You Changed is high-energy funk-jazz of the Ornette Coleman Prime Time/harmolodic variety. Multi-instrumentalist Cataldi's galloping funky beat, snappy clavinet accents and dueling snaky lead guitars propel Muro’s caffeinated rant about an actress friend who’s now too cool for school and their friendship. “You used to be nice, you used to be normal, you used to be my friend, then you suddenly changed… You started wearing vinyl pants and blowing kisses to strangers… You called me a sad sirloin burger…You wanted to be interesting, so you rented a wolf, had your elbows pierced, bought a stuffed owl and went to the opera dressed as a mermaid!”

You Changed - Vapor Vespers

On Sex, Cataldi’s soundtrack is a slow-creep electro modal blues reminiscent of latter-day Jeff Beck, one on which Muro sleepily riffs couplets that illuminate what sex is.  “Sex is a big basket of shiny red apples and a good sharp knife… Sex is a time bomb under your seat and a dog sleeping at your feet… Sex made a monkey out of Darwin and a man outta King Kong… It’s how I got here and how I wanna go.”

Sex - Vapor Vespers

Spaghetti Eastern Music, the solo venture of Hudson Valley and NYC guitarist and keyboardist Sal Cataldi, today releases a new EP containing the solo electric guitar score for “2 x 2 x 4.”  The EP was recorded during a July 2021 live performance of this piece by performance artist Charles Dennis at the Avant-Garde Arama Festival in Woodstock, N.Y.  The three-track, 20-minute collection is available as a digital download.

Premiering in 1989 to raves in media like The Village Voice, Charles Dennis’ “2 x 2 x 4” is an offbeat dance duet performed with fourteen wooden 2 x 4s, one whose mood is now heightened by Cataldi’s atmospheric, looped and layered guitar extrapolations captured on this live EP.  

Praised for his guitar innovations by the likes of The New York Times and Jazz Times, Cataldi’s three movement score was informed by his love of the pioneering ambient soundscapes of guitarist Robert Fripp and experience performing with avant-garde guitar orchestra composer Rhys Chatham.  Cataldi performed with Chatham’s ensemble at Lincoln Center in 2010, at a concert captured on the album “A Crimson Grail: For 200 Guitars” (Nonesuch Records).  

Cataldi utilized multiple loop pedals, delays, fuzz tone, a string simulator, harmonizer, arpeggiator, an Ebow note sustainer and other effects to create the 20-minute score, which is divided into three selections on the EP titled:  2 x 2 x 4 Pt. 1  Of Sawdust & Seagulls (8:09); 2 x 2 x 4 Pt. 2  Pulse the Arpeggiator (4:37) and 2 x 2 x 4 Pt. 3  The Howl of Contemplation (6:24).   The music moves from gentle chording and symphonic loops to a rhythmic pulse with dueling, echoed melodic fragments to a minimalist 4-chord organ pattern underpinning frenetic soloing and wailing wall of infinite sustained, harmonized note clusters at the culmination. 

The New York Times says “Cataldi’s original instrumentals and acoustic vocal tunes have a beat unmistakably his own” while Time Out New York writes: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere." Called “truly excellent” by The Village Voice, “a wild ride” by Radio Woodstock, “beautiful and unique” by WFUV’s Mixed Bag, “charmingly melodic and off-center” by WFMU and “a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it” by Aquarian Weekly.  

Almanac Weekly calls Cataldi “a unique voice who conjures a surprising blend of exploratory fusion, electronica and indie song craft, from the Ennio Morricone overtones anticipated by his handle to currents of Krautrock, techno, modal folk and various world music styles.” KMS Reviews call Spaghetti Eastern Music “pure harmonic bliss” while New York-based DooBeeDoo Reviews says it’s “as beautiful as a well-tended garden and as seductive as a courtesan in an opium den.”  East Coast Rocker/Rolling Stone writer John Swenson, the man who penned the liner notes to Frank Zappa’s “Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar,” may have put it best: “He’s the hippie guitarist playing to another dimension” while Hudson Valley One calls it: “Part Sergio Leone fever dream, part Ravi Shankar raga, a whirling dervish of musical creation.”

Of Sawdust & Seagulls - 2x2x4 Score Pt 1

Bent Omelette (DADA #1) is a new single from my spoken word/music side project with Alaska playwright/poet Mark Muro, The Vapor Vespers. It is a fat back beat driven jazzy blues/word salad salute to DADA, the early 20th century movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values, a reaction to the horrors of WWI.  Think William Burroughs’ cut-ups meeting The Meters in a dark alley of the mind. There’s an internal logic to the words that strain prettily against their real world meaning, suggesting an all-too American cartoonish sense of normalcy, like the couplet Muro intones at the conclusion: "Oily, oily. Roll up your dreams and slide down Lois Lane."  The video to this tune, including some astounding images from Hans Richter’s 1927 DADA cinema classic, “Ghosts Before Breakfast” can be viewed/shared here. https://youtu.be/QRvzpPBg85U

The Vapor Vespers is the transcontinental brainchild of NYC and Hudson Valley based multi-instrumentalist/producer Sal Cataldi (also known as Spaghetti Eastern Music) and award-winning Alaska playwright, actor and slam poet Mark Muro. 

Underground radio institution WFMU called the Vapor Vespers “a supremely cool fusion of spoken word and progressive sound,” while NYSMusic.com praised their “blend of spacey synths, spicy guitar, ethereal drones and deep lyrics, a mesmerizing blend of hazy electro-funk and searing, lyrical poetry that redefine what music can be.”  Good Times Magazine called the debut disc “a wild, indescribable sonic stew that mixes outrageous lyrics and storytelling with expert musicianship that recalls everyone from Steely Dan to Was (Not Was) to Frank Zappa.” Fresh Underground Podcast labeled it “stunning slam poetry and electro music originality in the tradition of Joe Frank.” Anchorage Daily News said “Cataldi’s music gives Muro’s narratives more urgency, veering between funk-jazz acid trip and graphic novel accompaniment, a collaboration that is something to behold.” MusiciansforMusicians called it “colorful and inventive, a perfection of onomatopoeic expression.” KMS Reviews might have said it best: “Push that play button and get ready to float in a sea of sound. It’s an album with a mystical glow that will keep listeners enchanted.”

Bent Omelette  (DADA #1) - Vapor Vespers

Valise is a new single from my spoken word/music side project with Alaska playwright/poet Mark Muro, The Vapor Vespers. It's an audio salute to film noir, a thriller-cum-mystery narrative driven by a funky flatted-5 bass groove, buzzing keys and bickering wah wah guitars.  Here, Muro sounds like Raymond Chandler, narrating the tale of a mysterious suitcase with equally mysterious contents and the femme fatale who may or may not have made off with it.  The tune is being released with a film noir textured video that can be viewed/shared here: https://youtu.be/QajzD76c5fY

The Vapor Vespers is the transcontinental brainchild of NYC and Hudson Valley based multi-instrumentalist/producer Sal Cataldi (also known as Spaghetti Eastern Music) and award-winning Alaska playwright, actor and slam poet Mark Muro.

Underground radio institution WFMU called the Vapor Vespers “a supremely cool fusion of spoken word and progressive sound,” while NYSMusic.com praised their “blend of spacey synths, spicy guitar, ethereal drones and deep lyrics, a mesmerizing blend of hazy electro-funk and searing, lyrical poetry that redefine what music can be.” Good Times Magazine called the debut disc “a wild, indescribable sonic stew that mixes outrageous lyrics and storytelling with expert musicianship that recalls everyone from Steely Dan to Was (Not Was) to Frank Zappa.” Fresh Underground Podcast labeled it “stunning slam poetry and electro music originality in the tradition of Joe Frank.” Anchorage Daily News said “Cataldi’s music gives Muro’s narratives more urgency, veering between funk-jazz acid trip and graphic novel accompaniment, a collaboration that is something to behold.” MusiciansforMusicians called it “colorful and inventive, a perfection of onomatopoeic expression.” KMS Reviews might have said it best: “Push that play button and get ready to float in a sea of sound. It’s an album with a mystical glow that will keep listeners enchanted.”

Valise - Vapor Vespers

Spaghetti Eastern Music, the solo venture of genre-leaping NYC/Hudson Valley guitarist Sal Cataldi, is releasing “I Believe in Love,” a stripped-down, all-acoustic ballad previewing the spare narrative style of his forthcoming song-centric EP, “Turpentine Valentines.” The new single will be available beginning June 7 as a digital download via Spaghetti Eastern Music’s Bandcamp site, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, CD Baby and other online stores.  

Critics from prestige outlets like The New York Times, Time Out New York and Huffington Post have heaped praise on Cataldi’s debut album under the Spaghetti Eastern Music moniker, Sketches of Spam.  This was a 16-track, 69-minute surf through a slew of contrasting moods. It’s largely guitar-driven instrumentals were inspired by the acid funk of 70’s Miles, Krautrock, Ennio Morricone’s Spaghetti Western movie soundtracks as well as Fripp & Eno ambience and the sound of ECM guitar god Terje Rypdal. These contrasted bare-bones acoustic vocal songs reflective of the influence of John Martyn and Nick Drake, the mode showcased on his latest single. The discs’ acoustic titles included originals like “Wild One” and “Mama Called,” an instrumental cover of the Zappa rarity “Sleep Dirt” and a DADGAD-tuned, ballad paced reinvention of the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride,” one that garnered airplay on SiriusXM, WFUV Mixed Bag, WFMU, Radio Woodstock and many others.

With “I Believe in Love,” Cataldi serves up his hard-earned take on romance: the pain it can cause and the beauty too… if one is willing to throw his/her heart back into the ring for another go-round after heartbreak.  Two crystalline acoustic guitars and a solitary voice carry the tune whose narrative arc is reflected in the below, the first and concluding verses of the song:

I believe in love but not everlasting love
Life has shown me, it’s just a temporary disease
Attacks the heart, breaks it in two and does something funny to your knees
But I believe in love…

I believe in love but not everlasting love
If you can accept these terms, maybe we can get the disease
Warms the heart and make its whole
At least that’s what life has shown me so
I believe in love

The song comes with a counterpart video featuring some of the great screen kisses from the classic film era which can be seen here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saG_EGStoa4   It was recorded and engineered by Cataldi at his studios in Woodstock, N.Y. and a floating one aboard his Houseboat Garlic Knot in Port Washington.

The New York Times writes “Cataldi’s original instrumentals and acoustic vocal tunes have a beat unmistakably his own” while Time Out New York says "the largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere." Cataldi and his Spaghetti Eastern has been called “truly excellent” by The Village Voice, “a wild ride” by Radio Woodstock, “beautiful and unique” by WFUV’s Mixed Bag, “charmingly melodic and off-center” by WFMU and “a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it” by Aquarian Weekly.

I Believe in Love

A funky tribute to a great lady who recently passed by Spaghetti Eastern Music.  

Spaghetti Eastern Music is the genre-leaping solo project of NYC & Hudson Valley-based guitarist/keyboardist Sal Cataldi. Spaghetti Eastern Music marries acid jazz-fueled guitar instrumentals with bare-bones acoustic ballads straight out of the Nick Drake school.  Cataldi debuted the project with the critically-acclaimed 2016 album, “Sketches of Spam,” which has been followed with a number of EPs and singles. The New York Times says Cataldi “has a beat unmistakably his own” while Time Out New York praises his "the delicate guitar work and the hauntingly moody atmosphere he conjures.” Called “beautiful and unique” by WFUV’s Mixed Bag and “charmingly melodic and off-center” by WFMU.  Hudson Valley One has called Spaghetti Eastern “part Sergio Leone fever dream, part Ravi Shankar raga, a whirling dervish of musical creation.” Chronogram Magazine called his most recent release, the exploratory solo guitar score for the dance piece 2x2x4,“cool, melodic, inspired and transcendent, a wave of sonic warmth and light.” Psychedelic Baby Magazine calls it “the perfect sonic tonic for these trouble times.”  Look for his music at www://spaghettieasternmusic.bandcamp.com 

Instagram: @sallyboynyc  Twitter: @salvatorism

Leona's Walk (Let's Not Be Ridiculous)

A punchy jaunt from the forthcoming collection of vocal and instrumental tunes by Spaghetti Eastern Music, "Sketches of Spam." on Bad Egg Records (30003). 
Composition & Production by Sal Cataldi, Gravi N Bizqits Music (ASCAP) 2015
Guitar, Keyboards, Programming - Sal Cataldi
Bass - Bob Stander
An ambient future blues looking for a movie to sleep with, where Eno lunches with Carlos Santana, from my forthcoming album, "Sketches of Spam" (Bad Egg Records 30003), from solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music. Guitars, keys, effects and percussion Sal Cataldi. Recorded and Engineered at Houseboat Garlic Knot and Parchessi Studios. Additional engineering and mastering Bob Stander.

Time Out New York says: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere."  Newsday adds: “Mad scientist-guitarist-keyboardist Cataldi has unleashed another project on an unsuspecting world which brings the funk and throws it in a mixer with electronica, bebop and blues.” Called "a stimulating soloist" by the The NY Press,"triumphantly funkified" by UPI, "a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it" by Aquarium Weekly.

@ Sal Cataldi/Gravi-N-Bizqits Music (ASCAP) 2015


"Downright Uptight" - from the  album "Sketches of Spam"

An improvisational excursion by Spaghetti Eastern Electro-Dub Quartet recorded live at Green Kill Gallery in Kingston, NY, December 2024.  

Sal Cataldi (guitar efx loops), Tom "Spontaneous" Semioli (bass), Dawoud Kringle (dautar), Dirk Drazen (drums).  

Scott Kent (engineer on original recording) D.b. Schell (curation)

Composition: Semioli, Kringle, Drazen & Catadi Gravi-N-Bizqits (ASCAP)

Kilimanjaro - Live at Green Kill Sessions

A new bit of instrument middle eastern ambient from Spaghetti Eastern Music's forthcoming collection, "Sketches of Spam" Bad Egg Records 30003

Composed and Performed by Sal Cataldi
Sal Cataldi/Gravi N Bizqits Music (ASCAP)@ 2015
Additional engineering/mastering - Bob Stander, Parchessi Recording, NY

Time Out New York says: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere." Newsday adds: “Mad scientist-guitarist-keyboardist Cataldi has unleashed another project on an unsuspecting world which brings the funk and throws it in a mixer with electronica, bebop and blues.” Called "a stimulating soloist" by the The NY Press, "triumphantly funkified" by UPI, "a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it" by Aquarium Weekly.




"The Camel (Went Through Labor Only To Give Birth To A Mouse)" from the album "Sketches of Spam"

Frenetic stop-time beats a la an Al Foster outtake from mid-70's Miles over machine drone/mantra with serpentine fuzz guitar scream, from my forthcoming album, "Sketches of Spam" (Bad Egg Records 30003), from my solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music.  Guitars, keys, effects and percussion Sal Cataldi.  Recorded and Engineered at Houseboat Garlic Knot and Parchessi Studios.  Additional engineering and mastering Bob Stander.

Time Out New York says: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere." Newsday adds: “Mad scientist-guitarist-keyboardist Cataldi has unleashed another project on an unsuspecting world which brings the funk and throws it in a mixer with electronica, bebop and blues.”  Called "a stimulating soloist" by the The NY Press, "triumphantly funkified" by UPI, "a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it" by Aquarium Weekly.  

@ Sal Cataldi/Gravi-N-Bizqits Music (ASCAP) 2015

"Slakaz's Sambo Sox" - from the album "Sketches of Spam"

A live solo guitar performance of a score created by a short film by Hanna Bass.  Recorded live to iphone at Lace Mill Arts Center, Kingston NY

Health, A Solo Guitar Score for a Short Film by Hanna Bass

A new track that merges downtempo beats and electronica with electric blues

The Hard Blues

Can techno-bebop-metal-fired instrumentals co-exist with vocal tunes inspired by the madcap geniuses of ‘60s pop? What if you added ambient soundtracks a la Morricone/Fripp and clavinet-singed funky blues from the P-Funk playbook? Top it off with acoustic ballads where smiley melodies camouflage bitter lyricism about broken love, often rendered in off-beat tunings, and you sorta begin to complete the recipe.

They can and do on “Sketches of Spam,” the 16-track, 69-minute, genre-surfing debut release from Spaghetti Eastern Music (Bad Egg Records, 30003), the solo project of New York City and Hudson Valley-based guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Sal Cataldi. 

Cataldi’s much-varied sound is the product of an insatiable musical soul and a record collection rivaling the Smithsonian’s.  This debut album is an hour-plus journey through contrasting moods, with instrumentals inspired by 70’s Miles, Krautrock, Ennio Morricone, Bhangra, Fripp & Eno and ECM’s icy guitar great Terje Rypdal giving way to bare-bones acoustic vocal tunes – ones oft anchored on unusual tunings, with narratives that chart the course of difficult loves, in styles that range from Brit Folk to Bossa.

Spaghetti Eastern Music has received consistent critical raves, for live performances and the selective release of early mixes of works now fully realized on this debut disc 

Time Out New York writes: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere." Newsday adds: “Mad scientist-guitarist-keyboardist Cataldi brings da funk and throws it in a mixer with electronica, bebop and blues.”  Called “truly excellent” by The Village Voice, “triumphantly funkified” by UPI, “a stimulating soloist” by The New York Press and “a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it” by Aquarian Weekly.  East Coast Rocker/Rolling Stone writer John Swenson, the man who penned the liner notes to Frank Zappa’s “Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar,” may have put it best, “he’s the hippie guitarist playing to another dimension.” 

The authority on all things Beatles, The Beatles Examiner recently praised the album’s “ sharp soaring guitar jams” and called the distinctive cover of “Ticket to Ride,” “incredible, a wonderfully moody re-imagining” of the Lennon classic. Huffington Post dubs it “the perfect soundtrack for New York City life,” while WFMU’s Irene Trudel calls it “charming melodic and off-center,” a collection that is now enjoy airplay on radio including WFUV’s “Mixed Bag,” SiriusXM, WFMU, Oakland’s KALX,  NYC-area college station including WCWP and WHPC and many more.  The CD’s title is a lighthearted tribute to Miles Davis’ atmospheric classic, “Sketches of Spain,” one ripe for this digital overload and lunchmeat age!

Prior to Spaghetti Eastern Music, Cataldi performed and recorded with a host of notables in a number of genres, including the critically-acclaimed Knitting Factory faves The Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom (an industrial/ambient jazz dub extravaganza co-led with drummer D. Hitchcock featuring Eno/Brand X bassist Percy Jones), the avant-jazz/Afro-funk band Collector, Brooklyn’s comedy rockers Frank’s Museum, Lower East Side mainstays The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players and in the guitar orchestra of pioneering No Wave minimalist Rhys Chatham, on his “A Crimson Grail - Live at Lincoln Center” (Nonesuch Records, 2011).  He's been a familiar face in the club scene in New York, having performed at venues like CBGB, Galapagos, NorthSix, the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, Otto's Shrunken Head, the Parkside Lounge, the Sidewalk Cafe and many more.

“Sketches of Spam” was recorded largely on the waves, at the studio aboard Cataldi’s home, The Houseboat Garlic Knot, in the waters off the Big Apple.  Additional recording, engineering and mastering was done at Parcheesi Recording Studios by Grammy-Award winning engineer Bob Stander (Hubert Sumlin, Patti Rothenberg), who also plays electric bass on two tracks.

Spaghetti Eastern Music

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