WhiskyCats - WhiskyCats

WhiskyCats play a sort of world-influenced knees-up skiffle, a sound that places them on the dangerously fine line between quirky and annoying. It’s a line shared by Mystery Jets, The Wombats, Hot Club de Paris, The Maccabees... wait a minute: there is no line. They’re all just annoying. Sorry WhiskyCats. To be fair, they put a lot more into it than some of their top-hat-wearing contemporaries, squeezing influences from folk, latin, klezmer and the inevitable ska into a rowdy and debauched free-for-all. There’s a wild streak of vaudevillian hedonism running through WhiskyCats: perfect for a travelling circus staff party. Singer Matthew Whitaker has a neat way with words too, his voice and delivery reminiscent of a bohemian Alex Turner. If you can get past the unfortunate similarites to the jangly troubadours above, WhiskyCats is a shameless party-starter, one that would take on new meaning live. But it’s quite a big ask. [Euan Ferguson]