{"title":"Dope Body","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDope Body is a highly influential American rock band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. The band consists of Andrew Laumann, Zachary Utz, Dave Jacober, and John Jones. Known for their intense live performances and unique sound, Dope Body has gained a dedicated following over the years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith their raw energy and experimental approach to music, Dope Body has been compared to artists such as Big Ups, Oxbow, Lightning Bolt, Guerilla Toss, Women, Double Dagger, Pissed Jeans, Grave Babies, Metz, Melt-Banana Cherubs,No Age,Gilla Band White Suns Part Chimp Liars Ed Schrader's Music Beat Iceage The Jesus Lizard Daughters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough their distinct blend of punk rock and noise rock elements,Dope Body continues to push boundaries and defy genre conventions. Their music resonates with fans who appreciate bold creativity and an unapologetic attitude towards artistic expression.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"lifer","title":"Lifer","description":"\u003cp\u003eDope Body have built their name in the underground with intense live performances of their also intense studio recordings. On the back of their second album, 2012's 'Natural History', they embarked on a rigorous nineteen months of almost nonstop touring, bringing their individual performance stomp to every bar, basement and backyard that asked for it. It's easy to picture the members of Dope Body emerging from their distant and hidden cave of rock with a new wave of grimey, Sabbath-refracted mayhem in order to torch Earth once again but they're actually a group of trained players and fine artists with vision. On 'Lifer', Dope Body redefine the aural yawp they have been venting for some time, honing wild windmills into surgical strikes, their gut-busting repulsion-sound continuing to expand without losing any of the feral energy that made a crazed reputation in the already-insane Baltimore music and arts underground. Zachary Utz's metalloid guitar fingerprints are as uniquely rough and scabrous as ever but with a few new refinements added to his barrage. Andrew Laumann's vocal bellow continues to incite a riot of excitement with each additional chorus. David Jacober's power-and-precision drumming continues to grow in might and scope, driving the songs whether at peaks of volume or the depths of introspection. Plus, bassist John Jones, who joined following the recording of 'Natural History', contributes to the weird math of Dope Body's nu-power trio with lines that perfectly expand the bounds for the band. When Dope Body converge to conceive of the next thing, the storm brews, songs are rocked out and written and we're propelled into another sweaty go-round. This is a controlled demolition, planned but with room to take down additional structures. Simply put, there's a distinct-but-subtle evolution from one Dope Body record to another and 'Lifer' is no different. 'Repo Man' progresses the band's songwriting, creeping on you and crooning with an oscillating bass groove before whipping into a frenzy. 'Hired Gun' gives us the pyrotechnics we want with a forward-evolving, 2014-style dynamic range of loud \/ soft \/ loud and a big-ass sing-along chorus. Where most Dope Body songs show lead singer Laumann's rhythmic ability, 'Rare Air' exhibits his talent for constructing melody. 'Lifer' juggles the rough spark of Dope Body's sound, shuffling slow burners and their previously (and righteously) established propulsive attack, making for a new yet satisfyingly heavy trip into the heart of Dope Body.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Drag City","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50492310815051,"sku":"381404","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9ef52947-b15a-44fc-9660-494eb01e86d2_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727691655"},{"product_id":"crack-a-light","title":"Crack a Light","description":"\u003cp\u003eDope Body are back with their first album since 2015 - and it’s got all the gnarly, bisected body rock of their great records from the far side of the teens. A decade plus from the audacity of their debut cassette, \u003ci\u003e20 Pound Brick\u003c\/i\u003e, and four years after calling it quits, \u003ci\u003eCrack a Light\u003c\/i\u003e is about getting back to essentials.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2016, Dope Body were fairly much burnt from seven years of nonstop playing and recording, feeling as if their four albums had tracked away from the early days’ intentions of spontaneous weirdness. The band had formed in the abstract, an art project designed to provoke by embodying values that didn’t necessarily reflect any deep roots in their collective mindset. They were good with this approach for a minute but by their final release of the initial run, Kunk, they were composing new pieces from leftover parts of the ‘Lifer’ sessions, as if trying to relocate the almost out-of-body state that they’d been conceived in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTurns out they just needed a bit of time off. Even (or perhaps especially) with a couple of the guys on the West Coast and the other two back east, the energy is again surging out of the Dope Boys, as witnessed by \u003ci\u003eCrack a Light’s\u003c\/i\u003e explosive and exuberant opening track, \u003ci\u003eCurve.\u003c\/i\u003e The refrain “I think I feel alright” expresses relative optimism on the oft-scorched earth of Dope Body and it should - with \u003ci\u003eCrack a Light\u003c\/i\u003e they’ve come all the way around to the stance of their experimental genesis, while continuing to evolve the identity that’s emerged since then - all of which bodes well for the future of rock music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEssentially a power-trio with singer, Dope Body have traditionally excelled at projecting monstrously-voiced street music, artfully welded to the massive space of rock anthems, hardcore and metallic, hard-rolling funk, driven by incisively pounding rhythm and attenuated with guitar loops and FX.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Drag City","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50512681697611,"sku":"1104073","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/009ea1b5-6e4f-4a4e-b4d5-63f0f4798db9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727904626"},{"product_id":"kunk","title":"Kunk","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe latest Dope! Psych and pfusion jams, with extra sauce. The Kunkman cometh. Since 2008, Dope Body have been refining and redefining their own kind of hard rock music, a sound that has many tributaries flowing into it, but one that is definitely coming through a group that could only be created in the postmodern mash up of the 21st century! 'Kunk' is essential, coming from the marrow of Dope Body. While laying tracks for 'Lifer', they were prepared, ready to go, with the material in their grip, held under their hands with tension. But in between takes, they relaxed, let their animal selves out, blew steam, and kept the tape rolling! Creativity sparked and new music flew. Catharsis was in the house. Something at work here! 'Lifer' got done, but nobody could get over those moments, and at a certain remove, they went back and said, man - are these the next songs? They were - and the songs were already written and recorded. Fuckin' A! Just a little finishing - put 'em in a frame, and 'Kunk' - there you go. Leaning into the future, mindlessly, just reacting, the jams of 'Kunk' are shimmering, alive with a simmering sizzle. Swirling jams that pound and float, cloud-like, associating segmental like a naturally growing train of thought. While getting outside the straight-jacket of songs, Dope Body still have an inherent way of ordering their chaos.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Drag City","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50521384714571,"sku":"392490","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/23b7f919-7e01-413e-a19a-6d9b609ce58a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727991252"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_e0eb4f68_thumbnail_4096_ab744246-604a-4140-b925-a1c967434fd3.jpg?v=1727691636","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/dope-body.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}