Once I bought a used CD because the name of the band was The Multiple Cat and the name of the album was “Territory” Shall Mean The Universe and just how could you not? I was rewarded. The Multiple Cat was a 1990s band in the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, Rock Island and Moline in Illinois, headquarters of John Deere and hometown of Lara Flynn Boyle.) I’ve never been there but I have listened to this album a lot. It is not quite as philosophical as the name of the band (Schroedinger?) and the name of the album (Wittgenstein?) suggest. But very richly weird. My top track: North? which starts out as a kind of burbly, groovy chat-song and then about two and a half minutes in blossoms out into, I don’t know what, major-key chippy synths start to poke in, there’s a vocal line (“Saaaaay to me”) which I think must be sampled, it becomes majestic. Hear also: My Year As a Girl, which is not about trans stuff as far as I can tell, but is, whatever it’s about, a real indie-disco stomper from years before Franz Ferdinand was everywhere.
Anyway, The Multiple Cat faded out and songwriter Pat Stolley got involved running Daytrotter. But now it turns out they’re back! Have been for a few years. Their comeback record is called The Return Of. Not The Return of the Multiple Cat, that would be too obvious, just The Return Of. Highlight track: “Vampire Bats, Mall Rats.”
In other Quad Cities news, their microregional pizza sounds pretty great. On the other hand, the last microregional pizza I made a point of investigating, Old Forge pizza in Northeastern Pennsylvania, didn’t blow me away.
Quomodocumque 