Author: Berkeley Cat Records

We’re from Berkeley. We are cats. We make records.

On Top Of The World all over the world

Eric Din’s On Top Of The World EP is now live in the streaming services and our beloved Bandcamp. This includes the single version, the Charles Stella dub version, and the instrumental version. It’s actually on all of the streaming services this time, unlike some of our earlier releases.  This widget contains links to the album on a few of the more popular ones:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ericdin/on-top-of-the-world-ep

And here’s a Bandcamp embedded player, long may they camp:

We invite you to listen for free or purchase, and share links on your favorite social platforms or, shockingly, tell your friends over coffee in person (whaaaaat?! who DOES that?) Cheers and Happy Caturday

One More Sunny Day by The Recyclists

Rocking the actual nightlife in actual Berkeley et environs in these wild recent years, The Recyclists have made two (TWO!) (that’s 2) albums since I last checked in with ‘em. On the streaming services you may find their latest plus all their lovely organic jams at your recycling leisure. Is there a more Berkeley name than The Recyclists? No. The correct answer is No. And no need to crow, but crow I will, I really like their latest sunny blast o’ fun, No Need To Crow from their new One More Sunny Day album. As an unrepentant morning person I love a good morning song, and in the Recyclists’ musical world, it somehow always feels like a brisk and hopeful new day.

Here they are on Pandora, and Spotify, and Apple Music, and by gosh, I bet you can catch ‘em live at an East Bay venue soon. Let’s look it up.. Ah! Like magic, an Oakland gig in one week, Elbo Room on Broadway, Caturday Feb. 24.

Recyclist-guitarist Stace Wright also continues to operate the fantastic Bandworks program, for which for a time I also worked as a band coach. This was during the end of The UpTones (apparently) final run, and after the big horrible fires hit NorCal in 2017, The Recyclists stepped up and joined us for a benefit concert to help those impacted by the disasters. Skank Bank and Matt Jaffe were also on that show, and indeed, these artists also have a history with Bandworks, as young students and as coaches. So there’s a lot of mutual Berkeley love flying about between these entities, and of course Ashkenaz, which hosted said benefit AND many Bandworks concert events over the years.

On Top Of The World and It Is Now Safe To Turn Off Your Computer – Two wildly different singles from Eric Din

To say Eric Din‘s output is eclectic might be an understatement, and he’s been on some kind of roll lately. After releasing the unambiguously SKA Rabbitus Maximus in January, he’s produced and released these two new singles, and it’s halfway through February. What’s going on over there, Din?

This one just went up today – On Top Of The World

Here’s a G-Drive folder for any of you marvelous radio deejays who would like a free download for broadcast:  Clicketh

Here’s the description from Eric’s Bandcamp:

I recorded this at home two weeks ago with analog and digital gear. The song has been in the works for much longer, mostly in my head. I had the chords and melodies and some of the lyrics swimming about, til one day I felt inspired to track some drums and bass and guitars and see where that might lead. I recorded the vocal melody on guitar at first, as a sort of guide track, and once I had that, the rest of the lyrics came pretty easily. Once the song was complete and I had the vocals down, the track beckoned for tambourine and cowbell. So I picked up said hand-percussion instruments from a local music shoppe, took them home and and overdubbed them. By this time in the whole process, the song had pretty much mixed itself. So here it is, live on Bandcamp on Caturday the 17th of February. And I have it set to go live in the various streaming services exactly four weeks from today. Because this is how we roll, at Berkeley Cat Records. The cats and I wish you all a might fine long presidenty weekend, on top of the world.

While the above track is unmistakably pop-rock, with elements of glam and mod and a dash of psychedelia, the one below bears no resemblance to it that we can discern, and we wonder if our Din requires professional help.

It Is Now Safe To Turn Off Your Computer would seem to be a poetry slam type of howl, only instead of Beatnicky bongos we have the full drum kit power of Eric’s fellow UpTones founder, Thomas White, as edited and re-fangled by Mr. Din.

Ostrich and upside down persons by Shannon Wheeler.

Most of the above including “Rabbitus” were produced entirely by Eric Din at his home studio. This marks a slight departure from previous outings like “Charlotte” and “1983” which involved some other fab musicians and studios. We ask again, what is going on over there, Din?  What kind of music DO you make?

Tapping his whiskers thoughtfully Din replied, “I guess I’ll find out.”

Girl On The Avenue (Live, Rheem Theater, 1986)

One more from this tape before we release the whole skaboodle! This is the full, long, live, dub version of Girl On The Avenue, which often closed our set during this period. The studio version is on our OUTBACK EP which came out right around the time of this show.

Cool Vibe (Live, Rheem Theater, 1986)

Cool Vibe is an instrumental horn section feature, composed by UpTones’ trumpet player Scott “Ska-T” Jensen. This was a favorite in our live set at the time, and here it is as recorded live, at the Rheem Theater in Moraga, CA in Nov. 1986.

RABBITUS MAXIMUS

And so it came to pass, on January the First, Two Thousand and Twenty Four Anno Domini, Eric Din did compose and record a new SKA song, and the happy dancing rabbits did rejoice.

You may find it here, and we encourage this ->

Deejays, radio friends, rabbits and cats, you are also welcome to download the audio and song info from this convenient G-Drive folder for easy access for your shows and blogs and pods and mods.

Happy 2024 from all of us at Berkeley Cat Rabbits.