Recording information: Freedom School Studios (2008).

Quasi-anonymous bedroom synth punker Blank Dogs released this full-length on In the Red in 2009. Building upon past experiments, UNDER AND UNDER features some of the finest songwriting principal Dog Mike Sniper has produced thus far under this particular moniker, and that's certainly saying something given how prolific the man is. Like past releases, the songs here are built on simple beats, icy guitar riffs, single-note synth lines, and distant muffled vocals accented with bursts of analog ephemera. Though there's a slight retro feel, FACE TO FACE is perfectly of a piece with the festering anxiety and creeping bad vibes of of the late '00s. That said, there's also a hopeless beauty that seems to emerge at the most unexpected places and gives the record an unexpected dimension.