was pretty intriguing, but I decided to give it the gonch for purely pragmatic reasons. As much as this 14-minute instrumental version of "The Little Drummer Boy" will please any Mogwai or Do Make Say Think fans gathered around your Christmas dinner table, its repetitive drones will probably provoke your cranky Uncle Ernie to kick the shit out of the stereo.
Straight.com



If any Christmas song allows for a percussive-lengthened exploration, the marching beat of “Little Drummer Boy” certainly would be the first to
stand at attention. Former Swans drummer and downtown New York
avant-garde musical player, Jonathan Kane, handles all the duties on
his 15-minute version of this single holiday standard. Recorded for the
ultra-experimental (or pretentiously high brow, depending on your
artistic discern) recording label, Table Of The Elements, you’d expect
a thunderous, unapologetic cutting edge performance. Instead, he
slow-burns out a Mississippi electric blues instrumental scorcher.
Outfitted with a Civil War marching drum cadence, a thick,
reverberating bass line, and squalling guitar riffs, you may wonder
what Southern juke joint this was recorded in. Intensity starts to
build at the eight minute mark, with the muscling of the drums and a
few wilder slashes on the electric axe, but everything is reigned in by
its 12-bar finish.
Your Sonic Youth t-shirt wearing cousin will love it.
Mikovision


 

Solo album from the former drummer with the legendary outfit swans.
imagine a military style drum led post rock version of the classic
track little drummer boy. now you dont have to as kane has done all the
hard work for you. with a drumming style that amazingly falls between
snare drum led military sounds and the hypnotic sounds of early
krautrock kane then adds the barest of post rock like guitar strumming
over the top. its almost like the most primal krautrock you are likely
to hear with just the hints of the classic bing crosby track fading in
and out of the mix. 15 minutes of pure rhythmic bliss. december 2007
Road Records – Dublin