As of this past weekend, I finally have my album Aquatic on Bandcamp. You can now stream all the tracks using the widget below – and if you feel so inclined, you can purchase one or more of the tracks.
I will be embarking some large updates to my music web infrastructure, which also should make it easier to reach from CatSynth.
Well, it looks like my album Aquatic is available at Amazon. Or rather, via Amazon's MP3 download service. Amazon provides music for sale as straight MP3, with no DRM (Digital Rights Management) so that you can play them anywhere (and also copy them). Previously, the only way to get this and many other albums as DRM-free MP3s was to subscribe to a service like eMusic, or just steal them.
I did also notice that the album appears in Amazon Marketplace – in fact, a store in Santa Cruz is offering a used copy. That is itself a milestone, to find your own album in a used bin. That means someone who had a copy gave it up. Hopefully it's not because he or she disliked it. Indeed, I would prefer that they ripped it and continue to enjoy it (DRM-free, of course). It's not because I want people to steal music, but it is worth more to me just to know that people are listening…
Which brings us back to Amazon. I'm not expecting to sell a lot here, but it's great forum for feedback and comments, so I encourage anyone who has the album or individual tracks, legal or otherwise, to write a comment or review…
A nice follow-up to my recent visit to Astoria with Polly Moller and Company.
A track from my CD Aquatic may be played on Coast Community Radio in Astoria this morning (10am to noon, PDT). This a folk program, which should be interesting. It is hosted by Carol Newman, who was very supportive of our visit and also hosts the “Arts: Live and Local” program, where Polly and our host Paul Hoskin had a chance to discuss our music and our show.
Coast Community Radio streams live online, for those who may want to check out this program as well as their other locally produced programs.
UPDATE: My track Open and Shut Case appeared on the program, you can here a clip of it here. There was an interesting segue into Paul Hipp’s “I am the Decider”, a great parody of Bush, Cheney et al. based on the Beatles’ “I am the Walrus” (Koo-koo-ka-choo). I got a nice mention of the piece and the album, along with reminder of our Polly Moller and Company show and the AVA music series; and “Death and the Maiden” (PM&C) was played as well.
We couldn't let this week's theme for the Bad Kitty Cat Chaos Festival (hosted by Kashim and Othello) go unanswered. The theme is “water or rain.” Did somebody say “Aquatic”?
Indeed, the CD does have an underlying water theme, and can be very relaxing to listen to, according to many who have either purchased or downloaded it. Although several of the order pieces had an aquatic sound to them (e.g., “Proportional Fish”), the idea to use it as a unifying element was largely inspired by living here by the ocean…
Of course, all this talk about water makes us at CatSynth quite thirsty:
Our little friend Teacup isn't doing very well, and Megan says it's a race against time. He continues to receive surgeries to combat his gangrene infection, but now he has been diagnosed with the parasite Hemobartonekka Felis, which essentially destroys red blood cells. He received a blood transfusion, and now is attempting to recover from that in addition to his infection and surgeries. He is but a shadow of his former handsome self.
You can read more about Teacup's struggles, and the efforts being made to save him, and all the warm thoughts from other humans and cats being sent his way.
We also continue to send him our thoughts and hope he recovers. A sad truth, however, is that whatever happens, there will be huge vet bills for Megan and the rest of TeaCup's family. Several auctions are helping to raise money for his bills. You can find out more at the Cat Blogopshere, where you can also donate directly.
We are also going to donate all proceeds from CD sales during the month of May, so please do consider helping out if you enjoy both new music and animal companions. This will cover both direct sales and sales via CDBaby. Unfortunately, we cannot include digital download sales, it just is too complicated to manage. Click on the CD cover to the left for more info (I will update the page tonight with benefit info).