the name may sound like it, but don't confuse dr. dog for a hip-hop act.  philadelphia based dr. dog are known for their low-fi minimally engineered psychedelic rock and find influence in bands like the beatles, the band, the beach boys, etc.

dr. dog formed around the turn of the century as scott mcmicken (guitar, vocals) and toby leaman's (bass, vocals) previous band, raccoon, split.  they quickly added three additional members, self-released their first l.p. toothbrush, and waited for stardom to arrive.  in fact, they continued to wait until my morning jacket tapped them to be their opening act for their it still moves tour.  by 2005, dr. dog found a devoted following as they toured with m ward and again with my morning jacket.

each member has a nickname describing their personality or an inside joke.  band members include: taxi, tables, text, trouble, thanks, truck, today, trial.

dr. dog released their fifth l.p. fate, the album they were "destined" to record, on july 22, 2008.  fate has been described as an "inventive, magnificently realized" album, crafting magic from a "pop palette of intricate harmonies, shape-shifting melodies, and ramshackle audio ingenuity" all presented in a "slightly skewed and utterly individualistic" way.

click here to watch an in-studio set/interview recorded by kcrw's morning becomes eclectic from september 10, 2008.  click here to watch a tiny desk concert from october 20, 2008 recorded by all songs considered.  finally, click here to listen to a world café lillywhite session from september 08, 2008, or here for an in-studio interview/set recorded by wxpn for world café on april 25, 2007.

dr. dog has a bunch of european dates scheduled.  check back here to see when they add additional us dates.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.