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Music

Lower Your Expectations, The Dopamines Are Back with 'Tales of Interest'

The Midwestern punk band's fourth album is sloppy, unbalanced, and obnoxiously loud. So, pretty perfect.

The Dopamines have successfully lumped themselves into the Dillinger Four category of low-expectation punk. Great when you can get it, sure, but don't get our hopes up on their efforts. It's a point of pride they've worn right from the title of their 2010 album, Expect the Worst.

The Cincinnati band hasn't released an album since 2012's Vices and, given their outspoken love of devouring entire cases of Keystone Light, no one was really expecting them to. But, lo and behold, the Dopamines have returned with Tales of Interest, a textbook case of under-promising and over-delivering. The album is sloppy, uneven, and poorly thought-out. And those are its good qualities.

Despite the band members' insistence that they've gotten fatter, slower, and more alcoholic-y in their absence, it doesn't show on their fourth record, which might just be their loudest and most abrasive collection of songs to date. And as the bands in the scene around them fight to make a name for themselves, the Dopamines seem content to shoot themselves in the foot whenever possible and in doing so have released one of the most unexpectedly good punk albums of the year. Tales of Interest could be a sign of more promising things to come from the Dopamines, but probably best not to get your hopes up.

Tales of Interest is out June 2 from Rad Girlfriend Records and you can pre-order it here. Listen to the whole album below.