Serene Dominic

Special for the Republic | azcentral

Admit it. Life in the Valley of the Sun has improved fourfold since we got ourselves a musical act with a secret identity. It's what this town has always needed. In the '70s, Pascagoula, Miss., had Orion, a guy with a Lone Ranger mask who sang so much like Elvis that Sun Records signed him in 1972 and released his version of "That's All Right" with a question mark on the label. In the '90s and up through now, Nashville has had Los Straitjackets, four guys in Mexican wrestling masks who dare to play surf music in a town where country music is supposed to be the reigning champ. But you could probably follow those guys out to their van and figure out who they are. There's no need for their secrecy other than just liking to wear masks. And maybe I say that because the one time I saw them on their home turf in Music City, the drummer must've been running a fever because he ripped his wrestling mask off with two songs left to go in the set. So much for myth building!

No, clearly Man-Cat have the right idea, i.e.: maintaining a secret identity because the individuals behind the masks have something to lose if their identities are divulged. Were that to happen, each Man-Cat can be sued within an inch of his whiskers. These guys are the kings of copyright infringement, using so many illegal samples per song they make the Beastie Boys wholesale pilfering on "Paul's Boutique" seem like petty shoplifting. And let's not forget the most notorious of Man-Cat's stunts (they prefer to call them "projects") which resulted in a cease-and-desist order from the corridors of power at Coca Cola. Who else but Man-Cat would have the nerve to make a vagina joke at the soda giant's expense and use Lana Del Rey, everyone's favorite living comatose chanteuse, to do it?

They followed that up with the brilliant "Break up with Taylor Swift" hit song generator, which allows you to insert your name into one of Tay Tay's ex-boyfriend harangues (I tried it this morning typing in Spotify as her latest failed relationship and it turned out awesome. Your results may vary).

But now Man-Cat are threatening to do something so ordinary, so yawn-stiflingly run-of-the-mill, that you've got to figure they are up to something really big. They're releasing a compact disc for the first time and then having a CD release party on Friday, Nov. 21 at Trunk Space to commemorate it. On the surface, yes, it does seem like the path ordinary band's traveled at the start of the century with only a MySpace page needed to complete this time-travel mirage. But Man-Cat don't do anything by ordinary measures and this album preview illustrates that by giving us one-second blasts of each of the CD's 10 selections. See how many copyright infringements you can report!

If you are as outraged by this digital thievery as I am pretending to be, there's a grass-roots campaign afoot to stop Man-Cat and this very illegal album, entitled "Classic Rock." Go to this site to find out what you have to do to bring these masked musical marauders to justice once and for all. (The first 20 protester to arrive at Trunk Space will receive an anti-Man-Cat uniform). While the Stop Man-Cat people are equally shadowy, we know it can't be someone from the record industry behind it. Who there would have enough petty cash to cover the cost of free T-shirts?

Supporting Man-Cat on this madcap night out are Treasure MammaL, Boss Frog and Pro Teens.

Judging by the excitingly hypnotic new EP ProTeens have on Bandcamp, this quartet are highlighting every aspect of early learning from the drugged-up drag of "Contact High" to this number about "Puberty" that has an accompanying video. Watch along and you can follow every brain synapse connected to acne and bolting up in your bed in the middle of the night dreaming about a girl with a dragon tattoo.

As with Treasure MammaL and ProTeens, the men of Boss Frog have product out on Rubber Brothers Records and this past June, two new Boss Frog songs escaped on a split –cassette with the previous Pro Teens tune about "Puberty" we just highlighted. Boss Hog now have a video to go with it called "Two Mouth One Mouth." This video highlights singer Jack Bennett's slinky dance moves and androgynous appeal as well as demonstrating how they like to pose in back-to-front chest-line formation like Devo.

In other news this week, Boss Frog aren't the only ones their way around a mannequin, No Volcano have another video previewing a track from their upcoming album "Who Saved The Party." This clip for "New York Drugstore," filmed by Troy Farah, finds No Volcano Big Apple dreaming and proving to the kids once and for all that drugs of all kinds are bad but songs inspired by drugs of all kinds are rad!

Let's take this time to congratulate our friends in The Bittersweet Way who are capping a 13th anniversary by rerecording one of their earliest songs, "Would You Like To Go To The Rock And Roll Show?" They've also shot an accompanying video that makes evident that Jedidiah Foster and Danny McWatters were able to re-record this song at a brisk uptempo speed while maintaining a hyper slow, almost statuesque composure!