by John Bush
Kittenz and thee Glitz is the second concept album from Felix da Housecat, the intrepid Chicago house producer behind 1999's excellent I Know Elektrikboy (released as Maddkatt Courtship). For this one Felix moved from dance culture to sex culture, recruiting a bevy of detached, vaguely European-sounding female vocals (including starlet Miss Kittin) and producing a dozen songs on self-explanatory themes, like the 90210-dropping &Madame Hollywood.& Though it doesn't have the astonishing musical range of I Know Elektrikboy, Kittenz and the Glitz is just as fun, from the mindless sing-alongs, one-finger synthesizer melodies, and '80s electro disco sheen of &Happy Hour,& &Glitz Rock,& and &Silver Screen (Shower Scene)& (though the last sounds more reminiscent of the Cars than Cerrone). For &Control Freaq,& a promising production soundclash with Junior Sanchez proves frustratingly short, and the handful of short vignettes also impede the flow. Da Housecat can't be stopped, though; Kittenz and thee Glitz is an amusing ride through a similarly addled mind as glimpsed by hip-hop auteurs like the Automator and Prince Paul.