Johnny Dowd tours Europe this month with "Execute American Folklore"
09-10-2016To try to categorize Johnny Dowd: Ithaca, New York’s legendary, idiosyncratic genius, is like trying to hold back a hurricane with a windbreak. It’s just not possible.To do so would be foolhardy, to say the least.
Far from trying to alienate an audience, or create his own chin-stroking niche, for his tenth album, Execute American Folklore, that has been released half September, Dowd has delivered his most accessible yet. As he says: “I thought every record I made, with the exception of Wrong Side of Memphis, would be my ticket into the main, stream and big record sales. The fact that I have been wrong each time doesn’t discourage me.”
From the opening bars of “Unease and Deviance” to the final, sing-along joviality of “A World Without Me" a duet with the fabulous Anna Coogan who floats through the album with unrestrained glee, it’s clear that Johnny has had a great deal of fun making this record.
Held together with pulsating rhythms and drive, beatbox and synths pumping out mercurial beats while Dowd’s unmistakable tones pierce the songs like a maniacal cheerleader for the masses, Dowd charts a territory bordered by futuristic funk on one side and exploratory electronica on the other. Dowd’s aural playground is a place for everyone to gorge themselves on the fine fruits of a master aural manipulator at play.
Mark Lotterman followed Johnny Dowd on his European tour in 2015
Execute American Folklore not only pushes the envelope one step further for a musician who tore up the rule book years ago, it reaffirms Dowd’s place as one of America’s creative ambassadors of invention, mirth, and sonic wonderment. Hell, this is even a Dowd record you can dance to! And so can you, as he will be on tour in Europe all October!
TOURDATES:
12-10-2016: Haarlem (NL) @ Patronaat *
13-10-2016: Norderstedt (DE) @ Music Star *
14-10-2016: Krefeld (DE) @ Kulturrampe *
15-10-2016: Zeist (NL) @ De Peppel *
17-10-2016: Zurich (CH) @ El Lokal *
19-10-2016: Bristol (UK) @ The Thunderbolt *
20-10-2016: Liverpool (UK) @ Dumbulls *
21-10-2016: Bovey Tracey (UK) @ Edgemoor Hotel *
22-10-2016: North York Moorse (UK) @ The Band Room *
23-10-2016: Glasgow (UK) @ O2 ABC2 Glasgow *
24-10-2016: Colwyn Bay (UK) @ Tape Community
25-10-2016: London (UK) @ The Islington º
26-10-2016: Eye (UK) @ The Bank Eye º
27-10-2016: Sheffield (UK) @ Greystones º
29-10-2016: Zemst (BE) @ GC De Melkerij º
30-10-2016: Eindhoven (NL) @ Bureau Beukorkest at TAC º
Dates marked with º will be opened by Mark Lotterman, all marked with * by Park Doing.