Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Blank Dogs on Disordered Records


Mike Sniper's Blank Dogs hasn't been active as far as I can tell since Feb 2011 when he posted about a possible new full length in the works. This single only came about because Rocco at the Italian label Disordered had been talking with Mike for literally years about doing a single and it was delayed for one reason or another but it looks like they finally connected. The B-Side remix from Mike Simonetti of former Troubleman Unlimited Records has, according to Billboard actually teamed up with Mike to release his own project Pale Blue under their new label, 2MR (2 Mike's Records). The It's been too long and any release is really a surprise at this point.

A-Side's "Pieces" is from their first release On Two Sides and what's to say really? It's still great, Mike managed to capture a really unique sound and his live setup was insane. I don't blame the guy for not wanting to lug analog boards around with patch wires when he's got a massive label now to run in Captured Tracks. I think the influence of Blank Dogs can't be understated though. They were everywhere at one time, on every label, the singles routinely went for ridiculous prices on ebay - it was exciting trying to piece together where this was even coming from. Every release was a scramble to track down before it was immediately gone. It might have been inevitably too much at once to live up to whatever he had in store next, but a track like this is a perfect example of his catchy, mysterious sound. Punk and electronic, I don't think there's anyone that could put those two things together quite like this. The Soft Moon seem to be almost hitting that same balance of creepy and punk as this but time will tell.
The B-Side is a remix from 2MR co-founder Mike Simonetti of the Pieces track and seems to have no direct obvious relation as far as I can tell. A subtle tom rhythm loops in under a sharp high hat click and sits on that repetition letting the tension pile on. A bubbly synth sound starts gradually fading in over this mechanical harsh dance track while some other emulated percussion sound slides in over the top of this. It's just slowly assembling itself over the course of track. Connected only by maybe the equipment used or base sounds from the original track but otherwise unrecognizable as having anything to do with the original.

Get this from Disordered Records. No idea who's carrying this here in the states, check discogs or Co-op 87 they might have a few.

2 comments:

  1. Can't be "overstated" shurely? Sorry to be pedantic, but this particular linguistic snafu is everywhere nowadays. You done Vatican Daggar on Total Punk yet? Rips!

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  2. You're right sir, Over not Under. I have to check out WAY more on Total Punk but those guys just send me MP3's!!!!!

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