New Releases on
RARadio:
"Darkness" by
Leonard Cohen; "Sweetbread"
by Simian
Mobile Disco and "Keep You"
from Actress
off the Chronicle movie
soundtrack;"Goodbye to Love" from
October Dawn; Trouble in Mind 2011
label sampler;
Black Box Revelation Live on
Minnesota Public Radio;
Apteka "Striking Violet";
Mikal Cronin's "Apathy" and "Get
Along"; Dana deChaby's
progressive rock
RARWRITER.com's resident
musicologist Douglas Strobel has found a current band that he
likes! It is Dr. Dog, the
neo-traditionalist-folk-rockers out of Philadelphia.
Dr. Dog formed as a side project
of songwriters and vocalists Toby
Leaman and Scott McMicken
and matured into the band we have today. One with a nasally
voice (McMicken), the other without, Dr. Dog sets the mood with
their fair share of songs about relationships and lifetime woes.
Borrowing heavily from bands like the Beatles and the Kinks, Dr.
Dog blended the sounds of yesteryear with the low-fi recording
style of bands like the Mountain Goats or the Pink Spiders and
added ample amounts of harmonies and hand-claps bringing a
soothing yet scratchy sound reminiscent of your grandpa’s
turntable that was built into his end table. The short version:
They bring a hell of a lot of charm to their music and the
talent to back it up.
Dr. Dog began gaining traction in
2004 after going on tour with My Morning Jacket. Soon after they
released their sophomore album Easy Beat and continued touring
and putting out more music, often free of charge through their
website. Though Dr. Dog produced their first few albums with a
low-fi sound, they’ve since cleaned up their act a bit and
polished their sound. Their songs have retained their powerful
lyrics and harmonies, bringing forth a matured sound and a
tighter-knit band.
Dr. Dog has made appearances on
the late-night circuit including Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson,
and Conan O’Brien.
Conspirator Builds Allies
Porter Robinson and AVICII Remixes include "Seek
Bromance"
By Wendy Brynford-Jones
Conspirator features Aron Magner
and Marc Brownstein
(The Disco Biscuits keyboardist and bass player) as an
outlet to channel their electronic mad scientist personae.
Formed in 2004 with New York DJ/producer DJ Omen,
Conspirator has taken on many forms through the years. With
the recent addition of virtuoso guitarist
Chris Michetti
and a rotating cast of some of the
country's best drummers – Darren Shearer (the New
Deal), Mike Greenfield (Lotus), KJ Sawka
(Pendulum) and Adam Deitch
(Break Science, Pretty Lights) – Conspirator has
reached another level. The band recently issued web only
remixes of dance tracks from Porter
Robinson and Avicii
that have been garnering lots of attention on the
electronic music circuit.
According to Brownstein, the idea to do remixes happened one
day when hanging out in their studio space in Philadelphia
with Khadafi Dub, a rapper from Philly who has become an MC
for many of the top dub-step artists in the world. “We
mentioned that we would be interested in getting stems from
some of the artists whom he knows and with whom he has
worked. A few days later the stems started to roll in. The
artists included Porter Robinson, Avicii, 12th Planet and
more, which enabled us to get to work straight away. When
stems from "Seek Bromance,” a dance hit of mega proportions
(60 million views on YouTube) come in, you jump on it and
remix it immediately. “
The response to the remixes of Avicii’s “Seek Bromance” and
the Porter Robinson’s track “Say My Name” have been huge,
yielding nearly 85,000 plays combined in a short period of
time on Soundcloud after being posted to the popular blog,
ThisSongIsSick.com. The latter remix of “Say My Name”, from
the 19-year-old electronic sensation Robinson, has already
racked up over 33,000 plays in just two short weeks.
Conspirator is gearing up for a new full-length release
entitled Unlocked - Live from the Georgia Theatre (release
date April 10, 2012), which captures the spirit of these
true genre blenders. The collection is a smorgasbord of
electronic rock bliss, delving, twisting and diving
effortlessly between house, dub-step, drum and bass, and
electro. Coming off of breakout performances at Ultra Music
Festival and Nocturnal Festival, Conspirator has begun to
catch the eye of electronic music aficionados everywhere.
Upcoming tour date highlights will include headlining shows
at Irving Plaza, The Trocadero, The Orange Peel, Georgia
Theater, the Fox Theater and more as well as supporting
slots with Lotus at the Congress Theater and The Pageant.
Yes, it is the Year of the Dragon but barring the Mayan
prediction coming true for 2012, this should be
Conspirator’s year as well.
Dr.
Dog