Sal Cataldi - guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals, tunes, ham-fisted drum machine programming and percussion
Influences
psychedelic bebop guitars from Django, Dick Dale, Jimi (Band O' Gypsys most), Rypdal, Cosey, Steve Tibbets,Sonny Sharrock,Jan Akkerman, Pierre Bensuasan, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Fripp/Belew, Chuck Christian, Fred-E King,etc... happy/cracked sunny day/cracked pop of the past and present, from Zombies, Syd-Era Pinks, The Move, mid-era Beach Boys, Robyn Hitchcock, Flaming Lips, Apples in Stereo, World Party, the BeeGees (first disc), the Eels, even Cat 'Fuckin' Stevens (thank you kindly) and anything recorded in a garage between 66 - 68, the fuzzier, the better... 70s era Miles with tres guitarass on fire and the art rocks of King Crimson, Focus... sax bastards, from Coleman to Trane to Bird, Rollings to Gato to Roland Kirk ... soul musikz of Howlin' Wolf, James Brown, Marvin, 'Retha, Stevie W, Gil Scott Heron, Stax, Muscle Shoals and NYC's Mandrill too... Brit rock past of the hippy dippy Incredible String Band, John Martyn, Donovan, early Traffic variety... the great Brazilians, past and present, from Gil to Caetano, Carlihnos Brown to Os Mutantes, Tom Ze, Renato Braz, Jorge Ben and all the many Gilbertos... Debussy and Tielman trumpet concertos for early mornings... Zappa, Beefheart... the greasy Italian soul of Frankie Valli and 4 Season and Vivaldi's take on it too...very selective NYC/UK punk/no wave, Television, Velvets (anything of the Cale era and all Cale)...proto rap of the Sugar Hill Girls, Tribe, Digital Underground and the Bard of Salford, John Cooper-Clarke.... the Gigantor theme song...and more and more and more...
Sounds Like
teen spirit with a thinking cap screwed on... a wheel chair out of control on the instrumentals... your Uncle Louie in the shower on the sing-songers....
what it is - a man living in a housebarge on the water making subversive sonics in his laundry room...
Bio: Cataldi’s Spaghetti Eastern Music.....
Can techno-bebop-metal-fired instrumentals peacefully co-exist with vocal tunes inspired by the madcap acid-flameout geniuses of the late ‘60s pop? What if you added ambient orchestral soundtracks a la Morricone with a Fripp chaser, and clavinet-singed funk/blues from the Bootsy Collins/P-Funk playbook? Top it off with acoustic ballads where smiley melodies camouflage a rabbit punch of bitter lyricism about broken love and other social confusions, and you sort of begin to complete the recipe....
And how in the hell is all this coming out of just one guy – armed with only a keyboard, a moldy Fender Stratocaster guitar and a five o’clock shadow that just won’t quit?.....
Welcome to the world of Cataldi’s Spaghetti Eastern Music, the new solo project of NYC guitarist/keyboardist, Sal Cataldi.....
Cataldi has been on the New York scene for more than decade, skirting the not-so-fine line between Knitting Factory-brand jazz and the pop/punk ethos of the CBGB and Brooklyn Beat scenes. His work has received consistent critical raves – called “truly excellent” by The Village Voice, “a stimulating soloist” by The New York Press and “a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it” by Aquarian Weekly. Legendary Rolling Stone/East Rocker writer John Swenson, the man who penned the liner notes to Frank Zappa’s “Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar,” may have put it best: “He’s the hippie guitarist playing to another dimension.”......
Cataldi’s Spaghetti Eastern Music is garnering more critical attention from recent appearance at venues like NorthSix, Parkside Lounge, CBGB, Galapagos Art Space, Otto’s Shrunken Head and more. Time Out New York recently wrote: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere." Newsday added: “Mad scientist-guitarist-keyboardist Cataldi’s has unleashed another project on an unsuspecting world. Cataldi’s Spaghetti Eastern Music brings the funk and throws it in a mixer with electronica, bebop and blues.”......
Cataldi’s Spaghetti Eastern Music is a “solo schizo-phonic orchestra,” one that can veer off into almost any musical genre at the whim of its commander. The influences informing the musical menu are vast indeed, the product of an unstable and insatiable musical soul, and a record collection that rivals the Smithsonian.......
Funk, future blues, Blue Note soul jazz, oddball electronica, Sharrock-shred and ‘70s-era Miles collide in instrumental tunes like “Swangha,” “Jimbo,” “Jungle 23,” “Krunch Thyme” and “Brooklyn Groove.” The sunny orch pop of later-day Zombies and the High Llamas rear their handsome hook-laden heads in Cataldi’s “Maria,” “Bad Hair Life” and “Marshmallow Overcoat,” while R&B grooves and Fender Rhodes chords drive vocal pieces like “Time for Letting Go,” “Lampshade on Your Head” and “Painted by the Sun.”......
Cataldi’s “Unemployed” and “High on the Low Life” are consummate I-IV-V rockers perfect for these downsized-times, while “Mama Called” is a haunting acoustic ballad about a weekly call from mom … made from the great beyond. “Shadow’s Song,” “Gloss-Her-Mer” and “Pharoah’s Tomb” are technicolor movie music, dreamy walls of strings and sound effects punctuated by sinewy guitar adventures.......
Cataldi brings the rich studio sound now being captured on two CDs in the works – the all-instrumental “Sketches of Spam” and the vocal “Turpentine Valentines” – alive on stage with a Korg Triton synth/sequencer and his trusty old Ronzoni-Caster Strat. He sums the live experience up this way – “This is 21st Century organ grinder music, without the monkey and tin cup.”......
Sal’s other current project, Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom, is a duo co-lead with Kansas City-based drummer D. Hitchcock, which includes guest appearances by legends like Eno/Brand X bassist Percy Jones. HKToD has released two critically acclaimed discs, “Escape Velocity” (1999) and “Geolago” (2002). Collector, Cataldi’s former “heavy metal bebop quartet,” released another genre-leaping critic’s fave, the all-instrumental “Almost Live” in (1999). Both of these bands have performed frequently in New York and beyond, at progressive clubs like the Knitting Factory. Cataldi is also employing Spaghetti Eastern Music banner for a company that produces soundtracks for film and television......
As guitarist, Cataldi is also remembered for the role he played in one of the most popular, kamikaze bands of the early-to-mid-90s downtown scene, the “clown pop princes of Brooklyn,” Frank’s Museum. This band was a popular attraction at New York-area clubs including CBGB, The Ritz, Tramps, Coney Island High, Lone Star Road House and Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Cataldi’s guitar work and songwriting with the Museum can be found on four Brooklyn Beat compilations and two full-length CDs, “Den of Antiquity” (1992) and “Make Coffee, Not War” (1993)......
For more information, demos & artist photos, email spaghettieasternmusic@cataldipr.com
cataldi's spaghetti eastern music's Friend Space (Top 30)
cataldi's spaghetti eastern music has 392 friends.
hey Sal, great to hear from you. How's things? Are you coming over anytime? Would be great to meet up. Love to you from all of us.xxxKeep on playing man - you sound amazing!
Hi cataldi's spaghetti eastern music, just in case you're around, I'll be at Bluestockings Radical Books this Friday @ 7 p.m. (172 Allen Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan) and then on Tuesday, July 31 @7 is the Barnes & Noble on Astor Place. Guest speakers respectively will be Laura Kenyon (Lyme & Cybelle's "Follow Me") and Barry Feinstein (Tambourine Man LP photo). Also Sunday July 29 on wfmu.org from 6-8 p.m. Here's a preview. - Domenic Priore Johnny Echols of Love @ the Hullabaloo, Sunset & Vine, 1966
Hi cataldi's spaghetti eastern music, just a quick hello from the Jazz Pistols - hope you are doing fine and having a great sunday. Wish you all the best - thanks for being our friend and good luck for the things you do. Best regards - Christoph
If you would like to hear more tunes of the Jazz Pistols you can check out our homepage and get the Jazz Pistols CDs in our own shop - if you are living in the USA it will be cheaper to get them at Abstract Logix, CDBaby or as digital download at iTunes. Please join our newsletter if you are interested in our tour schedule and upcoming releases.
hey i really like the sound of your stuff. its very unique and reminds me of alot of things at once. thats a good quality in my opinion :)
best of luck in the new year :)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I'm getting out of the city this year. Celebratin' on a mountain up in PA. Should be nice! Have a great time ringing in the new year! See you in January (if not before!)
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"Universal peace as a result of cumulative effort through centuries past might come into existence quickly -- not unlike a crystal that suddenly forms in a solution which has been slowly prepared." Nikola Tesla
