Velour Recordings
2005
Two Shoes
About This Album
Two Shoes, the second studio album from Melbourne, Australia's Cat Empire, was cut at the legendary Egrem Studio in Havava, Cuba -- the site of landmark recordings by the Buena Vista Social Club and countless other Cuban artists -- in just under a month in late 2004. Like their self-titled studio debut, Two Shoes was a massive success in the sextet's homeland, debuting at number one, and its word-of-mouth stoked an already expanding fan base in Europe and North America -- enough of one to nab the band a booking at Tennessee's prestigious Bonnaroo music festival in 2006 -- despite the lack of an American release. The fuss was justified: the Cat Empire is a wholly engaging, genre-splicing band that exudes equal parts musical intelligence and no-frills party-down exuberance. The Cuban influence is never far from the surface on Two Shoes, but neither is it the point of the Havana excursion. Primarily, the Latin brass blasts and percussion serve to accent rather than define the direction, and the well-crafted jazz piano runs that light up tracks such as "Sol y Sombra" come not from one of the Cuban guest musicians but from one of the band's founders, Oliver McGill. All of this talk of jazz and Cuba should not leave the impression that Two Shoes is an overly serious record, however.
Track List (try tracks 8 and 10)

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