+DOG+ - Bliss (Love Earth Music)

Congratulations to Love Earth Music. Not only is their 50th release +DOG+’s best album, it’s also the ugliest thing Steve Davis and company have ever produced.

Gone are the nightmarish soundscapes that marked previous +DOG+ albums: the tracks on Bliss are sparse, nasty and to the point. There are no 15-minute explorations here, just two-to-six minute stabs of pure violence aimed at creating a tension beyond unease. This is Poison Idea, Ildjarn, Black Flag‘s Damaged as a noise album. It’s the sound of trash on the street, of dog crap on the sidewalk, of poverty, of shady people approaching you when you’re trying to get to work at 4 AM asking for money “to get home.” It’s not sound-art, just pure viciousness and antagonism recorded on tape for our listening (dis)pleasure.

I could go on describing song by song the sounds that emanate ugliness, but I feel it would cheapen the impact. This is just something you have to experience for yourself, by yourself, in a dark room with some alcohol and your imagination to keep you company. (Hint: “Hopefully Hoping” and “Lucky” are really disturbing.)

Feel-good music is boring. Feel bad for a change with +DOG+’s Bliss. It’s a cleansing experience.