[Photo by Josh Timmermans from the band’s facebook page]
For a festival called a “Jam,” this year’s Mountain Jam was pretty light on “jam” bands. Luckily, they picked one of the very finest up and comers in the genre to play a Saturday afternoon as well as a late night set. Dopapod aren’t a household name in the wider world (Rolling Stone picked them as a “best kept secret” for the upcoming Bonnaroo), but to those in the scene, they are one of the most promising improvisational bands to come along in a generation. While many of their contemporaries ply the “electronica with real instruments” tack, Dopapod feel harder to pin down and more old school, drawing inspiration from rock, jazz, prog, metal and — yes — electronic music to create something that’ll keep even non-twisted listeners happy. The foursome have a rock-solid musicality, able to flow seamlessly between improv and pre-written material in their songs (witness one of their constant epics, “Trapper Keeper,” streaming below). For my money, the band’s real anchor is keyboardist Eli Winderman, whose bank of keys is what gives the band such a wide palette to play with. This day’s set felt less “electronic” and more “funk” than some of their shows, and that worked well here. Even in the woefully short 56 minutes (their normal sets run to the two to two and a half hour range), those of us who didn’t know the band well heard a lot of reasons to pay closer attention.
hi and lo and I recorded this set with Schoeps MK4 microphones from a nice location near the soundboard. We got hit this afternoon by occasional spots of wind, but the overall quality is excellent. Enjoy!
This set is hosted on the Live Music Archive. You can find its page here.
Download the complete set: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Stream the entire set:
Dopapod
2015-06-06
Mountain Jam XI, East Stage
Hunter, NY USA
Hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded by acidjack and hi and lo
Produced by acidjack
Schoeps MK4 (PAS)>CMC6>Roland R-26>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 56:42]
01 Black and White
02 Sleeping Giant
03 Bluetooth
04 Upside of Down
05 Trapper Keeper
06 Bubble Brain
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Dopapod, like them on facebook, and buy their stuff from their website.
Thanks for posting! Perhaps you mean “2015” instead of “2016”?