Send "Dr. Dog " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Avclub |
 After 2010’s meticulous, majestic Shame, Shame, no one was asking Dr. Dog to go back to the scrappy lo-fi rock of the band’s younger days. The group’s new symphonic bent was worth further exploration, and the relaxed swagger of 2005’s Easy Beat isn’t the type of thing that’s easily manufactured. But, for whatever reason, Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken felt it was time to return Dr. Dog to its roots, and Be The Void is a spot-on sonic homecoming. The record’s classic-rock, live-concert sound is largely indiscernible from Dr. Dog’s early self-recordings, which is to say that 11 years in the business hasn’t sapped any of the Philadelphia group’s enthusiasm. With its raucous shouts and handclaps, Be The Void has a loose energy that’s suggestive of a basement gig at a college house party—these are songs built for crowd participation, and every track has something to bounce around and chant aloud to. A throwback to ’70s guitar-rock, “These Days” has a rapid hook driven by a thumping bassline and striking piano chords, while “Get Away” is the album’s most expansive track, with soaring harmonies rising from an impassionedly howled refrain. ...full text |
| Pitchfork |
| Shame, Shame was Dr. Dog's sixth LP, and their first with an outside producer. Though they'd hit the studio with frequent Elliott Smith collaborator Rob Schnapf with that oft-parroted aim of bringing their spirited live show to the recording booth, the outsider's presence helped the Philly rockers shave some of the shaggy excess from their earlier efforts, teasing out their bright, bouncy, McCartney-indebted melodies. Critics, largely resistant to Dr. Dog's retrograde charms, praised the disc; our own Zach Kelly rightly noted that its "bigger, more charismatic sound" felt like "the work of a younger, wide-eyed outfit." Be the Void arrives without the guiding hand of Schnapf, or anybody really; opting, as before, to go it alone, on its seventh LP, the band returns to the sunburnt sprawl of its first few records. You've got your big, bulbous melodies, your rattly unplugged strums, your mile-long solos; in vocalists Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman, you've got yourself a veritable two-man harmony factory stocked with enough whisky and cigarettes to get you through the spring. All this-- and what seems to be a fairly encyclopedic history of popular American rock music from, oh, 1968 through 1974-- are pretty much the same cards they've been shuffling since the start, but as Schnapf's work on Shame proved, they fare best when they're a little uncomfortable, when somebody's there to tell them no. Its melodies are, as ever, sturdy, its production warm and homespun. But too often, Be the Void finds Dr. Dog unleashed, letting their wilder ideas get the better of them....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog has been churning out jangly, earnest pop with a less-than-subtle nod to classic influences such as Neil Young, The Band, The Beach Boys, etc. for six records. And on its seventh, it seems, the group seems content to continue down that same path. Be The Void, the band’s second release on Anti-, finds co-founders bassist Toby Leaman and guitarist Scott McMicken still blurring the line, often with a great deal of success, between rootsy Americana and the slightly poppier work of The Flaming Lips and pals My Morning Jacket. “Lonesome” is a back porch foot-stomper complete with resonator guitars and woeful lyrics about how easy it is to be alone, while the punchy bass and cyclical guitar riffs of “These Days” sound like they belong on any one of the cuts off The Strokes’ Room on Fire, and “Big Girl” clearly nicks the groove of Mr. Young’s “Heart of Gold.” And there lies the problem that Dr. Dog has struggled with, at least in the eyes of their critics, for most of their career. They make really solid music that is legitimately enjoyable to listen to, but for one reason or another it’s nearly impossible not to be distracted by how much you are aware of their influences. It’s not the worst problem to have, but a problem nonetheless, especially after seven records. Void does however make a few cases for the band having its own identity. First single “Old Black Hole” combines jammy hand drums and a psychedelic soundscape with McMicken’s effortless delivery sounding somewhere between Brian Wilson and Wayne Coyne. It sounds like, well, Dr. Dog—quirky, catchy, controlled chaos. “Heavy Light,” a breezy mashup of styles with McMicken wishing “I gave only love,” is another example of what the band is capable of, but the distorted riffs of “Warrior Man” and bouncy piano of “How Long Must I Wait?” dip back into pretty familiar classic rock territory. Good songs, but not particularly memorable....full text |
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