Cat Martino
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Cat Martino

New York City, New York, United States | SELF

New York City, New York, United States | SELF
Band Pop EDM

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"La Blogothèque Take Away Show"

Brooklyn Bridge Park, in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn’s northwest end is one of it’s most beautiful destinations. A restored ferry dock with two Civil War structures nested between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges with a full view of Manhattan’s skyline, romantic capital of the borough, there are few places more suited to music at sunset.
Over the years, no matter what my level of malaise for the iconic sights and sounds of this great city, the sudden illumination of the bridges just after sundown will never fail to remind me of the perpetual allure of New York City.
Two years later, Grimaldi’s famous pizza has moved around the corner, Jane’s Carousel has survived two hurricanes, and the Tobacco Warehouse has been host to hundreds more weddings. We follow Cat Martino, fresh off of a tour with Sufjan Stevens and armed with brand new songs for her upcoming debut LP, for another evening watching the sun creep down behind the majestic cityscape for another night of sleep. - La Blogothèque


"Pitchfork Profile on "Song in a Day" project"

This installment of Weathervane/WXPN's "Shaking Through" features singer-songwriter Cat Martino creating a new song called "I Promise". Martino enlisted Sufjan Stevens to play keyboards and drum machine and provide backing vocals, while Man Man's Chris Powell played the drums and drum machine. Download the track for free here, in exchange for an e-mail address.
"Shaking Through" is a series that artists to write and record a song in only 48 hours from start to finish, and films the process. Watch a clip from Martino's session: - Pitchfork


"NPR Music Video Premiere"

I first saw Cat Martino at the best concert of my life. It was the summer of 2011 and Sufjan Stevens was performing at Celebrate Brooklyn. But within the spectacle -– a troupe of maybe a dozen performers on stage — was a singer and dancer named Cat Martino. I know that because a number of my friends at the show knew Cat and were screaming her name at the top of their lungs. Jump forward a few months and Cat Martino is playing on the rooftop of NPR, part of a series of "deskless" concerts organized by our former intern Clare Flynn. I was intrigued by what she played.

Cat Martino just made her first music video. It's for her song "Yr Not Alone," which recounts a provocative interaction Martino had with someone she calls "an eccentric Chaplin-esque character in Prague." "Came inside, bought me a drink," she sings. "You stopped my song with what you think."

This visitor was "dressed like Chaplin, with the hat, cane, mustache and everything," Martino says. "There was something tragic and mysteriously wonderful about him, although in the end his behavior approached stalker. I would never see him again, but I wrote the song right away, imagining his sadness as he disappeared from a great fun party.'

The video, co-directed by Lily Baldwin and Deborah Johnson, takes that encounter, turns it into an abstract form in order to play with the idea of interactions both intimate and jarring. "It became far less literal and more about the visual vocabulary that Lily had been developing between camera and body," Cat Martino says. The action in the video is a beautiful dance, filled with colors, patterns and backlit images, and it climaxes with animation made by Deborah Johnson. - NPR


"Cat Martino is Eager to Collaborate After Explorations in Splendid Isolation"

". It's a diverse and ethereal collection, grounded by Martino's voice—a spectacular instrument, capable of piercing and powerful belts that retain a disarming delicacy—as well as her vivid and emotional lyrics. Martino is equal parts siren and sacrifice, calling listeners to follow her tantalizing example"

- Indy week


"Consequence of Sound Video Premiere"

Armed with a small Danelectro amp, a looping pedal, and a mess of extension chords, Martino pieces together her own take on the classic “Love Song”. Filmed by Alex Marvar, the video doesn’t seem to have used any high-tech sound gear, as wind and air-conditioning whirs interfere with the audio a bit. Martino’s voice still manages to make an impact, soulful and crisp, and when she loops herself together for the outro, it even approaches operatic. - Consequence of Sound


"24 Bit Music Interview with Cat"

Yr Not Alone is a soulful, gorgeously enigmatic set — complete with surprising arrangements, inspired melodies, and multi-textured meanings that reward and unfurl with each repeated listen. - 24 Bit Music


"Village Voice Profile Piece"

??Cat Martino makes glowing, of-the-moment woozefolk full of ethereal drones and spacey loops, running modern indie-scruff through the 4AD dream machine." - The Village Voice


"BK Vegan Profile Piece"

"In addition to singing, playing guitar and piano, Cat creates soundscapes by putting her vocals through a loop station. " - Brooklyn Vegan


"BK Vegan review of Sufjan Steven's August 2011"

"Cat Martino left her post at the back of the stage for a spirited, soulful duet with Sufjan, proving that she is more than capable of being the leading lady."
- Brooklyn Vegan


"BK Vegan review of Sufjan Steven's August 2011"

"Cat Martino left her post at the back of the stage for a spirited, soulful duet with Sufjan, proving that she is more than capable of being the leading lady."
- Brooklyn Vegan


"BK Vegan review of Sufjan Steven's August 2011"

"Cat Martino left her post at the back of the stage for a spirited, soulful duet with Sufjan, proving that she is more than capable of being the leading lady."
- Brooklyn Vegan


"Baeble Music Profile Piece"

"With the celestial, vocal looping allure of Julianna Barwick while making greater use of a cacophony of instrumental sounds, Martino creates an ethereal sonic soundscape."
- Baeble Music


"Nylon's Profile Piece"

"Yr Not Alone, is chock-full of lushly layered vocals, swaying melodies, folk influences (and maybe some fairy dust?), and we can’t get enough." - Nylon


"Mp3 Premiere on RCRD LBL"

Feathering beats and synthy instrumental swells undulate beneath Cat’s mesmerizing vocals and Sufjan’s supporting hum. Replay until this storm, or any other, has passed. - RCRD LBL


"Baeble Music Profile"

"With the celestial, vocal looping allure of Julianna Barwick while making greater use of a cacophony of instrumental sounds, Martino creates an ethereal sonic soundscape."
- BAEBLE MUSIC


"Cat Martino accomplished what John Lennon attempted to do in "Tomorrow Never Knows"."

"With her loop pedal singing, Cat Martino accomplished what John Lennon attempted to do in "Tomorrow Never Knows" by sounding like monks singing from the mountaintops". - http://www.lamusica.emol.com/


"The intuitive side of the NY underground..."

“The intuitive side of the New York underground... Shows a roller coaster of emotions.”  
- Women Who Rock Magazine


"Beautiful and soulful, overflowing with raw talent..."

When you first hear Cat Martino perform live, you get the feeling you're discovering someone already famous. Her voice is beautiful and soulful, overflowing with raw talent. "Here Now," Cat's debut album is an eclectic mix of what Cat refers to as "electro-space" rock, as well as acoustic guitar and piano songs with layers of string and keyboard arrangements. The album was recorded in New York with some of the best musicians in the business. Cat talks here (and now) about being in the moment with her musical projects, with her relationships, and with her job teaching music in the New York City school system. - womanrock.com/Brenda Kahn


Discography

"Yr Not Alone" (2012 Release)
"The Sea Closet" (2009)
"Underneath the Skin E.P." (2005)
"Here Now" (2004)
"Dance of Destruction" E.P. (2002)

Co-Write Collaborations: Dive Index - "The Surface We Divide" & "Mid/Air", duets with Mark Gardener (of Ride), and Joseph Arthur.

Background Vocals: Sufjan Stevens "All Delighted People" and "Age of Adz", Sharon Van Etten's "Epic", A Camp, Joseph Arthur, Anna Ternheim, Marit Bergman, plus more...

Photos

Bio

QUICK LINK: http://catmartino.tumblr.com

Cat Martino is clearly a lover of harmony, looping her voice and instruments live, creating a lush and layered sound much bigger than one person. As she moves onstage holding a microphone over keyboards, pedals, and samplers, you can feel her internal body rhythms coming alive in her songs.

The New York native has been a collaborating touring and recording member of Sufjan Stevens’ and Sharon Van Etten’s bands, and appeared with The Shins on SNL last year. Her Sophomore Album, Yr Not Alone is a beautifully melodic piece featuring harps, thick bass beats, electric guitar, and swirly skittering synth lines. Even over this lush, enveloping backdrop, Martino’s resonant voice is always the undeniable centerpiece. As she plays these brand new songs onstage as a duo or trio, they are full of primal energy, driving with electronic beats, floor toms, whilst retaining as always an organic live quality to captivate the moment with melodic and layered transcendence.

Her penchant for loop effects was inspired by her homebound isolation from a debilitating neuromuscular disease several years ago. Bound to her bed, Cat’s vocal overdubs became her new choir, and her music became defined by layers, simple melodies built into powerful walls of sound. Back to full health, Martino celebrates life by creating music inspired by the movement, and her history as a dancer.

She retreated to the woods of northern California for four months, and recorded her forthcoming album. Yet though there is a Northern California mixed with urban New York influence, do not expect all sunshine, as Indyweek recently pegged her: "Martino is equal parts siren and sacrifice, calling listeners to follow her tantalizing example".

The songstress herself reveals, "I retreated to the woods to find peace away from the city after a break from a long relationship. The landscape was truly clearing for the soul and stripped me of artifice, but it was not a Bon Iver For Emma experience. I began writing and recording to found a unique exorcism; something primal and passionate needed to come out, so I let it. It made me want to move my body and dance, so I did."

Yr Not Alone music video premiere on NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2013/02/20/172488037/a-dance-video-inspired-by-an-encounter-with-an-oddball

Pitchfork, on "Song in a Day" project featuring Sufjan Stevens and Chris Powell of Man Man: http://pitchfork.com/news/46221-watchlisten-sufjan-stevens-creates-a-new-song-with-cat-martino-man-mans-chris-powell/

Blogothèque: http://en.blogotheque.net/2013/01/28/cat-martino/

Recent interview: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/cat-martino-is-eager-to-collaborate-after-explorations-in-splendid-isolation/Content?oid=3653790

NPR Blurb:

The New York native has previously appeared as a member of Sufjan Stevens' and Sharon Van Etten's bands, but is poised to release a sophomore album next year that has the potential to make her a star in her own right. Full of gorgeous, overlapping vocal loops and contributions from Stevens, the album is a beautifully melodic piece of art dressed up for 2012. Harps, thick bass beats, electric guitar, tambourine and swirly, skittering synth lines — it's all here. Even over this lush, enveloping backdrop, Martino's resonant voice is always the undeniable centerpiece.
--Clare Flynn

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/28/144149377/intern-uprising-music-we-missed-in-2011?sc=fb&cc=fmp