Review: Felix Da Housecat, Virgo Blaktro & the MovieDisco

Felix Da Housecat obviously lost it at the movies.

Felix Da Housecat, Virgo Blaktro & the MovieDiscoFelix Da Housecat obviously lost it at the movies. First “Silver Screen Shower Scene” from his breakthrough LP Kittenz and Thee Glitz, followed by his mix album Playboy: The Mansion (a “soundtrack,” if you will), and, now, the ersatz gutterbrow double feature that is Virgo Blaktro & the MovieDisco. Not to mention the fact that his stunning remix of Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman” has been utilized in nearly every worthy silver-screen chase scene of the aughts (from Cellular to Miami Vice).

While it’s a shame many of his full-length tracks would sound better used in TV commercials, he continues to reveal himself as a master of musical interstitials and drop cues—and just as well, since only two songs on the album are even longer than three-and-a-half minutes. (Want more proof? Two of the three songs referenced in the album’s title are interludes.) Call it a case of Michael Bay-era short attention span, but Felix Da Housecat is one of the few dance music producers who apparently does not default to seven minutes. The introductory “Virgo Arrival” is a sultry, all-too-brief call to the balcony of one of the classier auditoriums on the old Deuce strip, one that embodies the “grind” in “grindhouse.” (I’ve got money down that that ends up the title of his next album.)

While the album is clearly more about conveying something like a plot from a bunch of disparate elements and influences (i.e. the essence of B moviemaking), a few do manage to stand out as set pieces. “It’s Your Thing,” both the album’s most successful boogie homage as well as its trickiest, alternates 4/4 measures with 7/4, making it damn near impossible to catch the beat. For a single moment, Felix has apparently wandered mistakenly into a Resnais retrospective. “I Seem 2B the 1” is one of the few songs that actually recalls the litany of musical “influences” cited in the liner notes (which, by the way, includes John Carpenter).

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The whole thing sort of suggests an Around the World in a Day-era Prince dabbling in the new wave sound of Human League. And if “Future Calls the Dawn” being both the album’s longest song and also one of its best just about screams “end credits,” well, it seems even Felix Da Housecat might long for the chance to thank the Academy.

Score: 
 Label: Nettwerk  Release Date: October 2, 2007  Buy: Amazon

Eric Henderson

Eric Henderson is the web content manager for WCCO-TV. His writing has also appeared in City Pages.

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