Dope Body
Kunk
Drag City

'The latest Dope! Psych and pfusion jams, with extra sauce. The Kunkman cometh.' (Drag City)

Maryland's "wildest" stroke back with new album Kunk a few months back which is their second album following last year's Lifer (Drag City). Dope Body are singer Andrew Laumann, guitarist/bassist Zachary Utz, bassist John Jones, and drummer David Jacober. Their spastic noise-trash-hardcore-bag is bursting with wild sounds and songs. Like Drag City say about their appearance: 'A spasm of styles and directions'.

When listening through Kunk (which was relaesed a few months ago, early this fall) I come to think of a line of acts: Fugazi, Scratch Acid/The Jesus Lizard, the experimental era Wire, The Grifters, and several more. But, way over the top, floating all over their boudaries. Kunk is Dope Body's (established in 2008) third long-player following Natural History (Drag City 2012) and Lifer (Drag City 2014). Their music is both annoying as well as exciting and entertaining. Things are happening inside their songs. Wild things. Strange things. Crazy things. Wild noise. Strange sounds. Crazy songs. "Old Grey" is one of the stand-out tracks (along with the somewhat more 'normal' track "Down"), and it holds all the signs of a Dope Body song: crazed, wildish, stranged. Kunk is a display of unrestrained delight as well as glimpses of darkness. At times Dope Body's songs need to be tamed, while at other times they should simply run free in the wild. When you listen through the closing track "Void", which is stretching over some 6 minutes, you get the feeling of trying out some sort of extreme sport. Strange thing is... you'll probably try it again, from the top. Dope Body's experimental hardcore mixbag is a peculiar blend of extroverted/introverted music, but mind you... it's not for the faint-hearted. This is the sound of/for the 21st century schizoid men. To quote Drag City's description of Dope Body and/or Kunk: '...an eruption of primal strength and fortitude, rife with metalloid guitar glitches, barreling drum-and-bass and avalanges of strangulated bluster... [...] a melding of crunch and grind, funk and flutter... [...] Together, Dope Body is a spasm of styles and directions; showering sparks from a blended thickness.' Enjoy. Or not.

Copyright © 2015 Håvard Oppøyen