Killer Hertz! 
EY has lost count of the sheer number of glowing reviews that Katsen have reviewed on passionate blogs across the planet in the past few weeks.
Most of them have have mentioned '8-bit' and the usual early 80's references whilst tuning in to multi-layered delights of 'It's Hertz'' but we think that some of the influences go way beyond that.
EY resisted the mp3 link provided by their label. We are still in love with the physical format and EY HQ has been trapped within the wonderful world of Katsen ever since the CD dropped through our letterbox. A montage of cats - some riding a Casio VL-Tone - are all mixed in with 50's imagery for the beautifully printed gatefold sleeve. It's the Sheffield Photographic Corporation's 9th release and they have struck gold with one of the most inventive electronic albums of 2009.  Katsen are no strangers to long term readers of EY. Last summer, we delayed the release of 'EY VOL 1' in order to squeeze on their track ' Where Nobody Can Find Us' - a track that EY & Undo fell in love with - convinced that it could someday be a future pop hit. We delayed the compilation again to accommodate a special extended remix from Katsen that the band sent us in closing moments of 2008. One year on and 'Where Nobody Can Find Us' is receiving radio plays on the BBC and Steve Lamacq names 'It Hertz' as his 'Alternative Album Of The Week' on Radio One. ..'It Hertz' kicks off with futuristic sci-fi bleeps and effects that the BBC Radiophonic workshop would have used during the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor as he faced an army of six Sea Devil's off the coast of Portsmouth back in 1972. A few seconds into ' Let's Build This City' and a buzzy fat bass sound clicks this frantic track into gear and it's the bassline and stark percussion that is a glowing homage to League Mk 1 and 1979's ' Reproduction'. Given that EY was created purely out of love for 'Reproduction' & ' Travelogue', space age ' Blake's 7' sound effects and BBC Radiophonics, 'It Hertz' puts us into a trance whenever we put it on and there are always new sounds to discover with every spin of the CD. Donna and Chris share the vocal duties on this album opener and they work amazingly well together throughout the entire album and 1.57 seconds into ' Let's Build This City', there is a lovely warm synth lead during the chorus that never drowns out all the other tasty sonics bits. The second track is Single Contender Number One. ' Chequered Flag' is sadly one of the few tracks on this album that hasn't had a special Katsen kitchen performance video made for it which is a bit of a shame as it's possibly one of the best tracks we've heard this year. But you can hear it in glorious sterea via that band's myspace player. Kicking off with trippy percussion much like BEF/H17's ' Let's All Make A Bomb', an off mic cough by Donna is preserved before an intro full of bleeps leads us to a brilliant verse.  Much has been made about comparisons with early 80's synth idols but we actually think that this track owes more to the modern sonic assault electro of Canadian electro stars Crystal Castles (particularly ' Alice Practice' and ' Crimewave' ). Like Crystal Castles, Katsen also use a succession of quick firing 'arcade' bleeps to beef up the percussion and drive of the track. Whilst Donna delivers the verses on this indie electro gem, Chris does the honours over a very catchy chorus to a beloved arpeggiated bassline before Donna returns with alternate lyrics and some great vocal interaction with Chris for a rousing finale. 'Chequered Flag' is probably the best example of Chris's intricate programming and ear for great sounds though it's pretty much evident across 'It Hertz'.  A good few years in the making with many laboured nights in Brighton twisting knobs on ancient banks of unstable synths, the passion and love that has gone into this album shines through from the very first listen. More is revealed with repeated listens before it all magically clicks into place. Perhaps the least successful track on 'It Hertz' is ' Cactus', presented here without the Katsen layers of previous tracks. It's a rather sparse cover of Pixies track with obsessive lyrics. We probably would have preferred Katsen's recent cover of The Cure's ' Play For Today' that has more of a melody to play around with.  Single Contender Number Three is a track that always brings a smile to our face and one can imagine Donna & Chris laughing in the corner of studio during the playback of Donna's treated vocal line of ' Your not weeeell'. ' I'm A Doctor' is a trans-dimensional glam rock stomp, more League Mk1 and KLF than Goldfrapp about a doctor needing to treat a very sick town. Lyrically twisted and slightly nightmarish, it has little to do with Doctor Who though the bassline does seem to borrow heavily from Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire's original theme tune from 1963. It all makes us want to laugh and dance at the same time with it's random randomiser beats and Type 40 sequencing. It's only a question of time before this track turns up in a Dr Who documentary. ' Island In A Island' is pure .....bonkers but it's so endearing. Donna's perfectly posh English accent is like something out of the 60's spy drama The Avengers. Steed would have loved Donna and taken her on missions to destroy countless screaming Cybernauts. A minute into the track and wonky Radiophonic synths cut in to give it all a vibrant edge as Donna's 'Island in a island' mantra becomes ever so slightly manic towards the end. .. Chris delivers the vocals on one of our featured tracks 'What You Want' that has an air of new wave plus a few brief punky guitar chords before changing direction completely into a lovely little electro instrumental part that is pure Soft Cell from the 'Non Stop Erotic Cabaret' era.
Up next is ' Drax' that reminds us very much of Orbital's 1996 album ' In Sides' (the best electronic album of that decade in our humble opinion bar Leftfield's debut a year or so earlier). For the most part it's a glorious instrumental full of clever sonic invention much like the League's ' Dignity Of Labour' EP though the focus here is pretty much on the space age melody. In the final third, Donna and Chris once again combine so perfectly for the vocals. Heavens to Betsy that these two met and that Donna left the circus to help Chris build analogue synths. Things slow down a bit for a very faithful cover of Passions classic ' German Film Star'. You can't really mess around too much with a classic single of this nature but Katsen actually managed to produce a version that is far more atmospheric than the recent Pet Shop Boyscollaboration with performance artist Sam Wood. Title track 'It Hertz' is the album's only instrumental and again it takes us back to Orbital's masterful 'In Sides. It's a pleasant three minute musical interlude before the final big three stompers. ' Constellation' could have been sung by Captain Sensible inbetween 1982's ' Brenda' and 1984's ' Glad It's All Over'. Warm and fuzzy and typical of the entire album.  Perennial future hit ' Where Nobody Can Find Us' is one of EY's fave tracks in recent years, sublime pop, once heard ...never forgotten but our most treasured Katsen track (so far) is album finale ' Florian'. A former EY Single Of The Week and a contender of EY Song Of The Year, it was a real delight to hear the finished version of 'Florian' on CD having played the live you tube performance to death. It's a lovely Kraftwerky melodic number with a resonating bassline and spine tingly melodies.
This is Single Contender Number 4, a track we can't stop humming or daydreaming to and it's the best album finale since Marsheaux's ' Heaven' on ' Peek A Boo'. If EY was a band then we would pretty much sound like Katsen..... EY Rating: 9/10 Support great new electro and grab a copy of 'It Hertz' on CD via this link. You can also download the entire album over at Amazon for under a fiver! Just jump here. Katsen's 'virtual gig' - catch selected 'It Hertz' tracks performed live here. |