Aural Innovations

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Dora Flood is a shoegazing dream pop band from San Francisco and this is their sixth full-length release. To my ears, on their latest album they play guitar-driven, British styled indie rock with some psychedelic influences. The first track on the CD entitled "Phoenix Rising" is a mid-tempo, pretty groovy guitar pop with organs somewhere in between Oasis and Verve. "Everywhere We Go" is a bit faster number with some New Wave/punk spirit and psych effects. "Feels Like Yesterday" is a quite nice, more hypnotic shoegaze track in the Verve vein. "Revelation Blues" is in deed a bit bluesy, and "Atlantis" quite interesting, at times heavy number in ¾ time signature. "Humble High" is a slow one with slide guitar and "Day Dream" more like retro pop reminding me of The Soundtrack of Our Lives. "Invisible Throne" is a peaceful, slow song that has some synthesizer. One of the highlights is the also quite slow but relatively heavy "Faith and Deviation" that has some great organ work and high-pitched vocals and a lot of laid-back guitar soloing. The album ends with the rather soft "Light" that has some piano sounds, slide etc. We Live Now doesn't do that much for me, but it's not that bad either. You can download the band's whole entire back catalogue from their web site to check them out by yourself. —Santtu Laakso

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) After the weightless swirling melodies and electronic accents on Dora Flood's last album, "Highlands," the newest album from the band is like a new beginning, a new chapter in Dora Flood's musical progression. Retaining those memorable melodies, Dora Flood make "We Live Now" into a psychedelic shoegazer album that has edge and depth that varies throughout. Dora Flood make it is easy to get swept up in to the action. Buzzing and fluid instrumentation remains light and bouncy on "Phoenix Rising," as it gets stuck in your head with an infectious air. A slightly darker melody pulls "Feels Like Yesterday" out its surroundings with a feel of danger and excitement. Elsewhere on "Everywhere We Go," Dora Flood offer riff driven psych pop while the smooth melody of "Humble High" sails gently by before temporarily branching off into a chugging interlude. Frontman Michael Padilla's falsetto vocals add a new dimension to tracks like the rigid driving riff contrasting the dreamy melody on "Atlantis" while "Faith and Deviation" takes a loose and edgy approach that ends with an instrumental jam session. Full, rich instrumentation dominates Dora Flood's "We Live Now," the band's sixth album. The result is that no matter what choices Dora Flood makes, the result always maintains a certain level of quality. But for "We Live Now," Dora Flood does more than just go through the motions. Light pop melodies backed with occasional heaviness, Dora Flood make "We Live Now" into a memorable listen that is always changing and blending itself into something new. —Corinne

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Dora Flood have been doing what they do for some time now. They've been, in fact, doing it long enough that they aren't really part of the shoegazing revival — they were part of the original scene. With five albums in their back catalogue, all of which can be downloaded for free from the band's website, they've evolved gradually into the band that have just released We Live Now. According to the group, this is their heaviest record, although that doesn't push We Live Now into metal territory. That said, they've definitely mastered the dirty guitar sound that made Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's first album so memorable, and that is what they rely on to drive the majority of the songs forward. They haven't turned their backs on their early days, with some dreamier tracks that hint at early Pink Floyd. The good news is that this laidback psychedelic sound works well for them. While it isn't a terribly exciting album, people who like this kind of thing will like it a lot... —Michael Edwards

Babysue

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Many bands appear, make a big splash, and then disappear within a matter of months. The guys in San Francisco's Dora Flood are taking a different approach...slowly building and expanding their influence based upon good word-of-mouth. We Live Now is a nifty, smooth spin that showcases the band's pop sensibilities as well as their tendencies toward subtle psychedelia. Produced by the band themselves and recorded onto two inch analog tape, this album has a nice warm sound quality that is a refreshing change from hearing too much digitally recorded music. Some of the tunes tend to rock...while others are somewhat drony in nature. We find this band's guitars particularly appealing. The layering of different guitar sounds definitely works in the band's favor. This is an album that gets better with repeated spins. Dreamy tracks like "Phoenix Rising," "Feels Like Yesterday," "Humble High" (our favorite), and "Light" make this album a purely rewarding listen. Should appeal to fans of The Flaming Lips and early Pink Floyd.

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) San Francisco-based quintet Dora Flood got their start in the explosion of a certain early ‘90s musical sub-genre (whose name, in a fit of teenage self-righteousness I swore to myself I would never use) characterized by riff-heavy guitars and atmospheric synthesizer effects. Some call it dream-pop, but let’s just say the boys in Dora Flood have stolen more than a glance or two at their toes. In truth, though, such categorizations become irrelevant when listening to We Live Now, as Dora Flood has crafted an album of diversely influenced psychedelic rock that you don’t have to stare at your feet to appreciate. The album opens with “Phoenix Rising,” a fuzz-powered guitar groove that gets kicked up in the second verse by some screaming rock organ before dissolving into a multilayered sitar wash. The album seems to get stronger as it progresses, from the juke-joint swagger of “Revelation Blues,” to the standout track “Atlantis,” whose sweeping, spaced-out verses recall Blonde Redhead at their trippiest, and whose head-banging choruses surely have Randy Rhoads peering down from rock-god heaven with pride. For all of the diversity of retro-psychedelic influences incorporated here, the album is unmistakably contemporary. With one foot firmly planted in the sounds of their forbearers, Dora Flood’s eyes are fixed on the future (and not their sneakers). —Kevin Hobson (March 2007)

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) The latest album from heady, groovy, psychedelic-tinged rockers Dora Flood has them again in a head space few bands can match and most should appreciate. The group’s sixth album is a roots-tinged one that sounds like it could have been the answer to The Black Crowes’ ”Amorica. A gem like “Phoenix Rising” is one of those shoe-gazing affairs driven by great guitar work that is buried well within the overall sound. Things heat up with the equally pristine “Everywhere We Go” that has a trace of The Dandy Warhols or Brian Jonestown Massacre in it. Not everything turns to gold though, as “Feels like Yesterday” has Dora Flood hitting the cruise control button once too often on this meandering, mid-tempo joint. When the guitars are given their space, the songs seem to soar, even with an average tune like “Revelation Blues” creeping around nicely. The bluesy, murkier side of the group has rarely been seen this much using “Atlantis” as a measuring stick. But Dora Flood can also nail a Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper number like “Humble High” out of the park and excel just as well with the dreamy, er, “Daydream”. The band is at its height with the acid-rock of “Faith and Devotion” that sounds like a melding of Sabbath and the Fab Four. —Jason MacNeil (March 2007)

Culture Bunker

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Extremely likable nouveau psychedelic groove music. The inescapable influence of Radiohead is abundantly apparent here, which is not a bad thing when done right. And Dora Flood does it right, if you're a fan of slightly shoe gazing ethereal songs that can fill a room or an arena with equal ease. Dora Flood is exceptionally good at what they're doing and while a lot of other bands are attempting the same type of Thom Yorkish sound, they manage to pull it off swimmingly with enough of their own style to avoid being branded as flatly derivative. This is tastefully done dreamscape pop that's impeccably arranged and performed. 8 on a scale of 1-11. —The Swede (March 2007)

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Dora Flood are by far one of the most successful, and are worthy of being one of the (if not the) best, Shoegaze/Dreampop bands in the United States. The San Francisco quintet have released five wonderful LP's (and one EP) over the course of a dynamic career defining them worthy of such a title. Their latest effort We Live Now (Elephant Stone) is probably their most "heaviest" work to date. Alot of bands take nods from and try to duplicate late 60's and early 70's psychedelic boogie rock but only a few can really pull it off, Dora Flood is one of the later. Everything is intact, from blistering guitars, pounding bass rhythms, layered orchestration and endless melodies. We Live Now is a fuzzed out psych pop masterpiece, one that will be kept on top of the shuffle for a long time to come.

The Red Alert

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Shoegazing dream pop from San Francisco—you think you know what you’re going to get. Think again. This ain’t some airy, breathy slide into some other planet’s atmosphere. This is your gritty and rough and heavy dream pop, closer to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club than Swervedriver; they may be staring at their shoes, but them shoes are nice and dirty. There are some drifts into a nice Spacemen 3 / Loop sonic drone, but without it taking over the whole song – just a taste here and there before the band kicks back into some StonerGazer groove. Dora Flood is pushing ahead while dragging the past along with them. Trippy light shows and hanging out in the ‘60s gets kicked up a notch and a few decades to a sonic assult and swirled guitars slipping over harmonizing vocals and driving rhythms. The songs do lapse into a hypnotic flow once in awhile, but the fuzz of the guitar always scoops you up and out of the psychedelic guitar waves and throws you headfirst into the next song. The third track, “Feels Like Yesterday,” almost does feel like yesterday. Like some drawn out Doors solo before the inevitable freak-out. Like a Jefferson Airplane flashback tied to a Ride-inspired brit-pop jam. The next song moves a few steps over, getting all blues-grooved and snarly, like a Louisiana bad-trip, but man… the music can save you. So keep listening. Dora Flood washes over you and pulls you along, slides you through—an adventure that ends on a slow and mellow but spaciously beautiful song titled “Light.” —Marcel Feldmar (March 2007)

Dora Flood We Live Now (Elephant Stone) Dora Flood's latest album of psyched-out fuzz is, indeed, just that -- and there's no sin in doing it very well. Taking the tack that one can be massively heavy but can still find the pop in it all -- something that Josh Homme has long since demonstrated is an entirely feasible approach -- Dora Flood's own long career hasn't been as celebrated but deserves an ear; We Live Now is a good entry for the curious. (It also doesn't hurt that they know to call the first song on the album "Phoenix Rising," and that they make it sound like that, a slow epic rise of a song with a killer guitar solo that's pure skybound-from-the-desert majesty.) If Dora Flood have a reliable standby it's soothing but stoned harmonies mixed with exultant guitar, something that inevitably calls to mind everything from the Association and late-'60s Byrds to proto-metal like Steppenwolf. Classic tripping out is unsurprisingly in evidence, thus the blend of light falsetto and rising and falling keyboards on "Atlantis," spiked with a total guitar snarl on the chorus. Even the more straight-up pop moments aren't really that; a song like "Everywhere We Go" keeps things on a calmer and generally brisker tip (not quite motorik but not too far removed), but the layered arrangement, massed vocals, and spiraling, spindly solos and more make for a thick end result. No question that Dora Flood are out to revisit a past that never quite was rather than projecting where things might go next, but with this as a given, We Live Now is a pure treat, full stop. —Ned Raggett (February 2007)

Dora Flood Seeing Things By Robert Cherry Michael Padilla formed Dora Flood in the early '90s, drafting in friends to flesh out a studio project, and naming the group after the flamboyant yet big-hearted madam (is there any other kind?) in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. In the communal tradition of their hometown's psychedelic pioneers, singer-guitarist Padilla, guitarist David Alexander, bassist Scott Anderson, keyboardist Steve Cavoretto and drummer Sean DeGaetano rented a house together in the Bay Area and did what young musicians do. But mostly they made music, taking inspiration from the original British Invasion bands as well as the effects-happy noise-pop emanating from across the pond. "It was a fantastic time to be making music," Padilla says. "It still is. But at the time, everything seemed new and full of possibilities. A lot of the music we were listening to was similar to the older music that we liked, except that it had this noise element, too, which was new and refreshing. The marriage of the two things was really attractive to me, and I wanted to pursue my own version of that." Dora Flood piloted a steady course through the decade, meticulously crafting two albums and an EP of inspired lysergic pop, layered to the stratosphere with chiming guitars, burbling synths, cascading grooves and Padilla's blissed-out vocals. Critics, in turn, piled on the accolades, favorably comparing the band to everyone from Pink Floyd to The Church to The Dandy Warhols. By 2000, however, Dora Flood suffered its first split. Alexander and Anderson left the group—amicably, Padilla says—replaced by bassist Brian Tyley and guitarist Nathan Wood. "They left during the recording of Welcome, our last album," he says. "And two long-time friends stepped in to help finish the album and do the tour—so the band still had that family vibe. Since then, I've been more open to change, but at first it was like having your family break up. When they left, I was like, 'Is this still going to work?' But it totally did. Highlands is proof of that." Fans of Brit pop, shoegazer and teacup psychedelia could do worse—much worse—than scooping up the group's entire back catalog: 1995's 1301 EP, 1997's Walk A Lightyear Mile, 1999's Lost On Earth and 2002's Welcome. But if you have to start somewhere, start with the band's latest album, Highlands (Elephant Stone). The new disc is the culmination of a decade-long journey that captures the kind of musical chemistry that can't be manufactured overnight. Melodic allusions abound—the chorus of "Where You Belong" will remind you of the Beatles' "Nowhere Man," for instance—but the more heavily processed sound is wholly their own. Padilla's voice hovers above the ebb and flow of the bio-mechanical arrangements like a benevolent alien, gently urging us dumb-ass humans to reappraise our game plan. On "Stargazing" he whisper-sings, "We keep believing everything we're told, forfeit the chance to watch our lives unfold. And in the meantime, I don't understand, how we could blame it on another land." Clearly he's been affected—as we all have—by recent world events. But instead of lapsing into finger-wagging didacticism, he makes the global personal and finds redemption in his "lover's eyes." "It's just one guy's answer to what's going on in the big picture," he explains. "And it also zooms in on his personal life. One minute he's questioning the actions of his government, and the next minute he's stressing out about his 9-to-5 job. But somehow he's still able to rise above it all and do what he needs to do. There's a world-weariness to the song, but there's also hope. That's always been a part of my lyrics." For proof, he points to the song's concluding line, "We build a future in a home... and help each other with this heavy load." That load has been especially heavy for Padilla of late. He recently lost his father, Benjamin, a Mexican immigrant who selflessly worked blue-collar jobs his entire life to provide a wide-open future for his wife and eight children. Interestingly, the omniscient voice in a lot of Highlands' songs is an angel-like presence, and Padilla admits to delving deeper into his faith for comfort, or as he puts it in one song, "throwing wishes at the sky and waiting for an answer." "'The View' is from the perspective of someone who's already passed on, a spirit speaking to people who are still alive. And I wrote 'Phantasm' from the point of view of a person coming back and wanting to be a part of a life they're no longer a part of, either back from the dead or back from a different part of their life. And it's interesting, because that song could be sung from the perspective of my father singing it to my mother." Or not. It would be easy to read more into Padilla's stream-of-consciousness lyrics (and that's part of their design) and the impact his father's death has had upon his latest batch of songs. But Dora Flood's music has always inhabited an otherworldly plane. Early on, Padilla named his publishing company "Eternal Sleepover," and the title track to 2002's Welcome opens with an invitation for the listener to meet him on the other side: "I'm placing myself in another world, and you look quite capable to join me." Perhaps the new album ultimately directs us to look at our own situations as well as world affairs from a higher vantage point, from a better part of ourselves. As we wrap up, I tell Padilla that Highlands' evocative cover art even looks like a satellite photo of the sun peeking around the Earth's curvature, clouds dotting the oceans of our big blue marble. A global perspective. "Well, that's the thing," he replies. "It all depends on how you look at it. Turn it upside down." I grab the album sitting in front of me, flip it over and literally see the light, reflexively slapping my forehead. "It's a sunset."

Kapital Ink Magazine

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) A Wavery gem somewhere between Beachwood Sparks and My Morning Jacket in its woozy evocation of Notorious/Sweetheart era Byrds… a swirl-o-matic dreamcoat of pinwheel-revolving fortitude… the same lush-but-not-wimpy framework o' the best post-Anton evocateurs. Seriously, a pill that'll work a lot longer n' harder than Prozac. —Joe S. Harrington (July 2005)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) Since 1995's striking EP debut, 1301, the Bay Area's Dora Flood have been producing some of the most notable shoegazing dream-pop to come from the United States. Never married to a singular musical vision, each of the band's records have seen exploration into other genres, drawing the best features of each back into the warm and fuzzy nest of dream-pop. Highlands continues the psychedelic playfulness of 2002's Welcome. This record delivers a healthy dose of sixties inflected (oh, those jangling guitars; the lovely, airy harmonizing) psychedelia that summons The Byrds on the lush, chiming "Phantasm" and "Echoes," and The Beatles circa Magical Mystery Tour in the jaunty rhythm changes and multi-tracked vocals of rocker "Where You Belong." Stratospheric guitar and synthesizer echoes of the seventies' British prog rockers are layered into the records' best cut, "Evening on My Mind." Opener "Stargazer," with its sedate repeated guitar patterns and processed vocal comes off as early nineties drone pop, and surely a stoned Jason Pierce was looking over the band's collective shoulder as this was being recorded; the loopy synthesizer line in the mid-section wouldn't be out of place on a Japanese synth-pop album. It's a winner, and highly commendable as is this record on the whole. —Michael Meade (April 2005)

Splendid Magazine

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) Nothing describes Highlands quite as aptly as the title of its opening track: "Stargazing". Full of atmosphere and space, reverb and gently fuzzed guitars, Highlands yearns for a simpler, earlier age... or at least a clearer night. "Phantasm" trickles in on a descending guitar lick that's eerily married to a second, subtler electric line. The vocals do nothing to ease the tension: their breathy pauses and close harmonies expand the mood rather than quelling it. If the verse is vaguely Radioheadish, the chorus is pure Blur. The vocals trend upward, and the guitars follow suit, but an unshakeable sadness permeates every second. "Two Passing Shadows" loops its bass drum, coming in for one measure, then sitting out for three. In its absence, a cheesy synth quietly morphs into a soaring guitar line. The vocals float across the top again, ethereal and untouchable. Like a placid, inviting moonlit lake, Highlands seems as if it might be nothing but still, reflective surface. On the contrary, it hides impressive depth. Float in it as it floats around you. —Tyson Lynn (March 2005)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) One of the last remaining survivors of the powerful early '90s dreampop/shoegaze explosion (pity, that), this San Francisco group has remained true to its original aerial inclinations while growing more overtly and nicely psychedelic with each release. On this, their fifth offering, the two-guitar quintet based around guitarist/singer/songwriter Michael Padilla aim for a more sprawling miasma that reminds of The Church when those Aussies are clicking. They still do the Byrds/Bunnymen swooping/sweeping guitar lines well (see the fine, fine favorite "Phantasm") when it pleases them, and they can affect a romantic House of Love hush (the organ-fed, fat "Experimental Phase"). But behold, to start Highlands, they try a new wrinkle drone-psych that hints of early Pink Floyd and Spaceman 3 on "Stargazing" and "The View." Whereas later they let one guitar glisten while another reverberates, evoking a cleaner Rolling Stones' Satanic Majesties meeting Robert Fripp. You like a band that hasn't lost its sense of exploration after more than a decade, and these guys always transports listeners to lofty places full of dusty enchantment. —Jack Rabid (November 2004)

High Bias Magazine

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) Michael Padilla's well-traveled psychedelic rock group Dora Flood keeps plugging away with its latest album Highlands. The band's fourth full-length is moodier and more enigmatic than its previous work, with dreamier textures and more subtle hooks. Not everything gels (the dance beat-driven "Evening on My Mind," for instance, goes on far too long), but that's the price for continuing evolution. Besides, when it works, as on the undulating "Experimental Phase" or the Green Pajamas-ish "For a Moment," the results are downright sublime. Plus the band hasn't forgotten how to write no-bullshit pop tunes, as the wonderful "Where You Belong" makes clear. Highlands suffers a bit from growing pains, but that will make maturity all the sweeter down the road. —Michael Toland (November 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) Christmas morning arrived four months early at our gaff where among the parcels we found lurking not one, but three new releases from Ohio based label Elephant Stone, all top drawer wig flipping gear from the altar of the psychedelic groove, the first of which to catch our 'all things kaleidoscopic' radar being by the hopelessly wonderful Dora Flood from San Francisco. All you space cadets out there better get ready to don your helmets because 'Highlands' (the ensembles fourth long player) is a consuming cosmic star hop of some measure. Lushly filled out with delicate keyboard washes and treated with the kind of acidic quotient as to make you high just being in the same room, 'Highlands' depicts a band who despite their obvious late 60's psychedelic tresses and cosmically drenched dynamic are clever enough not to get easily trapped in the normally airless fragile zones of what passes for dream / space rock preferring instead to take a similar approach as the like minded souls such as the Eskimos, Epicycle and Colin Lloyd Tucker (no better evidenced than by the glazed English psychedelia of the shimmer like 'Throwing Wishes' with its dreamscaped moments nodding to Air's 'Moon Safari' and the delightful Doors-esque trail off at the finale) by shifting their sound base to and forth so that what you essentially get are teasing pop morsels put through the fluorescent blender emerging on the other side starry eyed enough to alert the Nuggets brigade and yet not so deeply immersed in that mindset so as to leave the more casual listener standing on the launch pad. From the moment 'Stargazing', (the albums opening salvo), comes into view with its dozing rustic interplanetary shuffle like waltz focusing somewhere like a station stop between a crispier melodic based Spacemen 3 and the Earlies, you are caught in the glare like wildlife in the headlights, fixed, entranced and blinded. The ghostly 'Phantasm' combines tantalising West Coast reference points and twists them with the needling jangle of early Byrds dipping occasionally into the surreal realms of Barrett's Floyd which is similarly deployed on the tragic sounding 'Echoes' though replacing Floyd with late 60's era Bowie and classic Mock Turtles. Then there's the almost soulful cocktail laced half awake down tempo icicle chill of the softly spangled 'Experimental Phase' with its smouldering cascade of 'Flowers'-esque Will Sergeant riffs while 'Where you belong' has that off centred vibe as though Marc Bolan was fronting some hybrid Move / Wizard blueprint. For me personally though the albums centrepiece has to be the lazy eyed 'Two passing shadows' with its evocative fluffy galactic teen bubblegum pop demeanour, a kind of shyly tender opiated Spiritualized spiralling in the ethereal folds of Lennon's 'Number 9 dream' which edges the ticker tape just ahead of the wintry melancholic hue of the darkly longing 'For a Moment' and the silent grandeur of the near epic elegiac gloss of the haunting album closer 'Home'. Quite simply unnervingly breathless. —Mark Barton (October 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) This album made me wonder where the hell I’ve been for the past nine years. It seems Dora Flood’s already released a significant catalogue since the mid-90s, and I’ve been missing out on it all until now. This is a mellow, dreamy pop record that recalls the Brit pop scene of the early 90s, but it’s not stuck there. Though comparisons like the Stone Roses will likely be drawn, you can also hear the Dandy Warhols, and nods to 1960s legends the Byrds. There’s even an eerie similarity to David Bowie’s Hunky Dory period on the incredible track “Echoes.” With such a wide range, the album continues to be interesting, yet the band’s own style is retained throughout. Don’t miss out on this one. —Liz Worth (October 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) San Francisco's Dora Flood made one giant leap for psych-cum-chamber-pop-listening mankind with its last effort, Welcome. The record garnered strong reviews for its lyrics, as well as its larger-than-life approach to each song. But like anything else, it's a case of what have you done for me lately (sorry if Miss Janet's tune is in your head now). Back with a fifth album that, according to press notes is supposedly a cross between The Beach Boys and Echo and the Bunnymen, Dora Flood should do well as long as they just don't fix what isn't broken. Lead singer and braintrust Michael Padilla paints a warm and lush picture right off the bat with "Stargazing", his hushed voice setting the tone for this lo-fi yet dreamy pop song. Although the vocals are muddled behind a cheap vocoder that Cher might even bypass, the song's strength lies in its charm. "I keep wondering if it's going to last", Padilla sings as the tune moseys along, building block by meticulous block in the vein of a tranquilized Stone Roses or comatose Primal Scream. It's almost putting you to sleep in the best way possible before a rather bluesy, fuzzed out guitar solo comes in to open your eyes. More synthesized and less organic is "The View", which is quite bizarre in instances as the vocals are again somewhat buried in this Brit-pop or Blur-esque Beatles approach. The high notes are similar to current faves The Delays, but overall it's another keeper that saunters along with a spring in its sonic step. The biggest problem has to be how abruptly it ends, as if the song was neutered halfway through. It's not enough to stifle the momentum, as "Throwing Wishes" has a lot in common with Ian McCulloch and company, coming off darker and more morose as Padilla talks about the nation at your feet. Dora Flood's assets come to the fore, as the tune is neither sparse nor extremely busy, reaching a happy medium that should leave smiles all around. It gets mired in a psychedelic Pink Floyd-like bridge that seems to soar and be stuck simultaneously. Nonetheless, "Phantasm" is phan-tastic, a combination of Belle and Sebastian's smarts colliding alongside the summer breezy pop of Velvet Crush or Big Star. "The truth is I miss my life", the lyric goes before moving into a lovely Byrdsian folk-pop style that oozes with jangle. At times Dora Flood is caught doing one too many things, resulting in a tune or two that are a bit of a mess. "Two Passing Shadows" is an example of such, as a pedal steel guitar vies for dominance over a rather inane synthesizer or keyboard, sort of like laser beams shooting across the sky, like Spiritualized if they were based out of Phoenix or Utah. The vastness of the tune doesn't mesh with the occasionally dreamy verse and chorus. By the time the song is over, five minutes later, you get the feeling that it was a breather or filler number. More structured and focused is the melancholic "Experimental Phase", a cross between The Smiths and Pulp, if that's possible. The music also sets a cinematic backdrop, making it quite alluring. It makes the subsequent "Where You Belong" seem wasted as the Sloan-ish sing-along style is solid but obviously pales in comparison to the previous track. Some albums also peter out by this time, giving the listener about 30 good minutes and then roughly 10 to 15 that have you scratching your head. "Evening on My Mind" isn't like that at all. The song is a combination of Metric-meets-Joy Division, somewhat monotone but with ample substance driving it to its hypnotic, trance-like coda. Ditto for the glowing "For a Moment" which gets into a U2 arena rock-ish mold if only for a few fleeting seconds. It is primarily Byrds or Petty on a good day, with sweet sugar-coated harmonies surrounded by some psychedelic touches. By the time you reach "Home", the flood of Dora has washed over you quite nicely! —Jason MacNeil (October 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) Veteran band forges on with more quality psychedelic rock. On their last album, they edged a bit more in the direction of shoegazing music, but here they mellow out, blending classic melodies that evoke late-‘60s Pretty Things, Pink Floyd and others with some blues and R & B underpinnings. This is understated yet played with enough intensity that the album unfolds over multiple plays. The best song is "Evening on My Mind", which is lysergic soul of the highest order, with a stretched out groove, tremolo and reverb on the guitar, lots of haunting lead guitar and synth squalls and a great falsetto vocal in the middle eight by Michael Padilla. This is one of the more original psychedelic rock numbers I have heard in a long time, and shows that there is always something new you can do in just about any genre. On the other hand, "Where You Belong" isn't original, but it's just a damn good psych-pop tune, ranking right up there with XTC during its Oranges And Lemons phase and modern contemporaries like The Pillbugs. Bonus points for the cool guitar solo before the final chorus. Padilla reaches the top of his vocal range again on the closer "Home", backed by Steve Cavoretto's delicate keyboards. This is a space rock ballad of the highest order, with a dreamlike feel. Fans of the above-referenced bands and other acts like Donovan's Brain and many Rainbow Quartz acts should check this out. —Mike Bennett (October 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) Ci sono fasi che cominciano e finiscono. Per i Dora Flood la febbre psichedelica non è mai passata. "Highlands" è, come i quatto album che l'hanno preceduto, una full immersion nella materia, dalla quale la band emerge puntualmemte piena di polvere e con le pupille dilatate dall'LSD. Con l'aiuto di un vasto campionario di effetti d'epoca, i Dora Flood si esibiscono nella consueta giostra psych di rimandi, che si aggrappa al ricordo della Costa Ovest Americana senza disdegnare una buona inzuppata di Beach Boys e coevi. Manca giusto il volume delle chitarre per imitare l'heavy psych, ma tutto il resto è puntualmente e caoticamente al suo posto. Non siamo dunque alla maniacale filologia dei Bees ma ad una rielaborazione della materia in guisa personale, che tratta le fonti con quella ricercatezza aggiunta tipica dei prodromi prog e non dimentica le analoghe esperienze inglesi in chiave pop-wave predatanti il dark, da Echo and the Bunnymen in giù ("Evening on my mind"). Ne esce un lavoro non facile e di ardua catalogazione, che può attirare tanto i nostalgici della melodia quanto i progsters più romantici. Peraltro la complessità di questi filtri successivi sa generare una piccola magia come "Two Passing Shadows", che è come se i Trembing Blue Stars di "Abba on the jukebox" fossero nati nel 1971. Dream pop progressivo che si svilippa in lente spirali ascendenti ed è risucchiato ciclicamente verso il basso da un giro di chitarra ad effetto. Ha il tiro decadente dell'indiepop più sognante e la serietà consapevole del prog, ed è -per una volta- ambiziosa potendoselo permettere. Attorno a lei si agita un pout-purri anni 60-70-80 (a scalare) suddiviso in episodi entusiasmanti solo per i veri nostalgici, quelli che sorridevano di fronte ai dischi dei Dukes Of Stratosphear sapendo perché. Gli altri si consoleranno immergendosi senza continuità nei beatlesismi di "Where you belong", nello psych morbido di "Stargazing", nel poprock decadente alla Bowie di "The View e" si perderanno in un gioco di echi e fantasmi. Ma tutt'altro che spaventosi. —Salvatore (September 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) 2004 release! We loved the debut, "Welcome"--as did many of you! Three years in the making, Highlands ups the ante on all the promise of the debut in spades. What's this sound like? The Church---obsessed with writing less arty and totally melodic, catchy songs. The Boo Radleys. The Wondermints in a few spots (but with a New Zealand fixation) or Velvet Crush and The Dandy Warhols playing The Stone Roses debut with Echo and The Bunnymen standing on the side of the stage ready to pounce. Or 60's Pink Floyd and The Byrds with The Church, The Verlaines and Straightjacket Fits. There you go, got it?! Dora Flood expertly mix together a melange of power-60's psych-pop influences, bold and vibrant production. "the songs are intimate, but the music expands to the edges of the universe. It's the aural equivalent of standing alone at the edge of the Grand Canyon on a clear, starry night, feeling tiny yet comforted by the enormity of it all"- Fufkin.com. One writer put it this way: 'transcendent experience, transporting the unsuspecting listener to another time, another place, another era. Spacey guitars, moody organs and poetic lyrics combine with pop rhythms to create something altogether special'. Bottom line: The 11 tracks fit together like carefully shaped pieces in a trippy, beautiful puzzle. Both soothing and stimulating. And Extremely Highly Recommended, oh yes-sir-eee! (August 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) I have been enjoying the retro-psych pop of Dora Flood as of late so I thought I would mention it here. There’s lots to hear here as the two bands that are comparable (and I am stretching here) are the Dandy Warhols and The Velvet Crush (who I saw open for the Jesus and Mary Chain a long time ago). Sometimes the lead singer stretches out some words vocally a la Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Dora Flood sounds much better than what Oasis could possibly churn out now. Some of their songs could possibly stand up to the Stone Roses and Verve both lyrically and sonically. This is one of the only times I have seen Brit-pop done well by an American band. (August 2004)

Dora Flood Highlands (Elephant Stone) This record sounds very late 80's to me. Strong hints of The Chameleons come to mind with soft vocals and dreamy guitars. Michael Padilla has a raspy, yet luring voice that soars throughout each shoegaze and psychedelic flavored song. “Throwing Wishes” even, reminds me of a mellowed out version of Jesus and Mary Chain during their “No Come Down” period. —Lio (August 2004)

Dora Flood Welcome (Dora Flood) With three fine records already to their credit, 1995's 1301 EP (American Standard), 1999's Walk a Lightyear Mile (Double Play), and 2000's Lost On Earth(Double Play) this San Francisco quintet nevertheless surpass themselves on their self-released pinnacle, Welcome. While still retaining vestiges of their dreampop beginnings as the resplendent Belladonna a decade ago, they expertly mix together a melange of power-60's psych-pop influences, bold and vibrant production, and some damn good songs. The best songs such as "Down Again" creates a pleasing atmosphere that compares favorably with the underappreciated, late Mock Turtles (most of all!), the later-60's Byrds (dig that fuzz guitar on the excellent "Las Vegas"), Boo Radleys, Dandy Warhols, Beatles, Velvet Crush, and Stone Roses, with some tunes to kill for. "Never let me down again," demands leader Michael Padilla with a cascading downward-melody, which immediately segues into one of those classic "aahhhaaahahh" harmonies and seesaw basslines that Beatles Revolver wet dreams remain made of. Without let up, "Go In Tonight" makes use of a discordant harmony and hooky verse to set-up a post Syd Barrett Pink Floyd-type full-throttle chorus. And on the LP goes, alternating between various 60's psych and classic pop flavors in modern sound, with cutting, exultant modern guitar effects, barging, insistent drums, background keyboards, and a heavy thump of a sound that takes them away from being a precious nostalgist collective. As the piano, trumpet and dual guitar glory of the enthralling "Eraser" makes clear, these aren't geeks recreating some Nuggets-esque heyday; this is a great modern rock band that can create much with a swirling-warm dense sound and Padilla's capabilities as a writer/vocalist. As we go to press, the LP is climbing the CMJ charts, so perhaps with such college airplay, more will recognize their inherent quality. Dora Flood may not be over-hyped like some sad and sordid sacks trying to retune Television-era art rock, but what they do is both timeless, multi-influenced, multi-nuanced (most of all) and convincing. This LP is "welcome," indeed. Rising from a constraining, confusing clutter of simply so-so indie rock, "eh" emo, feckless pro-tools demos, and undernourished talent or inspiration, the fun in it just soars in flight over it all. —Jack Rabid (2002)

Dora Flood Welcome (Dora Flood) On the evidence of this sonic juggernaut of a CD, it is my very great loss that I have not crossed orbits with any of San Francisco band Dora Flood's previous outings; 1995's 1301 EP (American Standard), 1999's Walk a Lightyear Mile (Double Play), and 2000's Lost On Earth(Double Play). Thankfully I have the chance to start here. It's difficult to pin down what it is about this CD that buries itself into one's skull like a psychic bunker-buster - all I can come up with is that it skilfully aligns just about every important standing stone in the great Stonehenge of classic psychedelia such that their (now) commonplaces of style have been somehow reborn in the hands of this skilled fivesome. From 60s psych-pop, to Byrdsian jangle to the essential Floyd right through to 90s UK dream-noise it has the right access codes hard-wired into the repertoire. That alone would not be enough, but the structures are given meaning by killer hooks and apposite, almost anthemic vocals. Michael Padilla's lazily intoned vocals recall the heyday of the Church, an inviting manifesto is spiralled off like sparks from Catherine Wheel: "Welcome to my sugar dream, where envy of this world escapes me, I'm placing myself in another world, and you look quite capable to join me". It's winter where I am, but the grey drizzle of morning is burned by this stuff, leaving egg-shell blue skies and scented breezes and waves lapping on a tropical beach. Importantly, Dora Flood are not interested in sounding lo-fi or home-baked. 'Welcome' sounds huge; the production a symphonic supernova smashing the perceived disconnect between having both state-of-the-art recording results and artistic control. They've created a jaw-dropping calling card and probably taken out a few loans to do it, but their souls surely remain their own. Padilla and Alexander's guitars are laid down as if by those giant machines that excrete freeways, and Sean DeGaetano's drums sound like drums should and rarely do. They sound like concussion grenades. Harmonies mesh exquisitely on tracks like 'Give us this Day' which is like hearing the Olivia Tremor Control in the studio with George Martin himself. 'Las Vegas' is like an ultimate lost Paisley Underground track but without the tinny production common to that scene. Wherever needed, subtle trumpet and viola curlicues are added. On the second half of the CD less obvious and probably more sui generis influences come into play. The titles unlock the almost 2001-like journey; 'Eraser', 'Slow Return to Sleep', 'Transition', 'Forget to be Numb', 'Safety', leading finally to the climactic 'Starflower', an pulsating opera conducted in uncharted territories of deep space. I lie motionless on the couch listening to this final sequence of tracks, watching the last leaves drop off the century-old elm tree outside my window. One of the Burmese cats that deigns to share this space jumps up and licks my face uncertain of my exact state-of-being. I see but don't see, I'm here but not here. Eventually the cat curls up and joins me on the journey. —Tony Dale (2002)