MetaQuorum

MELD: prog, rock, funk, jazz, grunge, electronica – fusion

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0 GOLDFINCH CHARM – April’s Track of the Month

  • April 7, 2019
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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

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0 LIMPING MATHEMATICIAN – March track of the Month

  • March 18, 2019
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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 😉

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3 1-2-3… celebrating 1st anniversary of the 2nd album

  • February 22, 2019
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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 😉

 

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0 Happy New Year 2019!

  • January 2, 2019
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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 😉

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0 SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM SEVEN DWARFS;)

  • December 23, 2018
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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)))

View this post on Instagram

Well, it's not quite #santaslittleelves but here's how we recorded the vocal's for MetaQuorum's next #trackofthemonth Seven Dwarfs Rock. Or should we say "7 #dwarfs a-rockin'? ;)) I dare you to watch without #laughing ! #recordingartist #recordingstudios #xmas #vocals #funinthestudio #hipmetal #grunge #prog #electronicmusic #rockband #jazzhop #jazzcore #funkjazz #acidjazz #psychodelic

A post shared by MetaQuorum (@metaquorum) on Dec 17, 2018 at 10:54am PST

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0 November’s track of the month is AUTUMN GROOVE

  • November 11, 2018
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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 😉

AUTUMN GROOVE

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​

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0 Good review scores for Witchcraft Jazz

  • May 9, 2018
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

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 😉

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0 HAPPY INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY!

  • April 30, 2018
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts
Арт-центр “Пушкинская-10” Pushkinskaya 10 Art Centre, 1991. Photo by Carol Ermakova who – concidentally! – also lived there for a few months in 1991.

Since it is #InternationalJazzDay we send our #jazzy greetings to everyone who is into any Jazz of any kind! And it seems a good occasion to look back into the history and mechanics of how our latest album Wicthcraft Jazz came about. So let’s start with the title track Witchcraft Jazz  The original score which became the foundation for this track was written by Dmitry Ermakov back in 1989 after the “Room 118” jazz funk fusion project he ran with Victor Mikheyev disintegrated due to the turbulent changes and harsh economic realities in the Soviet Union during perestroika. Everything turned upside down and the project (which included some of the best Saint Petersburg, Russia #jazz/ #funk/ #progrock/ #avantegarde #musicians such as #trumpeter Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky, #drummer Roman Dubinnikov etc.) fell apart due to pressures of survival. Dmitry found himself living in a delapidated attic appartment right in the centre of St. Petersburg right as the famous Art-centre “Pushkinskaya 10” ( Арт-центр “Пушкинская-10” ) was being started up by his father’s friend Valery Astrashkin, his childhood friend Tatiana Astashkina and his own father Edward Ermakov). The building had many flats which were slowly being converted into art workshops for various painters and sculptors and Dmitry got a huge five room flat on top for a kind of studio.

He had to sell his Steinway (as there was no way it could be brought up the stairs leading to the attic) but money from the sale got him a good upright piano and a Korg synth. The future looked very bleak for #jazzfunk and #improvisedmusic in Russia then but Dmitry used his time at “Pushkinskaya 10” to write down some ideas (Room 118 project collapsed before they could realise them). At that time Dmitry listened to a great variety of #jazzrockfusion, #funkjazz and #progressiverock, in particular Jazz from Hell by Frank Zappa and electric Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, U.K., King Crimson, Peter Gabriel etc. as well as more avante-garde stuff like Art Ensemble of Chicago and Art Of Noise etc. and… of course, his beloved #baroque composers! So these were the influences flying around the first draft of what was to become Witchcraft Jazz almost 3 decades later! Dmitry wrote this score and several others (some of which also found their way into other tracks in Wicthcraft Jazz album and our first album, Midnight Sun). Lack of money, available musicians, instruments and equipment in post-Soviet Russia meant this off-the-wall music couldn’t be recorded, so Witchcraft Jazz and the rest of the scores were bundled together and put into a folder that travelled with Dmitry for 20 plus years and silently visited UK, Italy, France etc. until they sprang to life when The Spatial Kode, precursor to MetaQuorum project, was born in 2012 as a result of Dmitry and Victor reconnecting by chance thanks to late night internet browsing. So that is a sort of pre-history  During the preparation and recording of Witchcraft Jazz the score was revised and new musical and technical elements introduced. As for the result, judge for yourselves!

Pages from the original 1989 score of Witchcraft Jazz by Dmitry Ermakov. Photo Carol Ermakova 2018
Adding final touches to Witchcraft Jazz mix. Low Bishopley Studio, 2017. Photo by Carol Ermakova

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0 HERE IT IS AT LAST!

  • February 22, 2018
  • by MetaQuorum
  • · Posts

Here at last, our second album Witchcraft Jazz is now out!

We all put a lot of work into it, and we’re all very excited about it being out there now, starting its own independent life in the big wild world.

As well core musicians Dmitry Ermakov and Koos van der Velde, the line-up for this album includes: bass player Victor Mikheyev (who also co-wrote three tracks with Dmitry Ermakov: The Bartender, Swagger and Seven Dwarfs Rock); his son George Mikheyev on cello; Andrew Guerin on trumpet; Carol Ermakova – vocals.

WITCHCRAFT JAZZ was recorded in several studios and venues in the UK, Russia and Bulgaria, produced and mixed by Dmitry Ermakov and Koos van der Velde, and mastered by Christopher Longwood at SugarHill Recording Studios, TX, USA.

In terms of style, this album flows organically from MetaQuorum’s previous compositions, further developing the concept of Meld music, a fusion of Prog,Funk, Jazz, Rock, Swing, Electronica and more. Compositions such as the title track Witchcraft Jazz, Parallax, Limping Mathematician and Autumn Groove further explore the technique of Structural Fusion. The coda – Goldfinch Charm – is an exquisite blend of Electronica with Jazz Fusion and Blues, while the opening track – Crimson Dreams – includes a lyric poem written and read by Dmitry Ermakov.

The new album has got a warm welcome so far, both here in UK and abroad. NARC Magazine ran a feature on our Meld music today:

You can read it here: http://narcmagazine.com/interview-metaquorum/

And Jazz.ru published a press release in English and an in-depth review (Russian only, sorry folks): http://jazzquad.ru/index.pl?act=PRODUCT&id=4876

Tomorrow WITCHCRAFT JAZZ has its very own radio launch with Denis Champagne at Prog Core Radio

Tune in at 22:00 GMT to hear all 12 tracks @ http://progcoreradio.com/

If you have other plans for Friday night, head straight over to our Bandcamp page where you can listen, and download the album, or buy a CD @ https://metaquorum.bandcamp.com/album/witchcraft-jazz

For those of you who get your music through Spotify, please follow ur Artist Page where you’ll find our whole catalogue, including Witchcraft Jazz, of course:

https://goo.gl/GEBggE

Drop us a line and tell us what you think.

Have a great weekend!

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