antiReviews:
Whirlybird
– Black Eye
Review by antiGUY
Whirlybird
– Black Eye
Label: Robsum
Records
Rating:
Tracks: Black Eye
Crayon Hero
Antarctica
Say You’re My Baby
Trailer Park Hollywood
Everything
Carnie’s
Covered in Plastic
Soul Thing
Smitten
Kings Catfish Factory
Oxford Mississippi
Whirlybird is what you get when you mix
Elvis Costello with Beck and Weezer, a combination of experimental modern
rock and standard emo. That’s really a misnomer, as this disc covers so
much musical ground that it is impossible to pigeon hole it.
Here are some of the highlights: The title
track is a strange song reminiscent of the Talking Heads. “Crayon Hero”
will make Weezer fans stand up and pay attention. “Antarctica” is a soulful
number in the style of Joe Cocker or Peter Criss on his KISS solo album.
“Say You’re My Baby” is power-pop modern rocker. “Trailer Park Hollywood”
sounds a bit like Lou Reed singing Sheryl Crow’s breakthrough hit “All
I Wanna Do” mixed with Kid Rock’s “Cowboy”. The song features some incredible
slide guitar. “Everything” is Elvis Costello meets “Just Got Lucky”
era Tom Petty with a pinch of Dire Straits thrown in. “Covered in Plastic”
comes across as Beck jamming with Jackson Browne and Radiohead. “Smitten”
is a heartfelt ballad in the tradition of Van Morrison.
One thing is for sure; Whirlybird refuses
to be pushed into a musical corner as each song explores different musical
directions that make this CD enjoyable and interesting at the same time.
Posted by Cole:
One of the best CD's I've ever owned, period. Heard one of their tracks off garageband.com (Black Eye, the title track), and thought what the hell, for 10 bucks how bad can the rest of the disc be? I know, I know, over half my cd collection too is full of discs with 1 to 2 killer songs while the rest of the tracks suck serious ass. Anyway the point here is, this one ROCKS melodically and lyrically from beginning to end. Even the songs I initially wasn't that crazy about (Carnies and Smitten)have become favorites. Kudos for these indie guys (unless of course Robsum Records is owned by a Major, to which I would then have to say: Thank your label for letting you do your own thing cause this album is F#@*ing Incredible!))
