Through The Eyes of a Cat
 

So yeah, I have a nifty little project called Cats With Hats. It's probably the most fun I've ever had making music. I did have previous projects under different names but my stoner ass decided to delete all of that and I regret it all the time. However, that did allow for the birth of Cats With Hats so I guess it has some merit to it. The thing is though, this is the first time I've ever had a project where I want to put all my effort into. My other projects were just filled with albums that I thought met the criteria for what I was going for. This time I've gone into the project with themes and ideas that really blow my mind. And I try to incorporate that into a form of music. More specifically the noise / ambient variety. I don't really tend to stick to one particular sound. I go with what sounds good in my head and I just try to mimic that and expand on it.

I'm not expecting anybody to listen or even pay attention, but I wanted to make a space where I can talk specifically about the future sounds for Cats With Hats and talk about albums I've made and give more background to this little playground I find myself in.

This is more than music for me though. It's become a way for me to escape and create something from nothing. I just enjoy the process and what results is music that I feel I put everything into to make it what I want. So it is something I take a lot of pride in. Whether that shows or not, I don't know. But I try.

So yeah. If you're interested, there's a little cat head in my signature that you can click. Otherwise, stay tuned for updates.

This is my most recent project, Twins. I went for a sort of horror esque synth and destruction craziness. It was intended to be longer but I felt with the tracks it already had on it, I was satisfied with it as a whole. I didn't want to make the album intentionally longer if it meant the creativity would go away. That's just how I am though. This and Grey are two of the favorite things I've ever done, but this is definitely my favorite by far.

Why is Cats With Hats a thing?

Well, there's a few reasons for it. But before I get into that, I would like to just throw out there again that I don't treat this like some little thing that i'm doing on the side. I actually put a lot of passion into making the music, and it's definitely one of the more important things in my life right now. Now with that said, that's basically the first reason as to why I decided to make Cats With Hats a thing. I wanted something to ease my creative needs, due to my gradual distaste for writing. The other reason is because I was listening to other members music like Frownland and Mondo Bungle and I realized that I could also do this. I could make something memorable and interesting and something that people would or wouldn't want to listen to. I gravitated more towards the sounds that Mondo was making because I just felt a better connection there. Frownland has his own thing and even if I don't like his music or much of him as a person, I still give him a lot of respect for doing something creative and continuing to be successful at it. Definitely worth mentioning for sure. The dedication to his own craft is pretty significant. When it came down to deciding on the kind of music I want to make, I settled on the more noise / ambient variety, though I don't necessarily stick to that all the time.

Then it came to creating a project. And though I've created several before (#####, Psychephilia), I've never felt a deeper connection to a project than with Cats With Hats. Could be that it simply has cats in the title, or I don't know. But something different comes into play when I make music for this project. It feels more beneficial in a way because I'm basically just making whatever the hell I think sounds good. And then just putting it on an album.

It's a fun thing to just sit down at the computer and think of something you want to make, then being able to put that into a form of music is also really fun. I enjoy doing this and will probably continue to release new material under this name for quite some time. It feels to me like it's a perfect fit and I want the music to show that.

Here's a song from my old Psychephilia project: Atmospheric Spaceships

Also, alongside Twins, Grey may be my next favorite album I've ever created.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3855984855_2.jpg
https://catswithhats.bandcamp.com/album/grey

It's a mixture of dark ambient and other sorts of little here's and there's that I decided to throw in. It's all mixed through my own doing with samples and my own recordings etc.

Every time I see this thread bumped I forget about Kiiii's music and assume he's descended to a new level of spinster.

Both.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting tracks to an upcoming Christmas album I'm working on titled XMS. It'll be a mixture of my usual **** and of course the theme will be Christmas. I'm looking forward to it and I've got so many ideas. It's gonna be a fun one. Also be on the lookout for Songs For The Dead III though I'm expecting that yo come out early 2019. Lots of plans ahead and I'm excited to let you guys hear it. Instead of bombarding the Member Showcase, I'll be posting in here as I like to have things all in one place.

As mentioned before, a new album titled "xms" will be coming out sometime this month under the Cats With Hats name. Although I just finished with Twins, I still have the urge to make more music, so what better way to accomplish two things at once then by making the first track that will be featured on "xms". Stay tuned for more as I plan to post updates for every track released on this album up until it is complete.

Also a nice peek at the album cover for "xms" as well.

And don't ask me about the album name. It's just something that I thought of that could still imply that this is a Christmas themed album. In some crazy wacky ways.

https://i.imgur.com/Asx1HgK.png

Anyway, here's Broken Bells.

Cats With Hats: Broken Bells [xms]

And along with that, an extra treat. Track #2 off of xms. I've been craving a creative outlet all week so forgive me. This'll be all for tonight though. These were just the ideas I had and I wanted to get them out before I forgot them. And I'm quite happy with how both turned out as well.

Enjoy!

Cats With Hats - Jingle Bells But Not Really Jingle Bells (xms)

https://i.imgur.com/Asx1HgK.png
Update

Alright yeah you got me, I won't be announcing every single track for the xms album I'm working on. However, this is definitely one of the highlights of the album for sure. This track is titled Deep Freeze. Enjoy!

Cats With Hats - Deep Freeze (xms)

I release a compilation of the songs I made in the past because why the **** not?

I've decided to go ahead and try to find the remnants of my past projects and release them as a compilation on my current band camp. You can find the compilation here. It's a collection of songs I made for the ##### and Psychephilia projects that I use to create for. I couldn't for the life of me remember the names of the albums so just remember that these are tracks I've made before along several several albums.

This was back when I was first starting to make music so keep in mind that a lot of this is going to be very weird and just straight up crappy. But hey, it was experimenting for me and I was trying to find the sound that I would eventually come to love. I do love a lot of these tracks though but god damn they're weird to listen to right now.

And just if you're not aware. You won't be able to find any music from those projects because I got really stoned and depressed one night and decided to delete all the music from both bandcamps and god damn I regret it every single time I think about it. But I figured the least I could do is release something that shows the music I used to make. Hell, some of this I may come back to for inspiration. This is also just a personal project for me because I do want a place where most of my old stuff can be found. This isn't all the music I've made in the past, but it's a good chunk of it.

Enjoy!

https://i.imgur.com/Tyjd2TD.png
Cats With Hats - A Compilation of the Past (#####, Psychephilia)

As some of you are probably pretty well aware, I've got new **** coming out. When that is? I have no idea. Sometime this year though. The Cold Blue is turning out to be more of an adventure and less of an album. The tracks that I'm making for this stand out from my other albums while still maintaining the Cats With Hats. Now, to be fair, I never really sought to do something specific when I made this project, it was just a place for me to record the kind of music that I want. As the project has gone along more and more, I'm finding my place in this humongous world of music, and I'm planting my seed in the only way I know how - by making music.

I'm probably not going to be releasing every track until the album is released in its completion. However, I want to post a track that I feel may very well be in the top 3 tracks that I have ever made. It may very well be the best Cats With Hats track I've ever made. So, here ya go. This is "Go While You Still Have Time" by me.

Hey, nice. Just found this. I’ll listen to all your stuff ASAP. :)

Hell yeah!

My very first album of 2019 is here. I actually started thinking of ways to go about this album even before I did the Christmas album in December, so I already knew that right away, I wanted to start on something after the Christmas album to bring in the new year with something great. I really feel like I may have achieved that. This album, The Cold Blue, is undoubtedly the best thing I've ever put out. Every single track is something I'm extraordinarily proud of, and the whole atmosphere of the album just feels great. I've given it a listen a few times just to make sure I've done what I wanted to do, and finally, 10 tracks later, and some minor changes, The Cold Blue is the first 2019 album that I've released.

https://catswithhats.bandcamp.com/album/the-cold-blue

I can't really say for sure what theme I was going for here, but I want it to feel more like an adventure of sorts. I feel like this was a nice way to bring in the new year, with an album that I'm not only proud of, but I feel like I've improved the most on this album than any other album I've put out so far.

<3


Didja listen?

In my own personal world, I feel like I've been improving when it comes to my music. I said this back when I released The Cold Blue. The impression that I leave on these albums is birthed from deep within myself and I really try to put as much of my own emotion into the songs that I make. Sometimes it works out, other times not so much. However, lately it's been working out wonderfully. I just feel like I'm in my own little wonderful space and I'm feeling more passionate than ever when it comes to my music. So yeah, that's why you're seeing more releases lately. Not necessarily a bad thing though. Especially for me. I just gives me a creative outlet and the outcome is something I'm loving the more I do it.

Solace, probably coming out in the next month or so, it's an extension of what I just said. I had the idea to make an album like this when I enjoyed making The Cold Blue so much. I wanted to try to sort of mimic that while still maintaining a bit of my own personal touch as to make sure I don't just make a The Cold Blue II. Solace is its own album and I think it'll be one of the more chiller albums I've made in a while. I'm so far 4 tracks in and I'll admit, I'm quite happy with all of them right now. I've already posted a few on soundcloud and Youtube but the rest will have to wait until I release the album in its entirety. I'm not sure how big of an album it will be, but just know that I'm enjoying making each track and they will each be special in their own way. But for now, here's the intro track titled "A Fateful Start"



It's definitely touching on a darker side of emotion but it's helping me cope with a lot of things going on right now. I think this will very well be one of the more depressing album in my releases, but I'm all for it.

Solace is now done. I kept it short this time because this album is meant to be somewhat of a personal journey deep within myself and I tried to portray that in the best way I could. Once again, this one feels personal but I'm certainly happy with the outcome.

So here it is!

Good ****. Have you ever thought about making a series of albums that follows a certain set of themes? I have a friend who made a series of 4 chiptune albums that corresponded with the seasons and I think if you did something like that it'd be cool too.

I've been contemplating an idea like that. Thatd be really fun and interesting I think. So far I'd say The Cold Blue and Solace are grouped together as they're both sort of a personal journey for me. More so than my other stuff.

Thank you for the compliment tho. It's always appreciated.

Yeah, I got this idea from here about a week or so ago and now I want to really go for it. I was trying to think of a good way to do this and I originally wanted to do 4 separate albums following a theme, but I'm keeping it down to 2. I wanted to explore a different style for these albums and I think it's going to work out great. I've got ideas for both and while I'll try to have them both release around the same time, I can't make any promises. My plan is to have them release maybe within a day of each other, but again, yet to be seen. This is going to be a fun project and I'll be posting updates in here with some possible teaser tracks that will be coming soon. So:

I'm sure the seasons are very important to them and that isn't just a daft, self-important gimmick.

I can't speak for him but I'm fairly certain they are. But I was unaware that themes had to be intricately linked and restrictive to have any value. I guess there isn't any such thing as a loose concept.

I like the idea evidently.

It just sounds way too obvious a gimmick to not be incompetently pretentious.

If he did a project about the four seasons, he's gotta have some Nip blood in him somewheres. Those idiots think they're the only country on the planet that experiences four seasons, thus making their culture "beautiful", "interesting", and "unique".

So if he just called then Album 1 - 4 would you quit bitching?

I mean they're chiptune albums, they aren't meant to be some profound work of art. It's also not like he outright states that concept anywhere on the Bandcamp- it was more of a source of inspiration than anything else.

Bloodthirsty Butchers' Kocorono had a song for each month of the year. Things like that are universal concepts and make for interesting themes, imo.

socko and bat it'll be a 24 hour ban if you don't respect that key has asked you both to stop repeatedly.

With Day & Night both a simultaneous project of sorts, I'll be posting updates throughout the coming weeks that will more so just display (hopefully) the kind of thing I'm going for. The idea is already cemented in my brain but making the music to fit that is another story. This is the first track off of Day.



I'm getting a lot of the same kind of inspiration that I got when I made Songs For The Dead / Songs For The Living. Except I feel like I'm going for something a little bit more and a lot less "remixy". I'm not expecting either of these albums to be out any time soon, but I still want to keep people in the know as to what to look for.

So here ya go!

One of your best cover designs yet, and this is coming from the guy who's made fun of them in the past.

Thank you! I like it too

And while we're at it, i'll also post the first track off of Night. I'm getting genuinely excited for the potential of this project.

I find it funny how right after I talked to you about an overlying theme for your albums you announce these gall-darned things.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/10e0...81b8/tenor.gif

Excited though!

It was an idea I was thinking of off and on and you pushed me to go for it. It is exciting!

Hey, it's been a while. Also, hey, let's talk about something that's pretty awesome. I promised a bit ago that I would be releasing two albums simultaneously. Well, schedules change etc etc. However, I'm happy to finally announce that both albums have been completed and are available for your listening pleasure.

It's my pleasure to bring you both Day and Night. This project certainly took some time to get just right but I'm quite happy with the result. We've got two separate themes and I think I nailed both of them in the best way I can. If you've ever been curious about my music, this is certainly a good place to start.

So anyway, here you go:

Cats With Hats - Day
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2371946194_16.jpg
Cats With Hats - Day
Cats With Hats - Day
Cats With Hats - Day
Cats With Hats - Day

Cats With Hats - Night
https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2527654281_16.jpg
Cats With Hats - Night
Cats With Hats - Night
Cats With Hats - Night
Cats With Hats - Night

Hallucinations is an album I made based around the concept of night terrors, nightmares, etc. I went for this theme for my own personal reasons but also because I really just wanted to try to explore this theme. So I did. It may not have ended up being as long as I would have liked, but the songs in this one are some of my personal favorites. I've been trying to focus on more theme based music and I'm finding it to be even more fun than before.


This album was definitely a lot of fun to make. I'm super proud of it. So much so that when I was done, I was instantly inspired to make more music. So I decided to also release a 2 track album coming in at about 20 minutes listening time. And again, I went into it with a theme and it worked out. Probably not the strongest thing I've ever made but I'm still happy with how it turned out.

Leaving this here for now.

https://i.imgur.com/kcdCgTz.png