Dos: Dos y Dos

Dos
Dos Y Dos
Clenched Wrench
2011-07-12

Mike Watt’s had dozens of team-ups over the years — Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Floored by Four, the Stooges, everyone who pitched in on Ballhog or Tug-Boat? — but would you believe the longest-running musical collab he’s been involved in is Dos, which he formed way back in the Reagan-darkened days of 1985 with fellow bassist Kira Roessler (Black Flag)? Granted, they’ve only released four albums in that quarter-century (!), but space seems to suit Watt and Roessler, both in life (they’re divorced from each other) and in sound — Dos Y Dos is simply two bass guitars circling, exploring and feeding off each other; they’re not trying to top each other in phat basslines, or otherwise blow each other out of the room. Hell, they’re actually hearing what the other person has to say through his/her instrument. A few tracks with vocals — “Make Her Me”, “Ties To Bind” and “It Turned Cold” — seem to trace a doomed relationship’s arc, but the best way to approach the album is as one long piece; at its best Dos Y Dos is like eavesdropping on two old friends.

RATING 6 / 10