OVERCAT  For a Better Today, Tomorrrow CD-R


Overcat = Roger Murdock and Dave Rick, drums and guitar respectively. Electric bass is here and there, other things get hit. There is no singing, as of yet, and no pop songs.


Alphabetically, they’ve commingled with such noted, and semi-noted performers as Bongwater, Jad Fair, King Missile, Tuli Kupferberg, Ann Magnuson, The Martinets, Phantom Tollbooth, Ronnie Spector, Leslie West, Wide Right, and Yo La Tengo; also myriad bar bands, wedding bands, and campus cover bands sporting loincloths. Overcat ≠ those sounds.


Perhaps the Overcat brand of sound is a metaphorical mix of impulsive gestures, a player’s playground, a ball-buster’s bounce house. Clearly, it is rocking anti-Rock, and jazzy so-not-Jazz. Improvisation is a key element to varying degrees, sure, and there might be a smattering of composition preceding an onslaught unpremeditated. But, you better believe there’s a whole lot of friggin’ email, bellyaching, and crappy jokes before THAT.


For a Better Today, Tomorrrow is a full-to-the-rim job of static electric six-string squalls and mobile modern/primitive drummer licks. Committed by sadly anachronistic guys and gear, each bit is achieved through meticulous application of old growth beard and wood, magnetic tape and vacuum tube.


And the bits just keep on coming.  Among them, the conveniently titled opener “overcatture” casts a sweat lodged spell of great foreboding, drums harkening back to the questionable Men’s Movement.  “Doris the Spy” brings to mind Mahavishnu Orchestra - if McLaughlin’s fiery combo ever were to play cockeyed eighth notes at half speed, thirty-two times dumb. “Mayhaw Jelly Haw Haw” riffs out in a jaunty 19/8 until Dave mucks it up. “Ending by Beginning” is a duet for Roger and wah-wah, dancing encouraged. Closing passage “Creature of Deer Lake” provides a wistful farewell of moist meditation, a paean to swamped ambition. Yet the body is warm. There is a pulse. It is breathing. For marketing purposes file under Music.               


   Track Listing:

  1. •overcatture (2:52)

  2. •The Black Draught (6:33)

  3. •Doris the Spy (9:46)

  4. •Mayhaw Jelly Haw Haw (2:34)

  5. •They Were Eaten (3:58)

  6. •Corpus Earthling (2:21)

  7. •Ending by Beginning (7:06)

  8. •Bulls GET Loud In Groups (7:20)

  9. •Creature of Deer Lake (7:40)                                     Overcat1sheet.pdf