Laika & the Space Dogs
Pawling, NY | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | SELF
Music
Press
In Letters From Bandcamp, we round up some of our new favorite Bandcamp discoveries in the hope that your friend’s cousin’s sister can finally get some buzz.
The strange days seem to be outweighing the sane ones these days. We here at the Camp like to hope it all can be seen as a good way to keep us on our toes. So stay diligent, look for new tunes, fight the good fight. And if all else fails, go camping vagabonds!
Soviet Space Dogs
An odd little EP from Poughkeepsie that feels like someone just up out of a quick nap on a dank basement couch, groping for a lamp to turn on. Like it’s dark and musty, but desperate and flailing a bit at moments. There are echoey guitars, people chatting in the background sometimes, windy breezes, a horror movie sample, J Mascis-ish drawling, and all generally kind of original for what it is. - CMJ
Discography
Scraps EP — September 8, 2017
- "In The Water" — September 1, 2017
lost and found — June 27, 2017
- "Eraser" — August 11, 2017
- "S.L.P." — June 23, 2017
- "Santa's All Wet" — June 6, 2017
Fall of Roma EP — December 2, 2015
Photos
Bio
Somewhere between the heavy darkness of Queens of the Stone Age and pop-friendliness of Arctic Monkeys sits Laika & the Space Dogs, whose offbeat and contrarian sensibility betrays modern alternative.
Praised by CMJ's New Music roundup as "dark and musty... desperate and flailing," LSD showcase a vast swath of influences into songs that recall both the most manic garage punk and most calculated post-rock. The signature "Space Dog sound" can only be described as ordered chaos, flowing seamlessly between seemingly disparate pieces.
"Weird is often the driving principle," frontman Nicholas Kohomban notes, "whenever we draw from our influences the first thing we think is 'Oh how could we take that concept and turn it on its head?'"
Co-songwriter Max Quill agrees: "If it feels expected, then it probably needs more work."
Sometimes making things unexpected can even mean calling back to popular conventions. On downbeat jazz-influenced track "Eraser," Kohomban and Quill end with an extended jam-rock outro that counterpoints the quiet isolation of the previous section.
"Everything should feel like it's down the rabbit hole in Wonderland," Nicholas concludes, "because that's where we are most of the time."
Band Members
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