Sounds Too Perfect

An essay by Chad Schomber

There used to be a squeak in the kick pedal.

You’d hear it in the third verse, usually. Some drummer sweating through a polyester shirt in a hot room. The foot pump on the bass drum would creak just a bit. A human noise. Not a mistake. Just a sign that someone was trying. You don't hear that anymore.

Modern music is a mirror polished to blindness. Everyth…