This is a nice surprise: a handful of nine new songs comprising Dodos' Time To Die, the follow up to their 2007 debut Visiter, just hit the net yesterday. Dodos were always a band that I had labeled as somewhat of an anomaly for actually finding success while seemingly very obviously ripping off the sounds of countless of their predecessors and contemporaries. A bastardized, popified Animal Collective+Shins toned down to be the perfect music for mini-van driving young soccer MILFs who still want to stay somewhat "current" in the music scene. Phew, thankfully that was a hasty assessment of an otherwise immensely entertaining band.
[MP3] Dodos - Longform (Song removed per label request, links to HypeM stream!)
After a quick listen, "Longform" was one of the only songs on Time To Die that gives the impression that Dodos have matured, that shows even a tiny bit of growth. As many good songs as graced Visiter, they were all pretty much the same song in the same style, something I thought might have bitten Dodos in the ass eventually. I really hope that hasn't happened here-- "Longform" is a good song, for sure, but let's hope it's not the only standout.
Dodos' sophomore release Time To Die drops September 15th on Frenchkiss Records.
Official Site | MySpace | More MP3s | Preorder Time To Die
14 comments:
I couldn't disagree any more with your words regarding Visiter (not Visitor). "they were all pretty much the same song in the same style". Really???
of course i'm exaggerating a bit, what I'm getting at is that they've got a very cornered style with not much variation in the sounds that make up their music. you can only go so far with a tiny drum kit and an acoustic guitar, which is the foundation of all of their songs
typical.
I agree that you are very far off in your statement about Visiter's songs all sounding the same. If anything, Longform sounds more like a song off of Visiter. At least Visiter had a TON of great songs that each had their own flair and unique style. Of course they cant be too far off with the limited instruments, as you said, but I think that they did a great job of creating some stellar tracks on their Visiter album.
i agree, i think there were some stellar tracks on visiter. the album made our best of 2008 list:
http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-albums-of-2008.html#dodos
Does your douchiness have no bounds?
because I don't see a band maturing the way I hoped them to?
can you define "maturing?" wouldn't have an issue with this post if you made the slightest effort to define what "growth," in your estimation, actually sounds like. but you don't. so i do.
alright. "growth", to give dodos the benefit of the doubt, can be any kind of change. hopefully a positive change that sees a band expanding on their established sound, whether its adding more instruments or messing with time signatures, whatever. just doing something different so we aren't listening to debut album part 2. some bands, good bands, will look at the way they crafted their sound on their last LP and break down those sounds into chunks, and then break down those chunks into smaller chunks. they'll analyze the hell out of those smaller chunks, mess around with their contours and funny corners, and when they put it back together they'll have something that sorta resembles what they initially created but also achieves something new and something (keyword) different. and hopefully something mindblowing.
does that answer your question?
Longform's the standout for me so far
Geez, give Connor a break! You forget the definition of opinion. For what it's worth, after listening to a handful of new Dodos tracks on Hype Machine, I think they've definitely matured and become a more interesting and less repetitive band.
You realize they did add a new instrument, a new band member? To be fair, I think a lot of the change, or maturation, is pretty subtle, and not easily identified on the first few listens (i've had it for a while now, keeps getting better).
The production levels are immensely better than their previous albums, something I think that also becomes more apparent on subsequent plays.
Considering one of the most common acclaims for Visiter was the band's unique sound/playing style, too big a departure would have been a disappointment, and frankly a mistake, in my opinion.
Anyways, be interested to hear your opinions after you've had some time to listen to the album more. It was a little flat for me on the first couple plays, but man, it is seriously awesome.
All i wanna say is YAY for the vibraphone, amazing!!!
Animal Collective? You just rendered your opinion of any and all things music completely inconsequential with that comparison.
Post a Comment