San Francisco rock outfit the Dodos are preparing recently released their album, No Color, on March 15th via Frenchkiss. They say Neko Case is singing on half the LP, but honestly I haven’t noticed her at all. What I do notice is this is one of the most drum focused albums I’ve heard in a long time. The percussion is big, forefront, and totally flipping awesome.
Album opener, and first single, ‘Black Night,’ begins with this the marching cadence and this album immediately takes off, its powerful, grabbing, spirited, and actually quite aggressive. Aggressive is putting it light especially for a folk band, but the Dodos pull it off here, and actually do it quite beautifully.
After a lackluster 2009 effort, Time to Die, which I think most would say they were shooting for too much, the band went back to a simple duo, and totally stripped down No Color to is base, frenetic guitar and pounding drums and simple vocals (with back ups done by Neko Case.) Its an invigorating sound, and I can only imagine how huge this could sound live. The highlight on the album is Sleep, a boy-girl (duet?) with Neko Case that’s seriously infectious and will have you tapping your toes really quickly.
No Color is just entirely the opposite of its name, its a wildly colorful album with a whole lot of energy and spirit.
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The Dodos will be on tour:
3/21/2011 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
3/22/2011 – Omaha, NE – Waiting Room
3/23/2011 – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
3/24/2011 – Fargo, ND – Aquarium
3/25/2011 – Winnipeg, MB – West End
3/26/2011 – Saskatoon, SK – Amigo’s
3/28/2011 – Calgary, AB – Republik
3/29/2011 – Edmonton, AB – Starlite
3/31/2011 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw
4/01/2011 – Victoria, BC – Sugar
4/02/2011 – Bellingham, WA – Wild Buffalo
4/04/2011 – Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
4/05/2011 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir
4/07/2011 – San Francisco, CA – Filmore
4/08/2011 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theater
4/09/2011 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
4/27/2011 – Donostia, Spain – Gazteszena
4/28/2011 – Vigo, Spain – University
4/29/2011 – Madrid, Spain – El Sol
[…] Dodos’ video for Black Night off their recently released album ‘No Color’ which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve enjoyed this album and I am eagerly hoping they come to the […]