Dosh

All Music Guide:

Martin Dosh was born to an ex-Catholic priest father and an almost-nun mother outside Los Angeles; he and his family moved back to his parents' native Minneapolis when he was just a toddler. By age three, Dosh had started piano lessons, which he continued until 11, then picking up the drums when he was 15. The next year he moved to Massachusetts to attend music school, tooling around on the East Coast until he eventually returned to his parents' home in 1997 when he was 25 (he had since picked up the keyboards again). Finding the music scene there thriving, he soon started playing drums in the Andrew Broder-led Fog, as well as in their instrumental offshoot, Lateduster. In 2003 Anticon released Dosh's self-titled debut, followed by Pure Trash, which featured vocal samples from his wife, two children, and his drum students, in 2004. The Lost Take, which had contributions from Andrew Bird, Jeremy Ylvisaker of Fog, and members of fellow Minneapolitans Happy Apple and Tapes 'n Tapes, came out in 2006. A year on the road with Bird proved to be just enough inspiration for Dosh to make another album. Entitled Wolves and Wishes, the debut full-length was released in May 2008, and followed by Tommy in April 2010.

Wikipedia:

Dosh (born Martin Luther King Chavez Dosh) is a multi-instrumentalist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Style

As an artist, Dosh is a percussionist uses various electronics, often with a Rhodes piano. Dosh has been characterized mostly as experimental and electronic-based due to his use of many samplers and looping machines and the rhythmic feel of much of his music, with songs often relying on Dosh alone on keyboards, marimba, and drums. Dosh is often in collaboration with other musicians during live sets and on recording, both locally and nationally known.

Dosh is also known for the incorporation of his family life into his work. Naoise EP is named after his son. "Happy Song for Tadgh" from the EP is a reference to Naoise's half-brother, Tadgh. He is also known for writing the song "I Think I'm Getting Married" for his future wife at the time.

History

Martin Dosh grew up in the Twin Cities. At a young age, he also grabbed it while he could and took piano lessons and then discovered FM radio in the early 1980s. Dosh began drumming at age 15. By the time he left home for Bard College at Simon's Rock at age 16, he had decided music would likely be his profession, however, he subsequently got a degree in creative writing.

Throughout the 1990s, Dosh played with a number of bands on the East Coast. When he moved back to Minneapolis in 1997, he started his own band, as he had begun to compose his own music. He also worked at his alma mater, Lake Country School, teaching percussion, driving the school bus, and assisting classroom teachers. Immersing himself in the local scene, Dosh played with many bands over the next five years: Nasty Goat, Best Red, Animals Expert At Hankering, Iffy, Vicious Vicious and T. All this time, he recorded tape after tape of original music on a 4-track machine.

Dosh's work with Andrew Broder in Lateduster and Fog gave him an experience that helped him begin to perform solo. In 2002, Dosh released the first album Dosh. He had recorded it himself, mostly in his basement. The album developed a following in the local Twin Cities scene. After playing many shows, City Pages voted him second on their annual "picked to click" list. Dosh was re-released internationally on Anticon in 2003. It was reviewed in Village Voice, URB, Flaunt, XLR8R, The Big Takeover and a number of online magazines.

Dosh has toured extensively with Andrew Bird. He contributed significantly to Andrew Bird's albums, Armchair Apocrypha and Noble Beast.

Dosh is a member of Cloak Ox, a four-piece band featuring Andrew Broder, Jeremy Ylvisaker and Mark Erickson.