The extinction sound

The first band I saw at Bluesfest's first Friday was San Francisco's The Dodos on The Black Sheep Stage. The city's always been a big producer of psychedelic acts, which may be why The Dodos get lumped in with other acts like Texas transplants The Gris Gris. I didn't find them to be as wiggy or freaked-out as previous reports suggested. Just entertaining, bouncy, sometimes hectic, acoustic music with some headlong drumming and good vocals ... maybe a bit like The Unicorns.

The band had its genesis in Meric Long's solo act, Dodobird.



The main thing I remember about The Dodos' performance was all the floor tom rolls. Others have described Logan Kroeber's percussion style as locomotive, and I'll second the motion.



I would have sworn the band's new xylophonist was Joe Haener (who apparently did help out on the road for a while) but in fact the new guy is Keaton Snyder.



The whole lot!



Rollin' action from Logan Kroeber!



Meric sings!



Crowded action!



Percusive action!



Sliding action.



Rocking action!



The Dodos have a new album out, Time To Die, which will be released in the States September 15 (which may or may not be the Canadian release date as well). They're touring in support, but the closest they come to Ottawa are dates in Montreal and Toronto, October 16 and October 17.