San Diego-based indie band Dolphins on Acid recently dropped their newest single, “Rotten.” This is the second single we’ve gotten from the band in the last two months, which has come after nearly a year of no new releases. The band is known for a mix of indie and garage rock with a touch of surf to give it that San Diego aesthetic, a unique blend that has helped them stand out in the overpopulated SoCal music scene. "Rotten" has been a bit of a departure from that mix, disrupting the formula that has brought them this far, a risky move, but one that, in this case, has paid off.
“Rotten” leans more towards the garage sound with a touch of grunge thrown into it. It’s a mounting wave that builds throughout the song, adding to its chorus of distorted guitars and drums until it finally comes to a dead stop. It’s a perfect midpoint tune, something to play when you need to bring the crowd back to attention once the drinks have begun to steal their focus.
This track doesn’t scream California beach rock, but maybe that was the point. Nobody wants to become a caricature of themselves. The minute you stop exploring what you can do with your music, you become stagnant, and that’s the beginning of the end. It can be a difficult thing to genre-bend, although considering how closely adjacent this tune is to some of their other work, it’s not that far of a leap. Still, “Rotten” is a tad more aggressive than some of Dolphins on Acid’s older stuff, a good thing to have in their back pocket for when they need to fire an audience up. The touch of surf/psych that has decorated past tunes has been dropped; “Rotten” sounds far more like something from the gloomy streets of Seattle than anything you would expect to hear from San Diego.
Dolphins on Acid, a name that is apparently derived from experiments in the ‘60s where the CIA fed acid to dolphins to try to communicate with them (that holds no bearing on the band or this song, but I had to learn it, so you do too), have shown us that they’re no one-trick pony. They can go above and beyond the local scene they’ve been playing to. This is a song that the skaters, the punks, the heads, the surfers, and all the other party-bound freaks can enjoy. It’s got speed and emotion, the kind of track that, if used right, could inspire your crowd to mosh.
Dolphins on Acid are still mostly playing around their local circuit, but you can find all their music as well as some live performances online. “Rotten” is a killer track for you to dip your toes into the work of this small-time beach band. Once you’ve heard it, you’ll want to keep a close eye on them. Their live show presence and sudden influx of new singles suggest that we’re on our way to hearing Dolphins on Acid’s first full-length album; hopefully, it will arrive sooner rather than later. If you’re reading this out in San Diego, take a night to hit up their next show, listen to some great music, and support this rising local act.
