The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
MetalIssue_1000x50

Blank Dogs | Collected By Itself 2006-2009

Captured Tracks (2011)
By REYAN ALI  |  May 18, 2011
2.5 2.5 Stars

blank dogs main

Mystique is a powerful tool, as Mike Sniper knows well, since it helped get Blank Dogs, his bedroom-project-turned-band, a healthy amount of press. Early on, the elusive Sniper avoided giving interviews, or revealing his face in press shots, or even doing any shows. He's since come into the light, but Collected by Itself: 2006–2009 assembles tracks from singles, compilations, an EP, and other items from his shadowiest days. The recording quality of the 27-song collection varies from the cruddy and ugly to the reasonably clean, but the sum feels like a transmission from a basement catacomb where an alien is trying to invent post-punk in a world without Unknown Pleasures. Sniper constructs a doomed and dense environment from limited means: drum machines chopping away, fidgeting guitar melodies, and voices indistinguishably echoing in the distance. Since his forte isn't reliable songwriting or a varied tonal palette (much of Collected blends into a lo-fi blur), he succeeds or fails on the basis of mood. Mystique isn't enough to make this collection a necessity, but it's a good primer on what makes his world compelling.
Related: The Sounds | Something To Die For, Crystal Stilts | In Love With Oblivion, Julian Lynch | Terra, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Music, CD reviews, post-punk,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 08/30 ]   Gary Clarke Jr.  @ Great Scott
[ 08/30 ]   Tom Perrotta  @ Porter Square Books
[ 08/30 ]   "FreePort [No. 003]: Susan Philipsz"  @ Peabody Essex Museum
ARTICLES BY REYAN ALI
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   MEMORY TAPES | PLAYER PIANO  |  August 03, 2011
    Tinny, lonely keyboards and aching romanticism lead the way for Player Piano's first two tracks, but a minute into "Today Is Our Life" it seems like the dude wants to create a song hopeful enough to end an '80s teen rom-com on a high note.
  •   FROM THE BEDROOM TO BEYOND WITH CRAFT SPELLS  |  July 28, 2011
    There's been an enormous wave of musicians gaining notoriety for creating work where they sleep, and subsequently seeing their star rise as blogs have picked up on the results.
  •   COM TRUISE | GALACTIC MELT  |  July 26, 2011
    The glassy, hallucinogenic, and goofy electronics straddle this indecisive middle ground between creating something soothing and something to get your blood pumping.
  •   CRYSTAL ANTLERS | TWO-WAY MIRROR  |  July 19, 2011
    Crystal Antlers' latest can be a pretty frustrating record — not because of what it is but because what it isn't.
  •   TAKING BACK SUNDAY ARE BACK ON THE SCENE  |  July 13, 2011
    For a lot of people, just mentioning Tell All Your Friends reignites a bunch of old motifs and memories. For me, nostalgia accounts for half of my affection, whereas the album's raw, naïve tenacity justifies the remainder.

 See all articles by: REYAN ALI

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed