“Earthquakes & Tidal Waves” is being released by The Beautiful Music, the Canadian indie label that also put out DOT DASH‘s first three albums. It’s really amazing to see how thes eguys develop their work. They should continue on the road they’ve embarked to eventually shape-shift into a unique and self-sufficient machine. Launch the player below and see how well they secure hooks and catchy pop melodies amid their independent post punk leanings. Great stuff.
The song “Rainclouds” has been made available for free, while the rest of the record is up for streaming. Download below and scroll down to launch the full album.
Like its three predecessors — Half-Remembered Dream (released in 2013), WinterGarden Light (2012), and spark>flame>ember>ash (2011) — the new album is released by us. Earthquakes & Tidal Waves is the label’s 31st release.
This time out the Washington D.C.-based Dot Dash travelled 300 miles south to Fidelitorium Studios just outside Winston-Salem, North Carolina where, with the legendary Mitch Easter producing, the 10-track Earthquakes & Tidal Waves was recorded.
Although perhaps best known for his production work on R.E.M.’s first three records, Chronic Town, Murmur, and Reckoning, plus the band’s original indie 7”, Easter — who added a guitar lead to Earthquakes & Tidal Waves’ album-opening “The Winter of Discontent” and played piano on album closer “Sleep, Sleep” — has been a pivotal figure in melodic, left-of-center, guitar-based music for nearly 35 years, both with his own band, Let’s Active, and as a producer of bands such as The dB’s, Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr., Wilco, Pavement, and Ride, to name just a few.
In addition to working with a new producer, Dot Dash’s Earthquakes & Tidal Waves also marks the entrance of Dot Dash’s newest member, lead guitarist Steve Hansgen, who began musical life in the early 1980s as a member of hardcore pioneers Minor Threat and, later, Government Issue. Hansgen’s authoritative, melodically astute playing helps make Earthquakes & Tidal Waves Dot Dash’s most focused, dynamic effort yet.
WASHINGTON POST: “Everything we’ve ever read about Dot Dash plays up the group’s collective resume: Singer/guitarist Terry Banks was in St. Christopher and the Saturday People before teaming up with bassist Hunter Bennett in acclaimed local indie-rock band Julie Ocean; guitarist Steve Hansgen played bass for hardcore legends Minor Threat and Government Issue, and then the mod group Modest Proposal; drummer Danny Ingram co-founded harDCore band Youth Brigade. Very impressive. But we’re more interested in the music, a retro cocktail that recalls the yearning indie-pop of Sarah Records; the ’80s neo-Byrds jangle of R.E.M., Orange Juice and other seminal college radio artists; the tight, throbbing basslines and slashing guitars that evoke the Jam and the Clash.”
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