DJ Ryan’s New Release of the Week: Dummy’s “Full Spectrum Dominance”

Dummy
“Full Spectrum Dominance”
Polyvinyl Recording Co. (available via Bandcamp)

Dummy’s “Full Spectrum Dominance” wants to take you back.

It’s also some of the best work this band has done.

Consider it a time capsule track that’s pulling scraps of meat from the bone of Bran Van 3000 and Sneaker Pimps alongside the bubbly synthesizer sound of Stereolab if they had a darker underbelly.

That’s the beauty of “Full Spectrum Dominance,” one of the singles from the Los Angeles-based band’s excellent new album “do you love the color of the sky?” It’s out now via Polyvinyl.

I think it’s insanely hard to rip from those ’90s trip-hop relics without sounding cheap. When I say cheap, I mean directly ripping off. Dummy is far from a discount version. This isn’t counterfeit music.

Instead, Dummy is moving those ideas forward. It’s an homage. This is couture music simply recognizing the past with reverence and respect. “Full Spectrum Dominance” is a window of sound being opened to allow a sonic cross breeze of freshness into an old sound. It’s decidedly vintage, but with the vocals of Emma Maatman and the grit of the rest of the band, it’s a welcome tag onto an old joke.

It’s also a beautiful gateway into their latest album. If you dig it, you’ll love the rest of the record.

And after seeing Dummy live a couple of times over the past few years, they absolutely bring the heat when they perform. That counts for something.

You could almost make the argument that they’re bringing it for the first time, even if the landmarks of an old sound inform what they’re presenting on “Full Spectrum Dominance.”