As a sonic explorer, Amanda Chaudhary ventures into uncharted musical territory.

The San Francisco keyboardist-composer embarks on a genre-bending adventure through experimental sounds and styles on January Suborbital Denomination.

“There are a lot of different styles on this album, and I always want to try new things,” said Chaudhary about her latest Meow Meow Band album.

“I wanted to try the psychedelic ones and the older jazz forms in addition to the funk and experimental electronics that I traditionally do.”

Filled with avant-garde instrumentation and snappy, curious, and playful lyrics, January Suborbital Denomination encompasses big band, jingle, soul, jazz, funk, electronic, experimental, and psychedelic music across nine imaginative tracks.

The album also invites listeners to experience the album’s subject matter—ranging from radio broadcasts to chocolate oak milk to bridges to cats.

“There is a symmetry in the way they are arranged on there. The bygone era ones are at the two ends of [the album] and then it’s big, small, big, small in between there,” said Chaudhary, who also runs CatSynth TV, a YouTube channel that focuses on electronic instruments.

“It became clear once I knew what was going to be on the album and what wasn’t. A sonic adventure is a good way of putting it, and it’s a sonic adventure for me making these songs. I like the fact that it is that way for other people who are listening to it. It’s filled with puzzles.”

I recently spoke with Chaudhary to decode and digest her second Meow Meow Band album.

Q: How did hearing a quote from a 1969 episode of the Mission Impossible TV series lead to the album’s title?

A: In 2020 and 2021, we went through the entire original Mission Impossible series and watched an episode a weekday for a while. In one episode, it was a code word that was used: “January suborbital denomination.” It was repeated a few times and I thought, “Oh my god, that would be a great album title. OK, I’m using that.”

It was [marrying] that together with this set of songs. It has a cryptic, enigmatic quality to it that fits. January is a month and “Kislev” is a month in the Hebrew calendar, so those are things there. Suborbital fits with some of the “National Chocolate Oat Milk Day” lyrics and some of the “Kislev” lyrics.

Q: The opener, “Live From the Desert Lounge,” captures the essence of listening to a big band show on the radio. How does that track help set the tone for the album?

A: It’s modeled after the 1950s and the late 1940s—after World War II—they would have big band remote shows. They would play big bands from various locations live .. and those broadcasts probably have made it out into space at this point. Radio signals do last and it’s this idea of sound being canned in a box—maybe a little grainy—and how in the future we might hear some of those sounds from the past.

[For the tuning the dial sound], some of it is genuine tuning the dial. I was also doing a lot of synthesizer things with the modular and some software instruments to get that sound, but I wanted to make it a unique compositional element as well. Prem Lall does the voiceover for that track and he also does the voiceover at the end of “Marlon Brando.”

Q: “Rambutan” has a funky, soulful, and jazzy sound. How did the tropical tree and fruit of the same name inspire that jingle-like track? What was it like to work with vocalist Sami Stevens on it?

A: It is a fruit from Southeast Asia as the lyrics say, but it’s also not hard to get ahold of in California. We were having rambutans and that “rambutan, rambutan” phrase came to us, so it became a jingle from there. It was inspired by experiencing fruit visually and eating it. The original version was done with that head and solos … with a live band before turning it into this version. It was mixing jazz with the straight-up James Brown dirty kind of bar band and almost funk [sound].

For this one, I worked with Sami Stevens on all of the vocals and she did a great job nailing the different styles. We got together and talked about what the vision was for each of the pieces. She gave me her impressions and ideas there.

Q: “National Chocolate Oat Milk Day” features a psychedelic pop sound along with jazz, electronic, and world music elements. It also explores the importance of enjoying life’s simple pleasures. How does the track help conjure the satisfying feeling of drinking chocolate oat milk?

A: It’s a simple pleasure; it’s definitely an upbeat, uplifting tune. There is some exploration and [the idea of] wandering for years in the desert is mixed into it. There’s also a lot of questioning of assumptions built into that, but then it comes to simple pleasures and the joy of life comes in. It’s very much the theme of that one—it is a happy song. It does have some minor elements, but I still think it has that vibe overall.

There is not an actual “National Chocolate Oat Milk Day.” Those [types of days] get so ridiculously specific that we’re also riffing on the fact that any particular day that you pick is national or international something. Somebody has declared it a day for something at this point.

Q: “Kislev” is reminiscent of a soul ballad from the ‘70s and incorporates experimental sounds along with jazz and funk. The track is named after a month in the Hebrew calendar, yet it examines leaving one world behind and entering another. How did this soulful track come together for you?

A: It came together in pieces and some parts of it were things I’ve had for years. The title and the openings came into it. The beginning part with the intro and the verse and the Wurlitzer solo in the middle were all pieces. The chorus was something else altogether with that. I knew the title and the line, “Don’t you know … Yes it’s true,” from the chorus.

The lyric that references, “It’s just another drive alone in the desert,” that’s something I do a lot. There is a sense of wonder beyond our ordinary realm or our empirical realm that we think about. We can do that and it comes up in so many different facets of life, including art, religion, and philosophy. The mathematical elements of transfinite numbers and hyperreal numbers, I can’t point to those in real life.

There is a sense of solitude and loneliness that works its way through it and a tinge of melancholy, too. Sami [Stevens] tried to bring that out in the vocals. In the end, it is a soul ballad and it has joyous music with a little bit of a sad vibe to it. There is a bit of yearning and heartache and wondering, “Where do I fit in the world? Where do I fit in the world that’s bigger than the world?”

Q: “Marlon Brando” teems with confidence, bravado, and swagger. A different version of the same track also appears on Vacuum Tree Head’s 2019 album, Rhizomique. How did Marlon Brando and his films inspire this track? What was it like to reimagine it for your album?

A: It wasn’t a single idea, but a unification of many ideas. This one is co-written by Jason Berry [of Vacuum Tree Head and Nubdug Ensemble] and me. In 2017, Jason—and then me through osmosis—went through Marlon Brando’s entire [filmography], including the great classics, but also some of the bad ones.

Jason originally wrote a version of this [song]—a very complex, intricate version. I tried to play it, but I couldn’t. I said, “When I listen to this, this is what I hear,” and so I came up with this version that’s in 12/8. I did a 2.0 version of it, which I did with my band, and it’s based on a riff. It also has a simplified version of the same melody, but I rounded it out and made it into a funky, vampy-type thing.

I did that, gave it to the band, and we played live seven-minute versions of it with freer solos than what’s on here. When it came time to record this version, it didn’t make it onto the previous album. My version does not have lyrics, but it was based on the version that we did [live]. It has a lot of swagger in it … I think it fits with the image of Marlon Brando, but the music also has swagger independently of it. That’s one of the contrasts between the Vacuum Tree Head version and my version. This one has the overt swagger to it, and it’s faster … and the big horn section on there adds to it.

Q: “Mister Brushies” includes an old-time jazz sound with a tap dance segment and explores life from a cat’s perspective. How did brushing and feeding your cats inspire this track?

A: The lyrics are sung from the point of view of a cat. Both of my cats, Sam Sam and Big Merp, love getting brushed. Jason [Berry] ends up being “Mister Brushies” and “Mister Treats.” He spoils them rotten and I do as well, but he takes it to another level. That was the genesis of this tune and the melody that we came up with immediately lent itself to that 1920s-1930s novelty jazz song. It was built around that and I opened up Sibelius and it was voice, clarinet, tack piano, and banjo. I knew it had to have that trombone in there, too, and a saxophone.

It was a lot of fun to record that and the tap dance was fun to try. The tap dance was part of how I originally wrote it because there was going to be a little tap dance break in the middle of it. I heard that and simulated it here when I was building up the arrangement in Sibelius and Pro Tools and said, “We have to try getting a real tap dancer.” I connected with Evie [Ladin] through Myles [Boisen], and we recorded Evie live in the studio. We set up a plywood board and had a few different mics set up there, and she had a couple of different shoes for us to try.

Q: Tell me about the creative process for January Suborbital Denomination.

A: The album has been a big project, and it’s been dominating a lot of my musical work for the last two years. Jason [Berry] has been working on a new album as well. We both started composing the music for our respective albums in 2022. I’d be upstairs in a room, he’d be downstairs working on his [music], and cats would run up and down between us—it was a lot of fun.

Last year, musically, it came together and the process of recording it was a big deal. We did some of that live here and at Guerilla [Recording] with Myles Boisen. Calvin [Weston] and Jamaaladeen [Tacuma] recorded their parts in Philadelphia. Sami Stevens and Jonathan Scales recorded their parts in Brooklyn and Jerry King at his place in Wisconsin. I did a lot of the engineering in addition to Myles doing that because I enjoy doing that and have my own ideas—the studio is another instrument for me.

Q: What was it like to record the album at CatSynth HQ in San Francisco, at Guerilla Recording with Myles Boisen in Oakland, California, and through remote sessions with G Calvin Weston at Soundscape Recording Lab in Philadelphia?

A: We’ve all worked together on a couple of different projects now. I’ve worked with Myles through other groups, and I’ve known him for years. He’s been one of the main engineering partners on the last three releases, including the Meow Meow Band album, the Merp Friend EP, and this one.

I’ve been working with Calvin since 2020 and that partnership came out of the pandemic. Many musicians who had been working live and doing session work found themselves needing to adjust and adapt to the reality we had at that time, which was doing remote session work and setting up a good-quality home studio. Calvin was building that up and we connected, and I knew who he was from [Ornette Coleman’s] Prime Time and The Lounge Lizards.

I’m the producer behind the glass in the studio, but remotely. I’ll give him the version [of the song] I’ve built up here using my MIDI instruments. I’ll put on a fake drum track to give him some ideas … and then I’ll give him a track where I’m talking through it. We’ll do a bunch of takes and I’ll listen to them … so there’s that back and forth remotely.

Q: How did guitarist Jerry King and bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma help shape some of the tracks from January Suborbital Denomination?

A: Jerry King and I were talking about doing something together, and I had that track [“Taconic Parkway Bridge”], which was originally done for one of my CatSynth TV videos. I readapted it for this [album], opened up some space, gave that to him, and said, “Do your thing with your guitars on there.” We’ve become good friends over the last couple of years. He’s recorded on mine and I recorded on his latest Cloud Over Jupiter album, Atomic Jupiter.

I got introduced to Jamaaladeen through Calvin [Weston] and that’s how that relationship came together. We’ve stayed in touch and he was happy to participate on this one as well. His bass playing is unique and there was a lot of room for him to solo. He does bass solos on “Kislev” and “Marlon Brando.” He’ll double-track and bring in other ideas that I didn’t originally have.

He did a lot of things on the previous album with [Meow Meow Band’s] “Donershtik” … and changed the trajectory of the song, ergo he’s a co-writer on that one. But he did bring a lot of interesting, melodic material that you get to hear—he nails the classic bass in the different styles that I do—but he also brings unique qualities to it as well.

Q: The album features a rich horn section with saxophonists Steve Adams and Joshua Marshall, trumpeter Chris Grady, and trombonist Scott Larson. How did all of their parts come together for it?

A: All the horn parts were done at Guerilla [Recording]. I’ve worked with several of them before, including Steve Adams, and I jokingly call him the one-man horn section. He’s a great all-around saxophone player for the studio—he did baritone, alto, and sopranino. I thought, “There’s no way I’m not going to use the sopranino,” and he was utility on that.

Chris Grady can play anything, so I knew he was my trumpeter. Just like with the vocals, that part has specific sounds it needs for the different tunes. And “Kislev” is part of the horn section there, and “National Chocolate Oat Milk Day” has a Beatles “Penny Lane”-type thing going on. And then “Marlon Brando” is swagger and bravado, and “Rambutan” is hitting the Maynard Ferguson-type high notes for that one.

With Scott Larson, I’ve heard him play several times on projects … and I said I need trombone for this [album] and he was there. Joshua Marshall and I have worked together on many different projects. He was in my live band and had played several of the tunes on the previous album and on this one. He knows “Marlon Brando” and “Rambutan.”

He played live on [Meow Meow Band’s] “North Berkeley BART” and “White Wine.” Unfortunately, he was not available for the first [album], so he was ready to do this one with me. I had him doing tenor [sax] and he brings a different sensibility to it—you can hear it in his solos.

Q: You collaborated with a host of talented musicians on January Suborbital Denomination: Steve Adams (baritone, alto, and sopranino sax), Jason Bellenkes (clarinet), Myles Boisen (electric sitar guitar, banjo) Chris Grady (trumpet), John Hanes (drums), Jerry King (electric guitar), Scott Larson (trombone), Joshua Marshall (tenor sax), Jonathan Scales (steel pans), Sami Stevens (vocals), Jamaaladeen Tacuma (bass), Brett Warren (bass), and G Calvin Weston (drums). Collectively, how did they help elevate the album’s overall sound?

A: You need people who are top-notch session quality for this kind of music, and I’ve been fortunate to have those kinds of musicians available to me. They do an amazing job at it, but we’re all having a great time. We all love what we’re doing, and we’re all friends, so that combination makes it work well. I think they enjoyed the challenge of trying to do all the different styles—and in some cases—difficult parts.

Q: What plans do you have for new material?

A: There is a future album coming together. I already know some of the songs that will be on that. I still love the album format of a physical CD … and listening to things in order. But a lot of people consume their music individually now, too. There’s a space to release individual tracks now that’s not constrained by the old single format. There are things I want to release that way as well—some solo electronic things or solo or duo things that I have in the works. With the big project out of the way, there’s a lot of opportunity.

Q: What’s up next for CatSynth TV?

I’ve been doing that for a while, but the intensity has gone up. There’s a lot of interest particularly in the synth-demo videos that we do, and I’m doing a bunch of those right now. I’m also doing more interviews, album reviews, and live show documentation on the channel—which is how it started—and then whatever inspires me at the moment. It can be mathematics and strange things I see on the roads, highways, subways, and trains. I still have stuff from my last New York trip that I’m trying to put out.

I’ve also been composing music for CatSynth TV, especially those highway tracks and other music videos. I have so much music now that I’ve written for that. There may be some of that coming out—things that are more cut, mixed, and mastered for music listening. Things like we have [on this album] with “Taconic Parkway Bridge,” and some of those things may get promoted from CatSynth TV to an album.