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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Jim Connelly's
Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Monday, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bill Bentley's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Anthony Carew's 13 Fave Albums Of 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
SXSW 2006: Finding Some Hope In Austin
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Letter From New Orleans
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums of 2005
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Music For Dwindling Days: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Albums Of 2005
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Michael Lach - Old Soul Songs For A New World Order
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Found In Translation — Emme Stone's Year In Music 2005
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Dave Allen's 'Best-Of' 2005
Monday, January 2, 2006
Steve Gozdecki's Favorite Albums Of 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Johnny Walker Black's Top 10 Of 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Year In Review
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Ben Gook's Beloved Albums Of 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
Anthony Carew's Fave Albums Of 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Prince, Spoon And The Magic Of The Dead Stop
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Truth About America
Monday, September 5, 2005
Tryin' To Wash Us Away
Monday, August 1, 2005
A Psyche-Folk Heat Wave In Western Massachusetts
Monday, July 18, 2005
Soggy But Happy At Glastonbury 2005
Monday, April 4, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 3: All Together Now
Friday, April 1, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 1: Waiting, Waiting And More Waiting
Friday, March 25, 2005
Final Day At SXSW's Charnel House
Monday, March 21, 2005
Day Three At SXSW
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Day Two In SXSW's Hall Of Mirrors
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Report #1: SXSW 2005 And Its Hall Of Mirrors
Monday, February 14, 2005
Matt Landry's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
David Howie's 'Moments' From The Year 2004
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Noah Bonaparte's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Kevin John's Fave Albums Of 2004
Friday, January 14, 2005
Music For Those Nights: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Neal Block's Top Ten Of 2004
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wayne Robins' Top Ten Of 2004
Friday, January 7, 2005
Brian Orloff's Fave Albums Of 2004
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Johnny Walker (Black)'s Top 10 Of 2004
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums (And Book) Of 2004
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Mark Mordue's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 3, 2005
Lee Templeton's Fave Recordings Of 2004
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The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Neumu Senior Writer Jenny Tatone writes: "I'm David Geffen and I want to sign your band!" shouts some heckler in the crowd halfway through Dr. Dog's mind-blowing afternoon set.
For a split second, I think maybe I've just witnessed history in the making:
Dr. Dog's big break into superstardom. Because standing there thinking, no, knowing I'm
taking in the best show of SXSW 2005, it doesn't seem so unlikely.
Geffen should at least want to sign 'em. Mark my words — you will be hearing a lot more about Dr. Dog. For now, just try to hear them. Check out their site.
And I'm glad to catch them midday at Emo's Jr., the small and intimate dive-y kid brother to Emo's Main Room. For the most part, I really dig all the afternoon shows. Rarely are they overwhelmingly packed. And I like the way they mess with your perception of time. Inside, you stand in a humid haze of darkness. And if it weren't for the narrow beams of white light bending their way through the front door, you'd think it was nighttime. Moving from club to club is like moving from day to night and night to day — just when you start to feel wiped out, you walk outside and the sunlight slaps you in the face like cold water, kicking you back into gear for the next set.
Dr. Dog take the stage at 2:45 p.m., sound-check briefly, give a quick introduction
and waste no time getting started. First, though, singer/guitarist Scott McMicken — wearing
baggy high-water pants held up high above his belly button by red suspenders — wraps
a pair of cheap plastic shades (Remember the ones with fluorescent-colored arms?
Yes you do!) around his long red hair as if he can't play without them. And as
soon as the band breaks into "Oh No," he's jumping around like a hunched-back
madman, kicking his chicken legs as high as possible whenever a good opportunity
arises. It's great.
"Oh No" — a stomping, infectious number off their latest album, Easy Beat — is the crowd's first taste of Dr. Dog's awesome rollicking musicianship and superb harmonizing (four of the five members sing and shout). Intermittently throughout "Oh No," the music halts for an instant, as if suspended overhead, teasing you, making you desperate for more, and then it drops and fills the room and you're happy in love again. Intricate guitar work spirals and winds in an attempt to take over. And the rhythm section struts and sweats so hard, you must be deaf if you're not moving in one way or another.
"We're gonna play a soul song next," says bassist/vocalist Toby Leaman, who wears a plaid button-up shirt and has a straw hat dangling from a string around his neck. "What? OK, guess we're not," he adds, laughing, before breaking into the melodic, chugging "The World May Never Know," a song that has McMicken belting like he wants — no, he needs — the world to know. Keeping it upbeat, the others hum "shew-whop, shew-whop" in the back.
Next up comes the soul song, "Fool's Life," which starts out sad, sluggish and led by Leaman's so-brokenhearted-I'm-exhausted wail, before breaking into high-pitched group screams that pounce again and again and again while the guitars scratch out nonsense. This is Dr. Dog at their most inaccessible, but the energy is as strong as ever, and essentially why they win over a crowd and have them all hooting and hollering by the show's end.
Someone in the audience yells, "Dr. Dog! I love you Dr. Dog!" every now and then throughout the 30-minute set. It's a nice touch.
The band dances sloppily around onstage as they bang out happy chords and playful beats. You'd think they were on someone's back porch. They're all having such a grand time up there, how can you not?
To be continued …
The InsiderOne Daily Report appears on occasion.
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