Because of space limitations, we had to cut the Up & Coming blurb below that would've run in tomorrow's issue, but I want to post it here before I take off for vacation. Because, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I have a mad crush on Are You a Cat? and have become somewhat evangelical about the Seattle duo. You can check 'em out Sat. May 23 at Full Tilt Ice Cream at 8 pm.

Are You a Cat?, Yokai No Uta Trio
(Full Tilt Ice Cream) Seattle duo Are You a Cat?’s new Octopus Release CD (mastered by the masterly Mell Dettmer) finds them expanding their already absurdly vast stylistic range. The disc opens with an art-rock/electro-pop hybrid that James Pants should be spinning in his DJ sets. Track 2 struts saucily down DFA Records’ butch, disco runway with bulging bass muscles. The third song again flaunts AYAC?’s dance-floor prowess, proving that even these weirdest of experimentalists can get on the good foot. But there’s also a 23-minute Residents-meet-Black Dice-at-the-DMT-plant workout with gamelan undertones. It’s at once AYAC?’s most accessible and strangest release yet and makes one eager to hear where they’ll go next. Octopus Release, plus the four other CD-Rs by AYAC? I’ve heard, thrusts them to the top of Seattle’s underground-music heap.

(Photo from Are You a Cat?'s MySpace.)