Kelli Ali - Psychic Cat [2004][EAC,log,cue FLAC]

Released: 2004
Label: One Little Indian
Catalog#: TPLP335 CD
Format: CD
Country: UK
Style: Electronic, Leftfield, Synth-pop

Tracklisting:

01. Hot Lips
02. Psychic Cat
03. Speakers
04. Home Honey I'm High
05. Ideal
06. In Praise Of Shadows
07. Graffiti Boy
08. Groupie
09. Voyeur
10. Last Boy On Earth



Kelli Ali, best known as the voice behind the Sneaker Pimps' 1996 debut Becoming X, takes another stab at solo stardom with Psychic Cat, the follow-up to 2003's Tigermouth. Ali's solo output has been decidedly more rock-edged than her work with the Pimps—the once-familiar trip-hop-style drum programming is padded with layers of compressed electric guitars and goth-pop imagery. The ambient ballad "In Praise Of Shadows," "Grafitti Boy," which could have been a track on Gwen Stefani's Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and the title track, with its dirgy backbeat and acoustic guitars, should sate fans of the Pimps' surprisingly durable Becoming X (much of that album still sounds fresh in '05—drop a few tracks, particularly the mod-rock hit "6 Underground" and "Walking Zero," onto your iPod and see how they fare next to newer material like Ashanti's "Only U" or Amber's "You Move Me"). But as a whole, Psychic Cat is a little too cohesive for its own good…in a low-budget home-studio kind of way. The socially conscious "Speakers" is admirable but the lyrics are contrived at best: "It's time to stand up and start speakin'/Yeah shake up the devil you're keepin'." Ali would be better off using her feline powers for evil.