Dolph Chaney
In the world of visual art, there are artists who get rich creating cutting-edge works of universally regarded genius, there are those who get rich making hackneyed, mass-produced images for hotel rooms and dorm rooms, sickening the stomach but sticking in the mind... and then there are those charming artists who produce a few works a year for their own gallery or other local galleries, keeping their work true to their vision and their heart, and not worrying about whom they'll have to lick to get their painting shown on MTV.
Dolph Chaney is the latter kind of artist. Starting in 1987, around the time Robert Pollard and Lou Barlow were starting to do the same in rec rooms in Dayton and Cambridge, Dolph (then 13 years old) began messing around with words, melodies, guitars, his Realistic Moog synthesizer, and tape recorders.
The results are like an alternate world's top 40. The guitars ring and buzz with Townshendy zeal, the voice soothes and cajoles and smirks and pries and climbs... until suddenly the listener becomes aware of being awash in an apocalyptic epiphany amid a song about nasal spray.
Comparisons have been made to acknowledged influences such as XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, the Violent Femmes, Bob Mould, Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet, Neutral Milk Hotel. Dolph listens to a befuddling variety of styles himself, from the most primitive of 60s garage rock to the wooliest free jazz and new classical compositions. Much of this only shows up as hints and allusions in his own work, but there are abundant small touches that serve to show clearly that this is all for the love of the music -- in the truest sense of the word, "amateur."
Dolph's music has brought him experiences running the gamut, from early encouragement received from experimental guitar wizard Eugene Chadbourne by mail, to sitting in a festival green room being told by Jim Bakker why he cowers at the sight of a Diet Coke.
GUMSHOE KOALA, released via dolphchaney.com in April 2008, is his 18th self-released project. His best-known album is 1998's NEW BIRD RISE, which was a successful experiment in having such luxuries as a budget, an engineer, and recording capabilities beyond 4-track. But, regardless of their midwifely and sonic contexts, what always shines through in a Dolph Chaney release are the imaginative, irrepressible, and deeply felt songs. Feel them today.