Never let it be said that Mike Sniper doesn't put his money where his mouth is. The roster for his Captured Tracks label is a veritable who's-who of any up-and-coming lo-fi indie bands, and his own hyper-prolific recording project, Blank Dogs, is no exception. While some lo-fi groups have been accused of hiding their musical shortcomings with generous helpings of static, those claims can't be made against Sniper. His self-avowed "blown-out Factory Records demos" are intentionally undercut by Sniper's distorted vocals. The end result is a friction between vocals and music, akin to This Heat taking on the Joy Division catalog, and it raises Blank Dogs above most of their like-minded peers.
It might come as a shock to long-time fans, then, that Land and Fixed doesn't immediately sound like a Blank Dogs record. The most obvious difference is the recording quality. The success of both Captured Tracks and Sniper's own music allowed him to purchase better recording equipment, and that's clearly evident from the first few seconds of "Goes By". Blank Dogs have always had synthesizers as part of their mix, but they've never been as prominent, or sounded as good as they do here. It's a bold step forward, but it doesn't come at the expense of the group's innate wanderlust. If anything, it's helped clarify its eclectic sound. On previous records, the distended futuristic funk moves of "Insides" might have sounded oddly similar to the twee-pop of "Northern Islands" or the instrumental space-age voyage taken by "Elevens". Here, the quality of the recording lets these various flavors better distinguish themselves from each other, which goes a long way toward making the album an enjoyable listen.
However, the upgrade in fidelity doesn't come without a cost. While the music on Land and Fixed revels in this newfound clarity, the vocals are still processed and manipulated. Where that juxtaposition worked on earlier recordings (when the two sides were still on the same playing field), it doesn't coalesce nearly as well here. Tunes like "Blurred Tonight" and "Languages" could benefit from a more straightforward turn at the mic; they're instead subjected to the same obfuscated singing as other Blank Dogs songs. Ironically, now that Blank Dogs have seemingly moved beyond the need for low-grade sonics, the band is leaning on that particular crutch more than ever. Befitting the group's skittishness, the next Blank Dogs record is slated to be a set of instrumentals reminiscent of "Elevens", which will remove contending with this issue. However, the next time Blank Dogs book some studio time to record their next set of vocals, here's hoping they show the same courage there that they've shown musically on Land and Fixed.
