The Black Dog: Other, Like Me (Dust Science)
The moment I arrived at Sheffield's No Bounds Festival a few months ago, I made a beeline for one particular gig. The Black Dog, who were playing above a pub on the high street. I needed their wibbly wobbly frequencies in my ears.
In recent years, the 'Dog have embraced architecture and brutalism. That show in Sheffield had breath-taking graphics of mottled concrete buildings. You could smell the mortar dust. On this album, they apply the blueprint to the person, and this suddenly makes it seem so much more personal.
Other, Like Me is about identity. It has track titles like With You I Still Feel Alone (scuffed micro-sized half-step), Just Pretend To Be Someone Else (sinister, creeping and buzzy atmospherics) and I Am An Artist (pensive trance made of gasping ambience).
There are contrasts. The optimistic Closed Eyes could be Global Communication opening their curtains to a golden sunrise. While the broad-shouldered Mark Up broods with a tribal bass drum, static snarling with menace.
I reckon if you rocked up in Sheffield and this sound was permeating the streets, it go one of two ways. You'd either hot foot it back onto the train and make a beeline back through the Pennine's. Or they would draw you in, like a siren, or a big concrete magnet. Allow yourself to be the latter.
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