Here we review the self released demo 'Pending Sober Approval' by the Jersey City band PhatKat. The CD only has 4 songs so we will review each song.

Well first off the cover art is pretty good for a self release. It's original and fresh and obviously some work was put into it. The songs themselves are pretty diverse so I will take them one at a time.

The first song is called "Incognito man". This is a great song. It has a nice straight up rock drumbeat for a good feel. There is a lot of depth to this song. The guitar and the keyboard mix well to add a really nice groove. The vocals are pretty good and add a lot to this song.

The second song "Crack whore monkey" is an adventure. It starts with a kind of cheesy keyboard line that grows and grows on you. When it breaks into the chorus you can feel the energy. The bass line is actually kind of groovin' too. Overall a good song to bob your head to.

The third song is "Erasable." It is an emo song with a driving techno-ish drum and bass beat. (if that makes sense) The vocal are a little drowned in reverb but the lyrics are good and it is a nice story to follow. There is also a nice keyboard backing that adds a lot to the dance feel.

Last is "Blind date" The mix kind of suffers in this song but it has a lot of potential. It sounds like good songwriting but the band doesn't sound that tight. This could be a great song but it sounds like the energy is lost by the time you get to this song on th CD.

Overall a pretty good demo that starts excellent and just kind of slowly drains the energy and life out of the band. Maybe they spent too much time on the first 2 songs and had to rush the mix on the last two. I sense a lot of potential in PhatKat but they need a little more time to perfect their craft.

I give it 3 out of 5 Bettas. There are a few Betta!

-Special K

DJs need to see this

Go from this .......

to this!