Customer Reviews

Please Describe Yourself

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

You may have found a new favorite band.

Dogs Die in Hot Cars is one of the wonderful surprises of the new year. Song after song off their album, "Please Describe Yourself" is a sonic delight, with several true gems amongst some killer filler. Most of the songs are uptempo, with guitars and pianos that would not sound out of place on New Wave radio back in the early 80's. Besides the obvious XTC references, some of the songs reminded me of "happy" Cure songs (like "Just Like Heaven") or later Oingo Boingo (not like their manic first three albums...).

The opening song, "I Love You Because I Have To", is a fine intro, but the title's actually better than the song itself.

No worries, as "Modern Woman" gallops along to a melodic rock beat and will more than likely have you saying, out loud, "Wow...this is pretty good!"

"Celebrity Sanctum" is a hoot...name-dropping female celebs with giggle-inducing lyrics. 'I love Lucy twice as much as you."

I feel they wear their XTC roots on their sleeves; one of their songs is called "Apples & Oranges"....a later XTC album is called "Oranges & Lemons". The lead singer's voice has an uncanny similarity to that of Andy Partridge, and their melodicism, instrument selection, and humor reflect, with pride, XTC's influence.

The high quality is maintained through songs like "Godhopping" and "Lounger"; the latter song could be the slacker generation's new anthem.

Seriously, nearly every song has something to recommend about it, and all are worth listening to once. MOST of them will have you returning to the album again and again. There are not many new albums you can say that about.

I honestly can't remember when the last time was that I bought an album and loved every track on it on the first listen. Even my favorite bands' albums (Doves, Travis, Interpol, Turin Brakes) usually have a track or two that I could either live without or that I eventually grow to love through sheer repetition. But what Dogs Die in Hot Cars have created is brilliant, with every track having every right to be on the album as the next. Their harmonies and lyrics drew me in on the first listen. My only complaint about this album is that it is too short. Currently my favorite tracks are: 10.Glimpse of the Good Life (I think it has a "Pulp"-like sound to it), 4.Celebrity Sanctum (a great hook-of-a-chorus on this one), and 7.Modern Woman.

Just happened to see this on the shelf as another CD to buy in the 2 for $25 category. Picked it up, listened, strange...listened again, hmmm, I'm remembering hooks now. Soon enough after a few more listens, this bands got me singing some of their songs. They're pretty catchy, pretty poppy, pretty good. It's different than what's out on the airwaves, thank god.

there is another band who are more clever (and yes i think the Dogs' single is pretty good on its own--and a few songs on this debut are very catchy and rollicking) at cloning XTC--they are called THE SUGARPLASTIC. give them a chance. there is another band as well that is like the folkier XTC that has a new "innercity garden" EP out--they are called THE BLACK WATCH. both of these pop outfits are much more deserving than the Dogs.

A lot of these reviews really amused me. A. because they clearly aren't unique sounding, just listen to bands like XTC and thats obivous and B. how can any one say they are mearly ripping off these bands??? I dont think i can name one band that doesnt sound like another band, anyone who thinks they can cant possibly have heard every band there is and therefore cant name one unique band either. Whom sounded like whom first should'nt even come in to the equation when writing album reviews

As far as i'm concerned, ddihc clearly are a great band, i heard 'i love you cause i have to' on late night mtv2 and was instantly hooked, i eventually found their album and to my surprise, the album even better than i could have imagined, i still listen to the album day to day and its still as catchy and musically uplifting as it ever was.

I would place 'pasttimes and lifestyles' as my favourite track for its amazingly strange lyrical content and driving chorus and i can see it being a very long time to come before i ever put this album down. It makes me happy and it makes me think and being an aspiring director (fingers crossed) i hope to one day make 'apples and oranges' part of a movie soundtrack (personally i think it would have made a fine addition to the garden state soundtrack but oh well :P)

buy the album...buy it now !!

Every single thing I've seen written about the Scottish band Dogs Die in Hot Cars (the awful name was taken from an RSPCA bumper sticker) compares them to XTC. This is mostly because singer Craig MacIntosh's voice is a dead ringer for XTC's Andy Partridge, so much so that he seems to have studied Partridge's vocal mannerisms closely. MacIntosh, though, claims that he'd never listened to XTC until seeing the music press make the comparison. Musically, the Dogs Die sound is right out of melodic 80s alt-rock, but they only sound like XTC here on "Apples & Oranges" and "Somewhat Off the Way" (the latter sounds like the Colin Moulding track on an XTC album). "Glimpse at the Good Life" makes me think of "Let's Dance"-era Bowie, and the ska of the single "I Love You 'Cause I Have To" may remind some of Madness. There are few bands that write catchy songs like this any more -- a half dozen songs on the album have soaring choruses that lodge in the recesses of your brain and roost there for days at a time. My favorites are "Celebrity Sanctum", where the singer obsesses over actresses instead of the girl who just left him, "Godhopping", and "Modern Woman". The weakest songs to my ears are single "Lounger" and "Paul Newman's Eyes". Overall, this is a 4-1/2 star album.

This is an enhanced CD, containing videos for "Godhopping", "I Love You 'Cause I Have To", and "Lounger". The videos also look like they're from the early 80s; they have the kind of unimaginative visuals that were common on MTV in the early days, but look pretty dull by today's standards. "Lounger" is the most interesting of the three.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

I confess: I bought this album after hearing "I Love You 'Cause I have to" on NPR because of the funny band name. Well I think it's funny; the majority of the population thinks it's unweildly like a runway model carrying one of those giant hammers from Braveheart (since we're on the topic of Scottish culture). It's a good indicator of the contents and the public's response, however. Their fellow Scottsmen Franz Ferdinan, a much more lyrical name, is palatable both to coffee house intellectuals and frat boys. DDIHC's often spastic delivery and quick thought lyrics would elude most. It eluded me for about a year. I picked this album up last summer and sang along to a few choruses and chuckled not so much at the lyrics, but at the notion that a band that name-drops Catherine Zeta-Jones and Paul Newman probably has funny lyrics, so I should laugh at them. I recently found the cd in my trunk, and now I admire all the deeper production previously un-noticed and the clever lyrics.

For all their pub-chant inducing choruses, DDIHC are as accesible to the public as a 500 LB man's butt crack is to himself, and they don't really feel like reaching because they haven't stretched properly. XTC comparisons are all over the place, too recklessly for it to be intentional (think spilled drinks after a party), from the ambient noise of synths and guitar licks to the nasal vocals. XTC are rarely this anchored in the arteries of society; I hear more Talking Heads than anything else, especially in "Godhopping". "Covered in Flowers" wouldn't be at all out of place on this album, if it didn't come out 20 years ago. There's a lot of energy in this band, and the sort of social commentary that makes you feel good that you're not "one of those"... until they find where you were hiding and let you project the meaning of a song on yourself. Whether you're lazy/unemployed/unambitious ("Lounger"), or you run away from your problems and live in denial in shallow comforts ("Godhopping"), you rationalize breakups with unfair comparisons ("Celebrity Sanctum"), or you're just envious ("Paul Newman's Eyes", "Glimpse at the Good Life")... it's like self-help.

Every track has memorable lines and something that sticks in the balcony section of your auditory imagination and makes comments. This is the sort of boldness within traditionalism that causes me to continually peruse the world for new decent artists. There's no reason not to buy this album unless you're in the PETA.

This interesting band from Fife,Scotland has a unique sound to them which is a breath of fresh from all the current music out there. Each track on "Please Describe Yourself" is clever,witty and catchy. They have a preppy,pop sound but you can also hear the musical talent that these four guys and one girl have. Lead singer Craig Macintosh keeps each cut together in harmony. These "Dogs" should be let out of the car and into your stereo system.And the album arts pretty nice too!

Harkening back to the days when pop was best served with a little humor and a whole lotta insidious fun, Dogs Die In Hot Cars have whipped up an album of emphatically enjoyable clatter. Sounding like the love-child of 80's notables XTC and Madness (with a little Big Country and Crowded House thrown in for good measure) these Scots produce a sunny and silly atmosphere of kinky times and goofy wordplay. The lead track "I Love You Cause I Have To" is impossibly intoxicating with a hook that's destined to be stuck in your skull for weeks. However, the charm doesn't stop there. Just wait 'til you spin "Modern Woman" and the hilarious, prima-donna name dropping "Celebrity Sanctum" (I love Lucy Liu.....I love her twice as much as you!) Just when you thought you'd heard it all, along comes the twisted and macabre faux-bluegrass bounce of "Paul Newman's Eyes," with lyrics that are as bizarre as they are laughable. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOURSELF is not afraid of pulling any punches and is certainly not in any danger of being overly serious or contemplative. With a wide range of musical style and pizzaz, this LP serves up a rollicking good time that was no doubt its intended mission.

The debut album "Please Describe Yourself" from this Scottish band absorbs and makes new the 80's New Wave/Punk revival that other fellow artists like The Killers, Keane, Interpol, The Music, Franz Ferdinand and Snow Patrol have also excelled in. I'm very pleased to have this form of music coming back with a vengeance because it's been gone too long.

First, Dogs Die In Hot Cars (DDIHC) have offered both music and video content. I will begin with addressing the music. Their influences are quite obvious to me, and I completely disagree with any comparisons to Dexy's Midnight Runners (I have their music). No, DDIHC sound more like Talking Heads (the only thing missing from their debut being a cover of "Psycho Killer"), XTC, Oingo Boingo, The English Beat and Madness. Their first single instantly grabbed my attention--the ska flavored "I Love You 'Cause I Have To" video played before me and embedded itself in my brain cells. I bought the cd, and the second single "Godhopping" sounds completely like something Talking Heads would do (maybe on 1985's "Little Creatures"). The lyrics and viewpoints are cleverly written and executed. Themes such as desiring to be popular and desirable are evident in "Celebrity Sanctum", men losing power and control and dominance in the world in "Modern Woman", the joys of being lazy in "Lounger", and the media dictating images of what living a great life should be in "Glimpse At The Good Life" are all inflected with a form of dry humor and irony which is sorely missing from today's radio and video stations.

That brings me to the three videos included here: "I Love You 'Cause I Have To", "Godhopping" and "Lounger". The first two being the strongest with "Godhopping" resembling a Talking Heads video like "Stay Up Late" or "Road To Nowhere" or "Love For Sale". The videos are solid, and they should stick with whoever the director was.

We sure need DDIHC because the music world is missing bands like XTC and Talking Heads. I hope this band sells enough cds to make a second album. I give the debut four stars because I think they can do even better things if they're given the chance to. Still, a very strong debut from this relatively unknown Scottish ensemble. I see that I am only the ninth reviewer of this cd which is a shame. This band should really get more recognition, certainly the same as The Killers. Check this disc out. It also met my time constraint rule with 11 songs clocking in at a fantastic 38 minutes--perfect! If you're looking for something "Somewhat Off The Way", check this cd out, it's a good one. Long live the New Wave/Punk movement.