Music for Cats in Bloomington, MN

The title of
cEvin Key
's
Music for Cats
shouldn't be taken literally; most felines would be a bit terrified of the electronic trickery
Key
and friends employ here. The friends make up what the liner notes call the SubConscious Orchestra, and they are the late
D.R. Goettel
,
Genesis P-Orridge
Ashok Sarkar
John West
Philth
, and
Mark Spybey
. The music these fellows create is a creepy, energetic, and gurgling cacophony of analog and digital confusion. Tracks like
"Meteorite,"
which sparkles and blips as sound effects crisscross between the right and left stereo channels, would cause any cat to twitch and turns its ears 270 degrees to see what the ruckus is about. It's certainly not about the
Goth
suspense and political statements of
Skinny Puppy
Goettel
's mother band. The songs actually sounds more like
Autechre
tracks than anything else.
"Bird"
is delicately pretty as it creates a bubbling mood of tension and paranoia. It wouldn't be out of place on a
Boards of Canada
album if it wasn't underscored by a repetitive, scary keyboard effect.
P-Orridge
's vocals on
"Inside Jam World,"
"Have You Ever Felt Like This?,"
and
"Beauty Is the Enemy"
are the usual spoken-word strangeness for which he's become known. In these instances,
operates more as a collection of mood pieces than anything approaching
or
Download
territory. Many songs end up sounding more like fragments than finished pieces.
leans toward relatively obvious samples, sound effects, and repetition a bit too frequently on the lesser tracks, which also unfortunately clock in longer than necessary.
"Herbalist Rule"
"Have You Ever Felt Like This?"
are two of the more successful tracks, with the former suggesting twisted
drum'n'bass
and the latter containing some truly terrifying moments via
.
is not at the visionary level of
, and it's not for skinny or fat cats, but it is effortlessly dark, cryptic, and discomforting, and often quite pretty. Ultimately, it suggests that, with better arrangements,
is capable of producing slightly more compelling music. ~ Tim DiGravina