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The Cat Empire (self-title debut album)
Download from here.
Why I Liked It
Actually, when the album initially came out I didn't take to it so much. My wife was obsessed with the band and played this album to death, so eventually (by pure association) I grew to like this album. The music entered my daily playlist when I was a snowboarding bum so over a winter season this became one of my all time favourite albums.
We've seen these guys play all over the world and we never miss a chance to see their high-energy gigs. It's hard to separate the impression of a live gig from the music on the album, so I guess that's part of the reason I like them so much. I don't think a band is a "real band" unless their live shows are real, and where an intimate gig is as great as a "big show" concert.
I guess you'd call this "jazz", but what's the point in putting music in a genre? I think the best bands are those that aren't pidgeonholed in a certain style or genre.
"How to Explain" is a great way to open an album, and "The Crowd" is one of my other favourites.
About the Artist
The Cat Empire is a band from Melbourne, Australia, made up of six core players. They're usually accompanied by another 4-6 horn players and other hangers-on. Tamborine players, I guess. They usually get a bit of radio play on some of the more alternate stations, but they'd certainly don't meet the pop criteria for general consumption. I saw them play on the Letterman show once, the bald piano guy who pretends to be french in Blues Brothers 2000 said "ah, some real music for once" (as a jazz musician it's not real if you don't include at least one "blower" in your band).
My all time favourite gig was in Whistler (BC). It was in a small ski-town pub with a capacity of 150. My wife had been converting all of her colleagues as Cat Empire fans so we packed the tiny pub with friendly faces and stood close enough for the trumpet to make our ears bleed. I'm deaf now, but the memory is a good one.
A Bit More About Me
I like people and I like to travel and I hope to be miss universe one day. I also like world peace.
When I'm not changing poopy nappies (diapers) I'm trying very hard not to go to work. I'm an embedded engineer (which probably only means something to Raman who is a closet electrical engineer), but it basically means I write software for the computers you don't see. Most people's eyes glaze over when they ask what I do so I just tell them I like shiny things and I smile madly at them.
A few weeks ago I played the worst gig I've ever done in my entire life. A small country town hired our jazz band to play at their country bumpkin ball. They kept trying to do barn dancing in a circle but eventually gave up (it's pretty hard to do to swing and rock, let me tell you). Who the hell hires a jazz band for a barn dance? The weird thing is, this is the second time they've hired us. It was also near freezing so my lips kept sticking to my mouthpiece. Yeah, it was crap.
The previous paragraph is the reason I'm a professional engineer and not a professional musician :-)
3.5 - i had far too much fun with the front half of this album (and almost hit a few too many sheep driving down narrow irish roads). cat empire's sound put me back in the mindset of some fun ska-inspired themes from my more innocent college days (sublime, reel big fish, pain, the hippos, etc)
ReplyDeletekicking off with "days like these" made me feel guilty as i reminisced of bobbing my head to bad Sugar Ray/Smash Mouth tracks in college. but "the chariot" and "hello" - when taken together were a particular favorite
but then the album kind of goes off the handle and started to lose me ("the wine song", "nothing") - don't get me wrong, i enjoyed the 2nd half, but it almost like 2 completely different albums, and the 1st half set me up to have fun, not be kooky, weird, and lethargic. by the time you get to the more upbeat "manifesto" - it's too late, i'm already gone.
if it wasn't for the strong dichotomy of the album - i could have given this a 4.5, but alas, the separation was too deep.
It's funny that you look for consistency-of-style from an album because I tend towards the opposite. If an album sounds the same from top to tail then I think of it as a bit dull, like the artist hasn't tried to be creative with their music; unless of course the album itself is *supposed* to be one big piece made up of smaller movements. So for me the fact that this album changes style just makes it more interesting :-)
ReplyDeletei'm ok with the style evolving thru the album - but am not a fan when i feel like the band has "puts on the breaks" - shifting the tempo of the arrangement suddenly/unexpectedly.
ReplyDeletei DO agree that an album can't stay the same all the way thru (though it should maintain a consistent "sound") - and it definitely has to move in a direction, take you on a journey, tell a story, etc.
i'll plead my previous defense from kari's album review - i'm probably just not cool enough to get it :p
I feel you Raman (fist-chest-thumping). I love these guys but more because of their live shows and that their 'up' songs make you want to jump up and down (which is good for those of us that think this is still dancing).
ReplyDeleteTheir subsequent albums are just more of the same.
the benefits of allowing "open access" to musooklub friends and family - ben's brother comes to my defense on my offense of ben's lame album - FTW!
ReplyDeleteIt's the fact that your defender does it wearing a cape and tights that really gets you excited.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun and diverse album to listen to although I had to listen to it twice to appreciate it as I wasn't in the right mood to listen to it the first time.
ReplyDeleteMy favs are The Lost Song, The Chariot, and The Crowd. All That Talking was good too - had a lot of depth and texture, but a little long. There were a couple of songs that left me wishing for more - Hello, One Four Five, and Manifesto. Notably, some songs also had a 1990's Jazzy feel to it.
Overall - fun and holds your attention.
Similar to Jieun, after I heard the album the first time I was going to rate it below average But the more I listen to it, the better it gets. I think it also depends on your state of mind - this is not the music to listen if you want to chill or just sit back and contemplate philosophy or how it could take so long to plug an oil leak...but I digress. It's a fun album for the right mood.
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