Dot Dash are there. Now.
I don't know if it's because they have all been in bands prior to forming Dot Dash (Bands like Velocity Girl, who released 3 albums on Sub Pop and were on the Clueless Soundtrack), or maybe it's the fact that HRD is the third album for the band and they've been honing their skill all the while, but you can tell that this is a band that knows EXACTLY what it wants to sound like, and it also knows EXACTLY how to pull that sound off.
If you played me this album without preface, I'd guess that it was a lost gem from maybe the late 80's or early 90's. Something that you might see JC play over at The (New) Vinyl Villain with paragraphs about how he saw them perform and how that show changed his life. They sound like a band that all my Contrast Podcast compatriots have known about for years, but I somehow missed.
That this is an album that came out in the middle of the August that just ended is mindblowing. And extremely exciting.
Here's the opening track. You can download it for free. And then put it on all your "End of Summer" mixes.
And here's a song that comes later in the album. Yes. Literary references abound. You can't download it for free, but after you hear these two songs, you're going to want to buy the album.
So now that you're hooked, you probably want to know where to go to buy all their music. Well, I'll tell you.
- Go to Their Bandcamp Page and stream the whole album and then buy it for a measly $8. You can also purchase their previous two albums for $7 each. Which means for $22 you can have the entire Dot Dash discography to fall in love with.
- Buy it from iTunes if you've got some Gift Card money that's burning a hole in your pocket
- Go for the complete retro 90's feel and purchase a physical CD at the The Beautiful Music label page.
If you're like me and live in the DC-Metro area, you'll be interested to know that they are playing DC9 on 9/22, opening for Terry Malts with Queen Kwong. Tickets are $10 in advance and on the day of the show. You can buy them here. I would go, but I have company coming in to town to join me at the Dessa show the following night. So you should go in my place and then rub it in my face what a great show I missed.
3 comments:
cheers for the kind words, james!
Gave the three songs a listen James.
I reckon the first two are just a bit too polished to be from the late 80s/early 90s - the thing they most reminded me of was the sort of British indie-pop of maybe six or seven years ago which was decent enough but hasn't been all the enduring.
Having said all of that I will admit that the track 'A Light In The Distance; is an absolute belter - it harks back a decade earlier to the new wave era. If the rest of the LP is like that rather than the more poppy stuff then I'm with you on it being an essential release.
JC - I thought I picked up on some Aztec Camera-esque jangle in the guitar, the wordiness of the lyrics, etc. But I'm still learning the nuances AC.
Maybe I also hear a little Belle and Sebastian? And I conflate them with an earlier era, so that might be a plausible explanation.
Whatever it is, and it may very well be the polish, it really works for me.
Oh, and I definitely agree with you about "A Light in the Distance". I hadn't noticed just how hard it rocked until you pointed it out.
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