- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: Blank Dogs
Album: Land And Fixed
Label: Captured Tracks
Playtime: 41:00 min
Genre: Indie
URL: http://www.capturedtracks.com/blankdogs.php
Rip date: 2011-02-22
Street date: 2010-10-12
Size: 65.98 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 213 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
Mike Sniper never meant to be one of BrooklynÆs æmost mysterious musiciansÆ.
Things just ended up that way, as the singer/multi-instrumentalist released a
steady stream of limited singles and EPs on such reputable indie labels as
Sacred Bones, HoZac and Woodsist. Not to mentionÆs SniperÆs own Captured
Tracks imprintùa carefully-curated roster thatÆs grown as quickly as Blank
Dogs itself, thanks to such buzz-stirring releases as Dum Dum GirlsÆ debut EP
and recent records by Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing and Minks.
ôThe anonymous thing happened in the very beginning because I didnÆt even
have a backing band to play shows with,ö explains Sniper. ôIt led to some
ridiculous rumorsùthat I wear a mask onstage, that IÆm Stephen Malkmusàfunny
stuff.ö
Another common misconception about Blank Dogs is that Sniper wanted his early
recordingsùstarting with the speaker-crawling cold sweat cuts of 2007Æs Diana
the Herald EPùto sound like a lo-fi gathering of queasy vocals, bruised beats
and Chinese water torture chords. The truth is much simpler than that: Blank
DogsÆ murkier mixes were purely a matter of having limited means.
Things started to change around his On Two Sides (Troubleman, 2008) album,
however, as rare slabs of Blank Dogs vinyl landed on the eBay circuit and
influential blogs (The FADER, 20jazzfunkgreats) feverishly posted brand new
MP3s. Between that cult following and the continued success of Captured
Tracks, Sniper was finally able to buy better equipment and develop his sound
into an expansive mix of clear (The Cure, Joy Division) and cryptic (The
Go-Betweens, Neil Young) influencesùa decidedly Blank Dogs direction that
touches upon everything from the spare, sparkling synths of FranceÆs
cold-wave movement to the jangly guitars of classic indie rock.
All of this progress was made with one particular record in mind: this fallÆs
Land and Fixed LP, a tight 12-song effort that took about a year and 13
scrapped tracks (some of which ended up on the Phrases EP) to complete. The
result isnÆt just a clearer recording; itÆs like going from stolen cable on a
15-inch set to a wall-swallowing HDTV. A headphone listen, in other
wordsùliterally mixed on the subway to enhance widescreen details like the
heat-seeking hooks of ôBlurred Tonight,ö the elegantly-layered arrangements
of ôOut the Door,ö and the moonlit synth melodies of ôElevens.ö
As it turns out, the next phase of Blank Dogs is an instrumental Woodsist
record in the vein of ôElevens.ö Sniper says heÆs ôpretty psyched for it,ö a
dance 12-inch for Italians Do It Better and sessions with Blank DogsÆ live
trio, which is rounded out by Craig Mileski and Pamela Garavano-Coolbaugh.
ôWeÆre definitely more of a æbandÆ now,ö insists Sniper, although one thing
hasnÆt changed: he still isnÆt Stephen Malkmus.
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Goes By ( 3:48)
02. Collides ( 2:28)
03. Longlights ( 3:43)
04. Northern Islands ( 2:59)
05. Insides ( 2:46)
06. Blurred Tonight ( 4:27)
07. Languages ( 3:28)
08. Elevens ( 2:43)
09. Out The Door ( 4:33)
10. All Around ( 3:32)
11. Through The Wall ( 3:05)
12. Treelines ( 3:28)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -