HEAR THIS: Kitten
Right now, the highest rated comment on Kitten’s “Cut It Out” You Tube video is the following: “Is this chick legal yet?”
That’s a valid question—and as it happens, no, she’s not. In fact, Chloe Chaidez (check out our interview with her HERE), the frontwoman of Los Angeles four-piece Kitten, seems to have short-circuited all the unpleasant awkwardness of artistic puberty, thanks to her Karen O sass and extensive songwriting pedigree. This leonine minor has more experience at 17 than most musicians can boast at 30. When she was 10, Chaidez performed in cover band Wild Youth, playing beside Conor Oberst and Band of Horses.
2010’s widely circulated Sunday School EP offered quite a range of sound for a band firmly nestled in the canon of pop-rock: traditional garage guitar riffs, danceable buzzing backbeats, and handfuls of punk confetti. Recently released Cut It Out expands upon this high-polish synth sound, recalling the charging momentum of Ladytron’s fantastically fembot “Destroy Everything You Touch.”
However, all the galactic shimmer of Kitten cannot be attributed to Chaidez alone (though it’s easy to forget). Andy Miller (guitar), Chris Vogel (bass), Max Kuehn (drums) heft up Chaidez’s breathless panting, making it less Goldfrapp-y and more The Jesus and Mary Chain. Still, her ’90s riot grrrl swagger and raw talent align Chaidez with the iconic front women of Cat Power, Blondie, and Siouxsie and The Banshees. Curiosity over Chaidez’s age and accomplishments is enough incentive to give Kitten a listen, but while you might have come out of curiosity, you’ll likely stay for the music.
Kitten’s Cut It Out EP drops August 28th.