If you’re in this sublemmy, imo you have already disqualified yourself as mainstream. The mainstream has a casual relationship with music; it’s basically like my relationship with a napkin; I use it, but don’t care to know too much how it came to be. I know that napkin production is a complicated affair from tree to final product, but I have no motivation to learn how things happen in that world. There are probably people who dream of making the ultimate 21st century napkin, and I bet they have some wild ideas, but that’s a discussion I’m not really interested in joining. IMO, this is how the mainstream deals with music; for the most part, they seem ready to discard songs they liked once they no longer provide the buzz they once provided. Once the novelty is gone, the artist and the song s/he made is forgotten.

I suppose you already realize that as far as my analogy goes, you and I are napkin engineers in the eyes of the mainstream. You’re here because you have felt the magic that happens upon hearing something truly new, and you’d like to educate yourself further in this regard so you can engineer some of that magic for yourself.

That’s why the band I present today is an amazing enigma IMO.

Circles Around the Sun (aka CATS) was never intended to become a band. If you read accounts of their origin here or there, you’ll see they came together to make filler music for the last Grateful Dead concerts. They weren’t trying to form a new band, but the feedback they received was so positive that they began contemplating what this new ensemble could do.

So, they began composing in earnest, and imo some of these songs are just amazing. For example, plz check out the first song in this performance called “On My Mind”. I recommend you expand the video to fill your screen so that you can take note of the interactions between musicians.

IMO it’s excessively simplistic to just say, “Well, CATS is just a jam band; staying on a single chord is what jam bands do”. However, when they realized they are viable as a group, they made bona-fide compositions with a structure everybody can notice - with long stretches of sticking to a simple chord or progression - just like a “jam band”.

Please behold what I consider to be a masterpiece, a song they call “Outer Boroughs”. I read somewhere that the title originally was “Ouroboros”, which you probably already know is a creature involved in the consumption of itself.

So, in conclusion, I present this band, CATS, as an example of a group that said, “Yes” when asked “Do you wish to be a progressive band with cool chord progressions, OR do you wish to be like a jam band that stays on a chord for as long as you can milk it?” IMO they represent an amazing blending of the two compositional strategies, and for me, they demonstrate that chord changes are not always necessary… until they are, which is when they deliver in that regard as well.

Do you know of bands like CATS? I found them by going to KEXP’s u-tube channel and choosing the concert they gave there. What group(s) do you think achieve the perfect balance between simplicity and complexity in regards to their compositions? If any of you know of remarkable standout bands, t’would be nice of you to share.

Best, TD