That Dog
(Geffen)
by Autumn Ober
Public Announcement: When I saw That Dog at a shithole coffee joint (which has since moved on to be tres-trendy and underground, by the way) in L.A. last spring, I found them eclectic, bizarre and meaner then shit. Sure, they look cute, at times sound sweet, but they have BITCH (as in the noun). How was I to know they’d become a popster’s “must” and earn a following of teenie fans who, up until this sentence, were probably OH SO HAPPY to count me amongst the “in” who had SEEN That Dog? Leaving the show, I was psyched that the opening band had been so entertaining; I hadn’t signed any mailing lists or clamored up to kiss their feet. All that aside, That Dog is still one hell of an outfit.
Their self-titled release speaks for itself, this is no screechy girl band pounding the “been there, done that” mallet; they harmonize and feature such advanced instrumentation as a violin while managing to shake your neighbor’s Dali prints off the walls. Yeah, they’re from L.A. and yeah, they get denied a lot of respect because they have a paternal link (via a band member) to the executive branch of Warner Brothers, but I really must advise you to wade through the posers and toss off the political idealists’ punk P.C. lectures and LISTEN to That Dog. They’re not making giggly attempts, they’re evincing mature sound, though you know nothing about them ’till ‘ya check ’em live. (I advise you to go my route, you’ll respect them more.) That Dog need not serve penance for being pop-tinged either (someone’s got to show Green Day how it’s done!); just ’cause we can’t beat it doesn’t mean we have to homogenize it. Of the 15 songs recorded here, only one smells of BIG HIT SINGLE, and that’s “old timer” (the reason being that it’s GOOD). “raina” starts off melodious and sweet and then catches you upside the head like a hard packed snowball, leaving you to enjoy a dizzy spell. This goes double for “just like me.” When this disk’s done you’ll do one of two things: a) press repeat or b) give it away. Overall, this band strikes me as brandishing much too distinct a flavor to be “okay.” Love it or leave it’s the word.
