LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:
Generously coated with crunchy quirks and utterly bursting from its chewy 60s center, Philadelphia’s lo-fi recording traditionalists, Dr. Dog headlined a packed show at the Echo last week in support of their latest record, We All Belong (Park The Van).
The attending cross-section of fandom was something like suburban Silverlake meets overgrown, asymmetrical haircuts meets the Laurel Canyon revivalists.
And this makes sense if you believe that Dr. Dog is what happens when The Beach Boys meet The Jayhawks and their bearded, ZZ Amish, psychedelic, love-children relocate to Marin County to listen to Pink Floyd records and smoke the local flora before retreating to the personality-building winters of PA.
Their music is just that perfectly chaotic. It's the drippy-pop of dreams -- like a hangover in the sun. And it’s the kind of warm sound that feels good despite its faintly gloomy undertones.
Earnest, cooing harmonies, pretty oohs and ahhs, fuzzy-scratch guitars and a retro-modern quality, catapults this band to more than a nostalgic holdout. They really mean it, and sincerity has a way of nullifying kitch.
Download: Dr. Dog - Die, Die, Die [MP3]Video and pix after the jump...
Dr. Dog @ The Echo - "Alaska"
Photos & Video by Lisa Brenner for LAist