House of Cat

All things artful and curious

A Short History of Stax Records

Working in a record store, we get a lot of promotional stuff; posters, pins, stickers, whoopie cushions…whatever the labels think will get people talking about their artists. We also get T-Shirts. They are generally XL (record store nerds are generally big dudes, I guess), but over the years, I’ve collected a nice little handful of [...]

Humans & Music

Watch in amazement as Bobby McFerrin taps into the inherent human understanding of music, and without a word, draws an entire audience into his world. If your exposure to Bobby McFerrin’s music begins and ends with that one hit from the 80s, do yourself a favor and dig a little deeper. He is a compositional [...]

10 Things You Should Know About the Extraordinary Nina Simone

There is more to Nina Simone than you could ever learn from a little list like this. She was truly one of the great artists of her time; not only an exceptional songwriter and musician, but a dedicated activist and outspoken advocate for freedom. If you already know Nina’s music, you know what I’m talking [...]

Album Art Mash-Up

Pioneering composer and visual artist Christian Marclay is at it again. The always-ahead-of-the-curve creative has taken to stitching album covers together, to create mash-up images that work surprisingly well. You can see more of Marclay’s work at TheDesignInspiration.com. Related Posts Overheard at the Record Store – Part 13 Royal Mail Rocks The Greatest Form of [...]

Beautiful Hang Drum Duet

by Cat Johnson The most marvelous thing about music is that it’s always changing; being recreated, reinterpreted and redifined. I love looking back on the evolution of musical forms and wondering what’s coming next. In 2000, in Bern, Switzerland, after years of studying different percussion instruments from around the world, Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer [...]

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Overheard at the Record Store
Wordage: The Shameless Pursuit of More



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