Review: New Dog | Teeth Marks

The implication of the name New Dog, at least in the context of the old proverb, is that it can indeed learn new tricks. And while the new long-player from the so-named, Somerville, Mass.-based act doesn't stray wildly from the course plotted by two fine, noir-tinged and tension-filled predecessors, it feels brighter, louder, more potent and in places even inviting.

Perhaps it is more a question of a new outlook, rather than new tricks, but that question as yet yields no definite answer. Band mastermind Anar Badalov stated recently that the 10 songs that comprise Teeth Marks took shape quickly and with relatively surprising ease, such that only now, with the benefit of distance and time, are the songs' meanings revealing themselves to him. As before, Mr. Badalov's vivid lyrics present as closely delivered confidences, but therein there seems to be a new sense of contentedness, which suggests Badalov -- or at least the characters that populate his Sherwood Anderson-esque constructions -- is certainly learning something.

The album's quicker writing process (it's only nine months since New Dog's last record was released) didn't result in more spare compositions, surprisingly enough. Instead, Teeth Marks presents a fuller sound rendered from Badalov's characteristic blend of voice, guitar and piano. He expands his aural comfort zone via additional layers of each, finely appointed with reverbs and subtle synth swells. The record opens with "3 A.M.," a fleeting ode to infatuation ("I'll tell you anything you want to know, if you just let me walk you home") that commences with a burbling electric piano trill that wobbles like a plate spinning on a stick. "Home By Five" details the simple satisfactions of domesticity over skeletal guitar work delivered in 3/4 time ("I wear my ring but it's never too tight... life is boring, isn't it?"). The album highlight "Here All Days" introduces sturdy rhythm tracks and what feels like an inevitable cloud, the stark, dark admission "all the people that I love, I can count you on one hand, the other one I keep in my pocket." According to Badalov, the tune -- which includes the lyric that became the album title -- is loosely based on his time as a cubicle dweller ("all the hours I've been losing at my desk, you can empty the trash but you can't undo the rest..."), and also contemplates fulfilling commitments. Its restlessness recalls the nocturnal meditations of last year's excellent album Classic Ballroom Dances [review], as does the menacing distorted electric piano and fits of feedback that open the succeeding song, "Lover's Palm."

"Joe Brainard's Idea" is comprised of snatches of tangential memories, and was inspired by the titular author's volume "I Remember." The tune ruminates on the push and pull that memories can have as one grows older -- particularly memories that can cut both ways: is it joy or regret Badalov feels as he recalls "outside on a blanket at night, a thousand sparking eyes looking down at us?" The track "Sudden Amnesia" is notable for being the new collection's sole cover; its a composition by poet and literary critic Frank Manchaca. Badalov revealed on Facebook recently that he and Mr. Manchaca have been collaborating on a record titled Laughing Around The Bend that may also see release this year. Teeth Marks closes with the powerfully poignant piano ballad "Would You Let Me In?," a song made all the more poignant by its placement at the end of the record, and the repeated sizzle and snap of closing hi-hat, which suggests one possible answer.

Badalov self-released Teeth Marks in a hyper limited edition of 50 LPs and as a digital download today; Classic Ballroom Dances was released by Kill Rock Stars. Teeth Marks will be fêted with a record release show March 24 at Cambridge, Mass.'s charming bar The Plough & Stars; also on the bill that night is Emerald Comets, a side project of Guillermo Sexo's Reuben Bettsak. Stream all of Teeth Marks via the Bandcamp embed below.

New Dog: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds



Prior New Dog Coverage:
Review: New Dog | Classic Ballroom Dances
Together With Together: Clicky Clicky Presents Two Nights of Abstract Electronics And Indie Rock May 12+14
Review: New Dog | Lost Weekend
Today's Hotness: New Dog

Review: New Dog | Classic Ballroom Dances

Poet Charles Simic's "Classic Ballroom Dances" is as much a series of chipped, fading tintypes as it is a collection of words. Each phrase captures, along with a steady whiff of nostalgia, glimpses into the times-gone-by of some anonymous urban setting, perhaps the Chicago of Simic's late adolescence. The images are rich and poignant, and readily scan for people of a certain Western upbringing. For that set of people, anyway, there is a universality to Simic's images, and this is perhaps how the new record by veteran songwriter (and Simic fan) Anar Badalov diverges most noticeably from the poem from which it takes its name. Mr. Badalov's Classic Ballroom Dances, his second record under his New Dog moniker, is marked by its adeptness at conveying the personal, whereas Simic's poem so ably translates the universal.

Somerville, Mass.-based New Dog bowed with the stirring 2014 debut set Lost Weekend [review], whose homespun reveries quietly billowed and softly clicked. The home-recorded Classic Ballroom Dances expands New Dog's sonic palette -- and in places, its dynamic range -- without diluting Badalov's keen minimalist approach or piercing the veil of sublime intimacy that permeates his (yes, poetic) songs. Across its beautiful ballads ("Love," "Out Of The Blue") and tense noir ("The Airport Lobby"), the decidedly nocturnal record sounds bigger without succumbing to the sometimes hollow dazzle of obligatory bigness; its carefully measured dynamics and gentle vocals still give the feeling that Badalov is sharing closely held confidences with his words and music.

Even so, in places Classic Ballroom Dances flexes its muscles in such a way as to burst the too-easy slowcore tag that has been hung around New Dog's neck. This manifests in ways small and great: there's the anachronistic war whoop during the tight guitar soloing in the first minute of the smoldering march "23" on the one hand, and the outsized fuzz of the noisy title track on the other. "Classic Ballroom Dances" launches with big distorted chords that are probably as close as New Dog might ever come to approximating the bile of The Walkmen's epochal "The Rat." However, Badalov's tune (which touts the brilliant, blurry lyric "there will always be people, and there will always be you") is a swinging, near-anthem interrupted by quiet passages of Badalov's typically brittle guitar chords and speckled with light piano flourishes. Later, the song "Dusklands" works itself into the same sort of lather, but not before staging a few quiet, glimmering verses that echo the android soul music of Pinback. The highlight of Classic Ballroom Dances is its haunted, dreamy center "Hospital Nights," whose introductory moments would not be out of place on one of Kompakt's amazing Pop Ambient comps. The songs alternates two spare notes on the electric piano, which find themselves surrounded by spectral voices (perhaps the television referenced in the lyrics?) and a cycling, ominous and, yes, amorous low guitar lick. It is that guitar line that propels the song toward a fade that does little to resolve the sense of restless between-ness the song conjures.

Kill Rock Stars released Classic Ballroom Dances yesterday as a limited edition LP and digital download; order the vinyl direct from KRS right here, and acquire the digital download via the New Dog Bandcamp right here. Badalov and touring drummer Justin Kehoe (he formerly of Boston noise-gaze goliaths Soccer Mom) kick off a European jaunt Saturday in Germany, and a full list of live dates -- including a homecoming show of sorts at BAR in New Haven, CT July 15 -- are below. We were very pleased to present the very first show performed by the newest iteration of New Dog earlier this month, and you can look at very nice pictures from the show right here courtesy of Bradley's Almanac. Stream all of Classic Ballroom Dances via the Bandcamp embed below.

New Dog: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds | label



06.06 -- Bielefeld, DE -- AJZ Club
06.07 -- Cologne, DE -- AZ Koln
06.08 -- Karlsruhe, DE -- House Show
06.09 -- Darmstadt, DE -- Oetinger Villa
06.10 -- Munich, DE -- Kafe Kult
06.11 -- LEIPZIG, DE -- Dr. Seltsam
06.12 -- Pilzen, CZ -- Papirna
06.13 -- Broumov, CZ -- Silver Rocket festival
06.14 -- Brno, CZ -- Kabinet Muz
06.15 -- Koprivnicem, CZ -- Mandala
06.16 -- Breclav, CZ -- Denni bar Dvur
06.17 -- Pardubice, CZ -- Divadlo 29
07.15 -- New Haven, CT -- BAR

Together With Together: Clicky Clicky Presents Two Nights of Abstract Electronics And Indie Rock May 12+14

As a long time admirer of one of the driving forces behind it, we could be none more pleased to announce Clicky Clicky has partnered with the annual Together festival to bring abstract electronics and indie rock to adventurous listeners next month. Whether it be serendipity or silliness, we somehow have ended up presenting not one but two nights of programming during the five-year-old festival's seven-day run this year. First up, on Tuesday, May 12, Together and Clicky Clicky present folktronica/collage duo Skinny Bones and abstract electronic improviser Dinnersss (a/k/a producer Jimmy Hughes) at Lilypad in Cambridge's fashionable Inman Square. That night of programming is enough to raise pulses out there among the cognoscenti, but we've got yet more bunnies up our pant leg: on Thursday May 14 we present at the very same venue contemporary 'gaze greats Strange Mangers, Bostonian Virginia De Las Pozas' charming and other-worldy electronic project Couples Counseling the creaky and haunting strummery of trio Horse Jumper of Love, and a very, very special performance from slowcore giants (and recent Kill Rock Stars signing) New Dog. The Tuesday show is all ages, a 10PM start, and will cost you five American dollars, while Thursday jumps off at 8:30, is all ages, and will cost eight American dollars; Together festival passholders can walk in like royalty and not have to gesture toward their billfolds at all.

We would need many hands to count up all the reasons to be excited about these musical programs, but let us just drop a few here. The music on Skinny Bones' 2014 debut Noise Floor feels as unbounded as the work of Syd Barrett, but as deeply personal as the harrowing and beautiful music of Bad History Month. Dinnersss' recent and entrancing modular synth reverie "Mise En Place" (embedded below) is evocative head music and among the most exciting electronic music we've heard coming out of Boston in this decade. Equally enticing are the electronic sounds of Couples Counseling, which at times seems to provide Boston's most on-point, contemporary response to Nuno Cannavarro's classic 1988 masterwork Plux Quba Horse Jumper of Love's recent EP Ur Real Life Dress builds up a slow and dusty, lower-case-g gothic head of steam and hits a groove on closer "Nose Bleeder," all of which makes us excited for the trio's forthcoming full-length. That live set from New Dog? It's a warm-up for the act's forthcoming European tour, and may very well be the band's first show as a duo: former Soccer Mom kit-minder Justin Kehoe now backs fronter and former Travels/Metal Hearts principal Anar Badalov. The band's new set Classic Ballroom Dances is out June 2, and June 6 the pair kicks off a couple weeks of dates in Germany, Czech Republic and Belgium. Strange Mangers topline Thursday night, bringing with it the big-guitars/big melodies sound that Clicky Clicky devotes most of its time to championing. Strange Mangers had a big 2014, releasing a terrific and haunting EP Return Eternal as well as an entirely arresting comp of older material, and we are expecting big things from the act in 2015 as well.

It is worth noting these two shows -- Facebook Event Page 1; Facebook Event Page 2; pledge your allegiance now -- represent the first efforts of this blog's nascent Clicky Clicky Presents arm. Clicky Clicky Presents is already planning sick bills every other month for the rest of the year and into 2016. We will certainly keep you apprised of these future goings on, but for those curious about what we've got planned, here's a hint and another and another and another about what we're planning or July. But for now let's stay focused on the short term, and the many auditory delights the Together festival has in store for us. Sure, our bills are great, but be sure to scrutinize the entire schedule: there is a ton of hot, hot stuff going on. Don't sleep on it.

TUESDAY, MAY 12 >>





THURSDAY, MAY 14 >>

Today's Hotness: Robert Robinson, Fridge Poetry

>> We've been listening again and again to a full-length issued earlier this month from a fellow named Robert Robinson called Connecticut River. It's a ridiculously engaging melange of bedroom pop, free-k folk and ambient exploration that somehow becomes more mysterious even as it reveals more and more of itself over the course of repeat listens. Clicky Clicky gets particularly jazzed about acts that create, furnish and inhabit singular sonic worlds, and Mr. Robinson and his Connecticut River Band (we are assuming the band exists, but would also not be surprised were it mirage) beautifully express a certain insularity or reverie with their loose, expansive compositions. Sometimes, as on the meandering instrumental album highlight "Chill Buds" or opener "Hocus Pocus," the songs stretch toward a distant horizon. While "Song for Popop" is a folksy and minimal bit of slow-core that recalls contemporary work by New Dog, the bulk of the proceedings has a free and psychedelic bent that makes the set as unpredictable as it is enjoyable. Indeed, the dazzling "Slice Raga" faintly echoes the finer moments of the Deerhunter oeuvre, and "Birds Majesty" sounds like an outtake from Pink Floyd's The Man + The Journey. Some light Googling tells us the prolific Mr. Robinson is the primary songwriter from long-running Western Mass. psych folk foursome Sore Eros, which is perhaps best known for its 2013 split 9" -- yeah, you read that right -- with notable Philadelphian Kurt Vile. But Connecticut River is so very impressive, it doesn't seem like it is simply tunes that are Sore Eros seconds or cast-offs. The set was released by Northampton, Mass.'s Feeding Tube records as a digital download Nov. 6, and we highly recommend it to your attention. Stream all of Connecticut River via the embed below and click through to purchase.



>> One can never be sure with the Johnny Foreigner folks -- especially as it wouldn't be terribly unusual for the legendary and Birmingham, England-based fight-pop survivors to issue a song for Christmas -- but at least presently it appears that the final release of 2014 from a member of its cohort is Fridge Poetry's slightly delayed but altogether excellent recent EP, Omstart Sessions. Fridge Poetry, as devoted readers know, is helmed by Johnny Foreigner drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and is a vehicle for Mr. Laidley's visceral and moving electropop compositions, which rely on guest vocalists to write and sing vocal parts. This latest, five-song set is actually a bit more rock- and guitar-oriented on the front end, but settles into a more blissed and electronic vibe on the final two numbers. The EP is highlighted by the bracing and twinkly emo anthem "Like Poetry," which features dynamite vocals from The Weaks' Evan Bernard, and the burbling closer "Waste Time (CrashDown Redux)." An entrancing video for that latter cut was premiered at Punktastic yesterday, and we humbly suggest that after you've wrapped up your business with Clicky Clicky this day you click this hyperlink and take a gander at said video. Other featured vocalists on the Omstart Sessions EP include Clicky Clicky fave Pete Dixon of Calories and Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Saam Watkins of London emo giants Playlounge, Emmalee Lovelace of Lint, Rob Slater from The Spills and Elos Arma. The EP is available as a standalone digital download, and also in a bundle with a t-shirt or three posters; the shirt art and posters were all designed by South African artist Anja Venter. You can peruse all of your purchase options by clicking through the Bandcamp embed below after you've streamed the EP, which is awesome, and what are you waiting for, and et cetera. Omstart Sessions was self-released Nov. 6. Johnny Foreigner released its titanic fourth LP You Can Do Better in March [review].

Review: New Dog | Lost Weekend

Beautiful and barely there, the recently issued full-length debut from New Dog is spectral and mesmerizing. The project is the latest from Anar Badalov, he formerly of Boston's defunct Travels as well as erstwhile Baltimore slowcore duo Metal Hearts. Lost Weekend is quiet but markedly restless, tense but delicate. The title Lost Weekend suggests to students of rock music a blurry bacchanal (the phrase was used by John Lennon to describe a messy period, although the legend has since been dialed back), but that's not what we have here. One could speculate that the fact that Mr. Badalov now practices his craft under his own shingle (as opposed to working with a partner) inspired the title (or, for that matter, the name New Dog). Whatever the motivation, the collection is profoundly evocative and artistically quite successful, evidence that Badalov's skill as a songwriter has only strengthened since going it alone.

The imaginatively rendered music regularly deviates from traditional pop structure, and instead uses Badalov's light, almost avian guitar work -- at times minimal and others kaleidoscopic -- as an anchor around which snatches of traditional melodies, minimalist repetition and folk structures confidently assert themselves, as in the album highlight "Shyness." Occasional piano lines twinkle and burn out like dead stars, persisting just long enough to hint at blues and Classical forms before drifting out of certain compositions like so many ghost ships. Opener "Smoking In The Living Room" almost defiantly hovers, held aloft by busy ripples of finger-picked guitar and then neatly pulled into the abyss by a cycled strand of notes from a piano. The clean guitar tones and broad expanses of space within "TV Islands" recalls the quiet beauty of The Softies' 1995 LP It's Love. When they appear at all, electronic beats convey unease, as do the crumbling electronic kicks and crashes in "Dog Bite." A spidery, noir cover of Richard Hell & The Voidoids' "I'm Your Man" bobs and whispers, excising the original's laddish bravado and specifically the chorus's bouncy, bar-room chant. Instead, when Badalov quietly repeats and repeats the title, he is coming from a darker, almost threatening place; the jaunty piano solo is doubly creepy given the context. There is nothing creepy, however, about the sincere, sweet and sad album closer, "Leave Nothing For Tomorrow." The poignant and understated ballad's air of finality makes it a powerful close to Lost Weekend, which, incidentally, we first wrote about here in July.

New Dog makes its live debut next week at Act Cube, a space in MIT's List Visual Arts Center, when it plays a record release show Jan. 9 as part of the Institute's Ampersand concert series. The event is open to the public and tickets are cheap; click this link to purchases or consume more information, and here is a Faceook event page. Badalov takes New Dog to Europe next month, charting a circuitous tour around the continent that begins and ends in Belgium and includes a number of stops in France, Germany, Czech Republic and Switzerland; peruse the full itinerary right here. For the live dates, Badalov will get an assist from guitarist and keyboardist James Lynch, which should allow a lot of the important textures of Lost Weekend to be recreated for the audience. The record is presently available as a CD and digital download; stream selections from the album via the Bandcamp embed below and then click through to purchase. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if we had done a Top 20 albums list instead of a Top 10 for 2013, Lost Weekend certainly would have made the list.

New Dog: Internerds | Bandcamp | Facebook

Today's Hotness: Speedy Ortiz, Winter, New Dog



>> Vanyaland Friday afternoon posted our review of this summer's "it" record, Speedy Ortiz's terrific debut long-player Major Arcana. In the piece we bemoaned the lack of critical engagement with Speedy's music, and specifically the crush of lazy writing that reduced discussion of the Western Mass.-based quartet's many talents to formulaic comparisons to classic '90s bands. Are those comparisons valid, or useful? Sure, sometimes they are. But we felt that they were the only story being told, and that writers -- we're guessing the young ones that weren't a witness to the amazing sounds of the early '90s in the first place -- were spending more time coming up with purported referents than they were actually describing what Speedy Ortiz does when it picks up its instruments. One angle we ultimately cut from the piece was -- and this is pure conjecture -- how such reductive thinking about the Northampton quartet was potentially a big disappointment to Speedy fronter Sadie Dupuis. It's no secret that she spends a good portion of her non-rock band time in a creative writing MFA program, and our undergraduate experience allows us to assume with a high degree of confidence that Ms. Dupuis therefore probably spends a lot of her academic time analyzing and interpreting creative works. In that context, we'd expect it'd be a pretty big bummer to have something to which one devotes a large amount of creative energy given what appears to be minimal mental consideration. We dunno, maybe Dupuis' attitude is it's only rock 'n' roll, yadda yadda. We'll ask her about it sometime. In the meantime, head over to Vanyaland to read our review of Major Arcana. It's a tremendous indie rock record, and one that is going to stick with people for a very long time. Major Arcana has been streaming at NPR's First Listen for the past week, but that stream will go dark in the next few days, so instead check out the three singles from the record via the Soundcloud embeds below.







>> We made a brief reference to this at our Facebook page Tuesday, but we want to circle back around to the terrific digital single issued this week by upstart Boston dream-pop foursome Winter. The act, fronted by Samira Winter and featuring also Nolan Eley and Kyle Oppenheimer from local shoegaze heroes Infinity Girl and Ana Karina DaCosta from power-pop leading lights Slowdim, haven't released new music since its late 2012 entry, the Daydreaming EP, which we wrote about here in January. There is an immediately perceptible difference to the new Winter single, which is titled "The View." Namely, it sounds as if the lead vocal -- while it is obscured under the band's characteristic sonic gauze -- is largely being handled by Mr. Eley. Ms. Winter is also credited, and listeners can find her voice tucked into one of the many layers of sound within Eley's production. "The View" is held aloft by a clean, twinkling lead guitar melody, which serves as clothespins to fix in place billowing layers of processed guitar, cello and violin and Mr. Oppenheimer's bass work. Somewhere in all of the silky proceedings you will hear the suggestion -- just the faintest suggestion -- of the "James Bond" theme, making the soft-focus jam just slightly mysterious. It's a grand single, and we're hopeful the band is already writing for another larger set of songs (at the same time, we're also hoping Infinity Girl is looking toward the return of drummer Sebastian Modek, who has been out of the country since the beginning of the year). Winter released its first video, for Daydreaming's "Bedroom Philosophies," in May, and at that time expected to be making a return to local stages sometime this month. According to the band's tumblr, its next local gig is actually not until early Autumn, when it will perform at the Allston Street Fair. However, we'll keep an eye out for additional dates. In the meantime, stream "The View" via the embed below, and click through for the download.



>> We were sorry to hear about the dissolution of local slow-core luminaries Travels, who we've followed pretty closely here at the blog. In the wake of the break we've enjoyed the few tunes we've heard from Mona Elliot, and we see now that they have been gathered together along with a fourth and packaged as the River Song EP, which we highly recommend to your attention. However, it wasn't until early this week that we had heard anything new from the other principal member of Travels, Anar Badalov. Mr. Badalov -- who our most devoted readers will recall first came across our radar in 2006 when he was performing as part of the Baltimore duo Metal Hearts -- now has a solo project called New Dog. New Dog is preparing to release a full-length later this year tentatively titled Lost Weekend, and there are already a few demos available to stream on the Internerds. "Smoking In The Living Room" weaves finger-picked guitar, a simple metronomic beat and tinkling piano into a soft tapestry of sounds that dissipates as quickly as it takes shape. "Slow Drifting" bounces around a pokey rhythm with a playing style more attuned to acoustic blues before coalescing around some big melodic chords in the song's final minute. The three tunes together evidence that Badalov still possesses great facility in building music centered around an entrancing, meditative core, and we look forward to hearing Lost Weekend in its entirety. Stream the demos via the Bandcamp embed below.