Cat Piss / Ibex Clone / Little Baby Tendencies [Small Room-Downstairs]

Thirsty for some Piss? No? Well, this Piss might make you reconsider. 

 

From out of a sewer in Omaha crawls a band called Cat Piss, and their music makes you want to throw bricks at moving cars. 

 

The band is a three-piece — Sam Lipsett on bass/vocals, Casey Plucinski on guitar/vocals and Nathan Wolf on drums/vocals. Each member has their hands in other respected Omaha bands, but Cat Piss is a knowing association of musicians aligned in creative restlessness. They’re hunting for that rush when three becomes one and chaos becomes harmonious. 

 

The music they make, which finds its locus in late-20th-century post-hardcore and indie rock, shares a spirit with contemporary bands like black midi or Tropical Fuck Storm, who nod to classic rock and jazz in their brands of noisy post-punk. But despite their short two-year existence, Cat Piss’s debut LP, Cat Piss Rides Again, presents a band with an identity of its own. 

 

On Rides Again, the band flexes its range, with all three members taking on songwriting duties. It results in a dizzying debut from experienced musicians with enough self-awareness to balance muscular riffing (“Turner”) with wry lyrical references to classic country. Album closer “Bobbi” gives the listener a wink and contains a contorted Led Zeppelin rip-off before diving into lyrics about SpongeBob. “Track 7” gives the sense that Cat Piss could write a pretty Mascis-type pop song if they wanted to, but within seconds, Lipsett is screaming over a hellish bassline like he’s wrapped in a straitjacket. Also worth a mention is Plucinski’s “Track 6,” a cut about a made-up spy movie car chase that’s as mighty as it is obnoxious. 

 

But the most consistently gratifying motif on Rides Again is when Plucinski, Lipsett and Wolf join in punishing walls of distortion brutal enough to grind teeth to powder. It’s a sign of a new band that knows its strengths and knows how to keep listeners coming back. Don’t overlook this band because of their name. You might just want to give this Piss a sniff.