My Secret Playlist with TheCat Empire

Tue 14th Apr, 2009 in Features

Fusing jazz, ska, and rock with Latin influences, The Cat Empire are an Australian festival sure-thing. Following two double platinum albums, they have recently reached album sales of 70,000 for their third album, So Many Nights. Here the party starters share some of their stereo staples.

Avalanches – Electricity
From Since I Left You, dare I say it, the greatest Australian album of the last ten years. It’s a killer. We’re all still hanging to see what the hell they come up with next.

Seeed – Papa Noah
Not many people seem to know much about Seeed outside of Germany. Somehow, one of their albums made its way to us back in 2002, and it instantly became everybody’s favourite. We just couldn’t play it enough. We only had one copy to pass around, and didn’t know how to get more. It was hard to decide which car would get to play it on road trips. They are an amazing reggae-dancehall-hip hop kind of band, with about fourteen members, all totally bad-ass players. We got hooked on a live DVD of theirs recently, too.

Fela Kuti – Zombie
Fela was an inspiring individual and unstoppable creative machine. He would play ten hour gigs every night. This is a killer Afro-funk track, and the horn line comes at you like an undead sax machine of the night.

James Brown – Give it Up or Turn It A Loose
Not to be confused with Give it Up or Turn it Loose. The money shot is in the breakdown in the middle, when James yells – œClyde!’ and drummer Clyde Stubblefield answers with the clappin’-est stompin’-est break ever.

Donny Hathaway – The Ghetto
From Hathaway’s amazing live album from 1972, featuring the most onto-it audience in the history of live recordings. Check out how tight their soul clap is at the start. It’s like they are all part of the band. They even get louder than the band in the call-and-response bit later on. Killer conga solo, too.

Bob Marley and the Wailers – Could You Be Loved
It’s hard to pick just one Bob Marley track, but this one always gets the party started.

Herbie Hancock – Chameleon
From the stoner jazz epic album Headhunters, this song is a bit of a cliché because of how often it gets pulled out at shabby jam sessions. But the playing on this recording is unbeatable.

KC and the Sunshine Band – That’s The Way (I Like It)
Another track from the – œone or two hands on the hi-hats?’ debate.

For more Secret Playlists from your favourite bands, visit www.mysecretplaylist.com

Words by The Cat Empire and Zolton Zavos