When I was reviewing CDs for Echo I was given the Dogs’ Everything in Three Parts by my editor because I had professed a passing interest in ska. “They do a little bit of ska,” he said, and he was right: exactly one song (“Elevator Man”) on that album could be considered ska, and I would hesitate to place it in that genre at all. It seems that when white dudes play summery guitars with horns in the background it’s considered ska (unless you’re Sloan).
Anyway, I fell in love with the disc almost immediately. The I said in that review that the Dogs “convey that rare sense of having listened to a lot of bands but not wanting to be any one of them”, and I stand by that today. They dip their toes in so many genres that you honestly wonder where they find the time to listen to all that music. Everything in Three Parts runs the gamut from summery rock to waltz to alt-country to acoustic indie and seem utterly comfortable in each of those places. I was super excited for a follow up.
In summer of 2007 Big Eye little eye was released. I remember being so excited that I kidnapped my friend Meagan, who I was supposed to be driving home so show could study for an exam, and dragged her to Sunrise so I could pick it up sooner (don’t worry, Meagan got into med school. I’m not that bad a friend). I had already heard two tracks: a Paul McCartney cover called “1985” (not to be confused with the craptacular Bowling For Soup song) and the first single, “Never Meant Any Harm” .
Right off the top, I was disappointed. Very little caught my ear that first time through, which I’ve only just come to realize is pretty consistent for me when listening to sophomore releases. I didn’t listen through Big Eye little eye again until almost a month later and the disc started making sense to me. It’s a more focused effort: rather than wildly jumping genres, which was admittedly attractive, the Dogs had anchored themselves in fuzzy indie-pop and reached out in different directions from there. They have such an excellent sensibility for building songs and making everything (lyrics to melody to rhythm to structure) mean something.
The final piece was seeing them live. At present I have seen the Dogs three times: at the Starlight in Waterloo, at Call the Office in London and at the Student Life Center on University of Waterloo campus. I can tell you for sure that the Dogs are one of the best live shows I’ ever seen. If you don’t believe me…
So that is why I love the Golden Dogs.
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IN OTHER NEWS!
Musicwise, nothing much happening, at least from a performance perspective. I've been working on some stuff for a fun Runaway show we have coming up in July. I'm writing some hip-hop rhymes for the first time and it's awesome. The process, I mean; I hesitate to say the rhymes themselves are awesome. Although I'm the first MC I know of to do a verse about a car with teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles references. That's right.
I'm also starting to brainstorm about this year's Indie/Acoustic Christmas show. Assuming it happens, I have some big ideas. BIG, says I.
This is all.
1 comment:
Don't you dare go see the Dogs without me...I don't want to give up my "I have seen the Dogs once more than Kerry" title :o)
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