gullbuy music review

The Cat Box Quartet

title

Running Uphill

label

Radio Khartoum

format
CD

Cat Box Quartet CD coverThe Cat Box Quartet is a Copenhagen Denmark band centered around Marc Kellaway. Marc plays many instruments on the record, including thumb piano, viola da gamba and melodica.

Band Pass Tuning or Slowly Loading Paper could have appeared on any Múm album without fans noticing anything unusual. The melodica and natural instruments give the track an open air feel.

Arc as Metal has the same type of 'bang on the radiator' sound as Canadian band Pest 5000 back on the 1994 Blister 7inch.

Arc 3 uses accordion, The track would have fit very well on the Asthmatic Worm: A Compilation Of Electronic Accordion And Melodica Tracks comp.

Silent Play As introduces an electronic dub feel that may remind you of the Austrian band Sofa Surfers. Song From April, with rhythmic bursts of shortwave hissing, continues in this feel.

No Way! starts with a frequency pass like you would use to test if a speaker is damaged, then becomes an almost jungle/Dn'B track for a few seconds until dissonant brass instruments come in. A girl says "Come again" over and over, providing the only vocals on the CD.

The open-area feel of the music will appeal to fans of State River Widening or Ellis Island Sound, and the use of odd instruments that ring or clatter will appeal to fans of Rykodisc's Baka Beyond , those who enjoy the 2 records by The Thai Elephant Orchestra on Mulatta Records, or those interested in the many Thailand or Tibetan related CDs being released by the Alan Bishop / Sun City Girls related label Sublime Frequencies. The extensive melodica use will attract fans of Augustus Pablo, particularly the closing track Cut .

This CD is the only instrumental record on Radio Khartoum's roster, and I'd say the label did well to discover this piece of music (this is Cat Box Quartet's debut record after a handful of CDRs) and release it for all of us to hear.

---Carl, September 6, 2005