EP Review

My new EP got reviewed by Brisbane street press Rave Magazine

DOT.AY – Ceratopian Society EP

Jody Macgregor (Rave Magazine)

(Independent)

There’s a theory that rhythmic pulses in music affect us so strongly because they remind us of the first beat we heard: our mother’s heart thumping away while we were in the womb. That doesn’t explain why the other mammals aren’t as interested in doof as we are though, or why the reptiles of Dot.AY’s Ceratopian Society EP sound like they like to wild the fuck out. Dinosaurs are the EP’s theme – it’s hard describing instrumental music without drowning in adjective soup with genre croutons, so bless Brisbane chiptune pioneer Dot.AY for giving this release a theme I can talk about. Four out of the five tracks are named like giant lizards; it’s a Jurassic bestiary only with a catalogue of ear-boggling beats instead of beasts. Bambiraptor stomps across the volcanic landscape screeching like an 8-bit Godzilla backed by a rotting wave of distortion. The Dandyceratops glitches and stutters like late-period Radiohead before video game bleeps come in; it’s like Alex Kid A In Miracle World. The Dayglodocus is a melancholy creature, all jagged and knotty while the carnivorous Thumpasaur is the mightiest of monsters, sneaking up on you with only elastic fuzz audible until suddenly it’s all up in your face and on like Donkey Kong. Listening to 8-bit music like this – recorded on a Game Boy – usually makes me imagine the kind of game it would be a perfect soundtrack for. Ceratopian Society is so good that I’m struggling to come up with a game worthy of it.