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Dogs Die in Hot Cars
I think we can all agree that at this point in time, we may be approaching a critical mass of dark, angular New Wave/No Wave repro bands. On the other hand, there's clearly there's not enough bands paying homage to the bright and chipper ridiculousness of early 80's pop. So, thank goodness for Glasgow's (rather unfortunately named) Dogs Die In Hot Cars.
It drove me mad for weeks. Literally. Dogs Die In Hot Cars reminded me of another band, a band from my childhood. The kind of band that had videos on MTV full of people skipping through the dusty Australian outback or the streets of an English town dressed in overalls. But I couldn't decide which: XTC? Squeeze? Men Without Hats? Dexy's Midnight Runners? Talking Heads? Echo and the Bunnymen? The answer was a resounding yes -- the band is beholden to all these bands in one way or another, but refreshingly, doesn't move to perfectly emulate the sound of its predecessors.
Instead, Dogs Die In Hot Cars' anthemic songs are liberally sprinkled with of-the-moment pop culture references -- which make the songs sound glib and fluffy on first listen, but peel those lyrics away and hidden depths are revealed. The laundry list of hot actresses in "Celebrity Sanctum" transforms into a plaintive love song. The bratty complaints of "Lounger," when taken collectively, present a sprightly manifesto of disaffected youth. In short, the songs on the band's first album, Please Describe Yourself have a timeless quality in almost spite of themselves.
[Also, I promise, you'll totally want to dance around like a fool and whip out your Molly Ringwald-or-Judd Nelson-in-The Breakfast Club dance moves that you used to practice in front of the mirror when no one was around.]
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Lounger
Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Apples & Oranges
Dogs Die in Hot Cars' official website. Their debut album, in a slightly altered order from the UK issue, is available from Amazon.
Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 02.10.05 at 1:02 AM
Comments
can i add some associations? sometimes there's a vocal thing that's cure-esque, there's a little elvis costello/joe jackson, and i think it might be just a scottish accenty thing but i have a slight big country feeling as well. aw, big country.
Posted by: karen at 02.10.05 at 9:28 AM
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