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Cincypunk
Local Cincinnati pop-punk superstars, The Dopamines, are back with their third official release. Soap and Lampshades is a six-song EP released on Cold Feet Records through digital distribution on February 10, 2009 and will see a vinyl release sometime in mid-March.
I was incredibly excited but nervous just the same when I started listening to this. While I have been a big supporter up to this point, I was starting to feel this band could be a one-trick pony. It was fun and fresh in the beginning but would the songs ever see an evolution? Would it be the same formula used over and over until it ran itself into the ground? Thank god Soap and Lampshades blew this fear out of the water. In just over nine minutes, my love for the Dompamines was reaffirmed and life could go on!
The first track, “Operate”, is slightly cliché with lyrics like, “Open up my chest, pull my heart out and operate,” but don’t be too fooled. The conviction with which this line is sung makes me think this is really how Jon must have felt and I can definitely relate to such a feeling. The next track, “Jon Has Anxiety”, scared me at first with its incredibly familiar sounding hook reminiscent of ”Molly’s”, “say it ain’t so, say it aint’ so”. Here again, while it is familiar, it is completely forgivable and it takes on a life of its own. A completely different context and blanket of sound makes it stand strongly on its own. Things start to take a pleasant turn towards greatness with “Ryan Has Anxiety”. It is the 23 seconds of a rollercoaster drop into the really fun turns and twists of the ride. Everything up until this point was building anticipation for the EP’s second strongest track, “Worstest Case Scenario”. The Dopa-Boys really start to shine on this number. Complete with a multi-faceted bridge and an awesome vocal and percussion outro, the one-trick pony hypothesis is completely destroyed. It is like they took a page from the Copyrights’ song book, rewrote it better and made it their own.
Now I am going to go on a slight tangent for a minute. Guys, you write some killer tunes but I have some beef with “Structural Failure”. We need to make a few corrections. Do you remember your physics class? Do you not remember the acceleration as a result of gravity? The other problem is your chemistry reference. I know you are a big fan your alcoholic beverages but you should at least refer to this wonderful drug by a proper name. It is either ethyl-alcohol or ethanol. You cannot combine these terms. Let’s have some drinks and work this out. Cool? Thanks!
Back to business. “Soap and Lampshades”! This is my new favorite song and an excellent choice as a closer. It’s a great sing-along and an all-around excellent hook for wanting to hear the next installment in The Dopamines catalog. Thanks for the music guys. Keep on keeping on! I appreciate it.
- Kirby, Cincypunk.org
Punknews
Soap and lampshades. Both are useful items, but they aren't interchangeable. These two may seem like an odd pairing of items, but they are similar in a historical sense. There are some unfounded rumors that state that the Nazis made soap and lampshades out of the ruins of the Jewish people they desecrated. Non-sensical hatred aside, this subject hardly seems like Dopamines fodder. Sure, like their pop-punk contemporaries, the Copyrights, they have some depressing content within their upbeat songs, but never like this. Have the Dopamines taken to a darker aesthetic? I am probably just way over-analyzing things.
"Operate" starts things off, displacing any disturbing thoughts that once manifested my brain. The chorus of chanting "operate" with wavering inflection will probably be stuck inside that skull of yours for some time. "Jon Has Anxiety" starts with just a bass, momentarily, until the rest of the song kicks in. The song has a faster pace, as the Dopamines only allot themselves a little over a minute to make the song catchy and infectious. As they have previously done, they make short work of that task. "Ryan Has Anxiety," the third track, is a good but short example of a song with downtrodden lyrics mixed with an upbeat melody mentioned beforehand. The next two songs change up the formula a bit, thankfully. This helps avoid repetition and general banality.
The album closer, also the title track, runs for three minutes total. As of right now, this is the Dopamines' longest song. Their Magnum Opus, if you will (or won't). This may answer my burning question if the title does or does not reflect the horrendous acts of the Holocaust. After listening, I'm still not sure. The verse sounds like it could be, with lyrics about barbed wire turnstiles and pre-heating ovens (take that as you will). The chorus, however, dissuades me at the same time. The song is pretty damn good, though.
Soap and Lampshades has the same themes as their excellent debut did. There are still lyrics about falling in love, falling out of love, then getting up only to fall down as you drunkenly pass out. However, with six songs total, the EP is a short nine minutes. In that sense, it does leave something to be desired.
- ffwoodycock, Punknews.org
Punk Or Nothing
The Dopamines keep on proving again and again that they are one of the most promising pop-punk bands out there today, as Soap And Lampshades, The Dopamines' third release, lives up to every expectation set at it. Soap And Lampshades is perhaps the first Dopamines release that didn't hit me immediately, but when it finally clicked, I realised this 7" was every bit as anthemic and fist-punching as what as had come previously. The Dopamines have their catchiness rating on full as usual, particularly on standout anthem "Worstest Case Scenario," but here they err more towards the punk side of pop-punk. I feel as if that is closer to their natural sound, as well as the direction in which they are heading. Gone are the cheesy pop-punk ditties ("Cupidity") and in are the minute long punk sing-alongs ("Jon Has Anxiety").
The fact that The Dopamines kick off the 7" with the shorter songs before building up to the final title track works brilliantly. Song placing is something many bands struggle at, and The Dopamines get it spot on here. Having said that, I feel like more could have been made of the two "....Has Anxiety" songs had they been given longer than the minute-and-a-half mark. Lyrically, it's what we have come to expect from The Dopamines that they do so well: not fitting in (see: "The Worstest Case Scenario"). That is until the final track when The Dopamines completely stray from their usual subjects and go a little bit historical on us. They revisit a World War Two Nazi Concentration Camp, where Jewish people were said to be turned into Soaps And Lampshades ("I'm washing my hands with the bestest of friends"). It is an unexpected, but awesome, way to end the 7." Overall, The Dopamines keep doing what they know best, light years ahead of many of their peers. What's more, whereas once they were derided for being overly influenced by The Copyrights/Dillinger Four, it really feels here with their punkier direction, that they're carving out their own niche in the scene.
- Skankin' D, Punkornothing.com
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