dada Preview

Hundreds of bands have soared to rarely seen heights only to be rebuffed just as quickly, but few did quite as exceptionally as dada. Nearly unavoidable when “Dizz Knee Land” hit the airwaves in the early ’90s, they found the industry and public less receptive to their ensuing ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

Dada to play free Dewey show Wednesday, July 14

Los Angeles trio Dada may have taken six years between its last studio project and new release “How To Be Found,” but it hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to touring.

“We’re on the road about half our lives right now,” says guitarist and singer Michael Gurley. “The last 12 months we’ve been on the road about six months, and it’s going to pretty much continue that way.” Read the rest of this entry »

dada
How To Be Found

L.A.-based dada – which saw a modicum of success in the ’90s before falling off the back of the major-label bandwagon – is a throwback to a time before multiple formats and myriad subgenres, when a group of long-haired musicians was simply a “rock band,” period. Read the rest of this entry »

dada, “How To Be Found,” (Blue Cave)
Release Date: March 2, 2004

“If you’ve never heard of dada — an L.A. trio whose first album, Puzzle, sold half a million copies in the early 1990s — imagine crossing the Police’s finicky jazz chops with the poppy angst of a fellow SoCal band like Sugar Ray. After a six-year hiatus, dada returns with its fifth album, and if you like angular twists on pop formulas, you’ll want to hunt down this self-released disc. The vocal interplay between guitarist Michael Gurley and bassist Joie Calio is rich — check out the Nirvana-esque title track and the harmony-drenched “Blue Girl.” Meanwhile, Gurley plays with eloquence in “Crumble” and the Hendrix-style riffing of “Reason”.

- Parke Puterbaugh

Source: Sound & Vision Magazine

Dada blends ’60s sound with now

Los Angeles trio Dada may have taken six years between its last studio project and new release “How To Be Found,” but it hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to touring.

“We’re on the road about half our lives right now,” says guitarist and singer Michael Gurley. “The last 12 months we’ve been on the road about six months, and it’s going to pretty much continue that way.” Read the rest of this entry »

dada, “How To Be Found,” (Blue Cave)

Release Date: March 2, 2004

The band that broke apart is back together again, happily. After an “extended vacation” that stretched from June 1999 until March 2003 and included intriguing side projects, the trio have reunited again collectively as Dada and currently are touring in support of the release of their fifth studio album, How To Be Found, a collection of previously unreleased tracks that’s a must-have for true fans. Read the rest of this entry »

dada
How To Be Found

“Dada is the sun, Dada is the egg. Dada is the Police of the Police.” — Richard Huelsenbeck

Does Huelsenbeck refer to dada the band? Not likely. The word dada normally invokes the spirit of the nihilistic movement, Dadaism, which draws its inspiration from deliberate irrationality, anarchy, and cynicism, while rejecting the traditional laws of beauty. Dada the band on the other hand starkly contradicts the ethos of Dadaism. Dada embrace established sentiments, but unlike innumerable groups who try to celebrate preconceived notions of pulchritude, who come across as crotchety and complaisant, dada surprise the listener with their exciting collision of melody and rock. Read the rest of this entry »

Kevin O’Hare’s Playback

dada, “How To Be Found,” (Blue Cave). 3 stars

One of the most consistently intriguing bands of the 1990s is back together after a four-year hiatus.

The lower-case loving dada recorded some exceptional albums through the years, especially “American Highway Flower,” which came out a decade ago. The Los Angeles-based trio of Joie Calio (bass), Michael Gurley (guitar) and Phil Leavitt (drums) pick up where they left off on this 13-song set of smart pop. “How to Be Found,” is bolstered by rich dynamics, a sharp sense of melody and precision-like instrumental work. Read the rest of this entry »

CD Report

dada, “How To Be Found,” (Blue Cave)

After a five-year hiatus, the trio dada returns with a set of previously unreleased tracks that show their range. The group, which had an alt-rock hit with “Dizz Knee Land” in 1992 and put out a number of unappreciated records, took some time off to explore their individual muses, and it sounds like the period of separation has been time well spent. Read the rest of this entry »

Want to catch all the music this weekend? Try cloning

My heart belongs to dada

The band dada took its name from one of the most symbol-laden and surreal of art movements.

The group stole my heart with its commingling of looney lyrical absurdity and polished, tightly harmonized pop/rock craftsmanship, starting in 1992 with the tongue-in-cheek anthem “Dizz Knee Land,” from the gold-weight “Puzzle” album.

Three more discs of wry and musically adept pleasures followed, until dada’s label went through the usual corporate shuffling and roster-dumping, and the group decided to, um, do other things. Read the rest of this entry »