Drunk Is the New Sober / Stupid Is the New Dumb

The New Jersey duo Dots Will Echo exist in the place where folk, indie rock, power pop, and psychedelia collide. Fronted by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nick Berry, the band has been around in one incarnation or another since the '80s, self-releasing underground recordings in super-limited editions. This 2012 double-length release was their first widely distributed album since 1991. The 21st-century Dots sometimes sound significantly more unhinged than the iteration heard on that '90s album. While Berry's Lennon-esque, aching tones frequently float atop luminous acoustic ballads, the singer seems to take just as much pleasure in unleashing a leering, lupine howl on loose-limbed, lo-fi romps, all amid a jungle of crunching guitar riffs and Kurt Biroc's thrift-store assemblage of percussive tones. The duo are equally adept at both modes. With brief interludes of stray sounds and studio chatter sometimes separating the tracks, the whole thing maintains an appealingly organic flow, at times feeling like it was grown from the earth instead of recorded onto machines.