Dinowalrus 2012: Peter Feigenbaum, synth/bassist Liam Andrew, and drummer Max Tucker

In the two years since their woefully under-appreciated debut %, Brooklyn demento-wavers Dinowalrus have been almost completely overhauled, with two-thirds of the trio replaced and their experimental globs diluted from drum-and-drone loogie to synth-wave drizzle. One remaining consistent is the band's longstanding visual affection for psychedelic New York City. There was the Matthew-Caron-directed video for skronk-wave single "Bead," a track from their 2010 Kanine Records release, which was a purple-hazed tribute to old-school New York iconography, a skittish montage of rooftop scenes, graffiti throw-ups, and subway rails, all paced like a crystal-meth fit. Today marks the release of Dinowalrus's sophomore record, Best Behavior, with cover art that's a lavender-tinted Domino Sugar Factory homage to Pink Floyd's Animals. (They're playing the Mercury Lounge tonight in celebration.) Also, the surreal-fable video for Best Behavior's first single, "Phone Home From the Edge," features Dinowalrus founding member Peter Feigenbaum falling asleep and waking up as another iconic New York figure, cult-legend moviemaker Lloyd Kaufman. "They're pretty good," Kaufman recently told us about Dinowalrus. "I hope they stay together."

So do they. That's what Feigenbaum told us recently, over a dying cell phone from his friend's house, when we called to talk with him about working with the man responsible for The Toxic Avenger.

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Next Wednesday, SOTC pal Christopher R. Weingarten will celebrate the release of the cassette companion to his canines-and-coolness tome Hipster Puppies—a tape stuffed with a roster of 18 local bands that includes Das Racist, Yvette, and Liturgy—with a party at Public Assembly. The party will host sets by Zs, Mountains, Burning Star Core, and Dinowalrus, all of whom contributed to the tape. In advance of the party, Chris has prepared a 71-minute podcast with songs by and interviews with all four bands—think of it as your chance to hear four Yes In My Backyard columns come together live. (Or, well, live to tape, anyway.) Link and track listing below.

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In Waste Of Paint, our writer/artist team of Jamie Peck and Debbie Allen will review goings-on about town in words and images.

Does anyone who goes to local rock shows actually have their shit together enough to get out of town on Independence Day? I didn't used to think so, but now I can say with authority that they do. Half the audience seemed to be missing at all the concerts I went to this weekend, including my usual partner in crime, who abandoned me for the pleasures of a non-mutual friend's cabin in Pennsylvania. She probably drew these pictures while floating in the middle of a lake somewhere, watching the sun set over the forest, and drinking a cocktail made from local, artisanal blackberry jam. What a bitch. (I miss you. Please come home.)

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Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent.

Ted Gordon

Brooklyn ecstasy-noize troupe Dinowalrus crawl out of the teeny-tiny opening Animal Collective and Black Dice have made for fluttery textures, ambient suckscapes, and incoherent blare-chants. But despite their adorable name, Dinowalrus are nothing at all like the recent spate of gear-and-go bands. They have the power, energy, thrust and machinations of a real, live rock band, landing somewhere between the gnash of classic punk and the boogie of '80s no wave. Driven by the blur-and-pound powerhouse drumming of Josh Da Costa, "Electric Car, Gas Guitar" starts with the downtown bluster of vintage Branca or Sonic Youth, then throws off its arty chains and dives into the chainsaw-massacre chords of the Ramones' "Loudmouth." Which is somehow fighting against Kraftwerk's "It's More Fun To Compute," No Age's "Eraser," and a Stooges-style saxo skronk-off. Kanine releases the band's debut album,%, in January. Vocalist/guitarist Pete Feigenbaum is currently on the road as the tour guitar for Titus Andronicus. He answered these questions after solving a calamitous van problem.

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