Kittycraft is Minneapolis-based
Pamela Valfer's ingenious melding of sugary vocals and relaxed looped beats. Her sophomore album,
Catskills, continues her
lo-fi but technologically savvy work as she blends
folk-tinged vocal tendencies with chilled out and occasionally slightly bizarre beats. Underscoring the tracks are tinkling keyboard effects that avoid sounding childish but still manage to be unabashedly playful. Similar in concept, though far less hyperactive than
Cornelius'
Fantasma,
Catskills is an easy to digest record of not quite perfect yet still enjoyable
pop confections. There's funky
hip-hop sampling complete with standup basslines and record fuzz, and there are also tripped-out samples under airy harmonies, all mixed up to the point where both styles can occur in a single song. With all of these effects and her floating vocals, songs like
"At the Charity Stripe" see
Kittycraft putting a brand new spin on the
Portishead concept. This may not be the record you memorize every lyric to, but its infectious and easy to stomach grooves will still leave a smile on your face and some bounce in your step.
Valfer successfully constructs a landscape of intelligent beat-oriented
pop on this record, and she should at least get some recognition for taking a chance as an intelligent female songwriter putting an adventurous bit of herself into a context that lacks any real peers. Sampled
pop with a sickeningly-sweet delivery isn't exactly all the rage, but
Kittycraft is still paving the way for this playful new sound that has the ability to branch out in just about any direction imaginable. ~ Peter J. D'Angelo
