Home  Music  Words  About  Contact

cato_six

Cato_six@hotmail.co.uk
www.myspace.com/c806
www.c80-6.com

cato_six – is the performance name of Jamie Cato, a London based electronica artist.

cato_six produces a noise once beautifully described as 'a perfect blend of intricate folding melodies, and lunatic spastic beats.'

The cato_six methodology is one of performance based composition - usually incorporating ‘on the fly’ granular beat processing, tightly sequenced skittering percussion, half forgotten field recordings and loose, gentle interweaving harmonies. By creating and modifying his own array of drum machines, samplers and FX, cato_six walks the line somewhere between musician / programmer, with uniquely delicate melody lines jostling alongside intricately detailed and abrasive breakbeat programming.

cato_six has released the uc8ic16 EP (2005) available on itunes, beatpick & lofi criminal records. And provided remix work for London based jazz / electronica collective, Lautrec, contributing to ‘caught in your headlights’ split vinyl 12" released on the urbancholica label (2006).

As a solo artist, group member and producer/remixer, cato_six has worked with several labels in the U.K. including urbancholica, lofi criminal records, and beatpick records. Jamie also runs the myspace Reaktor user group. For additional discography and biographical information, please see: www.c80-6.com.

Quartz Ver (9.96 mb) - 2005. Ensembles: ___O___ V1.1 (Colin-Patrick Charles), MetalonSeq v0.1 (Dieter Zobel), go box mk2 (Reaktor 5 factory library), Auralis v2.1 - Kristian Thom, Carbon synth (Reaktor 5 factory library), Grainstates FX (Reaktor 5 factory library), Randomation (Rachmiel), Flatblaster (Reaktor 5 factory library).

With this track I wanted to do things differently, and try to think outside my normal ‘routine’ of composing a piece… So, I wanted to try and see if I could just generate a series of interesting parts by recording a series of long passes, then splice together the best bits. So I started with a quick studio recording of an alarm clock going off, fed this into the DAW, and then put this through lots grain delays using the Grainstates ENS. The rhythmic squirbles that can be heard came courtesy of the MetalonSeq ENS which was recorded at various clock divisions, then spliced together. I used a tricked out version of the go box ENS, (from the Reaktor 4 library) for the drum parts, which was wildly automated using Rachmiel’s Randomation instrument. These were boosted using the Flatblaster ENS. The ___O___ V1.1 & Auralis Ensembles were recorded in 16 bar passes, then chopped down for the good bits. The whole ambient stew was then thrown thru Grainstates FX one more time (albeit at a slightly higher sample rate than usual) the final piece was then created by piecing together the wet and dry sections.

Kittensfslx (1.98 mb) - 2004. Ensembles: Limelite (Electronic instruments 2), Dataseq (James Walker Hall), Kaleidon (Reaktor 5 factory library).

Kittensfslx was born out of spending about two weeks trying to come up with a piece of music to use as an audition piece for the Liverpool institute of performing arts. After desperate attempts to get something concrete done, I recorded a series varied loops from the limelite Ensemble, then fed these thru the FX section of the same Ensemble. By using the dataseq to control the XY controller of the limelite ENS, I could almost override the recorded path of the speed / length parameters. By feeding a 3 / 4 bar data sequence into the limelite operating in 4 / 4, I was able to create the almost ‘backwards sliding’ glitch effect. I keyed together a simple note sequence with Kaleidon, for no other reason than I wasn’t overly familiar with how to get good results out of this vastly complex instrument. I wanted to create a sort of psychedelic almost kaleidoscopic melody line, to contrast with the strict punctuation of the beats. On listening back, the track has a laid back feel, very different from my usual style.

Little hopin Jam (2.61 mb) - 2005. Ensembles: L3 (Reaktor 5 factory library), monoseq – (James Walker Hall), dataseq – (James Walker Hall), 3x (James Walker Hall), Ginsu Rhythm Delay (Chris List).

This track could ‘nearly’ be a concept in itself – use just one Reaktor synth creator’s instruments for a whole track? Little hopin jam came about very quickly, I’d just received my update from Reaktor 4 to 5, and was itching to try the new ‘toys’ I played around with the L3 sample sequencer, hooked it up to a self created resampling unit, featuring parts taken from Chris List’s Ginsu Rhythm Delay Ensemble. By assigning the midi outs of the dataseq to the various parameters on the delay unit, was able to create the flexible distorted beats you can hear in the piece. I generated a melody line with the monoseq, patched that thru to the 3x. If it sounds rushed, it’s because it was, it was done in one sitting, & subsequently I was late for work! But I feel the immediacy of beats and the fact that I didn’t really think about it lends it (to my mind) a very refreshing un-thought out feel.