Urdog

Urdog, “Garden of Bones”, Secret Eye, 2004

Urdog es un trío de Providence, Rhode Island que se forma a finales del verano de 2002 y que se compone por David Lifrieri en guitarra, pedales y voz, Jeff Knoch en órgano, pedales y voz y Erin Rosenthal en batería, percusión y voz.
El sonido de Urdog rememora al rock progresivo y psicodelia de finales de los ’60 y los ’70. Desde esa tradición pasa también por el krautrock con esos mantras de órgano farfisa y ritmos repetitivos que se exhiben a lo largo del disco.
“Garden of Bones” pasa por momentos plácidos y otros enfurecidos, pero lo que prevalece a mi entender es el halo permanente de oscuridad que es la columna vertebral del álbum. Música de un viaje misterioso como el que se señala que hizo el trío a los Himalayas.
Urdog hace una perfecta combinación entre las descargas eléctricas de “Ice on water” y “Triumph” y los iniciáticos y solemnes “Long shadows” y el cuarto tema instrumental.
[www.secreteye.org/se/](http://www.secreteye.org/se/)
[www.urdog.com](http://www.urdog.com)

Guillermo Escudero
July 2006

First, I need to say something about the unbeckoned nature of much writing and the concomitant imposition of wanton views. To this effect, I shall cite a Lyotard quote off Secret Eye’s Urdog page — “writing is irresponsible, in the strict sense of the term, because it does not come in response to a question. It proceeds of its own pace […]”. I offer the reader this bit of wisdom and oblique rationalization for what follows. I am probably not the person best suited to the task of reviewing this record as personal prejudices needed to be overcome, my knowledge of all things psychedelic is limited, and until recently I was living under the misguided impression that progressive rock was no longer deemed a valid musical lifeform.
Urdog is a Providence, Rhode Island trio — David Lifrieri (guitar, pedals, vocals), Jeff Knoch (organ, pedals, vocals) and Erin Rosenthal (drums, percussion and vocals) — that bolts together ardently idiosyncratic progressive rock interspersed with psychedelic song interludes. Although I cannot pinpoint with any degree of precision the band’s precursors, the music does bring to mind A Saucerful of Secrets-era Pink Floyd, early Soft Machine, Can, Amon Duul II and Canterbury luminaries Camel.
A Smoky Narghile begins proceedings with a brisk, bristly calisthenics number. Ice on Water, a triumphant hullabaloo of guitar fuzz, grimy organ spray and tribal drumming, eventually morphs into a drunken constellation of plaintive voices. Zombie Cloud follows a similar course of action, lovingly tacking on a toy piano interlude to the brilliant general racket. Long Shadows is a poignant little song kept tenderly afloat by a repetitive guitar motif and farfisa underpinings. The title track, a discreet bittersweet reminiscence, is followed by Urdog Awaken, wherein a palpable loss of momentum becomes evident as a cockamamie keyboard-driven ditty sops up pub ambience, a canine pataphysical midrash and Anthem of the Sun kazoo. The record is rounded out by DMZ and Triumph, two rather unfocused jams — one making extravagant display of keyboard bombast, the other obeying a more understated wooly logic — and a live reprise of Ice on Water as recorded in Geneva, Switzerland.
Although past reviewers have been rather dismissive of Urdog’s singing, I feel that the vocal contributions anchor a music that at times exhibits a disenchanting tendency to wander off aimlessly. Perhaps this is due to my own impoverished music listening habits, having subjected myself for the last decade or so to the rarified sound of anonymous dirt particles brought into prudent contact and aseptic atoms persuaded to touch lightly in passing. All in all, Garden of Bones is a pleasant enough collection of reworked/revamped music of yore infused with a jocular contemporary sensibility, as reviewers are prone to say.
[www.secreteye.org/se/](http://www.secreteye.org/se/)
[www.urdog.com](http://www.urdog.com)

Francisca Monsalve
July 2006