CD, Crunch Pod, 2006
www.crunchpod.com/cat
California ‘Power Noisers’ C/A/T (pronounced, and meaning, simply “cat”) opens their latest EP, “ATF”, with a track that has a bit of a foghorn quality to it; not literally, of course, but in that it’s a warning of things to come, and the things to come are massive.
Throughout the album, released on founding member Ben Arp’s CrunchPod label, C/A/T maintain a consistent and powerful energy, matching aggressive beats with a pounding low end and almost rave-ish quality, contrasting the heavy sound with clever, and often hilarious, samples from “The Family Guy”, “Curb Your” Enthusiasm and more. There’s not a track on the disc that doesn’t make a stationary listener yearn for a dance floor to stomp across. Labelmate Caustic’s remix of “Enhancer” would be strangely welcome among glow-stick-wielding dancers at a techno club, while Terrorfakt’s interpretation of “Enemy Within” is far darker than the other songs, but no less listenable. Two awesome bonus tracks add value to this phenomenal disc.
C/A/T’s Arp, with band mate Kat, may set out to make “Music to Piss You Off”, but with “ATF”, they only succeed in making perhaps the strongest Power Noise release of the year, if not one of the strongest hard electronic releases, period.
[8/10]
— Tiara Lynn Agresta