Dopapod and Soule Monde
BSP Lounge Kingston,NY
April 29, 2016
By Miles Hurley
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Soule Monde
I caught Soul Monde, whom I’ve never seen before, a little bit after the start of their great opening set, so as I’m running up BSP’s basement stairway I almost thought I had come actually really late and Dopapod had already started-that’s how big the sound was coming from two guys. It’s a combination of Ray Paczkowski laying down bass and key lines over one another, and Russ Lawton thumping away wildly on drums. I realized after a minute of watching Lawton that I could listen to him drum all night long-the way he’s going a mile a minute but with an immaculate, clean style. And the two wind right around together perfectly. The funk they produce is laid back in tone but constantly churning away with energy in mode, and the crowd really couldn’t get enough of it. I can’t say if I’ve seen a happier couple of musicians on stage. When they weren’t beaming down at the gnarly licks pouring out of their own hands, they were beaming smiles towards the really receptive crowd.
Dopapod
I think part of what partially contributes towards to Dopapod’s strength is their blending command of different types of sounds. Opening up with “Present Ghosts > Like A Ball” showed this arena rock sound they definitely have-huge, important riffs and pieces of melody that ring out loud and with a sense of epic. The with “Cure,” and “Bats In The Cave” next come the other portion of their jam creation, the elements of jazz and disco and whatelse that fuels the incredible live improvisation of their material. For the latter song, Soul Monde were invited on stage to join, and they fit right in. While it cruised for awhile in a Monde style, the last portion of it sprang up into a nice peak.
I got a nice bit of luck at this show to get “Freight Train,” as it happ
Second set of this Kingston show was pretty much just it-a swirling, heady hour of musical love making and experimentation. Some jambands playing tody have mastered the art of the segue ahead of others. Dopapod I think is one of those bands. Every direction they headed into in this second set were punctuated with a crispness in change from all four guys as a band. And all in the middle was a lot of bold exploration that the crowd was never less than stoked for.
Midway through, for example, was a deciding highlight of the night, in “Indian Grits > Trapper Keeper >
The segued journey ended in a really strong “Picture in Picture,” which, again, detoured into a different kind of funking out, this time a cool reggae jam-and nothing else could be a cherry on the top but the final Hava Nagila
To Submit a review or story for consideration hit us at lmnandr@gmail.com
Check out the Live Music News and Review.com Facebook page for updates and announcements.