9.20.2006
Cat Power
You heard Chan (pronounced "Shawn"). Spay and neuter your loved ones.

Chan Marshall is Cat Power. Vocalist, pianist, and guitarist; Chan does it all. Musically, she is a songbird. Guitar and piano are sparse and minimal; her voice is the main focus of her sound. She croons with almost heavy feeling, actually drawing tears from my eyes when I'm in the mood (Colors and the Kids is a personal tearjerker). Lyrically, she is a dark poet, quite comparable to Kurt Cobain (i.e. "I hate myself and want to die"). Although the last line may seem a bit crude, her words can also be damn poignant. Example from The Greatest: "Once I wanted to be the greatest/Two fists of solid rock/With brains that could explain any feeling..." How fucking simple yet how fucking true. Performance-wise, Chan is a crazy bitch... in a good way... Word is she gets throwed before the show, then proceeds to act thoroughly throwed throughout her set, abruptly stopping songs in order to apologize for a personal flaw, chattering away between numbers, then cutting everything short and leaving. She says she suffers from extreme stage fright. Well, I guess that could explain it. Her newest album, The Greatest, dropped earlier this year, and it is extremely check-out-worthy. '70s inspired (Mabon Hodges and Steve Potts both shared a hand in its making), its not my favorite from her (I really like You Are Free), but it's still damn good, damn personal, and damn eclectic, combining soul and folk and country and rock all into one masterpiece. If you love her, stay and listen to her.

From The Greatest
mp3 The Greatest

From You Are Free
mp3 He War

From Moon Pix
mp3 Colors and the Kids

Cat Power's Official site
Cat Power's Myspace
Published at 7:53 AM by Alina.
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