Transcontinental Music & Spoken Word Duo Vapor Vespers Drops Another Two-Sided Single

Acclaimed experimental music duo Vapor Vespers is kicking off 2022 with the release of another duo of quirky, noir- and funk-tinged singles, Valise and Bent Omelette (DADA #1). These music-powered spoken word offerings are a preview to what's in store with the Spring release of their sophomore album, Ghosts Before Breakfast, the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed 2020 debut, One Act Sonix.

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. The pair, whose musical and personal relationship dates back to their teen years in Queens, NY, first bonded over their love of boundary-pushing musicians like Miles Davis, Sun Ra and Frank Zappa and the audio recordings of writers/poets/music-powered spoken word performers like William Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, The Last Poets and John Cooper Clarke.

The duo's newest singles up the ante on the cool grooves, guitar riffage, synth textures and the verbal hijinks/ narrative absurdity showcased on their debut disc, and with Sex and You Changed, another double-sided preview of their forthcoming album that was released in Fall 2021. Valise and Bent Omelette (DADA #1) will be available for download on Bandcamp and on streaming services including Spotify on January 7 and 28 respectively.

· Valise is the duo's 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

· Bent Omelette (DADA #1) 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 press notices demonstrate how critics, radio djs and music-lovers are venturing beyond the vanilla mainstream to embrace the Vapor Vespers' poetronic genre, and its unique fusion of furious sounds, words and humor.

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."

Tracks from the album have been featured on more than 40 influential radio outlets globally including New York's WFMU, Radio Free Brooklyn, WVKR/Vassar U, Radio Woodstock, WGXC-FM, SOMA FM, SiriusXM, Radio Spiral, The Fresh Underground Podcast Radio Spiral, Modul 303 and Radio Dark Tunnel (Germany), West Star Radio (UK), Krypton Radio (USA) and Brainvoyager (Netherlands).

Cataldi and Muro's partnership goes back to when they met in their teens in Queens, New York. Here, in the heart of blue-collar New York City, they formed a lifetime friendship and creative bond over a steady diet of Carvel Flying Saucers ice cream sandwiches, Sundew Jungle Juice, Sun Ra, Henry Miller, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa and the original spoken word recordings of the 50s and 60s from Caedmon Records.

A longtime denizen of the New York City and now Hudson Valley/Woodstock music scenes, guitarist/keyboardist Cataldi is most recently known for his solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music. Here Cataldi fuses Eastern beats, Spaghetti Western film soundtrack ambience, Krautrock spaciness and psychedelic and funk/fusion flavored electric guitar instrumentals with gentle acoustic vocal songcraft, straight out of the John Martyn/Nick Drake songbook. Time Out New York writes: "Cataldi's largely instrumental, Eastern-influenced jams are infused with some delicate guitar work and hauntingly moody atmosphere," while The New York Times proclaims he has "a beat unmistakably his own." Called "truly excellent" by The Village Voice, "a jazz virtuoso without the need to prove it" by Aquarian Weekly, "beautiful and unique" by WFUV's Mixed Bag, "wonderfully melodic and off-center" by WFMU and "part Sergio Leone fever dream, part Ravi Shankar raga, a whirling dervish of musical creation" by Hudson Valley One, Cataldi keeps up a steady schedule of performances at leading venues in the Big Apple and the Hudson Valley.

Bronx-born Mark Muro has been a cultural force in Anchorage, Alaska since relocating in the mid-1980s. His short stories and poetry have been published in anthologies including North of Eden and The Anchorage Daily News and he has produced and performed in a series of one-man shows including The Bipolar Express, Indistinct Chatter and Not Marketable at theaters including Cyrano's and Out North, and also at the annual Alaska One-Minute Play Festival. Muro has acted in numerous independent films and commercials, performed standup comedy, represented the state of Alaska in The National Poetry Slam. He also served as host of the PBS radio show, Stage Talk. His newest one-man show, Bug Boy: Curse of the Ant Queen, premiered in November 2019 at Anchorage's Cyrano's Theater.

Valise and Bent Omelette were produced engineered and mastered by Sal Cataldi about the studio aboard his houseboat in Port Washington, Long Island, Houseboat Garlic Knot Studios, and his Sonic Garden in West Saugerties, New York (1/4 mile from the legendary Big Pink house made famous by The Band). Cataldi is also a member of the non-profit Musicians For Musicians (MFM), an advocacy group headquartered in NYC whose mission is to elevate musicians work to the level of a true profession.

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