“This is an album that should be heard.”
Lovely surprise earlier this week – our album #witchcraftjazz got a great little review in The Progressive Aspect.
Spot on! Cheers Jez Rowden et al!
Category: Posts
0 Witchcraft Jazz reviewed in Progressive Aspect
0 New Music Video for CRIMSON DREAMS
Been wondering why we went quiet for awhile? Well, we were busy making this video for CRIMSON DREAMS, our last #trackofthemonthfrom Witchcraft Jazz album. Been gathering footage and inspiration for quite a while… Here it is! Hope you like it
Dmitry Ermakov – composition, lyrics, arrangement, keyboards, key-bass, synth programming, voice, recording, producing, mixing
Koos van der Velde – composition, drums, recording, producing, mixing
Christopher Longwood – mastering
Music © & ℗ Dmitry Ermakov & Koos van der Velde, 2017
ISRC: UK6821624117
Video footage: Carol Ermakova & Public Domain
Video editing: Dmitry Ermakov
Video © Dmitry Ermakov & Carol Ermakova
0 GOLDFINCH CHARM – April’s Track of the Month
Our next track of the month is GOLDFINCH CHARM, the last track on our Witchcraft Jazz album. One day a charm of goldfinches landed in Dmitry Ermakov ‘s backyard. They were fluttering around singing to each other across the flowers and so this inspired Dmitry to switch on his then new model of NI Komplete Kontrol keyboard and record the sketch for this piece in #Cubase. He quickly recorded all the parts except drums and then called in Koos van der Velde. who came for a session in Low Bisholpey Studio to add drums. It all took just a couple of days or so tp record and mix the track and send it off to Christopher Longwood of SugarHill Recording Studios for mastering. Chris did an awesome job. We were blown when we heard the master here at Low Bishopley. The track now possessed a kind of a calm but energetic joy and wholesome finality – clearly, the Witchcraft Jazz album was now complete. Here it is, #checkitout .
Dmitry Ermakov – composition, arrangement, keyboards, key-bass, synth & percussion programming, recording, producing, mixing.
Koos van der Velde – drums, recording, mixing.
Christopher Longwood – mastering.
http://metaquorum.bandcamp.com/track/goldfinch-charm
#jazzfusion #jazzrock #prog #artrock #muiscalimprovisation #electronic
0 LIMPING MATHEMATICIAN – March track of the Month
http://metaquorum.bandcamp.com/track/limping-mathematician
Our next #trackofthemonth is Limping Mathematician. Dmitry Ermakov wrote this tune in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, in 1988 for “Pereplanirovka”, first album of the band ПАNIKA where he played together with Victor Mikheyev and R.I.P. Alexei Dovshan. That version was recorded in Victor flats on reel-to-reel double deca constructed by Victor from two Soviet recorders. We had no drums so used actual tape loops. Instruments we had in our disposal were also… hm… Soviet or home-made so the sound was quite heavy, the steel saxophone I played on the recording was certainly meant for #heavymetal ))) Anyhow, we did what we did our best according to the circumstances. Victor even played #sitar in the middle section of that version of the track. Then many years later I dug up the original score (well… it isn’t a score as you can see on the pic below – just a line with harmonies) and thought we can rearrange and rerecord this tune for our second album, Witchcraft Jazz, cos Carol liked it a lot! So we did. I’ve just finished the track’s cover today. So here it is – #checkitout
2 1-2-3… celebrating 1st anniversary of the 2nd album
1-2-3… celebrating 1st anniversary of the 2nd album – gearing up for Number 3!
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6oeC0Cjkvo3YnPB5on1Mkh
Bandcamp: https://metaquorum.bandcamp.com/album/witchcraft-jazz
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/metaquorum/sets/witchcraft-jazz
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/album/56017492
and everywhere else 😉
0 Happy New Year 2019!
Very Happy New Year 2019 to all our friends – may it bring in a new wave of great music!
We bid farewell to 2018 with a Baroque impro)
Calling loads of new & wonderful music to manifest in 2019!!!
And then welcoming the New Year with New Blues for the New Year – may it be a good one!
Cheers, guys!
All the best to all of you from all of us @ MQ 😉
0 SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM SEVEN DWARFS;)
Season’s Greetings from all of us @ MetaQuorum!
We were thinking what track from the Witchcraft Jazz album should be our next #trackofthemonth and, since the #festiveseason is approaching, it has to be SEVEN DWARFS ROCK! Here it is – #checkitout !
First draft was written and recorded by Victor Mikheyev some years back. The composition was then reworked with synths tracks played by Dmitry Ermakov at jam sessions in Saint Petersburg, Russia and Byala, Varna, Bulgaria. The track was further produced in the UK and was supposed to be included in MetaQuorum’s first album Midnight Sun but it didn’t make the cut, was shelved and revisited again in 2017-2018. We rearranged it, many parts were re-recorded and we included live drums by Koos van der Velde. And of course, we had great fun recording the ‘vocals (more on that later…) Dmitry and Koos mixed it at MetaQuorum’s studio in the North Pennines and then off it went to Houston, Texas, to be mastered by Christopher Longwood at the SugarHill Recording Studios.
So here it is – may your holidays rock!!!
P.S. Here is an archive video from vocals recording session for Seven Dwarfs Rock – laugh with us)))
0 November’s track of the month is AUTUMN GROOVE
November’s track of the month is AUTUMN GROOVE from our second album Witchcraft Jazz (2018). It started as a spontaneous drum and key-bass improvisation jam session at Koos ‘ place in Friesland November 2014 (hence the track’s name) after we’d finished re-recording drums for Clodhopping and Midnight Sun, two tracks for MetaQuorum’s first album Midnight Sun (2015). When Koos moved to UK later in 2015-16, we reworked this raw material several times: re-recorded drums, added percussion, plus many layers of synths and arranged it a bit etc. Then, by chance, we met Andrew Guerin at one of the improvisation sessions Newcastle upon Tyne’s The Jazz Cafe . We invited Andrew for a recording session at our Low Bishopley Recording Studio one Sunday in autumn in 2015, and recorded several trumpet takes. It took us three more attempts to mix the track because we couldn’t quite balance the synths and the trumpet and then… along came NATIVE INSTRUMENTS’ Komplete Kontrol! Dmitry revisited the composition and arrangement in the light of the seriously expanded synth and sound processing capabilities, adding some brass as well, so Koos and Dmitry had another go at the mix and got it right – at least in our opinion)) Then Christopher Longwood applied his superb mastering skills and voilà! Check it out 😉
Credits:
Dmitry Ermakov – composition, arrangement, keyboards, key-bass, synth-brass, synth programming, tambourine, recording, producing, mixing, cover art.
Koos van der Velde – composition, #drums, #jembe, recording, producing, mixing.
Andrew Guerin – #trumpet.
Christopher Longwood – #mastering.
© & ℗ Dmitry Ermakov & Koos van der Velde, 2017
Photos by Carol Ermakova
0 Good review scores for Witchcraft Jazz
In the last couple of weeks MetaQuorum was getting some good reviews in various music magz.
For example, Andrew Howlie of The Pop Break gave Witchcraft Jazz 10 out of 10!
“After listening all the way through, I can’t wait to start again. It’s a dynamite record full of refreshing sounds, melodies, and textures. If you’re into outside-the-box instrumental music with a heavy dose of futuristic improvisation and a mind-melting sound, Witchcraft Jazz is for you.” Full review @ https://thepopbreak.com/2018/04/10/review/
And André de Boer wrote in Dutch Progressive Rock Page – DPRP.net:
“This Witchcraft Jazz album of MetaQuorum is an hour of amazingly crafted tunes in ever changing positive cheer up moods and very addictive. If you think this is not your music, I recommend to listen anyway right now. And if you like #snarkypuppy then I recommend you to listen too! This album is a real must in the jazz rock genre. Highly recommended.” Score 8.5 out of 10. Issue 2018-029 Published: Sunday 6 May 2018 @ http://www.dprp.net/reviews/2018-029
Also, we recently made friends with Warren, owner of Newcastle-upon-Tyne‘s great Hoochie Coochie Dance Club dedicated to soul, funk, jazz & disco. Looking forward to gigging there one day, meantime you can enjoy some Witchcraft Jazz with your evening cocktails when you visit the bar 😉
