The Black Dog

All Music Guide:

Taking their name from a British euphemism for imminent doom, the Black Dog (also appearing variously as Black Dog Productions, Balil, Xeper, and Plaid, among others) formed in the early '90s as the trio of Ken Downie, Ed Handley, and Andy Turner. Forging a challenging, relentless combination of early techno, electro, and hip-hop with a penchant for odd time signatures, high-tech atmospherics, and Egyptian iconography, the group immediately distinguished itself from the scores of disposable techno musicians covering familiar ground in the post-rave U.K. Something of a closet phenomenon attracting the devotion of DJs who nonetheless refused to play their complicated brew for fear of being booed off the decks, the Black Dog were immediately placed in the emerging "intelligent techno" category upon the release of their full-length debut, Bytes. A largely U.K.-media constituted phrase meant to peg music involving dance music compositional styles nonetheless intended for home listening, the term has since taken hold and is often applied to groups like Autechre, Aphex Twin, µ-Ziq, and As One.

As Plaid, Ed Handley, and Andy Turner had already released a handful of material (including an album) prior to meeting Downie, but their time spent in BDP was their most productive up to that point. In addition to the Dog's inclusion on the perhaps more high-profile Artificial Intelligence compilations on Warp and remixes for the likes of Björk, Blondie, UNKLE, and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, they also released several full-length works as a group before Handley and Turner defected in 1995 to refocus on Plaid full-time. The pair released an EP on the Clear label in mid-1995, and issued their first full-length, Not for Threes, two years later on Warp. Downie continued on with the Black Dog name, releasing the full-length Music for Adverts (And Short Films) in 1996. In 2002, Downie collaborated with Parisian spoken word artist Black Sifichi on the William S. Burroughs tribute Unsavoury Products, and the Downie/Sifichi pairing was given the remix treatment on the following year's Genetically Modified. Downie resurfaced in 2005 with Martin and Richard Dust, releasing the strong albums Silenced (2005), Radio Scarecrow (2008), Further Vexations (2009), and Music for Real Airports (2010) -- a pointed response to Brian Eno's Music for Airports, designed to "reinforce the false utopia and fake idealism of air travel." During this period of heavy activity, Soma also compiled early Black Dog material for the two-disc set Book of Dogma.

Wikipedia:

The Black Dog is a restaurant and tavern in Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The restaurant was founded in 1971, and became well known for its souvenir T-shirts, featuring its logo of the eponymous black dog. They subsequently expanded to sell other products with the same logo.

The Black Dog T-shirts became well known during the 1990s as photographs of celebrities wearing the shirts began appearing in national publications. For example, a photograph of then-President Bill Clinton jogging while wearing one was distributed by national wire services. Black Dog merchandise became part of the Lewinsky scandal, as items from the store were purchased by Bill Clinton and given to Monica Lewinsky.

Marketing at The Black Dog was effective. During the early 1990s, the merchandise was only sold at the Martha's Vineyard location. Only a limited number of people were allowed in the store at one time, so lines formed down the wooden fenced ramp that ran from the front door. While waiting in line, visitors were given catalogs to browse. Nowadays, the merchandise is also available at "mainland" Cape Cod and Newport "Black Dog" stores as well as online.

In 2000, The Black Dog released a cook book called The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook (ISBN 0316339326). In 2006, The Black Dog recalled approximately 9700 children's sweatshirts because they had a drawstring that poses a strangulation hazard. When Black Dog continued selling the clothing, the CPSC hit the company with a $50,000 fine. The New England Multihull Association and The Black Dog host a 22-mile yachting race from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown and back called the Black Dog Dash.

The Black Dog currently has many locations on Martha's Vineyard and one on the island of Nantucket, as well as in the mainland Massachusetts towns of Falmouth, Mashpee, Provincetown, Newburyport, and Chatham. Outside of Massachusetts they have stores in Newport, RI, Portland, ME, Mystic, CT, and Annapolis, MD.

Awards [edit]

In 2005 The Black Dog was awarded the Retailer of the Year Award by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.