Los Angeles rock band Dummy is inspired by the ’90s, from danceable drum machine sequences at the intersection of rave culture and indie rock, to fuzzy shoegaze guitars and an interplay of male and female voices submerged deep in the dreamy mix.
In June, the band releases another throwback project suiting those influences: Bubbelibrium DLC, a remix album, now much less common than they used to be, of Dummy’s 2024 engaging release Free Energy, this time reimagined by Dummy’s musician friends.
Dummy supports Free Energy, Friday, April 4, at John Henry’s in Eugene. Free Energy is the band’s second full-length record, alongside their self-titled 2020 debut EP and 2021’s Mandatory Enjoyment. Their 2022 “Mono Retriever” single with the B-Side, “Pepsi Vacuum,” was included in the Sub Pop Singles Club, a subscription service.
In a phone call with Eugene Weekly, Dummy multi-instrumentalist Joe Trainor says the Bubbelibrium project was inspired by some of the band’s favorite remixes from English ’90s artists Ride and Portishead.
“We felt inspired by listening to other artists remix other bands’ stuff,” Trainor adds, “and how they use dynamics differently than the original song. That’s fascinating,” he says.
The production on those revamped versions, Trainor says, was “bizarre and intense,” and Dummy wanted to capture that sound in their project, he says.
On the appeal of the ’90s, Trainor adds, “That was one of the last times where rock music felt adventurous in a meaningful way.” Technology and creativity were also converging at that time. “Those fans were listening to hip hop, jazz, krautrock, ambient music, punk and good indie,” Trainor says.
But while the ’90-styles, many of which are back in fashion, inspire Dummy’s sound, these days they say they listen to electronic music and hip hop more than rock or indie, and they’re far from a nostalgia act. Instead, they’re a promising rising quintet with their eye on the future.
Trainor’s bandmate, Alex Ewell, who is also on the EW call, adds, “We listen to just as much new music as we do stuff from the ’90s. We’re constantly digging for new things. And there’s a lot of cool stuff happening.”
On Free Energy, Dummy uses a drum machine to lay the foundation for the songs, sometimes supplemented by Ewell, a drummer, who also plays bass and synthesizers.
The combination of electronic and live percussion, vaguely psychedelic droning tone, playful bleeps and bloops, and singer Emma Maatman’s gentle voice often in unison with singer Nathan O’Dell, recalls Stereolab, while the layers of blissed-out guitars bring to mind My Bloody Valentine.
Trainor says Dummy goes for something more aggressive in their live shows than audiences who have only listened to them in the studio might expect. He says his band approaches their studio recordings differently from their concerts.
“Live, it’s much louder and in your face, more sonically visceral,” is how he describes it. Dummy in concert is “more like a punk band making electronic music,” as opposed to the band’s records, he adds, “which are more like a rock band making an electronic album.”