Dan Melchior – Fire Breathing Clones on Cellular Phones (Plastic Records, 2006)
After relative success with labels like In The Red, Melchior chooses to release Fire Breathing Clones… on the smaller and less well known Plastic Records. There are moments on this latest release from the Shepperton, England native that suggest that he may well be on the verge of indie stardom. At other times, like on “Dirty Ice Cream”, Melchior incorporates a great deal of production noise, which ultimately removes his trademark of sounding like he’s in a garbage can. A garbage can, though, with terrifically interesting lyrics and blues rip offs.
The saxophone that is present on a good deal of the album at once bolsters the arrangements as well as making them a bit more interesting as on the dirgey “(Just Plain) Goodbye”. Occasionally, when Melchoir utilizes just an acoustic guitar and his vocals, his songs are reminiscent of solo Syd Barrett. At other times he finger picks his acoustic to startling affect, the closer, “Lady RM” for example. This is certainly not the most raucous recording that Melchoir has been involved with, but that still shouldn’t discourage the devotees.
[...] last listen to the guitarist came on the 2006 Fire Breathing Clones on Cellular Phones. That disc, while still sounding as if the actual recording cost roughly five dollars, worked in [...]