#casual dots

[dustedmagazine]

Casual Dots — Sanguine Truth (Ixor Stix)

Sanguine Truth by The Casual Dots

Although it has its origins in heavyweight indie outfits like Bikini Kill, Slant 6, Autoclave and Thurston Moore's band among others, there's an invitingly informal quality to the Casual Dot's Sanguine Truth that speaks more to its appeal than any gestures toward supergroup status.  

There’s no getting around the outsize influence Kathi Wilcox and Christina Billotte have had on the underground of the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Wilcox, as a member of Bikini Kill and later the Frumpies and Julie Ruin, seized the righteous fury of DIY hardcore's initial confrontations with mainstream authority and conformity and mapped it onto a post–second wave feminism in the form of the riot grrrl movement. Though currently subject to a necessary critical reevaluation, that movement's impact has been undeniable. Billotte, as a member of Autoclave and Slant 6, brought an exacting power and unflappable coolness to the DC scene that would arguably eclipse most of what was being made by Dischord's boys club during the same time. 

Thirty-plus years from those salad days (no pun intended), and nearly two decades since their first collaboration, Wilcox and Billotte, joined again by drummer Steve Dore, have created an album that speaks to the commitment and pure love of playing music that can turn a pair of aspiring punks into rock 'n' roll lifers.  

Sanguine Truth is rooted in the mathematic post-punk groove that came to define a certain sector of the indie underground circa 1993. And Billotte's powerfully cool vocals on tracks such as "The Frequency of Fear" and "Setting Sunrise" remind the listener of how formidable of a presence she has been in certain corridors of punk over the years. Yet tracks such as "Descending" and "High Speed Chase" weave in a playful surfy twang that recalls the early roots of rock 'n' roll far more than revolutions summer and/or girl style now. While the simple, interlocking, reverb-drenched guitars on the album-closing instrumental "Velvet Fields" deliver a melancholy, almost pastoral timelessness and one of the album's most delicate moments. It’s the soul revamp "You've Got to Live for Yourself," however, that offers the album's most whimsically nostalgic moment in the form of a "Ruler of My Heart" for rebel girls the years over. 

Give the origins of those involved here, including coproducer Guy Picciotto, it's understandable to want to project all sorts of importance and weight onto this album, but that would come at the expense of what is so special about Sanguine Truth. This isn't some total break from the past, and there's an unshakable urgency and grit here that comes from decades battling it out in the indie rock trenches. But there's also a familial warmth and a nonchalance that function almost like rewards for those involved. Relax and have fun with it, ya know? And if you the listener have hung in there long enough with these folks, or are even just discovering them now, you should have fun with it too. 

Nate Knaebel

[fettkakao]

DUBAIS AND THE WOLVES touring in the UK soon!  Allison Wolfe, Steve Dore and Philip Hucknall are THE WOLFS... the most exciting band you've never seen! The cherry on the cake is were going with our homies KNIGHT OF THE COMET (Jon Slade and Stephanie Goodman)

Flier by Joe Blann

UPCOMING DATES.. with more announced soon: • Sunday, May 20 – London Amersham Arms (388 New Cross Road) Dubais & the Wolves, Knight of the Comet, Big Joanie • Thursday, May 24 – Nottingham Rough Trade (5 Broad Street) Dubais & the Wolves, Knight of the Comet • Saturday, May 26 – Ramsgate Ramsgate Music Hall (13 Turner Street) Wreckless Eric, Dubais & the Wolves, DJs Jon Slade & Steph Goodman • Sunday, May 27 – Southeast London (Bermondsey/Peckham) Bent Fest, DIY Space For London (96 -108 Ormside Street, London SE15 1TF Dubais & the Wolves • Tuesday, May 29 – Brighton Pipeline (6 Little E Street) Dubais & the Wolves, Knight of the Comet, Ana Da Silva

[eckshecks]

View this post on Instagram

betsybooots

Thank you Casual Dots for playing an amazing show ❤️ sorry this video looks terrible but it sounds awesome

[alotofboring]

Clocks by Casual Dots...a modern classic

[petitedeath]

heres a causal dots song! ill have to find my cd later! 

[socalshowflyers]

Wrangler Brutes / Casual Dots / Wives @ Knitting Factory. Hollywood, CA.

[inabunchoftrees]

Visit Original Link