Reconnaissance Fly Album Release!

Well, it’s taken quite a while, but it’s finally here. Reconnaissance Fly’s debut album will be coming out a week from today on January 17, and is available for pre-order now!

To celebrate, we will be having our album-release show on Saturday, February 1 at Berkeley Arts.

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If you’re in the Bay Area, come join us for this event. But wherever you are, please give our album a listen…and then buy it.

Fun with Highways: Spaghetti Bowl (Las Vegas)

We’ve had the Mixing Bowl (DC), the Orange Crush, the Can of Worms, so why not the Spaghetti Bowl?

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US_95I-515_(NV)The interchange connects I-15, one the major north-south highways in the western U.S., with US 93, US 95 and I-515, which head eastward into downtown Las Vegas.  It was reconstructed in the late 1990s into the version we see in the above photo.

I have actually not spent much time in Las Vegas, and none of that time was on a highway in in a car.  Indeed, I had a miserable experience about 12 years along the strip (South Las Vegas Boulevard).  While I won’t get into the details of that trip, it did prevent me from exploring more of the actual city and what it has to offer.  I would be willing to give it another chance, especially if I could also explore out into the desert.

CatSynth video: Cat Watching a MiniBrute Video

Original title en français: Miss Papée qui prend des cours avec Franco

From francolamuerte·159 on YouTube, via matrixsynth.

“Teaser ! Savoir comment accorder un oscillateur analogique sur toute l’Ă©tendue de sa plage d’octave, ça vous intĂ©resse ? En tout cas, moi j’ai connais une que ça intĂ©resse vivement : ma fidèle et unique Miss PapĂ©e !”

It looks like Miss Papée wants to touch the MiniBrute 🙂

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Minimoog!

Luna and Minimoog

Luna is inspecting the latest musical acquisition here at CatSynth HQ, a vintage Minimoog synth. She is always curious to check new arrivals out, with some close sniffing along with visual inspections. Then she looses interest. She is, after all, a cat.

The astute (and synth-savvy) observer may also notice a Mixtape Alpha sitting on top of the Minimoog. Both instruments offer interesting possibilities, the the tiny Mixtape Alpha is more practical for live performance.

CatSynth video: Grumpy Cat gets Keyboard Cat toy

First CatSynth post of the new year, this one features both Grumpy Cat and Keyboard Cat (in toy form).

Not surprisingly, I have one of those keyboard cat toys. I have used it in performance and it might make an appearance this Saturday at SOMArts’ 100 Performances For the Hole. Stop by between 7-8 to catch my 4-minute feline-themed set!

2013, The Transformative Year

2013 Year End photo

 

[click image to enlarge]

 

Once again, it’s time for our traditional end-of-the-year image at CatSynth.   The past couple of years have all been good, rich, full, and sometimes complicated.  But 2013 has been particularly significant, certainly one that I will long remember.  As the title says, it has been a transformational time on multiple dimensions for me, indeed it has touched almost every aspect of my being.  There will be more to say on that in the coming days. Music and art have been going very well, too, and one of the main challenges of this coming year will be to build on the successes of this past year but in a more directed way.  If that sounds vague, it’s because I haven’t quite figured it out yet.

For Luna, things pretty much are the way the always are.  Such is the life of a contented house cat.  And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks to everyone who reads and supports this project, whether here at the blog, on Facebook, or through the many personal friendships that grown from here.  You are all what makes this work worthwhile!