The Dodos - Visiter (Frenchkiss Records, 2008)

There is a great scene in one of The Simpsons' Halloween specials, in which Mr. Burns is secrectly Count Dracula. When Lisa tries to tell Homer that Burns is a vampire, Homer laughingly retorts: "Oh Lisa, Vampires don't exist. They're make believe... just like elves and eskimos." That line always makes me laugh.
Sadly, the Dodo bird no longer exists. According to my research, the dodo bird was a flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius and has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th Century. There is nothing funny about animals becoming extinct.
Somehow, in my mind, this all ties into the fact that the Dodos, a very cool two-piece band from the San Francisco area are not only existing, but thriving in a time when each week seems to bring new reports of the extinction of the music industry as a whole.
The truth of the matter is, people have always, and will always, need to hear and play music. It is a part of who we are: even when we are sleeping, our hearts are still keeping time. More importantly, as long as group's such as the Dodos continue to consturct albums as enjoyable as Visiter, music will remain a vital component of our culture.
Visiter, for the most part is a mellow, folky affair. Intricate compositions - ruminations on love, loss and life in general - disguised as simple pop songs, in the way that all great pop songs have been since the earliest days of the Brill Building writers.
Using the simplest of tools - a guitar, some very impressive drumming, a litte bit of banjo - the Dodos have created an excellent album that will no doubt fly under the radar of the general public (as all great art seems to), however, flying at all is a pretty impressive feat for a flightless bird.

Key Tracks: walking, ashley, undeclared, god?

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/thedodos