Cat Piss – Germans
I, like most people who will be hearing the powerful, confusing work that is “Germans” by the excellently-titled Cat Piss, understood few of the lyrics and went on to assume that the construction and vibe are meant to soundtrack the bewilderment one feels when getting non-English speaking German-folk to provide directions.
Luckily, I got a hold of the lyric sheet. It does not contradict my initial theory. However, it does help showcase the poetry of an artsy post-punk band that seems to make some enemies and create powerful art. Easy listen this is not. “Germans rise from park benches/Shambling towards their last train/Slept under power lines/Soaked through from the rain“.
The story doesn’t end here as the West-Europeans further make their presence felt in the town’s shops “Formerly cat haven/Germans wander in the shop/Hours after sauerkraut/Soiled sweats in a box“.
Look, I am not clever enough to spell this out for you. The good news is that if, like me, you are rather lazy in finding meaning to this nebulous poetry, there’s the sound of this to lean on. You’ll be doing it at your own risk though. Cat Piss sound energized and let loose on an unsuspecting world like college students whose brains have been soaked in aging textbooks and bad drugs. They’re scary, clever, and well-organized much like German people themselves.
Spiritual Warfare and the Greasy Shadows – Take It Over
I’ve got a few friends, big music lovers, whose ideas of a joke are sharing the strangest types of songs that the internet will reveal to them. They share them in the same way that others use memes to express humour. This has, no doubt, helped expand my knowledge of the outer fringes of music-making, and has elicited a few chuckles along the way.
Now, nothing about Spiritual Warfare and the Greasy Shadows’ Take It Over should make you think that you’re in for a typical listening experience. With that kind of band name, and a promise to mix Garage rock with Bollywood sounds, you tend to get the feeling that the music here belongs to the related categories of a Frank Zappa streaming service entry, not one dedicated to Yes, or King Crimson.
Take it over tune begins with the kind of chants and tribal drumming that might be associated with the soundtrack of a lost world movie. Up next is a pleasant segment of 60s beat-rock through a lens of Indian inspired sounds. There’s even an operatic chorus that blends with the tone of the guitar.
All of these happen in less than four minutes. If you ever wondered what the 70s would have sounded like had the psychedelic sounds of Their Satanic Majesties Request been a bigger hit, this may be your best clue.
