Review/Stream: Dosh – Milk Money (Free In-Store TONIGHT!)
It isn’t necessarily germane to the discussion of Martin Dosh’s music, but I can’t ever talk/write/think about it without acknowledging that Dosh makes all of the loops/music with analog instruments. No fancy software. No digital manipulation. No small children slaving away pressing buttons too small for adult hands. (To be fair, we haven’t ever been able to prove other producers exploit young children for slave labor, but we have a sneaking suspicion they do) The craftsmanship and process Dosh takes on serves to make his work even more impressive, and his latest LP Milk Money will only add to that acclaim.
The front half of the record features six sublime tracks that are all in some form or fashion templates of “pop” songs. Warm melodies, fade-ins and fade-outs, track lengths between three minutes five minutes. There are even some vocals. As usual, Dosh proves masterful at creating shuffling drum patterns that meld together with his ambient but soulful keyboard playing. These are songs that could be used as templates for some ambien-laced rap tracks or for your next headphone zone-out. From the slippery, dream-like “Kisses” to “Unto Eternity,” which sounds like a funeral procession for a robot king, Milk Money‘s front half is a clear and distilled version of the great work Dosh has done over the last decade.
The back half of the LP is a nearly 25 minute track titled “Legos (for Terry).” It is a daunting but beautiful track that at moments seems destined to slip quietly into the silence, but bubbles back to life and takes the listener on an emotional journey of sound and texture. It is drone music done by hand. Ambient music with hushed keyboards and the gentle his of static fuzz. It is the most complex piece Dosh has put together on record, and it is a crowning achievement for his solo work. For the of the slickness and structure that marks the first half of Milk Money, the second half is an ambient treasure that brings Dosh’s music to a whole different level.
Dosh is amazing to see live (did we mention he makes all of his own loops…), but his ability to capture the lightening in a bottle of his stunning live show in the way he has on Milk Money (and previous releases) shows again his true brilliance. Over the last few years he has been spending more of his efforts fleshing out the sounds of other bands (namely Andrew Bird), but with Milk Money there is no missing the monumental talents of Mr. Dosh.
Stream the record below, buy it from Graveface Records and see Dosh tonight at the Electric Fetus as he celebrates the release of his new record with a free In-Store performance at 7 P.M.
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