mega cat is a new instrumental collaboration by Aaron Benson (drums, percussion, guitar,) Kim West (piano and synthesizer,) and Ryan Devlin (bass and guitar). For live performances, the band is joined by Dave Dederer (Presidents of the United States of America) on guitar. Ryan and Kim both play in the Seattle band Smokey Brights.
mega cat is a disembodied multidimensional being most discernibly experienced as sound waves. It was first discovered in a basement home studio in the Central District of Seattle, Washington by audio chemists Aaron Benson (drums, percussion, guitar) Kim West (synthesizer, piano) and Ryan Devlin (bass, guitar.) Upon first encountering mega cat, all three researchers experienced a loss of time, body dissociation, euphoria, and ego death. Reports of holographic thought, enhanced perception, and minor instances of levitation have been widely documented from just one encounter with mega cat. Though the being doesn’t seem to use traditional language to communicate, mega cat transmits instrumental narratives that feel familiar to fans of 20th-century science fiction, afro-beat, hip hop, and psychedelic music.
One night while walking home, keyboardist Kim West and bassist Ryan Devlin came upon two huge brown rats engaged in ferocious combat on their neighbor’s lawn. Both rats stood upright on their hind legs, claws wrapped around each other’s necks, two rows of sharp teeth snapping at each other. Suddenly, one rat picked the other up and threw him down with such force that the couple heard an audible thud. And in that moment, the drama and wild energy of the song they’d been working on that very afternoon with drummer Aaron Benson had a name: “Rat Fight.”
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Rat Fight,” mega cat’s first musical transmission and one that emblematic of the group’s punk musical approach filtered through hip hop instrumentals, 70’s Afro Beat and avant jazz, and the abrasive individualism only found in Pacific Northwest music. Indeed, the song carries a thick groove that features hair-tingling synths, slithering flute and guitar, and punchy, soulful horns. Guitars that tow the line between desert blues and Afrobeat weave in and out of everything to round out a sound that is danceable, sexy, and psychedelic, and will be sure to please fans of acts like The Budos Band and Antibalas as well as fellow Seattle outfit Polyrhythmics. The sound also marks a significant departure from the more straightforward rock and soul of Smokey Brights.
LISTEN:
One Response
Great title. Evocative. I see images of hustle and conflict; then a high energy pool party. Hope your agent submits this clip to her film studio contact.
Congratulations! I love this.