Mike Sniper is a typical Brooklyn auteur. He created a mysterious alter-ego and distributed cassettes and CD-Rs of his bedroom tapes. He made friends and played gigs with fellow hipsters like Crystal Stilts
and Vivian Girls
. He formed his own record label, Captured Tracks.And yesterday, he released his 3rd full-length album under the Blank Dogs moniker, Land And Fixed.
While incredibly prolific and adept at manufacturing hype, Sniper has yet to connect beyond his inner indie circle. With his latest effort, he cleans up the low-fi production value and concocts a warped, but slightly more inclusive sense of new wave nostalgia.
At times reminiscent of latter day Wire
, Sniper's off-kilter, monotone delivery is either a focal point or a deal breaker. Take "Collides" for example:collides by oldwaver
With Blank Dogs, multi-instrumentalist Sniper often will take a Cure-style walk along the bassline — or in the case of "All Around", emulate New Order and Joy Division's Peter Hook:
all around by oldwaver
Overall, Blank Dogs are an acquired taste... but if you think Brooklyners are the arbiters of awesome then you'd best get to downloadin'.
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