It's been less than a year since Dr. Dog's last album, but the Philadelphia indie psych-rockers are back with a brand new one, Abandoned Mansion. The 10-track release has already sold out of the 450 cassette tape copies that were pressed, but 100-percent of the proceeds from downloads will benefit the Southern Poverty Law Center.
READ: ST. PETE PUNKS PERMANENT MAKEUP DONATE PROCEEDS TO ACLU & PLANNED PARENTHOOD
The SPLC, a non-profit dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry while also seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society, has been in the news a lot lately thanks to their efforts in keeping track of hate (or bias) based harassment incidents. Their November 18 report shows that there have now been over 700 incidents of hateful harassment since this happened.
The move is part of a larger trend that finds bands donating their talent to organizations fighting for causes they believe in. St. Peters punk outfit Permanent Makeup recently announced that proceeds from downloads of their music would go to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood.
Dr. Dog, for their part, have described the new LP as a mood record that can be categorized as "Easy Peasy listening," saying it contains no blips, bloops or anything too jarring or atonal.
"[These are] songs of the oldest questions. Songs as tools to finding oneself," the band wrote in a note. "And most importantly, songs of acceptance. Acceptance of yourself and acceptance of the others around you."
"It’s been a shocking few weeks," they added, "and while we didn’t make the record with this intention it seems like a good time to try and help good people who are trying to do good things."
Proceeds from any downloads through the month of January will go to SPLC. Stream the record below and buy it via Bandcamp.
This article appears in Dec 1-8, 2016.