Asthmatic Kitty Records: Library Catalog Music Series

THREE NEW LIBRARY CATALOG MUSICAL ENTRIES

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The Library Catalog Music Series is not for the casual music buyer. It is instead music directed at those with very particular needs and desires. For that reason, when we roll out a new set of these albums we avoid fanfare and ego embellishing. The Library Catalog requires no fanfare because it is fanfare. The people who need to know, know.

And those who know, know that the Library Catalog Music Series can help sell something. Or provide a soundtrack to the birth of a child. Or the background music for cubical efficiency implementations. The Library Catalog is Epcot Center (TM) in its creative approximations, and the Grand Canyon (C) in its magnitudinal awe.

The newest additions, volumes 15, 16 and 17 are no exception.

They include the dubbed out mouth beats of Ero Gray ricocheting off of ancient subconsciousness of our planetary ancestors, the shimmering waves of Alfred Brown melting symphony halls and mausoleums walls returning the orchestra to a place of grandeur and hope, and the deep sonics and nuance wizardry of Effacer wielding sound as the sound of sound itself.

These are albums that do not only occupy the airwaves and the shelves of record collections, they occupy the annals of history. They rapture consumers from plundered FM assimilation. They circumvent subpar creative directors and medicore agencies, rescuing listeners in retail storefronts and movie-goers from the mundane needle-drop of uninspired hacks with high end synthesizers.

Rest. Listen. Breath. And feast your ears on these new and fresh audio delights, now available for all your licensing and listening needs in both the original physical needle drop form of vinyl records or in instantly gratifying digital stream or download compatibility.

Listen and purchase here.

JIB KIDDER RELEASES

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Library Catalog contributor, Jib Kidder, created his volume Music for Hypnotized Minds solely from samples of previous Asthmatic Kitty releases. He has taken this one step further and created a music video for his track "Blue" using nothing but samples of Asthmatic Kitty videos. True to it's name, the video is quite blue. Sufjan fans might even recognize a particular strum. We think you will enjoy. So please do!

INFINITIROCK RELEASES EP

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Next week, InfinitRock contributes to the ever-expanding Library Catalog Music Series. Today, he has released a superb EP via iTunes. You may purchase here. While you do so, here is some downhill lawn skiing to get you in the mood.

YOU WANTED IT, WE PAID PEOPLE TO MAKE IT: NEW LIBRARY CATALOGS

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

"My computer crashed last night. Is there a soundtrack for that?" wrote Elenor Hilt, a teacher in Maryland. From Frank Edds, a landscaper in Miami, we received this request: "I am trying to remember where I was on August 22, 1997. I think a song might help. Can you make one?"

We get letters like this all the time. We carefully take these letters, send them to our Department of Communique Statistics and Analysis, and wait. Six months later they provide a 600-page report detailing what kind of music to pursue next in our ever-growing Library Catalog Music Series.

With Elenor and Frank and that 600-page report mind, we present Music for Troubled Machinery from Leb Laze, of Prefuse 73 touring band fame, and Music for Primordial Recollection from SUNY biology student slash glitch producer Infinitirock. We've thoroughly tested these on multiple focus groups, including primates, and the result is the same: betterment of life through background music. With each new release to the Library Catalog, we find another mood, temperament, and life situation that can be scored. These are no exception to that rule.

You can read more about Leb Laze's contribution here, and Infinitrock's here.

JIB KIDDER AND B LAN 3 JOIN THE LIBRARY CATALOG SERIES

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500

The latest installments of the Library Catalog Music Series are being unpacked from the manufacturer's shipping crates. They will be meticulously inspected and then distributed far and wide to the citizens of the world, for all of their listening needs. Volumes 11 and 12 can now be added to your shelf to complement your growing collection. We are pleased to introduce the talents of Jib Kidder and B Lan 3.

For his entry in the series Music for Hypnotized Minds, Jib Kidder (aka Sean Schuster-Craig) limited his sound pallette to the existing AK catalog, using only turntable manipulations, respatializing effects (echo, reverb, EQ) and splicing to create new mood-based shorts. As in the artist's past works, Music for Hypnotized Minds draws on the dream-logic ideas of hybridization, dislocation & temporal simultaneity. The results are the perfect record for meditation in motion like reflective, solitary walking or summer highway cruising with loved ones.

Volume 12 in the series, Music for Hunting and Mapping, comes from B Lan 3, a solo project by musician and visual artist Michael Diekmann. A resident of New York City, Diekmann also records and performs with the minimalist cold-wave formation Ike Yard, and the pioneering experimental hip-hop group Death Comet Crew. He has also composed or contributed to soundtracks for video and multimedia installations for multimedia artists including Gretchen Bender, Robert Longo and Marcello Mazzella; and also contributed music with Death Comet Crew to the audio book version of Neuromancer by William Gibson.

We invite you to sample these new audio delights:

"cruising 1," Jib Kidder (Download)
"Peekskill," B Lan 3 (Download)

WILLIAM RYAN FRITCH AND COMIC WOW OUT TODAY IN LIBCAT SERIES

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

You might have heard of a certain shoe company opening a certain studio for indie bands. Very nice of them.

We went a step further. We here at Asthmatic Kitty contracted out established, recognized musicians like William Ryan Fritch and Comic Wow to record music that will fit perfectly into whatever life situation you are in. We designed this with your life stream in mind.

So-called stock music isn't just for corporations and television stations anymore. You are your own brand, and justifiably you need a life soundtrack to personally identify and reinforce your self/brand. No need to clutter one’s life with subpar content/music! Hence the Library Catalog Music Series.

Today we are releasing two new volumes in the series: composer William Ryan Fritch's Music for Honey and Bile and sonic illustrators Comic Wow's Music for Mysteries of Mind Space and Time. The CDs are $10, LPs are $14 with S&H, and MP3 is just $8.

You can stream them below, and/or buy on their release pages. Click here for William Ryan Fritch's release, and here for Comic Wow's.

900X ON LAMINAR EXCURSION MONTHLY

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Of course you have used 900X's Music for Lubbock, 1980 for a variety of life-purposes; mowing, oystering, folding, reversing, dissecting, etc. Upon reflection you may have dug deeper in, where you would have realized that 900x is drummer James McAlister, also of Ester Drang, and also drummer on Sufjan Stevens' Illinois.

You may want more. Lukcily, McAlister is appearing on Laminar Excursion Monthly, a 24-disc 3" CD subscription series from Flannelgraph Records and Crossroads of America Records. The contributors receive two new 3" CD's a month from contributors the likes of Richard Swift, Cotton Jones, Damien Jurado, J. Tillman, Vollmar, Bexar Bexar, Joe O'Connell (Elephant Micah), Everything, Now!, Homecomings (DM Stith collabrator Mike Dixon), etc., etc. And of course, James McAlister.

You can order said subscription here.

RICHARD SWIFT, KRISTIN MILTNER PROVIDE NEW LIBRARY CATALOG ENTRIES

Sat, 22 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400

There is only so long we can ignore your letters and electronic mail. Despite six volumes worth of life-soundtrack, you needed more. There is, you wrote, so much life to live, and not enough soundtrack to fill it. We have listened and, in graciousness, responded. We are now two volumes closer to providing the perfect score to your entire existence.

With you in mind, we are pleased to announce volumes 7 and 8 of the Library Catalog Music Series. These are versatile pieces and it will be up to you to fully discover their various applications but rest assured that we are providing our standard, industry-famous 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. You will not be disappointed. Our two new composer recruits, Richard Swift's Instruments of Science and Technology and Kristin Miltner, have crafted music that will unfold in new ways with each subsequent listen.

Advertising executives! Don't bother with backward-masking your corporate sloganeering. Seventy-two-percent of Soundologists say that music from the Library Catalog Music Series will adequately stimulate the consumption cortex in shopper's brains. These two new volumes will be the only hook you need to start reeling in the Benjamins. Read more about Instruments of Science's Music for Paradise Armor here and Technology Music here and Kristin Miltner's Music For Dreaming and Playing here.

THE LIBRARY CATALOG EXPANDS ITS INCLUSION

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Shhh. The moment is about to pass. But, wait, ...there is something missing, something important. A crucial element that exists in all moments like these...ahh, yes, music, that's it.

And this, friends, is the point in your life where you reach for the Asthmatic Kitty Library Catalog shelf in your music collection. Luckily, we are doubling its size as of December 8th. Lowell Brams, Director of Asthmatic Kitty, turns out Music for Insomnia with a little help from Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner (of The National). Read more on this ode to sleeplessness here.

And you might also recognize a certain Roberto Carlos Lange. He lives in Brooklyn and has great hair - ok, ok we give in: it's the frontman of Helado Negro. And his Music for Memory is a swirling disc of loops and drones perfect for those memory related quests for keys, or mid-afternoon epiphanies. Here.

Finally, there's Seattle-based Yuuki Matthews with his Music for Savage Tropical Imagery. Don't let the title dissuade you; jungles aren't all lions and vines. Think more SUVs and lightposts. In 100 years. Music for Savage Tropical Imagery is the perfect soundtrack to commutes, either now or after the apocalypse. Read more here.

ANNOUNCING THE LIBRARY CATALOG SERIES

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 -0400

You've felt it; that strange emptiness driving home from work, the awkward silence at the breakfast table, the lack of ambience while walking down the street. Sound familiar? You may need a life soundtrack, and Asthmatic Kitty Records can deliver. On July 21st, 2009 we will launch the Library Catalog Series, a collection of audio expeditions into the many and varied worlds of contemporary music, performed by some of the industry's hardest working musicians.

The design of each album is as important as the music itself. Engineers and designers collaborated in hermeneutically sealed cubicles to professionally and lovingly package these Compact Discs and "Long Playing" records. These albums will provide you with an essential library for soundtracking your life in all of its moods and complexity. Be your own music director! Score your life scenes!

But wait, that is hardly all! Not only can you employ this music in the privacy of your home, computer and car stereo, but you can also license the Library Catalog Series commercially. Need to score that winning presentation for the board meeting next Wednesday? Is your Christmas home video lacking that certain climatic punch? Are you a major multi-national corporate conglomerate looking for quickly recognizable audio branding? Do your employees and/or customers have the overhead-radio doldrums? Then look no further, our sliding-scale fee structure can accommodate any every musical need, be it personal or corporate.

A world of sound awaits you with the Asthmatic Kitty Records Library Catalog Presents Series of Stereo Sound Recordings! Start saving now for what will quickly become an essential in any home audio library. Collect them all! Stay tuned! Details here!