"Felix da Housecat (AKA Thee Maddkatt Courtship) shines a beacon light at the end of the contemporary music tunnel with KITTENZ & THEE GLITZ. Firmly rooted in the 80's without sounding retro, nor patronizing to "the artist formerly known as his royal purpleness", Felix delivers some major "punk funk". New wave for the millenium. Beyond fashion and trend, he takes the best electronic elements of that era and crafts the sounds into a futuristic, dance friendly extravaganza. Deftly aided on vocals by Miss Kittin from DJ Hell, Melistar, and Electricboy - all help create a kind of robotic Kraftwerk-esque jewels like "Madame Hollywood", "Happy Hour", "Silver Screen (Shower Sceen)", "Harlot", and "Glitz Rock". Equally tempered by instrumental cuts "Analog City" and "Sequel 2 Sub" it all sounds fantastic, fresh, and fun. How this disk slipped by basically unnoticed is beyond belief. This is "stand-up stuff" and ushers up some major, classic grooves. Felix, you're the man with an ear for the past and an eye on the future."
An Intelligent Kitsch Album of 80's New Wave
50cent-haircut | 01/27/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Finally, this album is released in the states! Various singles from Felix da Housecat got heavy rotation time on independent radio stations over the past year, most notably "Silver Screen (Shower Scene)" and "Madame Hollywood". The vocals of these two particular tracks were done in hilarious monotone by Miss Kitten, and along with the robotic beats and 80's synthesizer sounds, you are taken right back to the eighties - but in a good way! Other songs like "Harlot" and "Glitz Rock" are equally fun in a tongue-in-cheek way, while songs like "What Does It Feel Like" shun easy 80's parody and try to recreate a darker sonar world of the time period. This album is a relief from all the mind-sapping mediocre trance and two-step albums out there. "Kittenz & Thee Glitz" hearkens back to the 80's with a sense of both wry cynicism and earnest fascination, and in turn neither glorifies nor trivializes the era. What we listeners get is a great electronica that comes off beautifully on its own right, and it's a tribute to Felix da Housecat's musicianship that what should sound so old and hackneyed sounds so eerily fresh and new."
Inspired Smooth Techno
Matthew L. Roffman | Smyrna, GA USA | 03/15/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I wouldn't call Felix's stuff 80s music. There are other bands like the Faint which are closer to what music sounded like in the 80s. Not that Felix isn't clearly influenced by the 80s. Felix combines an easy going techno sound with beats that kick and are at times downright industrial sounding. Like Moby's "Play" or BT's "Movement In Still Life" (GOD FORBID I MENTION THESE, NOW YOU're ALL GONNA GIVE ME BAD VOTES), the album does not get too caught up in how it's supposed to sound and instead tries to be innovative with each track. Most songs don't have lyrics and the ones that do typically have female spoken word. Track 12, "Pray for a Star" is a notable pop exception... kind of an emotional ballad. I'm not a raver, I like listening to this in the morning when I'm getting up or at work when I'm typing away. I like Track 4 (Madame Hollywood), Track 8 (Happy Hour), Track 10 (Glitz Rock) and Track 13 (Sequel2Sub). "Happy Hour" and "Madame Hollywood" are two of the songs with Female Spoke word (Kitten has a sophisticated European accent). "Glitz Rock" is a happy little synthesized demo and "Sequel2Sub" is also a synthesized romp with some classy Piano accompaniment. I think Felix is one cool Cat."
MEOW ! This is cool for cats!
DJ V. | Los Angeles, CA | 02/01/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If there's any doubt that the 80's Electro/New Wave revival hasn't started yet, Felix Da Housecat will claw your eyes out with a pastel colored neon light. This Chicago DJ is so brilliant, he samples T&A tarts The Flirts (obscure 80's reference #1) and makes ya wanna scream "Yahoo!" for Yazoo. Enter the stunning Miss Kitten, the Swiss mistress who lends her icy cool, deadpan vocals on Teutonic pulsating tracks like "Madame Hollywood" and the box-office boffo "Silver Screen Shower Scene." Already a DJ club smash, this throbbing synth-disco-ditty is unquestionably the lyrical sequel to Soft Cell's "Sex Dwarf," if it was co-written by Marlene Dietrich and Christina (obscure 80's reference #2). The rest of the disc gives nods to other era faves, be it Devo (the instrumental "Control Freaq") or "Dirty Mind" era Prince (the frenetic "What Does It Feel Like," which EG Daily could easily bop her head to - obscure 80's reference #3). Meanwhile, if it's `obsession' you crave, go straight to "Happy Hour." The latter part of the disc twitches more trance-like on tracks like the ethereal "Pray For A Star" and the sensitive "Runaway Dreamer," both featuring the pre-skin-bleached Michael Jackson-esque vocals of Harrison Crump. While Felix might purr-ty like it's 1982, his paws are planted in the future. Someone might be jealous though, and their name is Trans-X (obscure 80's reference #4). So totally tubular, it hurts."
Fresh funky cool
M. C. Peixoto | Seattle | 10/11/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd is really great for any dance fan. Retro electro beats that felix lays down with ease. Some songs are on the layed back side but some really make u want to get up and dance. Highly reccomended for anyone who liked the miss kitten and the hacker cd "first album"!"