Why Dosh Is Pretty Cool

I’m often on the lookout for new music by artists with whom I am unfamiliar. Recently, I’ve been on an electronic music kick, and I’ve come across some pretty decent stuff - both IDM and ambient. Dosh’s newest release, The Lost Take, is one album that has particularly captured me in the last couple of months.

I had never heard, nor even heard of Martin Dosh (perhaps this betrays some greater ignorance) but I came across his new album by chance a couple of weeks ago. Dosh (which is his recording name) is an experimental multi-instrumentalist out of Minneapolis who creates electronic music in the vein of B. Fleischmann (this website is in German...sorry). His quirky, melodic, and sample-filled songs lend themselves well to both a soothing experience (great for reading, I have found) as well as close listening, as his songs are layered with eclectic instrumentation and interesting samples.

With the Lost Take, Dosh impressively demonstrates his ability to write pretty melodic lines, weaving in bits of interesting musical accompaniment and catchy rhythms. What is also exciting is that a few other big Midwestern independent rock names join Dosh on the album, including Andrew Bird.

This is an album I would recommend checking out, especially the song “Um, Circles and Squares.”

Lost in Shallowness

I liked Lost In Translation – liked it quite a bit in fact – but my infatuation with Coppola is slowly dwindling. Marie Antoinette was an aesthetically beautiful, magical, slow, meandering, and ultimately confusing film. Why did Coppola make this movie? I have no idea (although I think I could speculate). Be that as it may, the soundtrack to Coppola’s newest film does not disappoint.

It is populated with a selection of some of my favorite songs by New Order and Gang of Four, and Coppola, once again, admirably demonstrates her ability to blend picturesque images with pretty music, Although it is done in much the same fashion as in Lost in Translation, (see: Bill Murray riding in a limo with the city light of Tokyo washing over his face in the window while my My Bloody Valentine layers over the image vs. Kirsten Dunst riding in a carriage with the reflections of the French countryside washing over her face).

Enough has been said about the mediocrity of plot and the shallowness but aesthetic beauty of Coppola’s new film; leaving this aside, the soundtrack is fantastic – check it out (the trailer also deserves some kind of award by god).

Dig: “Age of Consent” by New Order off of their album Power, Corruption and Lies.

Punk Rock is Just Around The Corner

Last Thursday John and I had the good fortune to see Ian MacKaye - the legendary icon of DC hardcore - perform in his new band, The Evens, in New York City. There have been many mixed emotions about this band since their inception in the Fall of 2001. Is MacKaye going soft? To my mind, the Evens are the logical progression for the middle-aged punker – the Evens champion soft simplistic songs complimented by Mackaye’s baritone guitar and Amy Farina’s quiet but rhythmically sound drumming. The lyrics are befittingly simple yet politically charged, and they are sung by a more reserved sounding MacKaye than one hears in his earlier bands (Fugazi, Minor Threat), and Farina, whose breathy but sweet voice fits nicely over Mackaye’s.

The Evens performed in a fairly small venue, and by MacKaye’s request, the lights remained on for the duration of their set. Such an ambience is indicative of his philosophy towards live music: the audience is as important as the performers themselves. He urged us to come close to the stage, sing a long, and to ask him if the sound balance was off, for the “band members were also the sound guys.” MacKaye’s attempts to bridge the gap between the audience and the performers in order to create a more communal and collective experience fell somewhat flat on the New York hipsters known for their propensity for shoe gazing (but it was appreciated by Pitch2voltage nonetheless).

As a Fugazi fan and a native to Washington DC, I enjoyed the set quite a bit. MacKaye’s passion and energy, despite his sitting down, was assuredly contagious. Every time his voice began to break into the deep scratchy yelling so descriptive of Fugazi, the hair on my arms stood on end. But the Evens maintained a degree of lightheartedness and reservation, allowing one to sit back and enjoy, rather than quietly smirk at a 40 something punk rocker head bang on stage.

Dig: “Around the Corner” off of the Evens’ first album which is self-titled.

Have No Fear!

We apologize for the lack of posting in the last couple of weeks, but as the world of indie rock has continued to churn out frustratingly familiar sounding albums we have been terribly busy. But all is not lost, coming soon:

1) The Evens play in NYC and Ian MacKaye is still the man

2) The Mediocrity of Marie Antoinette and Sofia Coppola's inability to have a bad soundtrack

3) Why Dosh is pretty cool

4) The best indie pop record of the year!

5) The quick decline and then rise of The Decemberists (i.e. Colin Meloy is a loser but the new album is, surprisingly, the only good thing he has done since Castaways and Cutouts).

5) John and Tony's list of new or old albums that they have been really digging this year