Cat Music Blog

Love cats? Cat stories, poetry, news, and songs for and about cats. Blog and Podcast for Cat Lovers.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

More Amazing CAT SONGS Recorded

I didn't expect how much my kitties would get involved when my producer Ari Koinuma and I started recording again last night.

It was the first time we both had time to record in several weeks. He was was working on a Latin theatre project and a horror film, and I had a lot of gigs and the new Brobdingnagian Bards CD to finish.

Incidentally, Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales is almost totally done. It will be shipped to the printers next week and will officially be released in July.

Anyway, as Ari was setting up to record, he asked me what we should start with. We have about ten songs to work with. I wasn't sure. Then I saw it.

Torre was lying on top of the computer monitor. His tale swayed back and forth. His eyes were focused. He stood up jumped down onto the desk and crouched.

I followed his gaze to see Tiziano sitting, body to the floor, by the studio door. He was watching Ari setup the recording gear.

Torre's butt wiggled slowly, and then *VWOOSH* it hit me--"Lord of the Pounce"!

We started recording that one. Again, I can't begin to tell you how much I love having Ari produce my music. He's so awesome at getting great responses and making the recording not just music, but a great performance as well. That's what we got from "Lord of the Pounce," a good, fun recording.

That's awesome too because last weekend I was taking a trip over Memorial Day and I ran into Heather Gilmer, one of the best fiddlers in Austin. I asked her to perform on the album and told her about the song. She tentatively agreed. I just need to get her a rough mix of the song to practice to. I gotta admit, I'm so excited about having Heather on the CD. I have a helluva lot of respect for her as a musician and especially in the Irish music tradition. I can only expect great things.

After "Lord of the Pounce", we recorded "Black Is the Colour (of My Cat's Fur)." This is such a touching song for such an almost silly concept. It's also my animal rights song. I nailed the low, robust 'feel' of the song quickly. So we went to the next song, "Black Kitty Paw."

"Black Kitty Paw" is one of the first cat songs I wrote. The story is actually more of a dog lovers' story about a cat who helps a dog lover find peace with the passing of his canine companion. I'm really quite proud of this song. It's touching and sweet and of course, it features the music of "Black Velvet Band," a great Irish drinking song.

Because of the sweet story, the song was a bit of a conundrum. I wasn't sure how to approach the song. I decided that I wanted to keep the traditional feel of the original Irish song. So I made the performance a little bit comical. Not quite over-the-top, but close.

The last line is probably the most dramatic. There, I almost feel like William Shatner talking and singing the verse. It was a lot of fun to record and had Ari cracking up at the computer.

We started to record "Catnippping Green," but it was getting late and I realized I didn't have a good grasp of the song. So we're delaying that one.

Sunday, we'll work on more songs. And then I'm think of about hitting the Irish session at B.D. Riley's. There are a lot of great Irish musicians who may be able to enlist in this cat-like Celtic music project. posted by Marc Gunn @ 10:15 AM