To longtime followers of Portland's always stellar Ten Dollar Recording Co, it's no secret that one of the label's most notable and long running sounding boards is a steadfast in-house appreciation of seismically deep, experimental dub. And to wit, no one is blowing more smoke (metaphorical and otherwise) onto those vinyl grooves than resident TDRCo soundscapist Prince Joely. Back at it with soon-to-be-released full length Dog Water, Joely is in top form on an album that smokes and smolders its way from one multipolar musical conflagration to the next, while yet maintaining a graceful, playful fluidity throughout. Always hewing close to the genre's gyrating home base of groove, Dog Water, and Joely's output in general, manages to avoid dub's more unfortunate (and numerous) forays into the smoked out, hacky sack landscape of cliche tropes that define so many other releases.

Along with frequent TDRCo collaborators Mo Douglas and Mariya May, Prince Joely charts his own path on Dog Water, employing the dub frame as an exploratory tool first and foremost but running the voodoo down to often unexpected places, employing melody and cadence and repetition in a way that feels fresh and engaging. Initial jumping off points become deeper dives into an ambient, subterranean world beat that's both front and center as well as soundtrack fantastica. Tracks like "Enjoy Your Life", "Black Light Tan", and "Day Dream Juice" take their time to simmer and swagger, gently cooking on a steady, low heat, alongside downtempo forays like "Dark Orange Nebulous" and "Fresh Rains". and unexpectedly hybridized forays into alien melodic territory on tracks like "The Empathizer (Sha Na Na)" and "Stop Drop & Roll". Cook up another batch of that collie weed and corn bread, this one is gonna go all night. (Reed Burnam)

Released July 9, 2024

Written, Produced, & Mixed by Joel Rasmussen

Ghetto Cooking Publishing (ASCAP)

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