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“Droll, urbane, sophisticated and musically omnivorous, Kendt makes music for grown-ups full of great melodies and witty wordplay…Highly literate and delightfully melodic…The debut of a singular new cabaret talent.”
j. poet for All Music Guide
“If you like Ben Folds, you’ll like this guy, too. Singer-pianist Rob Kendt brings the same bouncy insouciance and diverse pop-cultural sensibilities into play, and he’s got a similarly wicked sense of humor. Highlights include the album’s opener, “Lullaby,” and a mash-up of Erik Satie’s “Je Te Veux” and “Only The Lonely,” by the Motels. Definitely worth checking out… a pleasant surprise!
DJ Joe Sixpack
“Kendt brings a schizophrenic range of influences to the table on I’m Not Sentimental without letting any one take over. Barry Manilow dances around ‘Lullaby,’ Elvis Costello instigates a punch-up in ‘Suspicious Parties,’ and Lyle Lovett crookedly grins through ‘Summer Is Coming.’ A jazzy hep-cat cover of pop tart Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’ mashed up with The Beatles’ ‘The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill’ incites a good laugh.”
Illinois Entertainer
“Rob Kendt wears a suit jacket and Converse shoes–an unconventional combination. His fashion sense, though, is just like his music: a shot back to the days of jazz and lounge with a modern kick. It’s as if Rufus Wainwright ate the Eels and took over Elvis Costello’s recording session… The album’s unconventionality makes it worth the listen from an open mind.”
Chicago Flame
“This singer-songwriter out of Brooklyn, New York has really come into his own on this disc…Kendt offers everything from a country shuffle (’Pick Me’) to a surprisingly coherent lounge mash-up of Britney and the Beatles (’Oops I Did Bungalow Bill’). All the while he recalls veteran tunesmiths like Elvis Costello and Randy Newman.”
Hear/Say
“His new CD… showcases his agile lyrics, deceptively simple tunes and appealing, laid-back baritone.”
Time Out New York Critic’s Pick
“Superb…Not since Cole Porter has there been so much eyebrow-arching commentary in a group of songs. Not since Dave Frishberg has an album contained so much delightful wordplay. Not since Samuel Pepys has an artist revealed so much of himself while scrutinizing his fellow human creatures…Kendt often seems to be half confessor and half teller of tall tales that were once based on truth but have now taken on a life of their own.”
-Music Industry Newswire
“A beautifully lush, vibrant and witty series of winningly vivid and quirky anecdotes set to a fabulously eclectic array of different types of richly varied, but always harmonic music, this album makes for a total treat to hear. The terrifically tuneful instrumental arrangements offer a wondrous wealth of tasty little sonic touches: the gentle tinkling piano of ‘Lullaby,’ the blurting saxophone on ‘I’m Not Sentimental,’ the sweet clarinet in ‘My Life in Pants.’ Meanwhile Kendt’s warm, reedy voice and sharp, literate songwriting keep things bouncy and delightful throughout. But what really makes this album such a joy to listen to is the sense of intimacy and immediacy Kendt brings to each and every song: Whether it’s the wry country shuffle of ‘Pick Me’ or the hilariously inspired cocktail lounge send-up of Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again” called ‘Oops I Did Bungalow Bill,’ all the songs add up to a highly savory and pungent piece of flavorsome aural Americana.”
Joe Wawzyrniak, Jersey Beat
“Some brilliant orchestration & soothing pop music. Excellent guitar solos…Is he being funny? Cause if so, he’s funny, if not, he’s funny.”
Hybrid Magazine
Dr. Bruce: This guy’s on that show… the G word. Sure can sing, though.
“Drawing on pop, Americana, jazz and show tunes, none of which I suspect he would deny as inspiration, ‘I’m Not Sentimental’…rollicks along through the majority of its 40-odd minute duration in mostly entertaining fashion…A surprisingly intriguing effort.”
–Pennyblackmusic
“There’s nothing here that could exactly be described as a ‘show tune.’ It’s more that the songs are encapsulations of stories and narratives which wouldn’t be out of place as musical centre pieces in movies–and Kendt and his musical accomplices are savvy enough to have a musical range to do justice to this concept. ‘I’m Not Sentimental’ is a jazzy stomp, ‘Pick Me’ is bar room Americana. ‘Oops I Did Bungalow Bill’ is lounge core amalgam of Britney and The Beatles whilst ‘Nothing To Prove’ is a long lost sound track to some Franco-Italian film circa 1968.”
Americana UK
“While vastly eclectic in its range, ‘I’m Not Sentimental’ still feels focused, limiting its explorations of parallels and tangents well. The music is further enhanced by the stellar production. Definitely worth looking into.”
On Tap
“A bizarre but interesting listen…This sounds a little like Ben Folds Five…Great stuff…All in all a really interesting album with some great lyrics: ‘Summer is coming, I’ll have lots of afternoons/To lie on my porch eating macaroons.’ Tasty!”
Americana UK
“Tin Pan Alley songsmith Kendt…seems like he comes out of the Randy Newman or Elvis Costello school of I’m-pissed-and-you’re-gonna-know-about-it. He has a top-notch band behind him and oodles of personality. A highbrow Mark Mallman?”
–Daggerzine
“With Kendt himself on piano, his playing and lyrical talents compete to upstage one another as they showcase his impressive storytelling abilities…Rob Kendt is one of those rare performers who you would unexpectedly discover while sitting in a club, straining your ears to listen over the rowdy crowd. Save yourself the trouble and check out the album.”
-Hot Indie News
“Seriously innovative and enjoyable…There’s a warmth to his music that is really refreshing, and with every track you hear, the more you grow to appreciate the sound.
Rawkstar.net
“Kendt’s songs are each lovely works of literature, wonderfully constructed short stories, the likes of which you would expect to find in The New Yorker… He makes each song seem like a tale he’s telling just for you.”
-Rock City News
“A little Brecht and Weill, a touch of Cole Porter, a hint of Randy Newman… Kendt performs tunes that vividly express a wide range of emotions, driven by simple but profound lyrics… smoothly filtered through his potent but easygoing singing style.”
-Frontiers
“[Kendt] plays that good old singer/songwriter style music… sort of Tom Waits meets a (lively) Damien Jurado in a country bar over a pint and a piano style that holds all the emotion without the sappy camp… He also plays piano mash-ups which are awesome.”
-FreeNYC.net
“Imagine a lively quartet… crowded on a stage at the end of a packed room, playing spirited but steady jazz behind a goateed guy in a suit speaking lyrics a step or two away from Beat poetry before sitting down at an upright to throw in his own melodious riffs. A vague approximation of the effect is Tom Waits if he’d never smoked-rich but battered images over a slightly dissonant, swinging background.”
-Wolfesden.net
“There wasn’t so much a performance per se as there was a communication with the audience. Kendt displayed a country boy warmth that engaged the crowd… making it seem as if everyone were old friends sharing a good ole time.”
-Music Connection
“But over it all washes onstage piano man Rob Kendt’s original score, describable, if you will, as music-noir. It is subtly programmatic, dark but humorous, theatrical but not generic, at times referencing recognizable melodies, at times pleasingly dissonant.”
-Back Stage West
