Author: Berkeley Cat Records

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

Watch as Shannon Wheeler draws the cover art for The Cow Song by Eric Din!

Here we find Shannon Wheeler in his studio, creating cover artwork for The Cow Song. Mr. Wheeler and I have collaborated on quite a number of pieces over the years, including my recent album, Street Party. In this, our worlds collide, with his Too Much Coffee Man cup adorning the noggin of our hero the director’s chair cow (what!?) I swear, Petunia. Too Much Coffee Cow, we will affectionately call her. You may purchase this song from our beloved Bandcamp to keep it with you when teh Inertnet dies! Or stream it in the Grand Temporary Blip of our awareness. Either way we thank you for your moment of attention, in the vast seas of CONTENT in which we bleat 🐑🐄😽

The Cow Song

A surprise single from Eric Din. In that we are Eric Din, and we are surprised! Hope you enjoy. And always love the animals.

Everyone always says that cows are stupid
Eat grass in the valley all day there, lookin’ stupid
They’re really only good for one thing
We all know just why they’re here
But I still don’t understand
Cos everyone knows his soul is bound for heaven
And everyone knows his rump will soon be roasted
But nobody knows why they said that the cow was stupid
Stupid cow, if you’re a stupid cow
You’re not half as stupid as me
Someday, maybe your luck might turn around

Everyone always says that the sheep will follow
And everyone knows the wolves won’t stop to think, (or even blink)
But nobody knows why they said that the sheep would follow
Blind sheep, if you’re a blind sheep
You’re not half as blind as me
Someday, maybe your luck might turn around

—

Acoustic guitar and vocals: Eric Din
Recorded and mixed by Michael Rosen at East Bay Recorders
Produced by Eric Din for Berkeley Cat Records

© 2022 Eric Roy Dinwiddie
King Roy Music, BMI

Bond Meets The Godfather single, plus Dub and Inskamental versions, goes live this Caturday!

Eric Din returns to his ska musical roots on Bond Meets The Godfather, a new single on Berkeley Cat Records. Featuring Din’s fellow UPTONES founder Thomas White on drums, plus trumpet and flugelbone from brass innovator Steven Bernstein, “Bond” is 100% Berkeley ska. Says Din of the track, “I had this idea one morning that Bond simply must meet the Godfather, and they must meet in a ska song. It made me chuckle, and the music and lyrics spilled right out.” Produced by Mr. Din at his home studio, and mastered by recent 3-time Grammy Award winner Michael Romanowski, this release includes an “Inskamental” mix, and a full-on dub version from fellow Uptones founder, Charles Stella. “The whole thing is really an Uptones affair,” muses Din. “I think if we were playing live currently, we’d hit this.” Perhaps one day they will. But right now, we at Berkeley Cat HQ are aware of no such top-secret plans. Cover art by John Seabury of Psycotic Pineapple completes the all-Berkeley-Cat cast. Bond Meets The Godfather plus Omertà Dub, drops Sept. 17, on Bandcamp and the streaming gizmos.

Bond Meets The Godfather in a SKA song!

Because of course he does.

Inspired by a friend’s socialnets post, in which it was discussed whether a particular image was more Bond or more Godfather, it occurred to me the two MUST meet in a ska song. So I recorded this as I wrote it, and it was a blast. Sent the tracks to Tommy and then to Steven and ker-boom-bap, they returned their wonderful takes and I mixed it all together. Last stop was secret dub agent Charles for the Omertà Dub version. John Seabury drew the cover, Michael Romanowski mastered up the audio, and the whole kaboodle goes live on our beloved Bandcamp and in the streamin services Sept. 17, 2022. Pre-order and preview it… HERE!

FAVES’ new Hit, Here Comes The Rain!

Beloved Beserkley Cats FAVES have a new single and it is burning up the indie rock radio charts right now as I type! We’re so thrilled about this, and here in all its full-dimensional stereo glory, is Here Comes The Rain. Penned by Larry Lynch and Robbie Dunbar of Earth Quake and Greg Kihn Band fame. Joined by the greats Jimmy Jet Spalding, Jonathan Bassil and David Tashinian on guitar, bass, and keys, respectively, this new original was recorded (and FILMED!) at 25th St. Recording in Oakland, with Gabriel Shepard at the dials. Give ‘er a spin right here!

Here’s the VIDEO!

THANKS to Radio Indie Alliance and the deejays and radio shows out there playing this banger, and a HUGE tip o’ the Berkeley Cat hat to Dennis Chuning for his inspired and dedicated promotion work.

AMAZING!  You can also find Here Comes The Rain on your favorite streaming service and we’d love it if you add it your your playlist and share it up. You’ll find links to Apple, Pandora and Spotify here, and it’s also in Amazon, TIDAL, and basically most of them by now. Why? Because yes.

Congrats FAVES and go cats go!!

 

MANKIND Remix hits the streaming services

It’s Earth Day, and MANKIND, the remix, is now live on the streaming services! Originally conceived in 1976, with music borrowed from a certain unofficial American anthem and sung by ducks, Mankind was conceived and created by a certain maverick record producer using a one-man band on a calliope-meets-player-piano contraption. The YouTube video for the song has been played a bunch since we launched it a year ago, and Pete and I thought this Earth Day would be a fine Earth Day to launch the track onto the Apple Musics and Pandoras and Spotifys of the world.

A motto here is “Every day is Earth Day,” and it’s obviously an attitude that all hoomans should take. As custodians of this planet we have largely failed, and we should do the best we can to correct that while we can, and time is running out fast, and we know this. To be kind to our web-footed friends is really the same as being kind to ourselves, as without nature we are nothing, and every habitat we destroy leads to our demise. I think Pete put it well in this song, and while he may have second thoughts about the duck voice, I LOVE it! This leads me to a tangent, which might get a bit ranty:

This track is unique, and that’s something I like about it, and it’s part of what inspired me to do a remix. In the streaming music world, as with movies on Netflix etc., and basically all of the algorithmically programmed Interwebs, there’s this whole business about recommending things that are somehow similar to other things people have viewed or liked. I find this as ridiculous as it is prevalent. Our tastes can be FAR broader than that and I think we are, by nature, eclectic in our tastes. Meaning, we like lots of different types of things. Which is why I favor curation by thoughtful and knowledgeable hoomans over AI-based programming. Current automatic content programming methods try and push us into little piles surrounded by familiar things, making our intellectual and artistic horizons shrink ever-smaller in little echo-chamber jails. It’s part of what is wrecking public discourse and leading us to despair and societal collapse.

On this Earth Day we at Berkeley Cat Records celebrate our diversity and uniqueness, AND the things that bind our interests and loves together, like, the need for clean air and water, and our desire for peace and prosperity for our kids.  And FOR all that, we had better be kind to our web-footed friends.

OK, maybe that wasn’t so ranty after all. Here’s Pete, with a question: