- Catchy, convincing and self-deprecating funk and disco from the Melbourne master.
- Funk and disco are often celebrated for their joyous sense of release, but these traditions also carry generations of emotion, weight and pain. There's often fear or longing behind even the most anthemic classics, while everyone from George Clinton to Gloria Gaynor embedded heartbreak or defiant anger into some of their most enduring records. This is a lineage Harvey Sutherland, AKA Australian artist Mike Katz, knows well. Last year he kicked off the rollout for his debut album, Boy, with "Jouissance," a self-described "neurotic funk" song that used the motorik beats of Kraftwerk to create a sense of both propulsion and emptiness, an eternal search for a feeling that will never be found.
This is the thesis underpinning Boy, which takes his pitch-perfect dance floor instincts and imbues them with personality, pain and anger—all delivered with the wry smile of a seasoned performer. Katz's sense of musicality has always been head and shoulders above his peers. He's one of those rare dance artists who can make the transition from solo producer to full band without missing a beat, and on Boy his songs are full-blooded and fleshed-out, a collection of irresistible disco and funk with clever turns of phrase and killer grooves.
Katz has some help along the way. DāM-FunK shows up on "Feeling Of Love," a deceptively catchy track that's more about desperately trying to hold onto a feeling than actually enjoying it, while CLAMM's Jack Summers barks along to the surging "sos" with a sense of self-confidence so exaggerated you can see right through it. This strange brew of bravado and self-deprecation is all over Boy—"Angry Young Man" is a vivacious falsetto jam so pleasant you might not notice the vocals chanting the title. "Age Of Acceleration" hides a commentary about the exhaustiveness of modern life in a groove as bubbly and smooth as "Autobahn."
While Katz is clearly in thrall to the history of funk and disco, he's not trying to be anything he's not. Instead, he latches onto other strains and sub-genres, following in the footsteps of other loving imitators and people who have put their own spin on these sounds' fundamentals. Album highlight "Holding Pattern" and its shaking, vaguely Latin groove could be a lost Hall & Oates jam, while tracks like "Age Of Acceleration" and "Slackers," with their exaggerated slap basslines, garish major key melodies and simple chanted vocals, recall the heights of the '80s Japanese city pop movement. Like that genre, Katz's tracks bottle the appeal of funk and disco into something as sleek and effective as a memorable car commercial.
From the twitchy nerve of "Jouissance" to the effortless soar of the closing "Time On My Side," Boy hits several peaks and valleys, powering through them all except for a slight breather with the slow, brooding title track. There's a sense of perseverance here, but also a peace in accepting that not everything is gonna be fine all the time—a feeling you get in the ironic "Angry Young Man," or the way Katz sings "open relationship at my suggestion" with a palpable sense of both embarrassment and frustration in "Holding Pattern." But in the end, you go through everything and come out the other side pretty much the same, maybe even better. Speaking about "Feeling Of Love," Katz said, it was about "turning the other cheek, staying on course and gliding towards your destination," which could go for the whole record. Like the titans of disco before him, Katz is dealing with pain and anguish the only way he knows how: singing and dancing through it 'til it's over.
Tracklist01. Jouissance
02. Age Of Acceleration
03. Feeling Of Love feat. DāM-FunK
04. Holding Pattern
05. Michael Was Right About You
06. Slackers
07. Type A feat. sos
08. Angry Young Man
09. Boy
10. Time On My Side