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Trouble In Mind Records

Mandatory Enjoyment

by Dummy

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Pre-order of Mandatory Enjoyment. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    Purchasable with gift card
    releases October 22, 2021

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    "Sky Blue" first pressing comes housed in a full color LP jacket and includes a printed inner sleeve.

    ***PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ORDER ADDITIONAL ITEMS WITH YOUR PREORDER, THEY WILL NOT SHIP UNTIL OCTOBER 18th, 2021!***

    Includes digital pre-order of Mandatory Enjoyment. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases October 22, 2021
    item ships out on or around October 21, 2021
    Purchasable with gift card

      $16 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD version is housed in a gatefold "eco-pack".

    ***PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ORDER ADDITIONAL ITEMS WITH YOUR PREORDER, THEY WILL NOT SHIP UNTIL OCTOBER 18th, 2021!***

    Includes digital pre-order of Mandatory Enjoyment. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases October 22, 2021
    item ships out on or around October 21, 2021
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    First pressing of "Mandatory Enjoyment", housed in a tangerine cassette shell.

    Includes digital pre-order of Mandatory Enjoyment. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases October 22, 2021
    item ships out on or around October 21, 2021
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Housed in a full-color LP jacket & includes a printed inner sleeve

    ***PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU ORDER ADDITIONAL ITEMS WITH YOUR PREORDER, THEY WILL NOT SHIP UNTIL OCTOBER 18th, 2021!***

    Includes digital pre-order of Mandatory Enjoyment. You get 2 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
    digital album releases October 22, 2021
    item ships out on or around October 21, 2021
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD or more 

     

1.
Protostar
2.
Fissured Ceramics
3.
Final Weapon 03:04
4.
Punk Product #4
5.
Cloud Pleaser
6.
H.V.A.C.
7.
Tapestry Distortion
8.
Unremarkable Wilderness
9.
10.
X-Static Blanket
11.
Aluminum In Retrograde
12.
Atonal Poem

about

Los Angeles band Dummy refuses to slow down. After releasing two cassette EP’s in 2020 (on Popwig and Born Yesterday respectively), Dummy’s debut full-length album arrives via Chicago’s Trouble in Mind Records. Employing pummeling guitars and celestial ambience within the same breath, the band folds a myriad of reference points into their drone-pop style. Influence from '60s melodicism and '90s UK noise pop can be found woven in with inspiration from spiritual jazz, Japanese new age, and Italian minimalism.

Dummy dodges the brooding, dark, dramatic tropes of contemporary "artistic" music often found in punk, experimental, and electronic, instead insisting on joyous and euphoric sonic palettes. They refuse to be artistically stagnant, continuously shifting their approach to writing across 12 tracks. Shaped by performances around Los Angeles in 2019, songs like "Daffodils" and "Fissured Ceramics" feature relentless driving energy and ample psychedelic noise. Elsewhere, Dummy counterbalances the aggression with meditative synthscapes focused on sound design and studio experimentation, like on the motorik "X-Static Blanket". Finally, centerpiece "H.V.A.C." and the album's final track, "Atonal Poem", seek to synthesize these two poles, offering multi-part journeys through uncharted sonic territory.

In contrast to blissed-out instrumentation, Dummy's sardonic lyricism examines "the burden of modern life, consumerism, environmental collapse, alienation, and other anxieties born out of living in this absurd moment in history". Interior design, marine pollution, the psychology of commercial architecture, and nuclear testing are all featured subjects. Dummy's restless creativity keeps them moving ever-forward, continuously challenging themselves and pushing their sound into exciting and exhilarating places. This is - as the album title suggests - "Mandatory Enjoyment".

credits

releases October 22, 2021

Dummy: Alex, Emma, Joe & Nathan.

Recorded at 1351 and Studio 22
Recorded, produced, mixed by Joo-Joo Ashworth and Dummy.
Midi flute on "Final Weapon" by Joe Stevens
Backing vocals on "Cloud Pleaser" by Gina Negrini
Art & Layout by Emma
Mr. Dummy by David Van

Thanks: Lisa & Bill Roe, Joo-Joo Ashworth, Greg and Kevin at Born Yesterday, Justice at Popwig, Alan Everhart, Joe Stevens, David Van, Gina Negrini, Zach Inscho, Joon Voight, Sammie Pearson, Non Plus Ultra, Lionel Williams, Marina Aguerre, Jes and Mariana at Bandcamp, and everyone who has listened to, wrote about, booked or supported us in any way. We are truly grateful.

Listen: Listen: Mo Dotti, NIGHTSHIFT, Smoke Bellow, Blue Ocean, AV Moves, Omni Gardens, Jock Gang, Lifeguard, Les Halles, Mope Grooves, Shaki Tavi, UV-TV, Posmic, Dylan Moon, Blue Zero, Gum Country, Versing, All Hits, Laraaji, Gold Cage, Stuck, SiP, Dream Crease, Bookhouse, DWP, Toner, Entry, Caution, Green-House, Automatic, Documa, FACS, Landing, Los Dolores and Peel Dream Magazine.

license

all rights reserved

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about

Dummy Los Angeles, California

Making music shouldn't be fun
dummyisband@gmail.com

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