Kitty Kat Dirt Nap

Kitty Kat Dirt Nap: I Am A Robot. I Am Talking Like A Robot. I Am A Robot.I Am A Robot. I Am Talking Like A Robot. I Am A Robot. (2004)
Wonkavision

Reviewer Rating: 2

Contributed by: danperroneDan Perrone
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on January 4th 2005What the hell? Kitty Kat Dirt Nap? I Am A Robot. I Am Talking Like A Robot. I Am A Robot.? Song titles like "(If I Had A Purse I Would Carry) Breath Mints (In It Too)?" It's overwhelming just how bad the band's name, album's name, and song names are. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its .

What the hell?

Kitty Kat Dirt Nap? I Am A Robot. I Am Talking Like A Robot. I Am A Robot.? Song titles like "(If I Had A Purse I Would Carry) Breath Mints (In It Too)?"

It's overwhelming just how bad the band's name, album's name, and song names are. I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this was an immediate turnoff. It made me have no desire to listen to this whatsoever. A few weeks after receiving this, I decided to give it a chance. It's really not half as bad as the titles suggest, and there are some creative ideas to be found, but it is definitely a flawed album.

KKDN plays pop-rock music in the vein of Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer and Motion City Soundtrack due to the overly excessive use of the keyboard. There's a description floating around that these guys are "…Care Bears with uzis, declaring war on Weezer Island." I guess that's a decent description; creative to say the least. There are nine tracks to be found on I Am A Robot…, and not much variety.

I'll start my bad and work my way up to the good. To me, this band is trying way too hard. They're like that really uncool kid in your high school class that really wants to be popular, so they go out of their way to do ridiculous things to be accepted. That's KKDN for you; not Care Bears with uzis, but outcasts trying to fit in. The use of the keyboards and male-female vocals, combined with the just plain lame song titles gives me this impression.

On the subject of vocals, lead vocalist Adam Eckhoff has a rather snotty-sounding voice, which sounds alright alone, but much better with backup vocalist and keyboardist Robyn Montella singing along. As a matter of fact, Montella's vocals are criminally underused; these songs could be improved dramatically if she sang more than she does on here. Sometimes Eckhoff screams, and I just don't understand it. It sounds horrible. It's like when Jim Carrey made the most annoying sound in the world in Dumb And Dumber. That's how bad it is. Completely unnecessary, and only uploads my notion that these guys are just trying way too hard. Most of the songs found here exceed four minutes as well, making this a tedious listen. Catchy songs should be concise, not long and drawn out. Shaving a minute off each song would do wonders.

I must admit - some of these songs really are catchy. The opener, "(If I Had A Purse I Would Carry) Breath Mints (In It Too)" (I'm shuddering as I type that) is actually a very good song, with keyboards used appropriately and an exceptional chorus to boot. The sixth track, "(Hold Me Closer) Tony Danza," is by and large the best song on here, because not only does it not reach three minutes in length, thus being very concise, but it actually rocks, something a lot of these songs fail to do. I think the band concentrated too much on being catchy and not enough on making really good songs. The starts and stops of "(Cookie Blocking) Java Scripts" are also pretty swell, and the bass intro of "(Sometimes I Doubt Your Commitment To) Sparklemotion" (…the fuck?) is creative as well, without being lame. Aside from the mentioned tracks, however, the album leaves much to be desired. The other half of the album suffers from the abuse of the keyboard and strange chord progressions, as well as plain and simple boringness. Like I said, this is a very flawed album.

KKDN have some good ideas. They are indeed somewhat creative, and they do have a handful of pretty good songs, but I Am A Robot… is just too flawed to be enjoyable all the way through. With some fine-tuning, this band has very high potential. Even though this release wasn't all that great, I am interested in hearing them in the future.

Standout Tracks:
"(If I Had A Purse I Would Carry) Breath Mints (In It Too)"
"(Hold Me Closer) Tony Danza"
"(Cookie Blocking) Java Scripts"

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

kidriot (January 21, 2005)

I have met the band on a few occassions, but aside from that...their commiment (to sparkle motion, haha) no to their music and as musicians is die hard. It's rare to find that in any scene these days. Maybe you need to remove the stick from your ass, get a sense of humor and notice a little bit of fun and sarcasm when it's staring you right in the face. Everyone should check out KKDN live as well, if you have any doubts about the album, a live show will put them to rest and confirm what an amazing band they are. Their sound is unique, even with the same emo taste and influences that are mixed in, it's not often you get bands with a snyth player and a female vocalist!

Anonymous (January 21, 2005)

I think this album was really good. Once the new keyboardist, Natalie starts writing some music for this band it's gonna rock, I can't wait to hear it.

Anonymous (January 12, 2005)

I actually really liked this cd. To me it sounded like Motion City Soundtrack meets The Get Up Kids "Something To Write Home About"

ThriveToFailure (January 9, 2005)

"...the tony danza thing is from friends."

Knowing this automatically makes you gay.

Anonymous (January 9, 2005)

*BSD's big friend in a hoodie knocks theundergroundscene to the ground and starts kicking him repeatedly, while shouting "NEVER FUCK WITH MY FRIENDS AT SHOWS ANYMORE- ESPECIALLY WHERE FRIENDS- STAND- UNITED!"*

Looks like I win.

-BSD

theundergroundscene (January 8, 2005)

Please reason with me, you little asshole.

It gets me off, and you too, apparently.

Anonymous (January 8, 2005)

It speaks well enough for your reason... Since you didn't really write anything else.

And you want to fight me... Pathetic. Not even worth reasoning with in the slightest...

-BSD

theundergroundscene (January 7, 2005)

Dude, someone seriously needs to kick the shit out of your punk ass.

The scenester comment is simply a STATEMENT, not a REASON why I did not like the movie, big guy.

Anonymous (January 7, 2005)

My idea of being put in my place doesn't involve some guy throwing random insults at me over a message board... Ones that don't even make sense.

I'm sorry that I called you out on your attempt to call a movie bad because scenesters like it... There's simply no logic there. Fuck, scenester bands don't even suck because scenesters like them... You judge art by the reaction it gets rather than the actual substance... How does that make you any better than said "scenesters" or "hipsters"?

-BSD

theundergroundscene (January 6, 2005)

"I'm a scene hipster? Since when? Please inform...

Back your immature internet fighting for once"

Immature internet fighting, hmm?

You go looking for fights on every review on this site, and now you've got your panties in a bunch because someone isn't letting you get the last word, hmm?

Aww, I'm sorry, you little baby.

I wouldn't really call it fighting. It's more of you getting put in your place. So sit down and shut up. I actually respect your taste in music, and you're excellent at debating musical related things, but fuck dude, your people skills are shit, and someone needs to knock you the fuck down.

The score is for you, sir.

Anonymous (January 6, 2005)

"For a scene hipster yourself, you seem to be very naive, sir."

I'm a scene hipster? Since when? Please inform...

Back your immature internet fighting for once... You can make up anything on the spot, just like I can say

Stop calling me while using the vibrator and telling me about how you want to eat me out in the shower.

-BSD

Not-To-Regret (January 6, 2005)

Why did you even see the movie Donnie Darko if you think it sucks? Movies... unlike music, are easy to judge by their actors, cover and description. Sure it's a cult hit and is worth checking into for that reason, but that's why its a cult hit, because not everyone will like it. It poses complex questions about time travel etc., much like the movie " The Butterfly Effect",which I also enjoyed.

And also, regarding this band and review, it could have been a lot shorter. Here's my review: This band is a joke, their music is terrible, and their approach as a unique band is a slap in the face to original artists that actually sound good.

lou (January 6, 2005)

score is for the infamous "danza slap"

donnie darko is okay. but he's correct in saying that the boys in girls jeans all want to make love to their limited edition director's cut DVD. it's on par with gay guys liking cher way too much... or morrissey.

theundergroundscene (January 6, 2005)

For a scene hipster yourself, you seem to be very naive, sir.

Anonymous (January 6, 2005)

I think it sucks, too, but it's a completely different art form with little to no connection with fucking scene hipsters.

-BSD

maverick (January 6, 2005)

To get this conversation back on track, Donnie Darko sucks.

-Scott

Anonymous (January 5, 2005)

that first dude was right about the nicole kidman snl sketch, that was funny

Anonymous (January 5, 2005)

hahaha, i remember that too. that kid was hilarious.

theundergroundscene (January 5, 2005)

"The name of the album comes from Spellbound, a documentary about spelling bee contestants."

Holy shit!!! I saw that, and that was funny as fucking hell. I laughed for like five minutes.

I don't think that's where the title is from, though. That nerdy kid was like "Listen to me I am talking like a musical robot" and started singing or something.

Regardless, that was hilarious.

Anonymous (January 5, 2005)

The name of the album comes from Spellbound, a documentary about spelling bee contestants.

Anonymous (January 5, 2005)

The title's from an old SNL skit where Nicole Kidman mocks the Hyper-Hypo kid's voice. I am a loser.

Joe

WingsOutside (January 5, 2005)

Donnie Darko is alright, it wasn't as good as people say it is... wasn't horrible either.

ElVaquero (January 5, 2005)

Read that wrong. Still fucking weird to bring up.

ElVaquero (January 5, 2005)

I agree with this band trying too hard. You can tell just from the song titles.

Donnie Darko is actually a pretty good film, a lot of people who know jack shit love it way too much though, thus producing the backlash.... just like Kill Bill. Not a bad film though.

And Amores Perros? What the fuck?! That's both a great film and not even that well known. How could it be overrated?