Starting to feel the winter blues? Check out the newest album from Dr. Dog entitled Be the Void, a spirited consortium of genre-bending tunes guaranteed to get you out of your funk. This highly underrated psychedelic rock group from Pennsylvania are releasing their sixth album on February 7th but gave fans an extra treat by publishing the tracks on their Soundcloud page a week in advance. How do you listen to them? By way of one of their biggest fans of course: none other than Conan O’Brien himself endorsed Dr. Dog as one of his favorite bands and offered the full album stream. The 12 track album is a pretty good introduction to their music, which is heavily influenced by 60’s rock, classic indie rock and some contemporary artists like My Morning Jacket, Wilco and M. Ward.
They are strong proponents of recording in lo-fi and never sticking to one genre or sound.
Similar to how Wilco’s latest album The Whole Love sought to accent their more experimental side, Be the Void is a shift back to Dr. Dog’s earlier, more adventurous ways as they incorporate a flurry of different instruments and genre-influences into the music. What’s most interesting is how they interplay those styles throughout the tracks. In “Heavy Light” there’s an awesome bridge that beautifully syncs the bongo, salt shaker, piano, and sitar. “That Old Black Hole,” the album’s biggest hit, starts with a hypnotizing intro and a smoking bass line that will suck you in from the start and then kicks in an accelerando that quickens the tempo before you have to time pick up on it. It’s the sort of album you have to listen to a couple times to really appreciate the subtle nuances, like lead-singer Scott McMicken’s vocal slides on “Lonesome” or the clever key change in “Get Away.”
