Catbirds & Cardinals
General
| Sep 2011
Reviews
Deniz Cebenoyan
Reviewed 2012-01-13
Reviewed 2012-01-13
Dan Melchior Und Das Menace / “Catbirds & Cardinals” / Northern Spy
Half-inspired singer with audible British accent, too cool for school. Not to say the songs aren’t good, just seems like it’s more than just the music. There’s a general air of trying to evoke the coolness of the love child between English punk and The Velvet Underground. Dan Melchior has apparently been around for the past 10-15 years recording with many other projects. This one has a well-conceived/produced garage rock sound, with nice simple riffs and melodies under all the distortion. Some songs drag, but the songwriting is still quality. Hard to describe mature sound, like “yeah this is kind of a simple melody, but... you made it great. Cool.”
FCC #8 “fucked up”
Favorite tracks: 4, 6, 7, 11
1. 2:50 Big opener, distorted guitars, bored singer, strange references to making the same mistake as Adolf Hitler. Hmm...
2. 2:54 Uptempo, distortion, guitars, echoey piano in catchy-ish chorus.
3. 5:20 Voice higher and echoey-er than usual. Kind of a catchy simple guitar riff in background. Loads of synths and distortions, the usual. Mostly instrumental middle, cool soloing.
4. *3:03 Usual thrashy guitars, talk-singing, but there’s a melody underneath that’s really nice when you peel it down. Nice.
5. 3:40 Starts with clean strummed guitar, distant vocals, synthy heavier chorus. Catchy, but a bit repetitive.
6. *2:35 Midtempo beat, melodic clean electric guitar kind of a nice contrast with usual harsh vocals. Very simple, nice.
7. *2:40 Midtempo, heavy ambient synth distortion over clean singing/guitar, occasional harmonies, sounds kind of like a snowy scene.
8. 2:15 FCC “fucked up” Thrashy catchy midtempo song about stupid British people (Tony Blair, Posh & Becks...) and how angry they make him, but he still defends England.
9. 4:06 Loud synth wash in background, heavily distorted vocals, hard to hear lyrics. No real beat or melody.
10. 2:28 Upbeat midtempo, electric guitars that get bendy at times. Nice chords. Song about screwed up people (“drama queens on prooozaaaac...”)
11. *5:25 Downtempo, clean acoustic and electric guitar, great simple chords, dramatic sound, echoey chorus. Epic guitar solo for last 2 min.
Deniz Cebenoyan
Half-inspired singer with audible British accent, too cool for school. Not to say the songs aren’t good, just seems like it’s more than just the music. There’s a general air of trying to evoke the coolness of the love child between English punk and The Velvet Underground. Dan Melchior has apparently been around for the past 10-15 years recording with many other projects. This one has a well-conceived/produced garage rock sound, with nice simple riffs and melodies under all the distortion. Some songs drag, but the songwriting is still quality. Hard to describe mature sound, like “yeah this is kind of a simple melody, but... you made it great. Cool.”
FCC #8 “fucked up”
Favorite tracks: 4, 6, 7, 11
1. 2:50 Big opener, distorted guitars, bored singer, strange references to making the same mistake as Adolf Hitler. Hmm...
2. 2:54 Uptempo, distortion, guitars, echoey piano in catchy-ish chorus.
3. 5:20 Voice higher and echoey-er than usual. Kind of a catchy simple guitar riff in background. Loads of synths and distortions, the usual. Mostly instrumental middle, cool soloing.
4. *3:03 Usual thrashy guitars, talk-singing, but there’s a melody underneath that’s really nice when you peel it down. Nice.
5. 3:40 Starts with clean strummed guitar, distant vocals, synthy heavier chorus. Catchy, but a bit repetitive.
6. *2:35 Midtempo beat, melodic clean electric guitar kind of a nice contrast with usual harsh vocals. Very simple, nice.
7. *2:40 Midtempo, heavy ambient synth distortion over clean singing/guitar, occasional harmonies, sounds kind of like a snowy scene.
8. 2:15 FCC “fucked up” Thrashy catchy midtempo song about stupid British people (Tony Blair, Posh & Becks...) and how angry they make him, but he still defends England.
9. 4:06 Loud synth wash in background, heavily distorted vocals, hard to hear lyrics. No real beat or melody.
10. 2:28 Upbeat midtempo, electric guitars that get bendy at times. Nice chords. Song about screwed up people (“drama queens on prooozaaaac...”)
11. *5:25 Downtempo, clean acoustic and electric guitar, great simple chords, dramatic sound, echoey chorus. Epic guitar solo for last 2 min.
Deniz Cebenoyan
Recent airplay
Summer In Siberia
Songs: CANTAN — Feb 10, 2012
Catbird
Brownian Motion — Feb 01, 2012
I Saw The Ghost Of Peter Cook
Modern Donkey - Special Edition — Jan 27, 2012
The Forest Of Tin
Modern Donkey - Songs about Places — Jan 25, 2012
Charting
2012-01-22 — 2012-03-25
| Week Ending | Airplays |
|---|---|
| Feb 12 | 1 |
| Feb 5 | 1 |
| Jan 29 | 2 |
Track listing
| 1. | Summer In Siberia | ||
| 2. | The Forest Of Tin | ||
| 3. | Squalor On Sunday | ||
| 4. | Catbird | ||
| 5. | Deep Fried Circuits | ||
| 6. | I Saw The Ghost Of Peter Cook | ||
| 7. | Poison Pete's Holiday | ||
| 8. | English Shame | ||
| 9. | Crow Radio #2 | ||
| 10. | Drama Queens On Prozac | ||
| 11. | Gnomes On The Runway |