Guitars bend to the breaking point. Drums pump. Drums crack. Synthesizers crisp & crackle. One voice howls, the other coos. Skronky noise-rock? Maybe. Vintage garage pop? Maybe. Pretty? Yes. Ugly? Yes.
The last year saw Experimental Dental School turning over a new leaf, paring down from a trio to a two-piece and adopting a less-is-more approach. With this change, they’ve managed to expand sonically and mature their songcraft. Their colossal sound owes a bit to Jesse Hall’s custom “guitar-o-bass” and rig in which the high and low frequencies are channeled to separate amps, where angular guitar melodies ricochet within a sea of bass over a lake of effect pedals. Perfectly complementing Hall’s gnarly riffage, Shoko Horikawa’s explosive off-kilter drumming propel the songs forward. The latest incarnation of the band has been well-received on the road, just getting back from a European tour and playing NXNE just after. They will be taking their show on the road in the US this September, and overseas again, this time to Japan this October.
While not abandoning their noise-rock roots, Experimental Dental School’s latest LP “Forest Field” is another step (perhaps a leap) further away finding them more freely exploring the space between between the instrumental and vocal interplay, exercising new levels of restraint and creativity. Rather than interjecting accessibility into spazz, XDS are more concerned with turning the pop formula inside out. The rocking opener “Basement Fever” rides a R&B groove anchored down by a strutting guitar. The bouncy, oceanic “Royal Fantasy Snow” smoothly glides along courtesy of Horikawa’s delicate, vocal melodies before giving way to rapidfire riffing building to a heady climax. The dizzying guitar, vocal harmonizing, and stop-start of “Cheap Wine River” are a great example of the band exercising a finely-honed use of tension to push the envelope of a pop song further. There are many surprises like this on “Forest Field”, fresh ideas executed so effortlessly making it exhilarating, addictive listen leaving the listener in a sense of wonder of where Experimental Dental School will go next.
TOUR DATES
9/2 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
9/3 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
9/4 Lincoln, NE @ Knickerbockers
9/5 Iowa City, IA @ Picador
9/6 Chicago, IL @ Reggies
9/8 Lexington, KY @ Al’s Bar
9/9 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
9/10 Rochester, NY @ Dubland Underground
9/11 Brooklyn, New York @ Death By Audio
9/12 Brooklyn, New York @ Market Hotel
9/13 Massachusetts @ tba
9/15 philadelphia @ Danger Danger Gallery
9/17 Durham, NC @ the Pinhook w/ Bellafea
9/18 Athens, OH @ Ohio State University
9/19 Nashville TN @ Little Hamilton Collective
9/20 Hot Springs, AR @ The Exchange
9/21 Tulsa, OK @ Sound Pony
9/22 Oklahoma City, OK @ The Conservatory
9/23 Houston, TX @ Mink Backroom
9/24 Dallas, TX @ The Lounge on Elm Street
9/25 Austin,TX @ Mohawk
9/26 Lubbock,TX @ Bash Riprocks
9/27 El paso, TX @ Zeppelin’s
9/29 Phoenix AR @ Modified Arts
9/30 Flagstaff, AZ @ Hotel Monte Vista
10/1 LA, CA @ the Smell
10/2 SF, CA @ Hemlock Tavern