REVIEWSBlank Dogs, ‘Land and Fixed’

7

• SPIN Rating:7 of 10

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Release Date: October 12, 2010
Label: Captured Tracks

Brooklyn's Mike Sniper completes a proper metamorphosis with his third album, shedding the cocoon of skronk that enveloped his past to become, well, something quite beautiful. Opener "Goes By" gets right to it: an upbeat sound built from a bubbling bass line, handclaps, crisply rattling guitars, and sunny synth sequences. Sniper's voice still sags and drags, but Land and Fixed is remarkably feel-good, even when channeling the Cure via the Breakfast Club bounce of "Blurred Tonight" or Joy Division on cold-wave throbber "Collides." Simply put, another noisenik gets his wings.