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LP
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UTR 107LP
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What are Dog Chocolate bothering us with now? What is it? They have a new album called Moody Balloon Baby. Musically it's as frantic and frayed as we've come to expect, loose and whittled to a sharp point, but the knots are visible. Following the album Snack Fans (UTR 077LP, 2016) and Or, a spilt with Ravioli Me Away (UTR 063LP, 2014), this time it's all faster and there are more textures. Textures that come to mind: A plastic broom that has been used to sweep up glowing embers and the bristles have melted; A pink chalk that got stepped on; A green beam from a laser-pen scuttling around on a pebbledash façade; A biro shoved through a custard doughnut; The band are four people; Jonathan hits two drums and a cymbal with force and conviction; Matthew plays his guitar through an array of confounding soundhouses; Robert has no soundhouses but his guitar fingers are deft; Andrew tends to a pocket menagerie of homemade percussion, keyboard, and harmonica. Some of the subjects addressed include: Subconscious inspiration; English nationalism; The post-colonial discomfort surrounding museum displays; The enigma of rocks; Wanting to be tiny and free of responsibilities in the face of the massive world; Environmental concern/internet guilt; Cosmic aligned co-incidences and why to trust them. A recurring theme on Moody Balloon Baby is an investigation of the creative act itself. What does it mean to make things? Does it matter if those things are ignored or forgotten? Why be in a band at all? What are the problems with the genius narrative? Is it ever OK to use animals in your art? In the face of a weird world getting ever weirder what role does art play, if any at all? The jury is out on whether Dog Chocolate is a self-help band or an ideologically foggy protest band, but in just under 25 minutes the band manage to cram in bucket-loads of ideas, mess, confusion, and fun. Now all that is left to be done is to round-off this press release with a perfectly pithy finishing line. 180 gram vinyl; Matte finish, normal board sleeve; Matte lyric insert; Includes download card; Edition of 500.
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LP
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UTR 077LP
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180-gram LP in gatefold sleeve with a booklet and download code. Edition of 500. Dog Chocolate sound like a crowded room but are actually four individuals from London. Having played in many other bands including Yeborobo, Limn, and Gasp! Cracking Eggs, united they recognize Dog Chocolate as their one true love. Abandoning notions of elegance, cred, and professionalism, they embrace the ramshackle, instant, and fun, capturing a vivid spontaneity with their music. Snack Fans is the band's debut album, following from 2014's split LP with gastronomic kin Ravioli Me Away (UTR 063LP). Snack Fans is composed of 14 bite-sized nuggets high in salt and sugar content. The sound is a shabby, fast, over-excited ball of wet fur falling down the stairs, knocking over plants along the way, and staining the carpet. With an average song time of two minutes, Dog Chocolate are on to the next treat before fully digesting the last. Chewing up bits of punk, post-punk, noise, and pop, Matthew and Robert's guitars race around each other like wasps, pitch-shifting and phasing all over the place while Jono's rolled-up-newspaper drums chase them round the room. Andrew's occasional impressionistic keyboard flourishes add further color to the scene, while Andrew and Robert take it in turns to sing with the others joining in occasionally. Lyrically the album deals with themes domestic, emotional, and metaphysical, with subjects ranging through purging one's life of material possessions, cosmically ordering a pet, memories evoked by the tactile properties of objects, the impermanence of the body, confusion, holidays, environmental concern, and hay fever. There are moments of flippancy and silliness, but also of investigation and introspection. In just over 25 minutes the band gleefully assemble a sound held together with Scotch tape and Blu-tac, just robust enough to reach its destination as it's chucked downhill. It's an album packed with ideas and momentum -- no need to set the table, Dog Chocolate are in a rush. If Snacks Fans doesn't satisfy your appetite then you'll need to fix yourself a feast or something.
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