The Kandinsky Effect Take Their
Electronic-Tweaked Jazz on a Widescale Europe & USA Tour
November / December 2013
November / December 2013
THE KANDINSKY EFFECT
Conceived on Paris’s cosmopolitan jazz scene, forged on the road in America,
and informed by international currents in electronic music, The Kandinsky
Effect is a jazz power trio for the 21st century. Now based in New York City
and Paris, the band makes its Cuneiform debut with
Synesthesia, a roller-coaster ride of an album marked by fierce
grooves, subtle electronic textures, intricate metrical shifts, and a commitment
to empathic group interplay.
Featuring Warren Walker on saxophone and electronics, Gaël Petrina on bass and electronics and Caleb Dolister on drums and laptop, The Kandinsky Effect avidly explores a vast sonic territory, including some too seldom associated with jazz. They are searching for new ways to work within the jazz idiom by blending the borders of jazz, rock, electronica, hip-hop and experimental sounds.
Steeped in improvisation and various post-bop vocabularies, the trio has honed a sound described by the Los Angeles Times as “bracing, electronically tweaked jazz.” It’s an approach that erases distinction between front line and rhythm section, as all three musicians constantly direct the music’s flow, changing arrangements and musical movement on the flying by employing several dozen hand cues and other methods. As the group states, "Our music doesn’t have to be harmonically complex to be interesting. The effects are almost a separate instrument. We think of ways to shape the effects around the tune. It’s never ending. Every gig is different and an experiment. The risk is what makes it happen."
TOUR DATES
Featuring Warren Walker on saxophone and electronics, Gaël Petrina on bass and electronics and Caleb Dolister on drums and laptop, The Kandinsky Effect avidly explores a vast sonic territory, including some too seldom associated with jazz. They are searching for new ways to work within the jazz idiom by blending the borders of jazz, rock, electronica, hip-hop and experimental sounds.
Steeped in improvisation and various post-bop vocabularies, the trio has honed a sound described by the Los Angeles Times as “bracing, electronically tweaked jazz.” It’s an approach that erases distinction between front line and rhythm section, as all three musicians constantly direct the music’s flow, changing arrangements and musical movement on the flying by employing several dozen hand cues and other methods. As the group states, "Our music doesn’t have to be harmonically complex to be interesting. The effects are almost a separate instrument. We think of ways to shape the effects around the tune. It’s never ending. Every gig is different and an experiment. The risk is what makes it happen."
TOUR DATES
|
Nov 1
|
London, England
|
The
Vortex 11 Gillett Square London N16 8AZ info@vortexjazz.co.uk |
|
| Nov 3 | Chachan, France | Track n' Art 66 rue Camille Desmoulins 94230 Cachan, France |
|
| Nov 4 | Paris, France | L'Improviste34 Quai
de la Loire 75019 Paris |
|
| Nov 5 | Zagreb, Croatia | KSET | |
| Nov 6 | Cakovec, Croatia | Podroom | |
| Nov 7 | Ljubljana, Slovenia | Gala Hala | |
| Nov 8 | Murska Sobota, Slovenia | Mikk Trubarjev drevored 4 9000 Murska Sobota +386 2 534 98 90 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  +386 2 534 98 90 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
|
| Nov 9 | Rijeka, Croatia | TBA | |
| Dec 4 | Portland, Oregon | Lewis & Clark University | |
| Dec 4 | Salem, Oregon | Willamette
UniversityWU Campus - Rogers Music Center 900 State Street Salem, Oregon 97301 (503) 370-6300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (503) 370-6300 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlightingRoom: Rehearsal Hall |
|
| Dec 5 | Portland, Oregon | The Goodfoot 2845 Stark Street Portland, OR 97214 (503) 239-9292 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (503) 239-9292 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlightingCuneiform Night! |
with Blue Cranes and Dylan Ryan's Sand |
| Dec 6 | Reno, NV | Biggest Little
City Club188 California Ave Reno, NV 89509 |
with Yelsa |
| Dec 7 | Truckee, California | Moody's Bar and Beats | |
| Dec 8 | Sacramento, California | JB's Lounge Clarion Hotel Sacramento 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento |
|
| Dec 10 | Los Angeles, California | Blue Whale123
Astronaut E S Onizuka St. Suite 301 Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 620-0908 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (213) 620-0908 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
|
| Dec 11 | Fresno, California | Tokyo Jazz | |
| Dec 12 | Nevada City, California | Stonehouse | |
| Dec 13 | Oakland, CA | Duende | |
| Dec 14 | Sacramento, California | CSUS
Sacramento Jazz FestivalCapistrano Hall - Music Recital Hall
Stage ($10 General Admission - Available online at the Door) Directions: http://www.csus.edu/music/tickets.htm (916) 278-7987 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (916) 278-7987 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting |
The Kandinsky Effect - SynesthesiaGenre: Jazz / Alternative
Synesthesia opens with the rough and tumble “Johnny
Utah,” which has little to do with Keanu Reeves’ surfer/FBI agent in
the beloved 1991 film “Point Break,” except maybe a brooding sense of momentum,
a relentless drive enhanced by clattering percussion breaks. Like several of
Walker’s tunes “M.C.” moves sleekly through a series of sections, each built
upon a different rhythmic theme or motif. In the same way, “Walking…” sounds
more like a series of helter-skelter sprints over broken ground than a leisurely
stroll.
While the band excels at acceleration, The Kandinsky Effect also knows how to slow down, playing melodies that ooze and saunter. On Walker’s “Cusba,” the band displays a knack for mysterious balladry, with a coolly disquieting theme. The atmosphere gets thicker on “WK51” with the clattering march-time snare chatter building cinematic tension, the coiled calm before a deadly confrontation. The album closes with “If Only,” another ominously serpentine line with subtle layered effects that make it clear the trio has absorbed lessons from Bjork, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin in developing a lapidary but spacious sound.
Over dozens of shows performed in North America and Europe, the well-travelled trio of Walker, Petrina and Dolister had honed their collective sound to a fine polish. The transatlantic met in a studio mid-way between New York and Paris - in Rejkavik, Iceland! - to record their new album. The result was Synesthesia, The Kandinsky Effect’s second release, and the group’s first recordings on American-based, internationally-distributed Cuneiform Records. Featuring 11 captivating tracks that are simultaneously rhythmically gorgeous, groove-laden, compositionally interesting and immediately accessible, Synesthesia promises to spread the sensory magic of The Kandinsky Effect’s transatlantic jazz worldwide.
PROMOTIONAL TRACK //"Johnny Utah" (mp3 download) stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
PRESS MATERIALS // PRESS RELEASE (PDF) - HIGH RES PHOTOS
ARTIST WEBSITES //
www.thekandinskyeffect.com - www.facebook.com/TheKandinskyEffectThe Kandinksy Effect @www.cuneiformrecords.com
"Synesthesia is an inventive album, a relatively rare example of an egalitarian mix of acoustic and electronic sounds. The Kandinsky Effect manages this tricky combination with confidence, crafting music that stimulates the brain and the dancing shoes simultaneously."
- AllAboutJazz
"Walker and company vary the program considerably from track to track, sometimes giving the electronics a prominent role and other times using effects to color rather than dominate the music, and also applying treatments in a way that paints compositional changes in bold relief."
- All Music
"If you like jazz trios but are looking for something new and different from the standard piano trio, this is definitely worth a try. If you love different styles such as electronics, jazz, rock and hip-hop beats melded together in a fresh way, check this one out!"
- Geardiary
"Surging forward with fierceness, groove and trickiness, Synesthesia is a mind-bending, eclectic and challenging sonic stream that doesn’t contain even a shred of pretentiousness, but is full of creativity, individuality, expressivity and outside of the box thinking. An ambitious album that will appeal to fans of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada."
- Igloo Magazine
"Few trends in popular music have made such an indelible impression on modern jazz as ‘90s innovations in drum-n-bass. The fragmented, lightning-paced beats of Squarepusher and Aphex Twin have been gleefully appropriated by today’s generation of percussionists and the proliferation of effects pedals have made it possible for single-line instruments to create the same electronic soundscapes once the signature of analog synthesizers. Paris/New York trio The Kandinsky Effect takes this approach, firmly grounding their electronic and rhythmic ideas in solid musicianship..... There is a fundamental expectation that a jazz record will be a document of a performance, as opposed to a sonic construction unto itself. The Kandinsky Effect does an amazing job of creating something that satisfies a listener’s expectations for both."- The New York City Jazz Record
"Synesthesia is one hell of a ride that shows the strength and innovations left in jazz music and all the new styles of music created in the 21st century. A must hear experience...
- Sound Colour Vibration
While the band excels at acceleration, The Kandinsky Effect also knows how to slow down, playing melodies that ooze and saunter. On Walker’s “Cusba,” the band displays a knack for mysterious balladry, with a coolly disquieting theme. The atmosphere gets thicker on “WK51” with the clattering march-time snare chatter building cinematic tension, the coiled calm before a deadly confrontation. The album closes with “If Only,” another ominously serpentine line with subtle layered effects that make it clear the trio has absorbed lessons from Bjork, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin in developing a lapidary but spacious sound.
Over dozens of shows performed in North America and Europe, the well-travelled trio of Walker, Petrina and Dolister had honed their collective sound to a fine polish. The transatlantic met in a studio mid-way between New York and Paris - in Rejkavik, Iceland! - to record their new album. The result was Synesthesia, The Kandinsky Effect’s second release, and the group’s first recordings on American-based, internationally-distributed Cuneiform Records. Featuring 11 captivating tracks that are simultaneously rhythmically gorgeous, groove-laden, compositionally interesting and immediately accessible, Synesthesia promises to spread the sensory magic of The Kandinsky Effect’s transatlantic jazz worldwide.
PROMOTIONAL TRACK //"Johnny Utah" (mp3 download) stream: @SoundCloud / @Bandcamp / @YouTube
PRESS MATERIALS // PRESS RELEASE (PDF) - HIGH RES PHOTOS
ARTIST WEBSITES //
www.thekandinskyeffect.com - www.facebook.com/TheKandinskyEffectThe Kandinksy Effect @www.cuneiformrecords.com
"Synesthesia is an inventive album, a relatively rare example of an egalitarian mix of acoustic and electronic sounds. The Kandinsky Effect manages this tricky combination with confidence, crafting music that stimulates the brain and the dancing shoes simultaneously."
- AllAboutJazz
"Walker and company vary the program considerably from track to track, sometimes giving the electronics a prominent role and other times using effects to color rather than dominate the music, and also applying treatments in a way that paints compositional changes in bold relief."
- All Music
"If you like jazz trios but are looking for something new and different from the standard piano trio, this is definitely worth a try. If you love different styles such as electronics, jazz, rock and hip-hop beats melded together in a fresh way, check this one out!"
- Geardiary
"Surging forward with fierceness, groove and trickiness, Synesthesia is a mind-bending, eclectic and challenging sonic stream that doesn’t contain even a shred of pretentiousness, but is full of creativity, individuality, expressivity and outside of the box thinking. An ambitious album that will appeal to fans of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada."
- Igloo Magazine
"Few trends in popular music have made such an indelible impression on modern jazz as ‘90s innovations in drum-n-bass. The fragmented, lightning-paced beats of Squarepusher and Aphex Twin have been gleefully appropriated by today’s generation of percussionists and the proliferation of effects pedals have made it possible for single-line instruments to create the same electronic soundscapes once the signature of analog synthesizers. Paris/New York trio The Kandinsky Effect takes this approach, firmly grounding their electronic and rhythmic ideas in solid musicianship..... There is a fundamental expectation that a jazz record will be a document of a performance, as opposed to a sonic construction unto itself. The Kandinsky Effect does an amazing job of creating something that satisfies a listener’s expectations for both."- The New York City Jazz Record
"Synesthesia is one hell of a ride that shows the strength and innovations left in jazz music and all the new styles of music created in the 21st century. A must hear experience...
- Sound Colour Vibration
