Cattski’s album

I WORKED as disc jockey for NU 107 Cebu station in 1999 with the intention to promote songs of local artists. It was that way from the late ‘80s (playing Manny Lapingcao’s “Kalinaw, Damgo na Lang Ba Ikaw?” and Paul Melendez’s “Ikaw Pa Ba?”) in dyLA FM until my last stint in 2004 at Y101 handling the Cebu Music program on late Sunday evening.

Mel Libre

Seriously now

View profile

One of the fun times I had at NU 107 was taking care of “In the Raw,” intent on reviving interest in original materials of emerging rock bands that included Urbandub and Sheila & The Insects. On late Sunday nights, I’d interview local acts and ask them to do acoustic versions of their materials. One of those bands was “Cattski,” with lead vocalist Cattski Espina.

At that time, Manny Lapingcao, Eva Santos and I were putting out our songs in MP3, a file-sharing site that was eventually closed down, like Napster. I told Cattski then wto put her songs on the internet, and she responded that the band was afraid that its songs would be pirated.

That was more than ten years ago, and through Facebook, I learned from studio owner/musician Jad Bantug that Cattski is working on her album, 00:00:00, or “Zero.” I sent her a questionnaire for the cover story of CORD, the digital magazine I publish and edit.

Surprise, surprise. Cattski is making her album available to anyone who wants it. She says, “They can just download it here: www.cattski.com for free without much strings attached. They have an option to buy it too, if they really want to. It will be available in the US & UK through iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and CDBaby.”

This is different from her previous works, as she doesn’t have a band backing her up.

Rather, she has gone digital with Jad primarily partnering on the arrangement and instrumentation. I’ve listened to the album twice, and was impressed. The only other local female artist that got me hooked to her album was Eva de los Santos, whose original materials are at par with the best of the world.

Cattski has some elements of Norah Jones, yet she can be as new age as Enya. She has pop sense in such song as “Sea Hue.” I am sure that most of the songs are quite personal, but it is in one’s honesty that great songs are made of.

This album was two years in the making. She shared, “The first year was dedicated entirely to facing fears, feeling unpleasant things and writing them all down…The second year was all about the tedious business of building the music into these layers and layers of waveforms with my geek co-producer. And it was by far, the most fun thing I’ve ever done, even if it was a rollercoaster journey.”

Don’t expect Cattski’s album in any of the record stores-–it won’t be there for no CD is being released. It’s digital all the way. I’m happy for Cattski; I’m happy for Cebu Music.