Cobblestone Jazz have just released their second full-length, The Modern Deep Left Quartet, through !K7/Wagon Repair. Today we are here to talk about it, it’s already one of the releases of the year.

Following on from their 2007 album debut, 23 Seconds, this latest offering marks the official arrival of long-time collaborator Colin de la Plante, AKA The Mole, who joins Mathew Jonson, Danuel Tate and Tyger Dhula as part of their studio line-up. The foursome laid down The Modern Deep Left Quartet over a frenzied three-week recording session this past summer, with Tate and Dhula journeying from their base in Victoria, Canada to join de la Plante and Jonson in Berlin.

The press surrounding the release offers a few interesting insights into the modus operandi of the quartet during said session, and also the machines which they chose to utilize. Roland’s TR-808, TR-909 and SH-101 are all listed as tools of their trade, along with Cwejman and Doepfer modular synths, and, unsurprisingly, a vocoder and Fender Rhodes as wielded by Tate. Meanwhile the deployment of their instruments is said to be very much of the “jam-session” variety, with the group arranging themselves in a semi-circular fashion and simply pressing “record.”

Of The Modern Deep Left Quartet’s eight tracks, only “Fiesta” has hitherto seen a release (Wagon Repair put it out last year), while the album opener “Chance Dub” and penultimate cut “Chance” will make up a forthcoming single release. On the evidence of the upcoming 12-inch, it seems de la Plante’s influence has been one of refinement as opposed to additional sugar, with the B-side “Chance” in particular taking a pared down and Rhodes-infused route to its destination.

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01. Chance Dub

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02. Sun Child

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03. Mr Polite

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04. Cromagnon Man

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05. Fiesta

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06. Children

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07. Chance

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08. Midnight Sun

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K7#258CD
Release Date: 05.04.2010

Plenty has happened since Cobblestone Jazz released their last album, 23 Seconds, in 2007. The group toured the world virtually non-stop, soaking up inspiration and refining its chops on stage and in the studio alike. Member Mathew Jonson moved from British Columbia to Berlin, setting up a studio headquarters spilling over with analog machines and oddball audio equipment.

And longtime friend and fellow traveler Colin de la Plante (aka the Mole), a collaborator with the Cobblestone trio in the live project The Modern Deep Left Quartet, became the official fourth member of Cobblestone Jazz’s studio lineup. Now, in anticipation of Cobblestone Jazz’s second album—appropriately enough, titled The Modern Deep Left Quartet—the group surfaces with a teaser 12″. “Chance Dub,” which opens the album, gives us a first taste of the gentler, more subdued sound that came out of last summer’s album sessions. In place of the monster riffs and psychedelic freakouts of tracks like “India in Me” and “Dump Truck” is something deeper, smoother, maybe more reflective. A lone chord progression leads the way, brooding but still nimble; around it build swelling synth pads, sub-bass pressure, sprightly bass sequences and of course the high-precision rhythm programming that gives the group such a formidable sense of funk. It’s a mellower side of Cobblestone Jazz, but it also displays the power of restraint. Mixed and recorded in real time, like all the band’s music, the track is always evolving and always in motion, but it never feels busy. It’s simply driving, sensual, properly analog house music, the way it was meant to be.

On the B-side, “Chance,” offers a radically different take on the same material. The groove remains the same, but in place of the looped chord changes of “Chance Dub,” Danuel Tate takes the lead on Rhodes piano, with a long, rippling solo that gives the tune its easy-going sense of exploration. That’s also Danuel behind the vocoder, dropping a haunting vocal melody that sinks deep into the subconscious. It’s as deep and as defiantly late-night as Cobblestone Jazz have ever gone. And it’s the perfect introduction for the rich, dynamic, all-encompassing album The Modern Deep Left Quartet—the next chapter in the Cobblestone saga.

Minimaland Feedback: Cobblestone Jazz ensure quality and this release is one of the strongest examples of that fact. This tracks has all you may require in music: progression, attitude, spirit, beat and lots of rhythm, also a brilliant artwork.  A must have, collectors stuff.

a1 - Chance Dub

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b1 - Chance

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Wag#060
Release Date: 22.02.2010