Archive for November 2024 | Monthly archive page

Nov 28

Purr24: We’re collaborating with our cats!!! 🐈 For Charity!

14 artists collaborate with their lovely kitties on a charity compilation!

Various Artists: Purr24 Name-Your-Price digital at Projekt's Bandcamp Page

This collection stars our beloved cats whose purrs fill the heart of each track. Fourteen artists in the electronic, ambient, space music, and drone genres weave their kitty's purrs into the mix highlighting the warmth and unique presence our feline companions add to our lives. Though some of these magnificent beings have passed on, their essence runs throughout. With all royalties and profits going to an elder-cat charity, Purr24 is nearly 100 minutes following sonic tangents and red dots of light created with our furbabies in our thoughts.

Projekt-founder Sam Rosenthal’s 18-year-old collaborator Nova Cat passed away in April. “When Nova died,” he reflects, “I lifted my spirits thinking of the five years she spent with me, enjoying our friendship in her final forever home. I emailed Michael Stearns as we previously chatted about a kitten he found in Los Angeles in the 80s who lived to 23 (108 in human years!) I knew he could empathize with my attachment to older cats who need more care yet offer a wealth of wisdom and love. With ideas of a benefit album and royalties donated to an elder-cat charity, I asked Michael if he'd create a song incorporating his kitty’s purrs. I’d already released two collaborative albums with my Nova (as 'Nova Cat Purring Sounds'). I was interested in what other artists would create within the purr + music concept.”

Rosenthal continues, “Collectively, we’ve been in the music business for more than 400 years; over those centuries many felines have shared our lives. They hang out in the studio, run around like madmen in the other room while we’re trying to create, and sometimes lie at the feet of our cellists curled up and purring to the deep tones. There’s a lot of ASMR of cat purrs available, but not much where the purrs are incorporated into music. The results here are loving, lovely and warm. My new kitties like listening to everyone's purrs.”

In 1999, Rosenthal compiled (and released on Projekt) the darkwave collection A cat-shaped hole in my heart, raising over $10,000 for charity. With some help from feline-loving fans on social media and today’s streaming economy, there’s no telling what this album might raise! All artists royalties are contributed to charity, starting with Senior Cat Action Network (and changing over time).

The 14 songs on Purr24 illuminate the lasting joy our cats give and gave us, their purrs woven into the music to keep their spirit close.

Sam & Nova Cat 1. Michael Stearns – Morris Dreams of a Past Life 2. deepspace – Tiki Sleeps 3. Lorenzo Montanà – Violetta 4. Nova Cat Purring Sounds / Sam Rosenthal – the Next Day 5. yttriphie – Pinna (Timmy) 6. Serena Gabriel – The Feline Path (Muffin) 7. Peter Bjärgö (of Arcana) – The Old Boy Buzz (Lill-Grabben) 8. Android Lust – Of Slumber and Whiskers (Motu) 9. Steve Jones (of the Arms of Someone New) – Iron Gray (Felix & Oscar) 10. Paulina Fae – Skyward (Mortimer) 11. Chris Russell – Purrfect Pawsibilities (The Russell Purrtet) 12. jarguna – Little Puma (Morgana) 13. Dirk Serries – Lullaby for Kuro 14. theAdelaidean – Planet Rudi

Artist quotes:

Mirko of deepspace reflects, “Tiki is a pure white Khao Manee with heterochromic eyes and is the remaining cat of our two household felines. Smoo, who was the more dominant and chirpy cat, was much loved but sadly passed away from lymphoma early in 2024. Tiki was very much on the back paw and often seemed antagonised when Smoo, a bubbly ginger cat, was around, and spent a lot of her time alone. Recently, her earlier more gentle personalty has re-emerged. These days, Tiki, who is clearly meant to be an only-cat, seems more relaxed and happy, now often extending a long furry white arm from the edge of her soft cat bed whilst sleeping. This was the inspiration for the deepspace piece, ‘Tiki Sleeps.’ “

Paulina Fae reflects, “I wrote ‘Skyward’ as a playful composition mixing Mortimer’s gentle purrs and my voice. I like the delicate interplay. I think I captured the essence of our human-kitty connection — transcending the physical realm to resonate beyond the veil. I sometimes still hear his gentle purring and sense his presence. I know he's near when I feel a soft tingle and hear a faint, bubbly sound by my right ear like the fizz of champagne. I imagine Mortimer now as a majestic galactic lion watching over the Earth.”

Share on your social

I've created a banner for you to merge with your favorite kitty photo to share Purr24 on your social (banner on left, examples of it in use in middle + right). The banner has transparency that allows you to overlay your image in whatever graphic software you use. Download the banner. When sharing, please link https://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/purr24 and hash #PURR24 and #ProjektRecords — our profiles to tag at Bsky, & facebook. We’ll reshare your post on our Bsky + facebook.

thanks, Sam.

Name-Your-Price digital at Projekt's Bandcamp Page

Streaming tomorrow, Friday Nov 29, at Spotify, YouTube, Apple & everywhere else

Nov 18

Catching up with Steve Roach • November 18, 2024

Photo credit: Cosmo Lee

One Day of Forever

Excerpt from a review at Chain D.L.K. by Vito Camarretta:

“Steve Roach’s One Day of Forever arrives like a deep exhalation into timelessness. Recorded with a minimalistic touch that feels as expansive as the open desert spaces Roach calls home, the album immerses listeners in lush ambient layers and enveloping warmth. Its ethereal tones appear to stretch the limits of time itself, perhaps best expressed in the opening track, ‘All I Know,’ where a gently looping melody unfolds across 19 minutes of celestial quietude.”

One Day of Forever download remains Name-Your-Price for the rest of the week at Projekt’s Bandcamp. You can also pick up the CD there or at Projekt’s UK Webstore or European Webstore.

A review in Spectrum Culture.

Life in the Soundcurrent documentary

Amazon Prime in the US and UK have a beautiful 45-minute documentary: Steve Roach: Life in the Soundcurrent. A man overwhelmed by the cacophony of everyday life turns to the desert to find peace, which inspires him to create music from what he refers to as the “soundcurrent.”

Big Ears Festival

Steve Roach performs at the prestigious Big Ears Festival 2025 in Knoxville, TN, on Thursday March 27 & Saturday 29. The concerts are presented in the historic Church Street United Methodist built in 1931; it’s one of the most distinctive and recognizable buildings in Knoxville. bigearsfestival.org/

Steve reflects on his recent Tucson show

Steve writes: After touring since March, in recent weeks I took a bit of time to recalibrate and get back to life. Low and behold cosmic metal comrade’s Blood Incantation’s US tour (in support of the epic new rave-receiving album Absolute Elsewhere) which started in Boulder in October with me on the bill opening the portal, landed in Tucson on Thursday October 13th. Two days before the date I received an invite from the band on the performance hot line to present a microdose set. I love this kind spontaneous call to action! I mapped the energy of a 2 hour set into a 30-minute hyperdrive the night before the concert. For me the outcome was a wicked, breathless result. The audience was right there on the edge with me in a great way. We did no announcement of my set publicly which made for a fascinating, spontaneous incursion. Blood Incantation’s performance, sound and delivery of the complete new album in this intimate setting was masterful, massive and on fire. Do not miss this tour if this music is your cup of molten lava grog! Also on the bill was Midwife (Madeline Johnstone). Her emotional, moving solo performance of slowcore-haunted metal added to the burning down the boundaries and perceived limitations of genre divisions, I am loving these shows for all that it inspires in my live music and for the audience. Deep thanks to Blood Incantation and Midwife for the invitation here in Tucson.

Work on my new studio album is calling… back to it… more on this and other new release info soon!