Catscan! is a two-piece electronic rock band out of Washington, D.C. Formed in the early 2000s by elementary school friends Mason Shelby and Paul Tsiaperas. Yucca Mountain (Dec 2019) is the culmination of almost two decades of sustained collaborative writing experience. This shows on the album, as every song from the gleefully sardonic opener “Stickup” to the sweeping grand finale “Yucca Mountain Theme” feels complete, polished, and intentional.
With a wide variety of interesting and beautiful sounds featured all across the album, each track manages to feel fresh, but they remain cohesive when taken as a whole. Their style is hard to pin down, to their credit, but the album contains definite nods to post-punk predecessors They Might Be Giants and the influence of other punk and new wave bands. However, with the advent of modern digital technology and effective use of acoustic instrumentation on Yucca Mountain, Catscan! has managed to forge a sound all their own. Paired with healthy doses of irreverence, absurdism, and insight, Yucca Mountain is a joy to listen to and an impressive accomplishment to behold.
Highlights: Skulls, Graveyard Shifters, Context Clues, Yucca Mountain Theme
FFO: They Might Be Giants, Talking Heads, Ween
Listen here: https://catscan.bandcamp.com/album/yucca-mountain
-E. H.
Glory In Sound 