Matt Garstka

Been following him a long time. I discovered his youtube channel, and was blown away by his precision and chops.

Another funny thing is that he looks exactly like one of my friends, so we joke around that it's actually him.
 
Living legend. The timing, feel, technique, versatility, groove - he has it all in spades! It's been very interesting to watch his playing evolve over the last 5 years or so. At this point I really consider him to be like a 21st century Vinnie Colaiuta. Take this new video for example - his playing here is just stupidly amazing on every level. Can't think of any other metal drummers who play with this much finesse.
 
A living legend to say the least, Matt is on par with the greatests who ever played the instrument.
He has absolutely nothing to envy to drummers like Colaiuta, Weckl, Peart, just to name a few...
 
He is one of those guys who plays so good that it sounds bad. I mean that with all due respect, but I have no idea what hes playing half of the time, even thought it's likely 24/8 with his left toe playing 3/16 quintuplets or something, it just sounds messy and out of time to me.
 
He is one of those guys who plays so good that it sounds bad. I mean that with all due respect, but I have no idea what hes playing half of the time, even thought it's likely 24/8 with his left toe playing 3/16 quintuplets or something, it just sounds messy and out of time to me.
I think I know exactly what you mean. I don't find that with Garstka—I really like his stuff—but I must admit that that's how Mark Guiliana's playing strikes me a lot of the time. I know he's great. It's clear he's great. But it often just sounds like weird slop to me.
 
Weird slop...sure....
If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I specifically said I didn't feel that way about Garstka's playing. Admittedly, my entire comment was 54 words, but hidden in that massive tome was this cryptic combination of words and punctuation:
"Garstka—I really like his stuff"
[emphasis added for clarity]

:)

To expand a bit on my previous comment, what I do like about Garstka's playing, what resonates with me in a way that the playing of many other extraordinarily drummers doesn't, is that he keeps a consistent groove, which makes it (for me) just plain enjoyable to listen to, even when he's doing some of the insanely complex things he can and does do. There's pretty much always that steady pulse—although he speeds up and slows down regularly and smoothly—which allows his explorations to not only soar but remain somehow grounded at the same time.

ETA: thanks for posting these two clips. I'd seen one but not the other and they're both awesome.
 
No doubt he's worked damn hard and sacrificed a lot to get to where he is.

He seems like a really nice chap as well.

When I listen to him though......I understand very little of what he's doing.

His playing is phenomenal and AAL are a technical powerhouse of an outfit......but his style isn't my cup of tea.
 
I'd like to recommend the album Modern Value that he recorded with Josh de la Victoria. Absolute masterpiece! All the technicality without being too metallic. I don't like the super heavy stuff like animals as leaders plays, but Modern Value is much more palatable. The song Iris that he recorded with Victoria is also another good one.
 
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