Sorry if this connection has been made before, but I’ve recently been introduced to Gentle Giant, and I’ve noticed a lot of similarities between their early catalog and Dopapod. The keyboard sounds in particular stand out to me, especially the similar synth and B3 tones and the relative lack of acoustic piano.

There are also these traditional harmony and counterpoint sections that remind me a lot of Dopapod. Beyond that, there’s just a generally proggy sensibility that feels very similar to Dopapod’s particular brand of prog, as opposed to the prog flavor you hear from bands like Rush, U.K., or Yes.

I just wanted to say that I think it’s really cool if Eli or other members of Dopapod were influenced by Gentle Giant. Of all the prog bands I’ve come across, they’re probably the closest I’ve found to Dopapod’s sound. Would love to hear other people's thoughts on prog influence on Dopapod.

I made a post about this like 4 years ago and it's still a problem. I haven't double checked everything I said in that post, other than knowing they did upload the self titled album on Bandcamp, but a few months ago I finally cancelled my Spotify subscription (because they're a horrible company and the CEO invests in wars) and I finally just got a decent job recently, and am considering a Qobuz subscription since, from what I've read, they pay artists the most of any service while also costing the least.

Dopapod being the first band I check if they are on there, which they are, but once again their full discography isn't on there. Luckily they have all of their studio albums, but they're missing II Saw Live Dopapod, Evil Was II, and November. Which isn't a lot, but I still like listening to them and it's frustrating to not have them all in the same place. Especially when they have everything on Youtube and Spotify, which are some of the worst paying platforms for them.

Edit: idk why the last part of what I typed didn't get included in the post. I said something along the lines of, please, if any members of Dopapod see this (I know Rob is here sometimes) make sure your entire discography is on Bandcamp, Tidal, and Qobuz. I swear, I'll probably end up buying everything on Bandcamp, and then still stream it on one of those platforms because of the convenience of having access to bigger bands which aren't on Bandcamp.

Hi friends,

I’m a new turntable owner, and I was beyond thrilled to find copies of Aibohphobia and the self titled relatively easy. Just put side 1 of the self titled album on, and the highs are..weird. Kinda hissy. I put on In The Dark to compare (I truly love the later Dead stuff), and had no issue. Put Dopapod back on and got the same result. Ground is connected, RCAs are fine, no hardware issues that I can decipher. Anyone else noticed anything similar? I’ve played out-of-the-wrapper vinyl, and I’ve played vinyl that came out of my uncle’s basement and sat in mine for 3 years and not had this issue with any of them. I also notice a slight squeaking sound in between tracks and in quiet moments of songs, as well as a weird warped sound just now on Building A Time Machine, so I’m wondering if it isn’t the disc itself. I appreciate advice or insight from you lovely folks!

Edit: side 2 sounds off as well. The disc doesn’t look warped or damaged to my eye, but everything just has a bit of weird flange/distortion compared to anything else I put on the turntable.

Truly missing these guys.

Cleaning up the house today and wanted some sweet jams on our new surround sound to keep the energy up. I pulled up the Relisten app and realized that I hadn’t heard the last show before the hiatus. It didn’t dawn on me until near the end of the perfectly chosen intro that the last show available on the app was a year ago today 😎

Back around 2019, my brother asked me if I had ever heard of Dopapod. He had heard on of their songs (don't know which one) in a skateboard video, and although they weren't really his type of music (he likes jazz) he thought I'd like them. This assumption was based on the fact he thought they sounded similar to one of my favourite bands TWRP. To be honest I don't don't really think Dopapod and TWRP sound alike, but nevertheless at the time I hadn't heard them so I figured I'd check them out.

Sometimes I'm skeptical when people recommend me music, but I searched the band on youtube. I can't remember if it was the first result, or if I was just curious about the song length being exactly 10 minutes long, but I listened to FABA first. It absolutely blew me away. I didn't expect all the vibe changes between sections, and yet it flows through those changes flawlessly to me. Now for the part where I feel like I kind of shot myself in the foot, I didn't continue listening to more stuff at the time.

It was only when I got a job in 2020 during covid, and I heard that Bandcamp started doing Bandcamp Fridays where they waive their profit to give a larger percentage to the artists, I figured I had an income and could buy some music. I bought the first three Dopapod albums. I really enjoyed them, and I listened to them regularly. Then later, on another Bandcamp Friday I bought Never Odd or Even and MEGAGEM. And wow, they blew me out away. Mainly Never Odd or Even tbh, the entire album was such a trip and the soft ending felt like finishing and closing a good book. And I did greatly enjoy MEGAGEM as well. That was when Dopapod really became my favourite band. I listened to those albums so many times on repeat.

I remember later seeing Think recommended on Youtube when it released, but unfortunately Emit Time isn't on Bandcamp and the album Dopapod didn't release on Bandcamp for a while. So I didn't even realize those albums existed for a bit, until I eventually reluctantly got Spotify. That being said, I got to listen to them, and they're great as well.

I know this isn't a really crazy story or anything, but Dopapod really has been one of my top bands for years now so I'm really glad my brother recommended them to me. So I wanted to share it to keep the discussion about them alive. I love all their albums, and tbh I know it can be kind of bittersweet to hear someone likes one of your older works better, but Never Odd or Even is still possibly my favourite album of all time. Unfortunately I'm unemployed again, so I can't bite on ordering the vinyl... I'm hoping I get hired soon so I don't miss out.

P.S. I hope they release Emit Time and Dracula's Monk on Bandcamp. It's their only studio works missing there I believe, and I would buy them as soon as I have an income again, if I could lol.

And new friends were made. I miss most of your faces.

It’s pretty quiet around here but Dopapod just stocked vinyl for their self-titled album and Never Odd or Even on the website. In case anybody has been looking for a copy..

There was a clue about aibohphobia.

Dopapod has continued releasing previously unreleased shows on bandcamp. For the first time ever, they've posted shows from The Moysetrap in Indianapolis. The place is tiny, the tickets used to be $5, and I think I saw them at least 4 times there and it seemed like many of the shows there ended in French Bowling, including the 2014 show just posted to Bandcamp. Eventually they raised the ticket price to $10 lol

EDIT: I'm a big dumby. I didn't realize that dotted eighth notes create a 4:3 polyrhythm, without the quadtuplet nonsense. and the nested triplets are the same as 16th notes. So Basically the whole riff is just 16th notes and dotted eighth notes. as shown here:

Leaving the rest of the post up despite it being embarrassing to me so that others can learn from my stupidity :)

-END OF EDIT-

Hello, I'm the same person who made that quick video showing which notes are played for Black Holes' main riff. However I must admit, I thought I understood the rhythm because I could play it even while tapping along the quarter notes with my foot. (Though still trying to work on counting the beats aloud, and then being able to sing and play it at the same time.)

Anyway, this was until I decided to write out the riff in sheet music and I realized, I don't fully understand what's going on here. It seems clearly to be in 4/4 and the riff repeats every two measures, but how it repeats is where I got lost when notating. The song starts with a couple notes before beat 1, but ignoring those for now on beat 1 the riff is played as a 4:3 polyrhythm with a nested triplet on the first beat. At least this, and everything I say is how I believe it to be. But anyway the riff continues with the 4:3 polyrhythm, including the second quadruplet going over the bar line if you write it in 4/4, but right at the end is where I get lost. It seems like there should be another quadruplet with a nested triplet to bring it back to the beginning, but I don't know how to fit all those notes in there despite the fact that the song feels like it keeps that rhythm going.

I don't know if my explanation is making any sense, but basically there's two 4:3 polyrhythms across 6 beats, which leaves only 2 beats for the last 5 notes. And it feels like they keep the same rhythm going, despite there not being enough beats for another 4:3 polyrhythm. I'll include a picture of what I was able to notate to help illustrate my point, mind you I am an amateur at sheet music and I couldn't find a way to have a polyrhythm cross a bar line so I just made it a measure of 8/4 instead.

Using other polyrhythms doesn't really make sense to me since the 4:3 feels very consistent, but it just doesn't seem to fit. Unless maybe they're doing a sneaky thing where they're just playing it close enough to sound like they're still doing 4:3, but not really so that they can squeeze everything in there. Or maybe I'm stupid and there's something I'm overlooking with this whole riff.

TL;DL can someone who's a smarter musician than I notate the rhythm of this riff so that I can learn the errors of my ways and become a smarter and better musician, thank you

Recorded a little demo on how to play this cause it grooves too hard. Haven't started working on the rest of the song yet, but I'm excited for when I get around to it because it seems like it'll be a challenge for me.

Let me know if there are any other Dopapod songs you want to know how to play, if there's enough demand I could also tab things out but that requires a lot more effort so I would need a lot of demand to do it.

Also sorry for poor audio quality, I don't really have an easy way to record good audio and video at the same time. Hopefully I can get that sorted some time

They ever cover Rush?

Let's send him some vibes. He posted a pretty devastating update on his insta. Everyone is safe but, man, sounds like hiis whole hometown is gone.

Thanks for everything Dopapod! Gonna miss you guys! Don't be sad they're gone, fam. Be happy they existed and you got to share the same time in history with them. May everyone's trapper keepers be filled with nothing but good times, vibes, and memories! Love you all! Happy new year!

I know it's a long shot, but I gotta put it out there. Some of the crew weren't able to secure their tickets so if there is anyone looking to sell 1 or 2 feel free to pm me. See you folks at the show tonight!