Patchwork Jazz Orchestra, Splinter Reeds, Colunia, Asymmetric Universe, Ultra Zook, and Kouma

by Dæv Tremblay

Patchwork Jazz Orchestra – The Adventures of Mr. Pottercakes (Spark Label)

The London-based seventeen-piece big band Patchwork recently released their debut album, The Adventures of Mr. Pottercakes, via the lovely Spark Label. The compositions here are lush and broad in styles, thanks to the seven composers behind them and the musicianship of the performers in this great jazz orchestra. The songs are at times romantic, at times evocative, impressionist, or abstract. Listening to this is pure pleasure, for its varied and well-groomed influences and stylistic choices. Plus, at over an hour of material, you’ve got quite enough to get … Read more

Weekly Release Dump

by Dæv Tremblay

Saturday, 9 March

Agustí Fernández, Joe Morris, and Charmaine Lee – Magma (experimental jazz, free jazz)

Barcelona, Spain
On Sirulita Records

Kombo C – Petelin iz Noznega (jazz fusion)

Nova Gorica, Slovenia

Mopcut – Accelerated Frames of Reference (experimental, noise)

Vienna, Austria
On Trost Records

Read our review.

White Pulse – The Fast and the Furious 9 (noise jazz)

Zürich, Switzerland

Read our review.

Sunday, 10

Janko – Chansons parallèles [EP] (experimental rock)

Montpellier, France
On Bermuda Cruise

… Read more

Marathon Devlog 3: Various Improvements

by Dæv Tremblay

Github link

Marathon has been on the back of my mind ever since I started messing around with it. I still remember it not being 100 lines long and still be able to make microrhythms in MIDI. It was a bit crude, and simplistic, but it worked! I was so excited to solve an issue that bothered me, a musical cul-de-sac, with my flimsy programming skills. Since then, the little code grew bigger as I added presets (like a pre-made “swing” option, and similar choices for gnawa and samba rhythms) and functionalities (like the text command option, which I … Read more

Oort Smog, Serpents of Pakhangba, White Pulse, Rïga, Mopcut, and Toned

by Dæv Tremblay

Oort Smog – Smeared Pulse Transfers (Sweat Band Records)

Oort Smog is the collaborative output of saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, of Corima fame, and Mark Kimbrell, both of which also play in Upsilon Acrux. Needless to say, the release of this twenty-minute EP is long overdue! Coming out on 26 April, Smeared Pulse Transfers sees the duo at their best—performance- and creativity-wise—and it’s a most satisfactory snack while we wait for the next full-length of their main band(s). You can have an avant-goût of the [incredibly good] album with this live video, just imagine this with much better production value … Read more

Weekly Release Dump

by Dæv Tremblay

Saturday, 2 March

Shock Troopers – Глуво доба (Gluvo doba) [EP] (sludge metal)

Skopje, Macedonia

Serpents of Pakhangba – Serpents of Pakhangba [EP] (avant-garde metal)

Mumbai, India

Tuesday, 5

Maddison Carter Quintet – Elbow Room (modern jazz)

Melbourne, Australia

Wednesday, 6

Rïga – Totem [EP] (experimental electro)

France

… Read more