This post is from Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
I am quite, quite excited about seeing The Dodos at Bonnaroo this week - yes, I've seen the band before, but that was at SXSW in 2008, before I had time to properly fall in love with their Frenchkiss debut Visiter. That album was a dark horse that year - pleasant on first listen, still pleasant on second, but with more and more appearances on shuffle and repeats at work and I found the record systematically engraved itself on my ears and brain and heart. There's a kind of consistent goodness there in their gentle but percussive indie folk, the acoustic guitar is soothing and the drums are hypnotizing, and above it all floats melodies that get stuck in your head without your even noticing. Still, two years later, it's a go-to album when I need something low-key but melodic to listen to, and I know I'm going to continue keep Visiter in rotation for years to come.
The Dodos started out as a San Francisco duo; Meric Long and Logan Kroeber began playing together in 2005. Long, who had been trained in West African Ewe drumming, had been performing solo around town, and met Kroeber through an acquaintance - they had a similar interest in creating music that centered on drumming as a means to bring syncopated rhythms out of the acoustic guitar. They self-released their debut album in 2006 and were signed to Frenchkiss in 2007, since then they have released Visiter as well as 2009's Time To Die. Last year, the duo also became a trio when Keaton Snyder joined the group as their vibraphonist.
Those of you missing Bonnaroo this year will have an opportunity to catch The Dodos again this summer in Nashville - they'll be hitting the road (and in fact hitting many cities) with the New Pornographers through June and July. As a matter of fact, the band is currently giving away tickets to some of those shows, and by registering to win you can score yourself a free live album.
The Dodos will play the This Tent on Thursday night from 9-10 p.m.
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