The Twin Cats: Face-melting funk at the Mousetrap

Local jam-band The Twin Cats were back at the Mousetrap last night (appropriate, no? cats, mousetrap...) and a buddy and I turned up for the show. I've heard of these cats before but never actually managed to catch one of their shows. They play a sort of Jazz-Funk (Funk-Jazz, really) that's heavy on the guitar, features the work of two saxophonists, and verges on Space Funk at times. Somehow the moniker Space Funk seems especially appropriate because the lead horn player sometimes plays an electric wood-wind type instrument reminiscent of what that big blue alien in Star Wars plays at Mos Isley space station. To describe their sound, I use the words of one fellow concert-goer: face-melting funk.

We walked in just as opening band Midwest Hype was wrapping up their set. Midwest Hype is more along the reggae lines...at times they reminded me of a grittier Sublime and I wish I'd caught more of that set. But we got our money's worth with The Twin Cats, barely escaping their three-hour set without having our faces melted off in the process.

Highlights of the night were the work of guitarist Seth Catron (I think), whose extended riffs often stopped the crowd in its tracks; the mind-warping work of synth player Phil Geyer; the dual sax and electro-flute thing; and the laser light show. It's next to impossible to describe the feeling of being at a live show. Sometimes there's that transcendent moment where--no matter what's going on in your life--the music and the vibrations begin to mesmerize you and start to get in synch with your brainwaves, and the music literally starts to speak to you. Let's just say I got there last night thanks to The Twin Cats. At times, it felt like we'd been transported to some smoky bar in the year 3011 A.D. or like the Mousetrap was going to launch directly into outer space. But it ultimately did not...and our faces did not melt off.

I realize--as an honest journalist--I can't gush over every single band or record I hear...so I will just say the perils of listening to a jam-band is sometimes their stuff begins to run together. But I suppose that's kind of like criticizing a Rambo movie cause there's too much shooting. I will just wrap-up by saying: for $5 bucks we got more than our money's worth and I would definitely get off my *ss to go see these guys again.