I got the new Black Dog album in the mail today. And I'm almost lost
for words. It's fucking brilliant. Worth all the wait in he world.
I was really disappointed with "Temple of Transparent Balls", I thought
they had lost their magic touch, but "Spanners" is lightyears ahead.
What is so much fun about this album is that they really seem to be
enjoying themselves. They just do whatever they want. All the forced
pretentiousness of "Temple.." is gone. And they're in a constant
melodic mood, which is what I really like. Not just weird sounds.
Hip hop drums, Art Of Noise-ish oddities, lots of Egyptian/Middle East
influences, deep acid, Pet Shop Boys meet Richie Hawtin in Cairo, heavy
Dust Brothers drums - that's just the beginning of this album (it has
19 tracks).
"Tahr" is probably my favourite track, with its dreamy tribal drums
and people talking in hush voices about UFO encounters, all mixed
with the most beautiful melodies.
"Chase The Manhattan" is another highlight and "Nommo" is just oh-my-God.
Definitely a *very* strong contender for Album of the Year.
- chris@minsk.docs.uu.se <
http://www.update.uu.se/~chris/>