POSTED: Friday, January 15, 2010, 5:30 PM
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| Photo | John Vettese |
I'm telling the truth, it don't win with pretend.
Even though Holly Otterbein convincingly blew their cover yesterday, I nonetheless showed up at Johnny Brenda's quietly wondering if this mysterious band billed as Meth Beach was actually a freeform ambient drone headtrip. Nope - it was indeed the boys from Dr. Dog, warming up some material from their new Shame, Shame, due out April 6 on Anti- Records. Quite a bit of it, actually; of the forthcoming record's eleven tracks, the band played a generous six of them, intermixed with favorites from 2008's Fate and 2007's We All Belong.
Unsurprisingly, the new tunes don't make any departures or sudden 90-degree turns from the 60s rock foundation that dual songwriters Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman have built on for the past eight years. This is not a bad thing. Rather, it's solid Dr. Dog, a sharpening of their studied classic motifs and intricate structural interplay. Or to put it in less smarty-pants language, the new shit rocks as timeless rock songs should, and the band is tight as ever, riffing off one another with crazy energy.
Standouts were the first and the last of the new offerings (full setlist below). "Mirror Mirror" playfully rides a midtempo groove and supple funk organ into a big chorus. In "Stranger," the bigmuff guitars took center stage, racing across octaves in the verse and refrain to swell into a ebullient coda. Chords slammed loud and bright, then ended cold, the capacity crowd erupting into applause.
That level of reception was definitely a winning point; the Meth / Dog guys bulked up their set with unfamiliar material and never once lost the room's enthusiasm. On the other hand, they were playing to the choir so to speak, and not all of the new material resonated in this same manner ("Later" just kind of unremarkably came and went). It remains to be seen how well it will go over in front of the more general audience they'll face at The Electric Factory on May 13, or nationally once the new album drops on the band's new, heavy-hitting label.
Shame, Shame could end up being an amazing masterstroke, Dr. Dog's breakout, defining work. Or it could merely a fine addition to an increasingly strong catalog. Whichever the case, based on the songs premiered last night, it's no dud. This is going be a collection of music we as a city should collectively anticipate and embrace.
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| Photo | John Vettese |
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| Photo | John Vettese |
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| Photo | John Vettese |
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| Photo | John Vettese |
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| Photo | John Vettese |
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| Photo | John Vettese |
SETLIST:
Worst Trip
The Way The Lazy Do
Army of Ancients
Mirror Mirror
Station
The Old Days
Later
I Only Wear Blue
The Ark
Where'd All The Time Go
Stranger
The Rabbit, the Bat and the Reindeer
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| Photo | John Vettese |
