Ste McCabe - Bad Kitty download free

Review from The Sound Project - 11/10/2012Ste McCabe is back (did he ever go away!?) with his cracking new third album, Bad Kitty.For anyone who may have had their head in the sand for the past few years, Ste McCabe has been putting out some of the best alternative queer-polital records on the scene. He plays a blend of electro and punk (aka queercore) on his distorted guitar backed with his drum machine and synth.It's been almost three years since Ste's last album, Murder Music, came out but that's not to say that he's been laying low during that period. There's been an EP and a download single as well as Ste bringing his awesome Pussy Whipped night to Edinburgh - the city he relocated to 18 months ago.Bad Kitty is an album that will surely delight his existing fans, as well as being accessible enough to draw in like minded souls.The album starts with the dry humour of 'Did You Really? - an attack on the middle class kids who still insist that they worked their way up from the bottom merely because they had worked in customer service.Slave labour for the benefit of cheap prices to the consumer is callenged in 'Bargains Galore'. Specifically the trading principles and policies of Tesco. As summed up by 'Every dad's gagging for 50's wages, noticeboards in Tesco'.Converting people of their prejudices is the subject of 'Conversion Therapy (for Haters). Here Ste ponders if the role of conversion therapy usually used for the likes of converting gay people to being straight can be used to convert people away from their bigotry. Or as Ste puts it: 'It's a shame you're made that way when everyone laughs at what you say but i am sure we can convert you our way.'The album includes three previously released tracks, although two of them appear here in newly recorded versions. 'Ste McCabe - One Lloyds TSB nil', a song about Ste declaring himself bankrupt, and 'Harrowing Breakdown', which is a reminder that everyone can suffer a breakdown and that it's almost part-and-parcel of life. Appearing in its original format is the limited download single 'Accessorise', which was released last year via Glasgow's Bubblegum label - a track that deserved more credit and coverage that it received at the time.Talentless people who would do anything to be famous are covered in the excellent 'I Want To Be In Your Magazine'. The line 'Well don't call me hollow but I always swallow' sums up the lengths that most of them will go to for their 15 minutes of fame. This song has already become a big live favourite during Ste's sets over the past 12 months.Edinburgh City Council's policy of tackling hate crime in the community is tackled in 'The City Chambers'. The track sees Ste putting on a voice of authority and delaring that 'we are here today to talk about hate crime in the community, we care very much about hate crime in the community and we want to prioritise members of the hate crime community'. The point being that talking about them seems to be as far as they get.The subject of a judge's ignorance towards the homophobic muder of a man is summed up in the poingnant and thought provoking 'The Judge Scratches His Head'. The songs offers up the judge some suggestions as to 'why did they kill that man', 'was it the way that he drank in moderate amounts', 'the way that he blended in with the crowd', or 'was it the fact that he lived on the right side of town'. It's the record's most powerful moment and has the effect of leaving you in stunned silence at the end - once again confirming the power of music.Once again Ste has delivered another excellent album, one that's not afraid to pick out its targets and give them a public showing down. I read an article around the time 'Accessorise' was released that questioned whether Ste was already preaching to the converted but it's a evident that his fanbase is just the starting point and that he clearly has bigger fish to fry.