Album: B-Room
Artist: Dr. Dog
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Label: ANTI-
Genre: Indie rock/Blues rock/Neo-psychedelia
B-Room is the eight album by Dr. Dog. I don’t really know anything about the band except that I’ve heard of them before. Time to listen!
The album begins with “The Truth,” which is a very nice song to hang out to. It’s like something you’d listen to getting high with your friends, if that’s what you’re into. But it’s not exclusively that, it’s just a very “chill-out” track. Right now, it’s helping me calm down for an exam I have later this week. It’s like I don’t have a care in the world right now. The song has movement throughout and keeps your attention while it simultaneously allows you to totally ignore it while listening. This quickly fades into “Broken Heart,” which is a bit louder, and by the refrain sounds an awful lot like Animal Collective, but less electronic. The vocals are bouncing around playfully while the music keeps it steady. The short guitar solo is a nice little bit. That coupled with the outro’s chants make this a very good song.
Next is “Minding the Usher,” which uses an unusual chord progression in the guitar. The track kind of swells in a very slow way throughout its length. It starts off soft, then grows louder and then drops again. The bridge of this song is also really interesting, just soft little muffled stabs while the singer says “on and on and on…” Then, “Distant Light” starts off in a marching band like way, and the song sounds sort-of anthemic. If “Broken Heart” was the neo-psychedelia, this track is the blues rock. It’s very different from the other tracks on the album and I really appreciate that on this album, because they’re not all too different genres. And it sounds good! There’s no way around that fact.
“Phenomenon” creates this indie-rock-meets-farm sound that sounds extremely unique. This sound is very delicate and I’ll be very upset if they use it again on the album, because it has to be something used all on it’s own. The song’s strings are very well orchestrated, and it’s nice to see that they’re mostly played by real musicians and not just electronic instruments. After that it’s “Too Weak to Ramble,” which is another bluesy track, but less rock than the past one. The singer in this song sounds as though he really suffered the struggles of the old blues singers, and it’s a little sad to listen to, because this sound is created so effectively and so honestly that it’s totally believable. I’d be upset if I learned that these lyrics meant nothing and he was just trying to create a sound. I love this song.
“Long Way Down” is very interesting. It’s a true indie rock track and very difficult to describe. It makes me want to move and bop around. It’s guitar work is very cool, as well as it’s use of horns. The drums keep the beat while adding its own fills that are actually audible and good! The singing and lyrics are both great and the track makes me feel good. The next song, “Cuckoo,” goes back into that bluesy sound- this time more Black Keys than White Stripes. The sound is a bit dreary in this track, but that’s not bad, especially because, you know, it’s a blues song. The song forces me to tap my foot to the beat. It’s use of keys adds a nice old-school vibe to such a new cool song.
The song fades right into “Twilight,” which starts with a nice theremin that could have been part of the Titanic soundtrack, and then becomes a very strange piece that sounds straight out of a David Lynch movie. I really like this track, but my issue with it is that this is the track where I suddenly realize that this whole album is not cohesive. This is 12 different bands playing 12 different songs, like a compilation record of a music label. In terms of this song, it’s very cool, very eerie and interesting enough to be one of my favorites. Then, with no transition, “Rock & Roll” starts, which is very old-school sounding. It’s a great recounting of the artist’s past (if it actually happened, but either way, it’s a great story), much like “Jukebox Hero.” It’s sexy, it’s angsty, and it’s awesome, but it sounds a bit derivative of older artists. Is he trying to emulate the older artists? Maybe. It wouldn’t surprise me.
“Love” is another song that sounds very derivative and totally different from the rest of the album. But damn, the band’s music makes it so hard for me to be mad at them. I LOVE this song. If you ever hear someone complain that they don’t make music like (insert old band here) anymore, show them this song, it should be able to silence them. It’s the Beatles. It’s beautiful.
The last track on the album is “Nellie,” is also really good. Yeah, yeah, you get it. It’s the lighter song (except that’s lame, don’t do that), it’s the slow clap song, it’s the sing-along song, shout with them “Oh Nellie!”
There’s not a single bad song off of this whole album, which is the qualification I have for giving a great score to an album. The problem is that in order to make each song great, they had to make an album that is not cohesive at all. They can be themselves without sacrificing their quality!
Great track: All of them
Not so great tracks: None
FINAL RATING: 9/10
