I know I’ve waxed a bit on this in the past, but there’s an album from my musical past that continues to have a firm place on my iPhone these days and I’m convinced that not enough people were ever converted to its genius. The album was a self-titled debut from Heroic Doses, put out on Sub Pop in the late ’90’s, and ever since relegated to the Chicago post-rock blues scene graveyard daring never to return to see the light of day. That is, until axe-wielding “front man” Billy Dolan decided to team up with Ryan Rapsys again to ressurect two-thirds of the band under a new project called Das Boton. Then they did a West Coast tour with Tortoise and I caught their set at Great American Music Hall. I was chasing this music for years and was finally happy to get to catch it closer to my new home out West, but I was thrown off that they didn’t play my favorite track off that original release, “Reggie Is It?” It’s a space rock ditty that still provides a catchy, pop-hook backdrop to the exploration, and it’s easily the strongest flow on the album coming in after two strong opening tracks.
Turns out they played it a few nights before I saw them…
Das Boton ” Reggie Is It ? ” Portland, OR. 06-09-2010 [YouTube]
For the folks that hadn’t heard this but just caught this video, I’m curious as to what you think this sounds like. I haven’t discovered much other music in this same vein besides 5ive Style, Tortoise, maybe a few others….and I’d really like to go deeper. Drop some comments if you think of a project or two that you think sounds similar…Trans Am at times? “First Tube” from Phish? Lotus’ journey into post rock?
