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david penna

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Hometown	Deer Park, NY
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Band Members	david penna - electronic drummer / composer; steve... » more david penna – electronic drummer / composer steve booke – guitar / guitar synth
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About the Artist

David Penna is a New York-based electronica composer, producer and drummer.

Penna combines jazz, classical and other progressive elements with techno, drum & bass, idm and other electronic forms, to create a totally unique, deep and diverse style.His...

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September 2009 Electronica

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Press Coverage

Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device (review) by Good Times
Who: David Penna s a Sulfolk County-based recording artist who specializes In quirky, original instrumentals. He’s primarily a drummer, but also serves as the producer, arranger, and ‘jack of all trades’ on this eight-track disc. He has also authored factory presents for Korg electronic instruments. In the past, he’s worked with Ronnie Spector, Dave Revels of The Coasters, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, Ron Jarzombek and Planet Hate. He’s garnered positive press in such national publications as Drum and Keyboard magazines.

What: We’ll have to go to our thesaurus for this one, because ‘Failure To Obey A Traffic Control Device’ defies description – in a good way. The eight tracks combine jazz, classical and electro influences to make, as cliched as it would seem, an entirely new sound. Fans of artists as diverse as Thomas Dolby, Gary Wright, Bjork, Moby, Beck and even contemporary jazz artists could easily become fans of Penna’s unique, mature instrumental style.

— Syl Nathan

Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device (review) by Keyboard
From the get-go, this disc sounds unobtrusive and tranquil: a pretty string-synth progression eventually joined by soft, pitch-bending guitar harmonics. The track’s title is “intro911,” a tribute to those who lost their lives on that fateful date. The final track, “outro1225,” is also mellow. Sandwiched in the middle are sometimes aggressive and consistently brilliant dance tracks. “slow flow” begins with LP scratches and a grainy Rhodes loop, which kick off a spicy drum ’n’ bass piece that features wicked B-3 tones, cool synth timbres, additional electric piano lines, and a bluesy sax solo. “SQL,” another d’n’b track, is brisker and more intense. David Penna artfully covers additional styles including techno and big beat on this killer release. His compositional skills soar, and he makes all the elements shine. I’m anxious to hear more of his stuff.

MARK VAIL

Electronica revived by LI drummer by Newsday
Remember drum and bass? Musicians are still working in that genre – or at least David Penna is. The Deer Park drummer’s sebut solo disc, “Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device,” harks back to that brief window in the mid-1990s when electronic music – with its ultramodern abstractions, lack of traditional instruments and fashionably faceless practitioners – threatened to obliterate old-fashioned rock and roll and become, as more egghead types predicted, “the new jazz.”

Guess what? It actually did become the new jazz, which is to say it dwindled in popularity and now remains the rarefied domain of the aforementioned eggheads.

There’s a reason for that: Even today, drum and bass sounds difficult, unfamiliar, a little “avant.” I think of it in terms of visual art: If rock and roll is representational (figures, faces, realism), then drum and bass is wholly abstract (pattern, color, texture). If The Beatles are as recognizable as the “Mona Lisa,” then drum and bass is as puzzling as one of Mark Rothko’s color fields.

All of which makes electronic music tough to analyze, just as modern art can be. If I don’t happen to like the color yellow, what can I fairly say about Rothko’s “No. 10”? If I don’t like blippy melodies, what can I say about Penna’s disc? (I do like them, though.)

For the uninitiated, Penna’s eight-song album makes a good starting point. It occupies a middle ground, drawing from familiar dance music but also diving into pure rhythm and sound. The track “Soar Beyond” may be weird and spacey, but its dreamy guitar line is reassuring. On “SQL,” clubby keyboards mix with rapid-fire beats, while a recognizable human voice keeps the listener tethered to Earth. And “Strange Lights,” with its fast and funky bass, really does come close to jazz.

Penna’s disc has its flaws, but, of course, that’s only an opinion. To fall back on an old saying: I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.

Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Device (review) by gridface.com
David Penna’s album from late last summer is wonderfully refreshing, making it a perfect choice for the first day of spring. Penna crafts drum and bass beats, but keeps them from sounding dated with sweet, jazzy melodies. “chemicalX” and “SQL” are perfect examples of this approach. Other tracks show signs of Squarepusher inspiration. “Soar Beyond” has fusion elements, with mellow keys over skittering snares. Booming bass, electro runs, and synth strings all manage to meld, building to a soaring melody. “Strange Lights” has a very Tom Jenkinson-esque bass solo, but “Birds of Prey” is definitely off in its own world. Electric guitar chords, acid bass, and amen breaks sound perfectly natural together. Who would have thought?

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Electronic Press Kit

david penna