Minneapolis-based percussionist Martin Dosh,
who had started out in the collective improvisational ensemble Fresh Squeez led by guitarist James "JG" Everest that also included DJ Andrew Broder,
debuted solo with the all-instrumental Dosh (Dinkytown Records, 2002 - Anticon, 2003) in a similar post-rock vein with just busier drumming.
Pieces such as
Water Turn Off Notice and India India straddle the border between
drum'n'bass, glitchy electronica and jazz-rock.
Also noteworthy are his
deconstructions of easy-listening muzak (You Can't Make Me Cry,
My Girl's Ex-car). And then there's the
psychedelic dilation of Forgot Myself.
At the same time, Dosh was playing in James "JG" Everest's post-rock project Lateduster that
included DJ Andrew Broder and became Broder's own project,
releasing Five Easy Pieces (2002) and Easy Pieces (2004),
and in another
Everest-related project,
Vicious Vicious, that released
Blood & Clover (2002).
Dosh also played in Sans Le Systeme with JG Everest, Mark Erickson and guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, and then in Redstart, with vocalist Wendy Lewis and Ylvisaker, which released So Far from Over (2004).
Dosh recorded two more solo albums of instrumental vignettes:
Pure Trash (Anticon, 2004)
and
Powder Horn (2005),
but with far less interesting results.
The Lost Take (Anticon, 2006), with
expanded the instrumentation to violin
(Andrew Bird), guitars
(Erik Applewick of
Tapes'n Tapes and
Ylvisaker) and more while downplaying the role of electronic effects. The best results come in the psychedelic atmospheres of
Fireball, One Through Seven and
Pink Floyd Cowboy Song.
An even larger ensemble arranged
Wolves and Wishes (Anticon, 2008)
which flirted with Latin-jazz (the xylophone-tinged Don't Wait for the Needle to Drop),
country (Capture the Flag), but mostly evoked old-fashioned prog-rock.
If the nine-minute electronic collage First Impossible feels self-indulgent, The Magic Stick evokes the
Penguin Cafè Orchestra.
Drones From Home (2008) was a minor experiment of humble droning music,
and
Tommy (2010) was a more conventional collection of jazzy ambient vignettes, despite the eight-minute Gare De Lyon.
Dosh drummed for
for Andrew Broder's project Fog on Ditherer (2007),
and
for the Cloak Ox on Shoot the Dog (2013).
Silver Face (2011) perhaps contained his most sophisticated music yet.
Each song is carefully assembled and does not overstay its welcome. In fact,
the pieces are mostly under-developed. Highlights include the
bluesy Bless Me and the spaced-out Jay Jay.
Milk Money (2013) is mostly devoted to
the 25-minute Legos, an elegant and
delicate suite of chamber jazztronica.
Dosh formed Skemp & Weather with poet Jeffrey Skemp, Everest and accordionist Karen Townsend that released The Hum of the Sky (2020).
Dosh's Tomorrow 1972 (2021) contains the eleven-minute noisy and dense jam Manhatta. The album features a cast of jazz-rock musicians like Jeff Parker and Andrew Bird, as well as old cohorts such as Ylvisaker and Erickson,
