The Cat Empire - On The Attack
Performance
Production
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The Cat Empire - On The Attack
Performance
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I mostly only review concert videos from bands that I am somewhat familiar with and whose DVDs I have purchased myself. I'd have to quit my day job and probably get divorced to keep up with reviewing any significant amount of promotional DVDs, especially when I am not familiar with the band, or do not particularly dig the genre of music. That brings us to this DVD. I recently agreed to do some reviews for a website called DecentXposure (no, it's not a porno site), which specializes in supporting emerging artists and unsigned bands. The Cat Empire's On The Attack was the first to arrive at my door. The Cat Empire are a six-piece band, based out of Melbourne, Australia, whose sound is a diverse mix of Cuban and Latin jazz, alternative-rock, reggae, ska, funk, and hip-hop influences, just to name a few. Their debut studio album, The Cat Empire, arrived in 2003, and has since gone on to achieve double-platinum status. They followed in 2005 with Two Shoes, which was a massive commercial success Down Under where it debuted at #1. The Cat Empire have been selling out concerts throughout the world ever since, and this June they wowed an unsuspecting crowd at the massive Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival that is held each summer in Tennessee, and draws upwards of 80,000 people. On The Attack is essentially a documentary movie of The Cat Empire's 2004 tour of Australia. It is certainly not a live concert film, although it does mix in some excellent concert footage - just not nearly enough. The DVD follows a setlist, but each song relentlessly switches between live performances, interviews, and behind the scenes footage. This is all artistically spliced together using a variety of editing effects to give the recording a very unique look and feel that matches the bands eclectic style. I am not the biggest fan of this type of documentary-style concert film, in general, as I prefer my concert footage and documentary footage completely separated at the hip. What you end up with here, would have made for a better bonus feature to a complete, uninterrupted, live concert film. At least the bonus CD gives you that much. The Cat Empire's music is a genre-splicing, high-energy trip that makes you want to jump up and dance, but also leaves some room to just kick back and absorb the feast of sounds that are thrown your way. As I listened to this stuff, I was reminded of several different artists ranging from the Buena Vista Social Club, Madness, Chick Corea, A Tribe Called Quest, and Bob Marley. The music is highly free-form and ambitious. Each performance creates an audience absorbing, party-like atmosphere, which I can only imagine must make each show feel completely different from the last. The DVD I received was produced in PAL format, which means that it was worthless in my NTSC standard DVD player and TV. Since I was relegated to watching this on my computer, without the use of my surround sound system and big screen TV, I was unable to do a proper evaluation of the sights and sounds on display. From what I could tell, the audio and video were both very well produced. The picture was a mix of both camcorder and professionally shot footage that received quite a bit of post production processing to give certain segments a very colorful style. The audio sounded exceptionally crisp and well mixed when pouring out of my two PC speakers in stereo, but I would have loved to have heard this stuff cranked up in 5.1 surround. Along with the nine song main feature, there is an abundance of bonus material included in the "Encore" section of the DVD. One of the most interesting features is a bizarre unplugged version of the Eagles' "Hotel California", which the band performed live at a local radio station. Dubbed "L'Hotel de Californie", and sung completely in French, this melodica-led version sounded like something you might have heard in an old French pub in the 1940's. An eight song bonus CD is also included, which contains complete live versions of many of the same songs from the DVD. With the help of some extensive touring to showcase their dynamic live performances, I can certainly see The Cat Empire exploding here in the U.S. The college crowd seems particularly vulnerable to their charm, as I can think of no better CD to throw on at a diverse gathering of partying college students, than the latest offering from The Cat Empire. Although my musical passions fall predominantly around the rock and blues genres, The Cat Empire offers a cool change of pace for those of us in the mood for something very different. I look forward to seeing a true live concert DVD from these guys in the future. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - November 2006 |
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Running Time: 64 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - September 2004 |