JUVENILIA is the only album released by the mysterious cartoon cats, released in 2018. But is it good?
That's right ladies and babies, it's the 20th week so it's another special edition, this week looking at an album by the mysterious cartoon cats. From what i remember from the now rectified bandcamp page, cartoon cats is actually sam from new york, though now in Antarctica, and claims to have made the entire album himself. I found this album after he posted it to 4chan, and loved the whole thing pretty much from the first listen. So let's get into it.
The album starts with IN THE KINGDOM OF MY MIND, and sam takes little time flaunting his lyrical and instrumental prowess, masterfully combining acoustic and electric guitar with keys and sequenced drums. The words in the track paint this abstract dreamy landscape, with lines like "where clouds are dancing in the sky, and sunshine girls come floating by" and "where flowers sprout out of my skull, and light up like a carnival" creating this vivid imagery with the same vibrancy seen in the album art. The track also presents a total mastery of dynamic range, with some parts have this beautiful full blown instrumental and others being little more than a bassy keyboard parts with Sam's vocals. It's a bloody excellent start to the album.
Track 2 is ROCK N ROLL SALVATION ECSTASY, and kind of feeds off a similar instrumental palette as track 1, but more exhausted and sunburnt, except in the hook where the instruments are pumped full of energy briefly before fading back down to the floaty, hazy verse section. The lyrics are again, top notch, referencing greek poets and appearing to be a commentary on being a famous musician. Maybe this cartoon cats is more familiar than we think? The track really does embody the "ecstasy" part of the title, with these manic highs and slurred lows.
MAYA kicks off the album properly with these twisted piano chords before even more twisted lyrics, with more surrealist lyrics like "the symbols she's writing, are colliding,
with the sound of engines starting up". The atmosphere becomes terrifyingly oppressive with faces being engulfed in flames and "flashing images in my brain". As Sam describes this girl, it becomes progressively more confusing as to what his relationship with this girl is- is she an object of affection, a friend, a crush, or just an idea? it's this perfect amount of ambiguity in the lyrics that let a listener theorise about the meaning whilst also relating to what is being sung about.
THOU ART THAT is almost euphoric, with effects laden instruments, and Sam singing "it feels just like I'm floating" and "I wanna disappear into the ocean". The production here is kind of insanely good considering it was all done by one guy, it feels like a whole band playing together for pretty much the whole song. I don't really have alot to say other than it's just another perfect song on this album.
IDK might be the most introspective song on an album packed with introspection, with the instruments floating between floating piano and guitar and these hectic abrasive passages over the hook, which by the end envelopes the track before it builds to Sam wailing "I tried to think of what to say, but I don't know, I don't know, I don't know" over just the piano, and I've listened to this album maybe 50 or more times and it still gives me goosebumps. It's just that good.
The penultimate track CON ARTIST sees Sam taking the role of this aforementioned con artist selling hope "for just 5 dollars a hit". The track doesn't take long at all launching into this apocalyptic soundscape, the drama of the track builds and builds with brief reprieves of calm for the hook. It could easily be a song about drug addiction and recovery, with lines like "chained to the bed in your jail cell room". The track's climax is mental and it isn't even the best one, that's in the final track:
I SHALL BE WHAT I SHALL BE manages to simultaneously put an effective end to the album whilst also leaving the listener hungry for more, the lyrics here are of the same quality if not better, and the music just hits these insane euphoric climaxes. It really feels as if the entire album is building up to this track and mother of god, what an unbelievable payoff, even listening to the album now I'm not even slightly bored of hearing it, the entire thing is just well arranged.
Overall, I just think it's a shame that this album is so low profile, the songs here feel like something that could easily be released on a major record label. The songs flow so well and have such a cohesive identity that the whole thing feels like a full album despite being 28 minutes and 7 tracks, it's just an absolute bloody masterpiece, I don't know what else to say. Genuinely brilliant.
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