Felix Da Housecat
Kittenz and Thee Glitz
[Emperor Norton; 2001]
Rating: 4.2
Felix Stallings, Jr. has been at the pinnacle of the second generation of Chicago
house music since his wildpitch debut, By Dawn's Early Light. On that album,
released under his alias Thee Maddkatt Courtship, and very much under the influence
of his studio mentor, DJ Pierre, Felix took Pierre's multiply layered hypnotic
grooves and added melancholic intimacy via his own soon-to-be-trademark heavily
processed vocals and those of Harrison Crump, the Marvin Gaye of house music
(right down to the unfortunate surname).
Felix's follow-up to the swirling electro-soul of his debut was the avant-techno
funk of Alone in the Dark which blurred the distinctions Felix had made
between his soulful work under the Thee Maddkatt Courtship name and the brooding
vengeful techno of his Aphrohead work. Common to both, though, is Felix's unique
skill at creating serene surfaces that conceal tremendous undertows beneath.
Despite receiving bouquets from critics and DJs alike, the public never took to
these releases. Felix refused to compromise his vision or diminish the power of
his music until 1999's I Know Electrikboy. With its fusion of Controversy-era
Prince and Dare-period Human League, I Know Electrikboy laid out the
blueprint for the current synth-pop/euroclash trend. With contributions from all
his regulars, and with an especially sublime-sounding Harrison Crump, I Know
Electrikboy is a remarkable play for both cash and kudos.
The same cannot be said for Kittenz and Thee Glitz, Felix's Electrikboy
sequel. With guests drawn from outside of his usual circle, the record quickly
becomes Felix's New Power Generation-equivalent. And just as NPG releases were
unmistakably Prince-derived yet also Prince-diluted, so Kittenz and Thee Glitz
is Housecat watered down by trivia and outside egos.
I Know Electrikboy revolved thematically around Felix's love of music, and
naturally, Kittenz has a concept, too (though it may not be as distinctly
international this time around): the price of fame and the lack of superstar
privacy (Naomi Campbell's precedent-setting victory against The Daily Mirror
came too late for Felix to adjust his stance). The Italian rip-off James Bond
cover of the Emperor Norton issue of the album loses the power of the European
City Rockers cover which blankly replicated the paparazzi-sniper-lensed layout of
celebrity magazine Hello!. Felix and collaborator, Miss Kitten, are "shot"
perusing what indictingly resembles a Cheesecake Factory menu, getting to luxury
cars with bimbettes, shopping for designer items-- a vapid parade of every
superstar's humdrum daily routine.
Complimenting the artwork, the album is a humdrum collection, and hardly the stuff
I expect from Felix. Nothing here comes to life like his previous mini-masterpieces
"My Life Muzik," "Metropolis" and "Wet Wednesday." The limp "Harlot" opens the
disc, thereby introducing Melistar to the world. Melistar rides a fuzzed bassline
similar to Thomas Heckmann's "Amphetamine" and blankly mimics Miss Kittin's vacant
delivery. The rigid funk of "Walk With Me" follows, dipping into the same fountain
as "My Life Muzik" without ever taking its shoes off.
"Pray for a Star" is classic Harrison Crump, with an angelic, mournful voice tripping
through minimal accompaniment. Felix has never failed to allow Crump all the space
he needs within a song, and that rule applies here as it did nearly a decade ago.
But it's such a pity that Felix grants Crump only two slots on the present album.
Quite why he didn't reject Miss Kittin's contributions ("Voicemail," "Madame
Hollywood" and "Silver Screen - Shower Scene"), is uncertain, though it likely has
something to do with a severe lapse of judgment.
Miss Kittin obviously saved her
more charming performances for her albums with the Hacker (First Album) and
fellow Swede, Goldenboy (Or). Felix applies the same hands-off technique to
"Madame Hollywood" as he did to "Pray for a Star" but Kittin's dull-as-dishwater
celebrity fantasies and irritatingly neutral delivery pale in comparison to how
Harrison Crump performs in an identical environment. It's the difference between
true talent and a plastic knock-off.
At least for "Silver Screen - Shower Scene" Felix breaks out a devastatingly
massive club groove. The Godzilla bassline pounds hard enough it's actually
easy to ignore Miss Kitten's twittering about nicotine and "endless pleasures in
limousines." I read more intriguing fantasies in Dan Savage's "Savage Love" advice
column on Thursdays. But Oprah Winfrey in a career-destroying scat gangbang
scenario is tough competition, so maybe we'll give her a break on this one.
For "Control Freaq," Felix collaborates with Junior Sanchez to produce an
all-stomping, all-tweaking but essentially dull Daft Punk sound-a-like. Melistar
and Miss Kittin join together in blandness for the Level 42-does-jungle track
"What Does It Feel Like?" At least Felix emulation of Visage's "The Anvil" during
"Happy Hour" goes some way to redeem yet another one of Melistar's catalog of
superstar room-service, chauffeur-driven things she must endure as such a major
celebrity. The sad part is that none of this banging on about celebrity status
has even the remotest whiff of parody or sarcasm about it. Can anyone imagine
Felix and his crew writing screeds like V/VM's "Hate You," whose proclamations
actually change minds about our media-whore society?
Well, regardless, however much of a disappointment the majority of Kittenz and
Thee Glitz has come to me, I can't lose faith in Felix. Closing the album with
"Runaway Dreamer" and Harrison Crump at his most charmingly dolorous, I know that
whatever Felix does these days, he'll never lose my admiration for his previous
truly stellar achievements. With any luck, Kittenz and Thee Glitz will
bring him such fame and notoriety that the dire exhaustion of it all forces him
into seclusion. There he could return to his true calling: creating poignant dance
music without equal.
-Paul Cooper, April 10th, 2002