AMG Review of Kittenz and Thee Glitz [US Bonus Tracks]

John Bush
All Music Guide

Kittenz and Thee Glitz is the second concept album from Felix da Housecat, the intrepid Chicago house producer behind 1999's excellent I Know Electrikboy (which he released as Thee Maddkatt Courtship). For this one, Felix moved from dance culture to sex culture, recruiting a bevy of detached, vaguely European-sounding female vocals (including starlet Miss Kittin) and producing a dozen songs on self-explanatory themes, like the 90210-dropping "Madame Hollywood." Though it doesn't have the astonishing musical range of I Know Electrikboy, Kittenz and Thee Glitz is just as fun, from the mindless singalongs, one-finger synthesizer melodies, and '80s electro disco sheen of "Happy Hour," "Glitz Rock," and "Silver Screen (Shower Scene)" (though the last sounds more reminiscent of the Cars than Cerrone). For "Control Freaq," a promising production soundclash with Junior Sanchez proves frustratingly short, and the handful of short vignettes also impede the flow. Da Housecat can't be stopped, though; Kittenz and Thee Glitz is an amusing ride through a similarly addled mind as glimpsed by hip-hop auteurs like Automato and Prince Paul. [This version of the album includes bonus material.]