CD Review: Dr. Dog

By Aaron Davis (for JHWeekly.com)Be the Void Dr. Dog / 4 starsIf I could join any indie band right now, it would be Dr. Dog. Good albums can shred your illusions of being bored with current listening avenues. Try Be the Void, then backtrack to 2008’s Fate.

Sonically and production-wise, Dr. Dog’s albums have a contemporary grunge while embracing the experimental, groovy and harmony-laced albums of The Beatles and The Band. Intense psychedelia and Afrobeat rhythms add to the texture.The purposefully maxed-out volume distortion in the low-end groove of “How Long I Must Wait” bumps hard, while set opener “Lonesome” sets the lyrical tone of isolation with a roadhouse blues backbeat and a roomy slide guitar. Vocalist/guitarist Scott McMicken fights his way out of the box with classic sounding Dr. Dog on conga-lined “Old Black Hole,” the first single of the band’s seventh album.While innovation is not this Philly band’s forte, hooks are. This is a rollicking album that needs volume to appreciate what hides beneath the layers.