Critic's Review
Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
Despite the work of Bill Laswell (and the lasting influence of Miles Davis' electric period) as well as angular, post-punk funk assimilators such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus, funk as a viable commercial and artistic outlet seems to have been an anomoly of the 1970s, for the most part. That does not, however, mean that it died in that era. 3 hole PUNCH takes its cues from '70s horn-filled funk and fusion standard-bearers such as Earth, Wind & Fire and Weather Report. Most of the band's members are jazz-trained, so the tensive fluidity and open song structures of improvisation are primary characteristics of How Do You Like My Cat?. But this is not straight-ahead jazz by any means. The first evidence that the band could play incendiary straight jazz if they wanted is on the band's wonderful arrangement of Wayne Shorter's "Bigfoot," on which the guitars shimmer and Bill Bousfield's tenor sax wafts over the opening raindrop pats of Rich Maslach's snare. The only other elements of jazz are 3 hole PUNCH's closing cover of Davis' "Prelude Part II: The Sequel" and a sort of grimier and edgier (and louder) version of acid jazz, "Back to Betetgeuse," which offers plenty of room for improvisation. From the opening whirlwind of "Each Yer Spinach" and the heavy, portentous "Long Term Memory Gain" on, though, the main stylistic touchstone is fiery, progressive funk of a consistently high caliber with dual guitars coming to the front, in all flavors, be it wah-wah'd or the synth-like textures of "Deep Six." The band is not afraid to challenge: "Dixieland Mahavishnu" is melodically obscure -- the "Dixieland" aspect of the song does not assert itself strongly (or, to these ears, at all), but there is an Indian influence carried not only in the skewed chords that bolster the song but by Bousfield's saxophone, which progresses in a sort of Middle-Eastern, sitar-like fashion -- but despite the title's obtuseness, it is an ambitious and rewarding song. And with five of the seven songs coming from the band members themselves (co-leader Jeffrey Normal wrote or co-wrote three), 3 hole PUNCH is a self-contained aggregation.
