Dr. Dog-Shame Shame

1 day, 7 hours, 21 minutes, and 23 seconds until blast-off.

I love analyzing music. I will listen to an albums 10 to 20x through, just to break it down, try to understand the message given across. And I have done so with Dr. Dog. I've come to a very deep conclusion. Dr. Dog plays music, just to play it. They love music, just like, I do; just like you probably do. They are simply making music for the joy and fun of it. you can hear it in their songs, in their lead singers voice, even in the band's name. They, just like Fountains Of Wayne, are making wonderful music because it is good ole fashioned entertainment. They remind me not to get to deep and cryptic with my critiqueing, and instead just to enjoy the moment in the music, and express the experience.

Dr. Dog started out as Racoon, a self titled "schizophrenic pop" band from West Philly. They eventually semi-split, leaving guitarist Toby Leaman and drummer Scott McMicken to form Dr. Dog. The group released their first album, Toothbrush, to mediocre sucess and acclaim locally. Jim James, front man of My Morning Jacket, and friend of the band invited Dr. Dog to tour with the amazing band, which they did. Over time they gained more and more sucess, signing higher and higher with record labels and releasing Easy Beat, We All Belong, and Fate. Fate, each record gaining the band more and more momentum, until they were playing late night shows everywhere, and touring with big name indie hits like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Strokes, The Raconteurs, and The Black Keys. Most recently in the band's history, Shame, Shame was released in early 2010.

The first song on the album is really what inspired my little shpeel up top. The song is fun incarnate, and it makes me want to, rather terribly, sing my lungs out to it. The slowly descending and ascending chord structure play like confetti repeatedly being flung into the air. The lyrics are silly, but not stupid. "Twenty years of schooling, I just never learned the math, that one and one don't equal two. They often equal half." Little quips like this keep the song quirky and unique from every other big name indie band that takes it music like too professionally. These guys have what I want; fun while they work. Some of the guitar solos, which are featured quite a bit in the whole album, are more reminiscent of folksy mandolin melodies than heavily distorted rock riffs. "Later", "Mirror Mirror", "I Only Wear Blue" and "Unbearable Why" all have the same free-spirited fun roam to them as the opener.

While the band is shining brightest in its super pop jams, it shows off its artistic capabilities with songs like "Shadow People" and "Someday" have very Beatle-y (especially Revolver) and ELO-y melodies and rhythms that pair surprisingly well with the harder material. The albums title track is an interesting "Shangri-La","Hey Jude", "Burning Down The Mission" hybrid that blends like a good smoothie, cool and refreshing from the slow ballads you get from the radio now. Once again, the lyrics play a big part into the success of the song.

The album isn't the best album of 2009. It has it's flaws. But it's all nit-picking material. Overall, the album is a hit. It's fun to listen to, especially under the hot summer sun, rolling down the road to the lake, or the cliffs, or wherever i'm drifting off to that day. That is what summer is to me. Fun music, water, and leisure. Dr. Dog will be a pretty big hit in the ole' Subaru Forester this year.