The Dough Boys - The Dough Boys (Album Review)

The Dough Boys self-titled debut is a perfect slice of chilled-out jazz-rap swagger; a confident, hazy-blazed way to introduce themselves to the world. In the opening track “Eulogy” BRAINiac declares “I don’t need the beat, I’ll kill this a capella” and with his previously laid evidence I have no doubt this is true, but I'm glad he doesn't go a capella because the melding of the MC with The Dough Boys has created something unique, dripping with ideas and energy. The Dough Boys have some serious musical chops and obvious chemistry that raise their debut to something unique in the quickly saturated jazz-rap world. At a time when a lot of albums are seemingly created for a streaming world, with too many tracks – songs stretched to 4 minutes to maximize profits, etc, The Dough Boys have a created a sharp, focussed, well-thought out piece of art to start their journey with. The album leaves you wanting more, not thinking about where the fat could have been trimmed.

“Dogs Gotta Eat,” the albums first single and a rework of the track that appeared on BRAINiac's incredible Lunch Meat (2019), is an obvious highlight. It brings some heaviness that the original didn't have while doing the very important work of giving that incredible hook – one of the best to come out of the west coast in a long time – a new breath of life. And there is the hook for the whole album – this is serious jazz-rap ysht with a full band, immediately setting it apart from a lot of the bedroom/solo produced jazz-rap that is filtering out into the musical world these days. The Dough Boys are able to pull out a surprising number of sounds and feelings from within small, connected framework. The beautifully lilting summer love anthem “Your Man” floats down the ear canal, while “Blunt” comes in dense and heavy – much like the feeling of smoking a proper blunt. Very different songs, that both directly hit what they're trying to do while fitting incredibly nicely on the same record.

This is hip-hop and the Dough Boys make sure to allow their MC to be front and centre but the moments when they take the spotlight are arresting and impactful. Check the back half of “Collage” where BRAINiac's flow has gains big momentum just to stop dead and give way to a heart-aching saxophone solo. “Amidst Everything” floats on a cloud of spacey, drifting keys. I haven't thought of a guitar as a secret weapon in many years, but here on the Dough Boys' debut, the guitar is a shockingly effective weapon – like on “Thirst” where the guitar just gives the song such a perfect, slinky, sliding-through-the-night feeling. (Check out guitarist Ranger's generally fantastic solo output too. Especially this wonderful single.) And none of it works without a rhythm section, after all, this is hip-hop, and the rhythm section holds the proceedings together tightly.

With their smart, stoned-out, perfectly chilled debut, The Dough Boys are staking their claim as an act to watch on the west coast to watch. They've built a base for something special going forward. And even if they just stopped at this one album, they could rest easy known they've created a legit summer classic of an album.

Support the boys and pick up the album on Bandcamp (It’s also available to stream wherever you like to stream things.)