Like your electronic music live? Cobblestone Jazz return to Europe for a string of dates in Barcelona, Leeds and Ibiza later this month.
Cobblestone Jazz? With a name like that, you’d be forgiven for thinking they played county fairs, but don’t judge the book by its cover. Behind the project is techno wunderkind Mathew Jonson [M_nus, Wagon Repair, Kompakt] who is taking his live approach to techno one step further.
In this day and age of studio refinement, Cobblestone Jazz are an anomaly, approaching electronic music from a performance perspective first as opposed to recreating studio pieces for their live shows. RA asked band member Tyger Dhula what audiences should expect at the upcoming European live dates. "The question is never how to perform our recorded pieces, but how to record our performance pieces. There is no distinction made between the studio setup and live performances. Live shows always have different, new and sometimes unplanned elements, but that is what makes it exciting."
Anyone who has seen Mathew Jonson solo knows that he is no ordinary laptopper. Jonson strives to play as live as possible, writing drum patterns on stage and building up tracks to across thirty-two channels in an effort to make each performance unique. With Cobblestone Jazz, however, Jonson has added another weapon to his bow – fellow musicians. With two extra pairs of hands on board, the Cobblestone project promises to add the tension of group performance to his techno arsenal.
Mathew Jonson, Danuel Tate and Tyger Dhula have been playing together since the late nineties. Jonson first hooked up with Dhula, Tate and The Mole as The Modern Deep Left Quartet, but when The Mole moved to Montreal, the quartet became a trio.
Vinyl junkies will note that Cobblestone Jazz have only released a few singles on Wagon Repair and Itiswhatitis, but they are primarily conceived as a live project. As well as holding down a bi-monthy residency at the Neptune in Vancouver, they’ve also toured extensively throughout the United States, Eastern Canada and Europe. “For Cobblestone, performances have always been the focus,” says Mathew. “Only recently has there been energy put towards recording the band's arsenal of tunes.”
Recent single on Wagon Repair ‘Dump Truck’ is a taste of what to expect: techno infused with an improvisational feel without forgetting the dancefloor. Wagon Repair’s primary focus has been releasing studio cuts from the likes of Konrad Black, Mike Shannon and Jonson himself but the Cobblestone 12”s have been received well by DJs, too. New single 'India in Me' slated for release in September. Mathew describes it: “It’s a little more intense than some of our material in the past, with a bit of an eastern theme harmonically. We've been getting really good feedback on advance copies from Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos.”
RA asked Mathew whether the impetus behind the project was an urge to perform as live as possible. “A large part of this is due to the involvement of Tate, whose background as a jazz musician has led to a large emphasis on playing live.”
Danuel Tate, with a background in jazz, plays keys in the band while Tyger Dhula handles the samples and looping. Mathew Jonson explains his role:“I have a background playing drums and it seemed natural to work with Cobblestone playing electronic drums and bass. Keeping the drum machines in write mode and writing everything on the fly gives it a more live feel.”
Wagon Repair boss Graham Boothby told RA that Cobblestone Jazz is his favorite thing on the label. Considering the competition, that’s some recommendation.
Cobblestone Jazz will play dates across Europe at the end of this month.
Dates
28 July - The Loft, Barcelona, Spain
29 July - Across the Tracks, Leeds, UK
31 July - Cocoon@Amnesia, Ibiza, Spain
4 August – Auf Festival, Weisen, Austria
5 August – Plock Festival, Plock City, Poland