The bass and drums duo Ninja Academy are seriously huge. Not in a Kelly Clarkson kind of way, more like the pulverizing bass and drum sounds of Death From Above 1979 or Godheadsilo, then mix in a little Tortoise. But what sets them apart from the crowd is the craftmanship of musical structures, intense noise build-ups, and restraint. They are kind of like a real academy, one that can teach you the proper use of noise, bass playing, and drumming in different time signatures. Ninja Academy saves the nonstop barrage of noise for every other band, and I think they know it would be just too easy for them.
The album starts off with a spoken word lesson on Ninjas. The tongue-in-cheek Ninja speech continues with a track called "Excuse Me", basically a parody of Guitar Center with a great background attempt at "Stairway to Heaven". The album so far is really funny. "Your Kung Fu Sucks!" is where this record takes off into Ninjaland. Track five is heavy and melodic like 18th Dye only to be broken up with their signature jazz bass groove, very similar to Les Claypool or the late John Entwistle. "Neckface" is clearly a declaration of what to expect for the entire record.
"Und Keine Eier" is 42 seconds of noise-bliss and pure evil. Think Napalm Death distorted sounds and scales upon thundering drums. The drumming also gets smoother and jazzy too on tracks like "Hunt for the Manipurans", John McEntire would be proud. The entire album is interesting and sharp to listen too. They're also well known for their amazing live show, which includes a demonstration of nunchuckus while the band plays. Highly recommended!
Ninja Academy have tons of gigs lined up at a venue near you, go here for that.