Author: Berkeley Cat Records

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

The UpTones, In the Studio 1987, 5-Song EP

Recorded in August of 1987, these are the last studio tracks made by the UpTones during their original run. Three 24-track analog reels were transferred to digital and mixed down in 2025, a mere 38 years later.

Released on Bandcamp, February 1, 2026
https://theuptones.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-studio-1987

Charles Stella – Vocals and Guitars
Eric Dinwiddie – Vocals and Guitars
Paul Jackson – Vocals, Keyboards, and various percussion
Ben Eastwood – Bass
John Mader – Drums
Adam Beach – Baritone Sax
Scott Jensen – Trumpet
Josh Miller – Tenor Sax

Original recordings produced and engineered by Jim Dean at the Music Annex in Menlo Park, California, in August of 1987

Transferred to digital by Russell Bond,
and mixed by Eric Dinwiddie for Berkeley Cat Records, in late 2025

Mastered by Myles Boisen
Artwork by Paul Jackson with a photo by David Kerner

A Beet Poetry Anthem by Eric Din Encircles The Globe at EOY

EOY? End Of Year, Eeyore, and we didn’t reeeally Encircle The Globe, but hey, truth is so Last Millennium. That too is False, and anyway, having some fun with it all, with a rockin’ summary or synopsis of the year at hand, including Vogons, who clearly are having their moment.  On Bandcamp:

And in the everywheres:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ericdin/a-beet-poetry-anthem

Merry All The Things, and see you next year, we think.

“Easier Ways” – epic new full-length album from Nonuffya Bizznis and the Private Dancers

Following the madly successful mid-year release of the single “Upgrade” and it’s associated MAXI EP which you can get here, BCR and Nonuffya Bizznis and the Private Dancers are super extra bonus proud to announce the release of 2025’s full length album “Easier Ways.” Again the folks in the band run an eclectic mix of styles, covering a diverse range of topics from shampoo instructions without end, a life story (we presume it’s Nonuffya’s story), gaslighting, optimization, status envy and consumerism, welding, personality problems, more personality problems, Elon Effing Musk, words taken the wrong way, and the fall of empires.

Get it while it’s hot!

Alles ist kaputt, according to Eric Din

Din leans in on his Schlager side, this time with a clear New Wave bent. We’ve heard plenty of ranting against Ai-Slop, appropriately so, but have you heard it in broken German-English? Germinglish, if you will. We’re pretty sure this is the premiere specimen of Germinglish General Ranting About Everything (GGRAE) in the civilized or uncivilized world today.
Many a streaming option here.

By the way, the title case is correct: Alles ist kaputt

Stylized per German standards, you see. If it were English, we’d generally capitalize each word, like Alles Ist Kaputt

But, German it is, so the stylizing is correct. WILL the Apple Music editors balk at this affront to standard practices? We’ll soon know. If that’s kaput.

“Belligerent Brain Pudding Surprise” single by Eric Din

Din’s Beet Poetry expeditions continue with this timely observation complete with organic bongos.  We include the lyrics below, for careful academic scrutiny. Beet Poetry is described by scholars as Beat Poetry only with vegetables. Everything exactly makes sense. Carpe Diem.

Belligerent brain pudding surprise
Abrupt and total demise
Cataclysmic crowd-sourced self-own
Buyers remorse, better luck next time
Belligerent brain pudding surprise
Reality, truth, are words no more
Deep fake fuckery, soft and buttery
Mmm, I’ll try!
Belligerent brain butter surprise
How many fucks does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Why did the chickens cross the aisle?

All the little fascist pigs (bong bong)
On the morning talk shows (bong bong bong bong)

Eating their young in a carnival orgy
Carnivores carney big tent cave-in
Nothing means anything
Meaning is not a thing
It was in previous centuries
Belligerent brain pudding surprise
Glean from this what you may surmise
All is lost now, that is the prize
Congratulations, be on your way

All the liberal jellyfish (bong bong)
Slurping corporate money (bong bong bong bong)

Belligerent brain pudding surprise
Our best don’t want to run for office
I asked some of them, they just scoff
I understand, for me it’s off
Sign petitions, yell at the street
In my blogs and songs I bleat
Supporting lesser evils
This is better because they’re lesser evils
Maybe write it down
Learn the lesson for next time?
I’d also like a pony
Belligerent brain pudding surprise
Oh well, whatever never mind
Mind the bollocks in the bunkers under Motel California

And if this don’t make much sense (bong bong)
It is not supposed to (bong bong bong bong)

Ask Margot Robbie in a bubble bath
She is the best explainer

© 2025 Eric Roy Dinwiddie
King Roy Music, BMI

“Washed Up” by Matte Martin

“Washed Up” is essentially about the difficulty and guilt one experiences in trying to relax and get one’s mind off things when so much wrong is going on in the world.

A lot of the song was written by singing melodies into my phone while I was on vacation in Hawaii in late 2024. When I got back to my piano, a lot of Popol Vuh started to sneak into the structure, along with The Beach Boys’ Holland album.

A huge thank you goes out to The X-Ray Men for their excellent feedback and for being great guys, in general.

Dedicated to Brian Wilson.
Written and performed by Matte Martin.

Halloween Everywhere

Berkeley Cat Records has a Halloween song. How did it happen? Oh, mysteriously, of course, but there it is!


The download on Bandcamp there costs a whopping FREE until the day after Halloween, and then it’ll be a buck. Or an eye of newt.

Halloween Everywhere was composed and decomposed shortly before October 31, 2025, by Eric Din from an idea from Matthew King Kaufman. These two have collaborated on a number of songs along the way, but never a Halloween one, to our knowledge. In fact, this is a first for Berkeley Cat Records as well. Just in time for tricks and pies, have at it!