[ greyweed ] -- and the bored shall inherit the earth...

CATTSKI EP
by greyweed


One of the pivotal moments of this era in Pinoy rock is when Korn became less and less of an influence for the younger musicians. This is not saying that Korn is a terrible group to look up to, but it just so happened that most of the bands that followed their footsteps have either ended up sounding exactly like them or have disbanded.

It is in the middle of this that the band Cattski began making music in their native Cebu. Gifted with a brilliant sense of melody and grooves, the band was formed with Cattski Espina on vocals, Anne Muntuerto on rhythm guitars and back-up vocals, Jam Quijano on lead guitars, Brian Sacro on bass and Junnell Codilla on drums. Exactly why they named their band after the vocalist is yet to be revealed. What we, however, should focus on is their music.

The band lists down Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Plumb and No Doubt as immediate influences. Thankfully, they refuse to be enticed and adopt the flashy guitar solos and bass slapping luridness other modern musicians seem to contribute to today's scene. Instead, the essential Cattski sound is well grounded; a fusion of rock and pop, with the necessary taste of folk to boot. And the variation is refreshing and a welcome introduction to Cebu’s current music movement. A proof of this would be Cattski’s gig with Admit One Productions at Freedom Bar, QC last August where the attendees kept on screaming for more even after the encore.

The self-titled disc is a tangy cocktail of sounds, opening with “Questions,” a terrific song that has a nice basic tune that gives a slightly melancholic quality, making it a pretty good opening to the EP. Pure confusion seem to wail over the folk-tinged vocals, while the guitars give off a sense of inscrutability, undoubtedly making the song fit in with the soundtrack to perhaps the television teen mystery flick Roswell or even the cult-worshipped X-Files.

The second track, "Secrets," then follows with its opening riffs admittedly sounding dangerously close to Incubus’ "Drive". Despite this, it's still a solid offering that puts focus on Espina's skills as a lyricist which is splendidly translated with her own vocals and set atop by a good intrumentation. "Sleeping With The Enemy" is arguably one of the best songs in the EP, carrying sensible pop panache with a catchy tune. It opens with a phone being dialed and an impressive drum-bass interplay sets in. You’ll find yourself nodding to the song or scrambling for the inlay for the lyrics to sing along. But then the last few chords fades as the disturbing ending shoves in with just the phone's busy tone and the mono-induced vocals.

The familiar “High and Low” then caves you in a with a sensation of rapture with the light guitar playing, soothing vocal work in a backdrop of a seemingly pained rhythm section. “Stereotype,” on the other hand carries a catchy beat and a impressive groove and is decidedly the heaviest in the EP, with its soaring bass and solid guitar work. “Drunk” features Anne’s excellent keyboard accompaniment, adding a nice and light feel to it which, true to its title, will make you feel light-headed. It’s a dark, feel-good ditty that sounds melodiously happy but reveals a certain pang of annoyance lying somewhere between the cracks upon close inspection. “High and Low (raw)” is a little sedated compared to the original version, and if not for the lyrics, it would have felt like an entirely different song. Also notable is “Secrets (live)” just right before the EP comes to a close.

The band’s music may not be as tight as most of today's studio produced, radio-ready tracks but that certain “looseness” works well for them. In fact it seems to be an integral part of Cattski’s core vibe, giving their sound a hollow but textured channel for the basic human emotion to funnel through. And they even let themselves experiment and deviate from their roots, allowing a lot of leg room for a healthy dose of eclecticism.

While the vocalist Cattski’s voice slays in a somewhat despondent nature, Anne’s more unperturbed back-up work manages to catch up and even offers to balance out the dejection. Jam, on the other hand, flexes out a variety of angst-ridden yet reposed riffs that screamed of talent, while he manages to stay in the background, grinding Anne’s own rhythmic epicenter. If Cattski is the emo-bomb, Brian is the elegy-master; looking detached, unconcerned and stoic, with his eyes closed as his head nods and waves along with the flow of his exemplary bass playing. Junnell lays in the beats like a pile driver would affect a canvas arena. Yet he is almost always silent, as his drumsticks would ostensibly take over his arms; the result is a set of heavy beats that churn the bass fluidly but fits squarely in the shoebox.

Even as early as now, Cattski’s talent as a lyricist blinks along words that are simple but refreshing in this day and age of heavy metaphors (pretensious, even) and overt lack of both substance and style. The apparent trend in the EP revolves around laying in a basic metaphor and having a field day around it as it expresses and tell tales while still keeping a toe in reality. A collection of prose weaved by a true wordsmith no less. And the music simply plows in that path inducing a chi of tranquility even as they skulk with perplexity in a milieu of mixed sentiments.

As far as new bands go, this one definitely has what it takes to succeed in terms of conquering the creative side of their musicianship. Even the ones prominently striking the local music scene are noticing them; “Like most Cebu-based bands that I've seen, magaling silang tumugtog, magpatunog ng mga instrumento, magtimpla, at maglaro ng dynamics onstage.” so says a vocalist of one of the leading indie acts in Manila. And not to mention, CEO of Washington-based indie label Know-It-All Records (who have recently taken both the Pin-up Girls and Chain Gang under its wing) has recently expressed interest to do a remix of "Questions."

And since Cattski is a true-blue Cebuano band, there is this inescapable comparison to other Cebu-based groups. Truth is, comparisons are utterly trivial since none of these bands sound anything like Cattski. To sum it all up, Cattski is a Cebuano band playing with an exploitative sound that simmers with an introspective calling to the foreign vibe while still is decidedly local.

And that gives them a definitive quality that may very well help redefine this Korn-forsaken era.