Synthesizers

Amanda Chaudhary: Two White Wines

Over the past month I had performed my piece White Wine twice in very different settings. We present them both below.

The first is with my band CDP (Census Designated Place) in early March. Performing with me are Tom Djll on synthesizers, Joshua Marshall on tenor saxophone, and Mark Pino on drums.

CDP Playing White Wine at Finnish Kaleva Hall from CatSynth on Vimeo.

This version follows a basic jazz structure of a head, follow by solos, and finally a recapitulation. But the solos are much more free form, not defined by a specific number of bars. The rhythm and tonal center remains constant, although the pitches and timbres move around quite a bit. I think it’s fair to say the whole band was happy with the way this turned out. And for me is what a chance to play I style of music that I most want to. The performance reminded me of early Miles David fusion albums, or late Soft Machine.

One week earlier, I performed the same piece at the Jewish Community Center in Berkeley, part of a program curated by Amy X Neuburg.

White Wine JCC February 2017 from CatSynth on Vimeo.

The melody – this time accompanied by a Casio SK-1 as part of a solo performance – is unmistakable. The open section even starts out with the same four-on-the-floor pattern. But it quickly diverges to more abstract electronic sounds. This is direction I am taking much of my solo work, mixing the jazz/funk elements into the more abstract electronics that I have long done. Astute listeners might spot the cat at the end.

I will be writing about both shows, including the other artists who participated, in upcoming articles. For today, I just wanted to raise a glass of White Wine.

CatSynth Audio: “Side Hookah” from Hookah the Cat

We have a new audio release from our friend Hookah the Cat! 😺

Hello, my first official release came out this week. I played every sound on it, my human merely recorded it. Availabe as digital or on a split cassette with the lasse jensen trio. https://stilletid.bandcamp.com/track/side-hookah

Alice-in-Wonderland-Themed Anti-Drug PSA with Synth Soundtrack

Via Dangerous Minds, we have this rather trippy PSA from 1971 using Alice in Wonderland as a frame for discussing the dangers of drugs.

The original was created by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (forerunner to the current Health and Human Services department) and can be found in the National Archives.

In hindsight, the video probably fails miserably at its mission – indeed, much of past decades’ anti-drug campaigns seem rather foolish in hindsight. But the imagery is gorgeous and quite captivating, as is the soundtrack. We at CatSynth in particular quite light the sparse synth music. And the cats, both the Cheshire Cat and the real-life cat that appears at the beginning and end 😺. Anyone care to identify the synth(s) used?

Pi Day Composition Redux

It’s a bit of an on-again-off-again tradition on Pi Day (3-14 in the United States) to share my composition based on the digits of Pi.

It was based on the binary digits rather than decimal digits of Pi, which seemed more universal and also more logical to work with. It uses stretched impulses and square waves for the sounds themselves. At least that is what I recall. It was written in 2011. It’s probably time to revisit the concept with a new piece…