Big Changes!!!

As we mentioned in our last blog post, Shark's Teeth Soup has left the band. While we are still a little sad about this, we also are finding that we are writing new material we find very rewarding to us as musicians and it has been a very creative period! As half of the songwriting team for Origami Cat Plan, Shark's Teeth Soup gave us a direction we really enjoyed... now that he is gone, we find ourselves moving in many different directions at the same time and really enjoying that too!! There are still some parts of Origami Cat Plan you will recognize, and Shark's Teeth Soup will be mixing and producing four tracks on the album we are working on, but there are also many other different sounds and textures to Origami Cat Plan now! We are working on a 15 track album we hope to release in July or August, featuring many wonderful guest musicians from around where we live!! (Yay!!!!) We have the basic demos recorded for all songs and are very excited to share what we are working on with you (we will be posting some demos soon!!!) These song titles will be unfamiliar to most of you, but the track list for the album will be:

All the Stars
Bossa Lua
Diving Into the Blue
Shifting Slowly
Room Number 2
Ghost by Day
Exposure
Fade
Color Bed
Left Untold
Turn to Leave
The Last Waiting
Pushing Past the Red
Let's Go!
Nonetheless

This album has no title yet... maybe it never will?... but it deals with change and cycles (and the track list looks like an hourglass when printed out! We just noticed now!!) It is sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes groovy, sometimes quiet. We've gone through many changes lately and the music on the album reflects what has been happening with us and what happens with life in general... hopefully, it will be a fun and interesting listening experience for everyone when it is completed!!! We will keep you updated on how it is turning out and let you know when there are demos to listen to (other than the two links in the comments)!! Until then, stay groovy!!!

Peace and Love!!!
Origami Cat Plan

Origami Cat Plan: Phase 3

It is with no small amount of sadness that we inform you of the news that Shark's Teeth Soup has decided he no longer will be a full time member of Origami Cat Plan. He is leaving the band to concentrate on producing solo works, although there are still quite a few tracks in various stages of production that he has happily agreed to finish over the next few months, and he also has said he would like to return every now and then in a "guest appearance" position. As half of the songwriting team for the band, he will surely be missed. But, we are still all quite good friends and we wish him the best success with whatever creative projects he pursues! He has said that he would like to write something, and that message from him follows this announcement. Farewell and good luck, Shark's Teeth Soup. Thank you for everything you've done for us.

Message from Shark's Teeth Soup to the fans of Origami Cat Plan:

"First of all, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has listened to the tracks I have helped produce with Origami Cat Plan! I sincerely hope you've enjoyed them! Secondly, I would like to say that my leaving the band has been in discussion for a couple months now and there are no hard feelings or any 'bad blood' between me and the other members. Sometimes when you have a bunch of creative people together in the same room, one of them needs to leave to find out what's outside, not just for himself, but for the other people around him too. For the time being, I have done all I can do with my part in Origami Cat Plan - anything else right now would be redundant and all of the members of the band would certainly grow tired of what would be produced, and, consequently, the people listening to the songs wouldn't enjoy them much either. Whether we think so or not at the time, change usually brings about wonderful things, and now is the time for that to happen. And, as the Maestro has pointed out in the preface to this message, I will be coming back for the occasional guest appearance when we all think the time is right! In many, many ways, I am sad to leave my friends but I think it is what's best - for myself and the band. The future is now wide open for all of us to explore - here's to making the most of it! Thank you all, once again!

Peace, Love, and Ecstatic Groove to everyone, everywhere!

STS"

With Shark's Teeth Soup's departure we expect our sound to change in many different ways (hopefully ways you enjoy!!) as we move into what is now the 3rd phase of Origami Cat Plan. We will keep you updated with what is going on and have new tracks for you soon!! Peace and Love!!!

Terrestrial & Interstellar Updates by Shark's Teeth Soup (transmitting from Cat Plan Universal Headquarters!! Meow!!!!!)

Terrestrial Update first: As some of you probably know from our posts on Facebook and tweets on Twitter, we've teamed up with a bunch of really amazing musicians to sell our songs through a project called Music for Japan and donate the profits from the sales to the Japanese Red Cross Society to help out with the relief efforts. There are more than 450,000 people in Japan who are homeless and living in shelters set up in schools, gymnasiums and community centers after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, and we want to do what we can to help out. The people in Japan affected by this disaster need help and will for quite some time to come - temporary housing is at least 4 to 5 months away. So, we are hoping you can help us raise money by purchasing this collection of songs. There are 24 songs in the collection (including three by us that aren't available anywhere else!), and the price for the entire collection is only $12! The other artist who have contributed to this project are:

Clavius Crates
Crushed Velvet Explosion
John Holk & The Sequins
JThrill (from Thrill Train)
Kira Lesser
Mykehouse
Nick Bertsos
October Babies
Paradox Explorer
sedition world orchestra
Sir Lord Sean Ike
Skate Laws
Soundpropeller
Swimsuit
The Afternoon Round
The Corvairs
Tree City
UltraIndigo

We think it's a really amazing collection of songs (at a very low price too!) and it's for a good cause! Please check it out! (The main website has short previews of all the songs - if you would like to listen to the songs in their entirety, please go here! Thank you!)

'Kay, Interstellar Update time: Maestro Shinken and I are finishing up the pre-mixing for the long overdue 'Interstellar Groove Manual' album (we've been sidetracked a couple times...), and are pretty much at the point where we're just waiting for the other Origami Kittens to make their way to Cat Plan Universal Headquarters (a.k.a. Kitten Cool Studios) and lay down their parts on the virtual tape recorder. Groove Ninja is a little busy this month - he's attending 5 weddings in 3 different countries in the next 4 weeks - and Kaji no Joou is... well... we don't actually know where she is... but we're sure she's having fun and we hope she gets in contact with us soon or we'll have to switch on the Cat Signal. Oh! We also have a couple honorary Origami Kittens that will be making guest appearances on the album (we're all very excited by this!!!!!!) - more information about these guest Kittens will be divulged soon! Secrets and surprises!!! In other noise news, Shinken and I will be remixing two of the songs Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, and Damian Kulash recorded last Monday (just to do it, they recorded 6 songs in 8 hours - check it out!) We'll be remixing "Because the Origami" (naturally) and "One Tiny Thing" - our remixes will be called "because the Origami Cat Plan - world come home mix" and "and a whole bunch of other bigger things", respectively. We are going to try to remix both songs in 8 hours, which will be difficult - some of our songs have taken a month to mix - but we're looking forward to the challenge. We will post them for listening when we are finished.

And... that is all (for now!) Once again, please check out the Music for Japan compilation!

Groove On everyone!!!! Peace!!!!!!

Interstellar Update by Shark's Teeth Soup from Origami Cat Plan Universal Headquarters (transmitting from the Paper Feline Constellation!!!)

"What are Origami Cat Plan up to these days?" is what you've probably been wondering. Well, wonder no more - this blog post will reveal all!!!

First of all, Koneko-hime has decided to quit the band and move back to Paris and sing in nightclubs again! It was an unexpected decision and we miss her, but it is her dream to be known as a great Parisian chanteuse and we wish her the best of luck! The remaining Origami Kittens are carrying on in their frolicsome musical fashion and we're all excited about finishing up recording for our album! (Soon!)

Shinken and I have been kicking around some new musical ideas and are pleased with the results so far. We're composing with a more organic funk sound in mind, and plan on adding more band members for our live shows to incorporate the new direction we're heading in. Kaji no Joou (we just call her Kaji - she's not too fussy about her royal title) will be recording her vocals for "Down to the Groove" next week and we should be posting it soon. We're also reworking "Down to the Groove" into an extended funky jam version we plan on releasing on the SUPERnova Sexxxy EP (where we'll be calling it "Baby, I'm In... If You Are Too"), and so far it's sounding pretty tasty. Another track called "Meow Funky!" should be released in the next couple weeks - this version will just be Shinken and me messing around and having fun, and we'll probably put it up as a free download (a different version of "Meow Funky!" will be recorded for the album with the full band!) I've been finishing the instrumental mixes for the album and am planning on posting some of the interlude pieces as I finish them - Shinken is against this idea (he's very serious at times), saying he thinks we should wait until the album's done, but I think some of them will probably be posted before that.

John Holkeboer, a good friend of ours in Michigan, has offered to record the string parts for our song　さようなら！We're very excited about this! He writes and records in many different styles and does it quite well. Not only that, he's just a really nice guy. We suggest checking out his music (he's in a few bands): John Holk & The Sequins, Some Velvet Evening and The Oblivion Project. It doesn't sound like our music, but who cares? Good grooves are good grooves no matter what style they're in!

And, while we're on the subject of hyping bands we like, this is the band we've been listening to lately around Cat Plan Universal Headquarters when we're not working on our own stuff: October Babies (videos here). We are warning you ahead of time: their music is highly addictive.

Let's see - Koneko back to France, new tune info, John Holkeboer, October Babies... yep, that's the update! More news and tunes soon! May the groove be with y'all 'til then!

STS

We forgot! We have photos from our gig in Michigan!

Live at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI.
2010年12月15日 (photo by Ris Tena)

Groove Ninja live at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI. 2010年12月15日 (photo by Ris Tena)

Kaji no Joou live at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI. 2010年12月15日 (photo by Ris Tena)

Koneo-hime live at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI. 2010年12月15日 (photo by Ris Tena)

Kaji no Joou & Koneko-hime live at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI. 2010年12月15日
(photo by Ris Tena)

Shark's Teeth Soup live at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI. 2010年12月15日
(photo by Ris Tena)

More photos soon!

Official Origami Cat Plan Interstellar Update!

Groove Ninja, Kaji no Joou and Koneko-hime have gone off to their homes for the holidays. Groove Ninja is in Detroit, Michigan. Kaji no Joou is in Spain. Koneko-hime is in one of her homes, we do not know which one. She has houses in Florence, Paris, Rio, 香港 and 大阪. Shark's Teeth Soup and I are staying in Manhattan and working through the holidays. We are finishing up mixes for "Interstellar Groove" and "Here We Go Again...". These new songs should be posted on the internet by New Year's Day. When the other members of the band have finished their holiday celebrations and relaxing time we will go into the studio to finish recording for our new album 'Interstellar Groove Manual' which we are thinking will be available worldwide in the end of February or in March. We also are trying to book gigs for a small tour this summer! Maybe we will see you wherever you are! That is all of our news for now. Have a happy New Year everyone!!!

Michigan?

It appears we might be going to Ann Arbor, Michigan in December to play a show with our friends Thrill Train at a place called Blind Pig! Thrill Train is a band we like very much so we are honored! I do not know about Michigan. We will see what it is like.