Dos

Justamente Tres (Kill Rock Stars)
by Lex Marburger

After the tragic demise of the Minutemen, Mike Watt did a lot of things to occupy himself. One of the better projects came when he teamed up with his wife, Kira (from Black Flag, among others) and started a ball rolling called Dos. All it was was two basses; no drums, no guitar, just two basses weaving lines together in a soothing, warm-molasses liquid concoction. Every once in a while, Kira would sing in a high, rough voice, punctuation to the low end, counterpoint upon counterpoint. On their second album, Mike spieled over a stripped-down version of Sonic Youth’s “PCH,” a version that I feel surpassed the original. Years later, Mike and Kira have returned with Justamente Tres. Just as sharp and mellow as before, they’ve come up with more elegant and powerful songs. Kira sings on over half the tunes, and I must admit, I wish she wouldn’t so much. Not that she has a bad voice, but I really prefer the pure bass nudges, with all this silent space around the sides, without other elements cluttering it up. But no matter, there are some great elementary tunes here, from “Intense Song For Madonna” to “Powerful Hankerin’.” Mike even gets to cover himself, as they recall the Minutemen classic, “Do You Want New Wave (Or Do You Want The Truth)?” Once again, the basses are two, the sound is low and solid, and the music soars above any damn thing that gets in its way.