C / A / T
C / A / T (pronounced cat) is an electronic band from the film and sound engineer Ben Arp, who is also the founder of the Crunch Pod label. C / A / T was founded in 1998 and is based in Folsom , California.
history
The first phase of C / A / T ran from 1998 to early 2008 and produced 3 full albums, 2 EPs, several limited editions and countless compilations.
Phase One of C / A / T began with a series of cheap CDR releases on the Crunch Pod label from 2001 to 2004. This early period of C / A / T was marked by rough and experimental approaches to electronic music and live performances Organized solely by Crunch Pod and C / A / T founder Ben Arp.
The first notable release of C / A / T during phase one was the EP "Worldwide Totalitarian Control", which moved away from the experimental style of the previous recordings and dealt thematically with politics and conspiracy theories. The WTC EP was followed by the first real C / A / T album “The Prisoner” in mid-2005. It got its name from the British TV series of the same name ( number 6 ) and brought the political ideas of the WTC EP one step further. Acoustically, the music developed more in the direction of beat-heavy electronic music and gained structure.
The next big change was the addition of a new live member, Kat, in the summer of 2005. Kat remained a live member until the end of Phase One on February 10, 2008. The addition of Kat also brought the next C / A / T-album "The Rouge Pair" in late 2005 with it. "The Rogue Pair" was characterized by a clearly hard beat and rhythm-'n'-noise style and contained eight original songs and remixes by Endif, Caustic, Terrorfakt and Manufactura. The album was well received and the positive feedback opened many doors for C / A / T to perform live in North America.
On June 6th 2006 the limited “ATF” EP was released, which included the new tracks “Smashed” and “(We Make) Music To Piss You Off”, as well as some alternative versions of previous C / A / T material and remixes of Terror fact and caustic. In September 2006, C / A / T added the third member to the live band, Malice from the Malice band project. Malice stayed with the band until June 2007 after the release of the third studio album "Point Of No Return".
"Point Of No Return" was the last studio album of the first phase of C / A / T, on which Arp's writing style underwent a significant change. For the first time, “PONR” combined singing with music and further expanded the structure of the songs. The album was far more personal and introspective than previous releases. Notable songs are "Parasite", "Malice" and "Dead To Me".
After Malice's resignation from the live band, Arp and Kat formed the basis of the live band and other artists were involved if necessary.
The current live line-up consists of Ben Arp and Erica Dunham (Unter Null, Stray).
Discography
Albums and EPs
Worldwide Totalitarian Control EP Crunch Pod (2004)
- The Prisoner Crunch Pod (2005)
- The Rogue Pair Crunch Pod (2005)
- ATF Crunch Pod (2006) - limited to 666 copies
- Point Of No Return Crunch Pod (2007)
- The Great Crisis Crunch Pod (2008)
- At Peace EP Crunch Pod (2008)
- We Are Still Alive (2009)
- Music to Piss You Off (2011)
Special publications
- The Prisoner Limited Edition "Liturgy Mixes" Crunch Pod (2005) - limited to 50 copies
Selected compilations appear
- Sorry for "Depth Of Beyond" (Troniks, 2000)
- Love Story on "Infinity Paradox" (Fusion Audio Recordings, 2000)
- The Five Year Plan on "Battery Sentinel 2" (Crunch Pod, 2000)
- Influx on "Krach Test" (Ad Noiseam, 2001)
- Dying Morality on "Feedback Loop" (Doppler Effect, 2001)
- Noizemaker on "Dissonant Structures" (Cranial Fracture Recordings, 2002)
- First Strike on Dark Pathways Vol. 3 Variant Archive (Crunch Pod, 2003)
- Cleared Channel on Das Bunker: Fifteen Minutes Into the Future (Das Bunker, 2004)
- Clonacion Epidemica (vs. HIV +) on "ALPHA" (Geska Records, 2005)
- Seditious Minds v.3 on Distorted '05 (Distorted Music Festival, 2005)
- Liturgy Of The Free (ECC-1:18 Remix by Free Death) on A Mere Invention Of The Idle Mind (Mechanismz / Crunch Pod, 2006)
- Smashed on the End of Time Bunker Tracks : Act II (Alfa Matrix, 2006)
- Seditious Minds (Remixed by Cacophony) on "Materia Oscura" (Sistinas, 2006)
- On The Beat on "Bunker 54" (Das Bunker / Mechanismz, 2007)
- You're Dead To Me (Distorted Truth Mix) on "Soviet Media Kompilation" (Soviet Media Korporation, 2007)
- Critical on "Materia Fria" (Sistinas / Crunch Pod, 2007)
List of band members
Studio
- Ben Arp (1998-present) - vocals, programming, mixing
live
- Ben Arp (1998-present) - vocals, programming
- Erica Dunham aka Unter Null (2008 - present)
- Kat (2005-2008) - mixing, quality control, drums
- Glytch (2007) - Keyboard
- Malice (2006-2007) - drums
- Erica Dunham (2008-present)