Thursday, August 26, 2010

WCUW 91.3FM & WEFT 90.1FM plays

Catching up on some airplay here:

Last night our track 'Lucky' was played on WCUW 91.3 (Central Massachusetts) on 'Face the Music.'

Over at WEFT 90.1FM (East Central Illinois), 'Cycle' was played on August 5th on 'North, South, East, WEFT' with host John Wason.

WEFT also played 'Dang' on August 12 -- thanks to Shelley, host of the program 'Sounds Like Home.'

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

UnderCurrents radio play

I just found out that we were played on the radio program UnderCurrents with host Gregg McVicar. Our track "Shift" was played on August 18, 2010. Here's the playlist. This program has a quite an extensive reach:


[Edit:

Through some other playlist sources, I noticed today that we have been played at least two other times on Undercurrents:

June 2, 2010 - "Lucky"
June 20, 2010 - "Dee"

Thanks, Undercurrents! ]

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

New CD Review on 'Minor 7th'

The just-released September/October issue of the 'Minor 7th' webzine features a review of our CD. Minor 7th is a music review site focusing on new acoustic releases.
"The music is in no hurry, but ebbs and flows, carrying the listener to that rare place of quiet listening, uncovering graceful melodies along the way."
- Kirk Albrecht, Minor7th.com
Read the full review here. Thanks, Kirk!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

WCUW 91.3FM (Worcester, Massachusetts)

We had a spin on WCUW 91.3FM in Worcester, Massachusetts on a program called "Face the Music" last night. They played our tune 'Snap.' Thanks, Mary!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Casa on Tuesday!

Thanks, folks -- we had a great time on Tuesday night.. it was a perfect opportunity to try out a bunch of our new material, to move the new music closer to the recording phase. Thanks to everyone at Casa del Popolo and to Steve for the excellent sound. We look forward to coming back!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Hour Magazine blurb

This week's Hour magazine (Montreal) and the hour.ca HitList has a short blurb about our show tonight:

TUESDAY 17

Akira Kurosawa: A Centennial Celebration continues tonight with The Hidden Fortress, Kurosawa's 1958 film about two bickering farmers on the run from clan wars who end up fighting to save a princess and her family fortune - swashbuckling! And beautifully executed filmmaking, at Cinéma du Parc (3575 Parc), 9 p.m., cinemaduparc.com. Toronto hardcore punk Cancer Bats lead the loud army of Crimson Red, Kid Icarus, A Wasted Sacrifice and Stray From The Path, at Le National, 7 p.m. Jeff Martin, formerly of The Tea Party, toasts Petit Campus. And Montreal's fascinating Arboreal Quartet mixes folk/roots, jazz and North Indian classical at Casa del Popolo,


Thanks, Robyn!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Back in !earshot-online's weekly jazz top 10

Thanks to the two #1s mentioned earlier today, we're back in !earshot's cross-Canada jazz top 10 list this week, at #7.

Chart update -- two #1 spots this week!

This week, over at CHRW 94.9 in London ON, we're again at #1 on the jazz chart.

Debuting at #10 on the same chart is The Franco Proietti Morph-tet's latest album, "Live! A Weekend at Centre St.Ambroise." Hello, Morph-tet! [Fernando and JF are in both the Arboreal Quartet and the Morph-tet].

At CHUO 89.1 in Ottawa, ON, we've been re-added to the jazz chart, also at #1. Thanks, CHRW and CHUO!


Thanks also to Magnus at !earshot for fixing the spelling of our artist name and for adding our website link.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

CD review on SoundRoots World Music & Global Culture

I just had an email from Scott Stevens at SoundRoots.org from Olympia WA, saying that he'd had a chance to check out our CD during a road trip this past weekend, and that he'd put up a review on their site. Thanks, Scott! Here's the text:

CD REVIEW
Arboreal Quartet: The Arboreal Quartet (self-released)

Warning: innocent world music fans may find the Arboreal Quartet to be a gateway to the insidious world of jazz. And for that matter, jazz purists listening to this album may just find themselves entertaining a hitherto unexpressed curiosity about ethnic instruments. Thus is the curious impact of this Montreal-based quartet, which makes beautiful instrumental music that peeks over the fence between jazz and global sounds. Three-quarters of the group is standard jazz stuff: Tom Eliosoff on guitar, Fernando Gelso on drums, and J.F. Martins on bass. The unexpected twist comes though the sarode of John Wrinch Williams.

A cousin to the sitar, this Hindustani instrument takes on a variety of tones under Williams' capable fingertips. Sometimes it finds an interplay with the guitar with similar tones; sometimes it becomes twangy like a banjo. And sometimes its bent notes evoke slide guitar (or, yes, sitar).

Williams is also the group's composer and arranger, though that doesn't mean his sarode is always front and center. Gelso's crisp drumming and Martins' smooth upright bass (often sounding more like a bass guitar) provide the songs' heartbeat and identity sometimes more than the other players' melodic lines. The album includes no song notes to explain the story of the songs, all titled with a single word ("Lucky," "Upswing," "Dang," "Shift"). My favorite so far is the upbeat swing-reggae-jazz number "Snap." Don't think too much about the song names; find your meaning in the music, an unusual, rich, and surprising blend of crisp world-jazz instrumentals.

While the group clearly would like you to buy their CD, it appears you can also download it from their website (link below) and make a donation. Play nice.

By the way, there's no indication in their literature that the band lives up to their name by playing their concerts while perched in trees. Though I haven't seen them live, so I can't yet be certain....

Tuesday August 17th @ Casa del Popolo, Montreal

We're excited about the upcoming show at Casa del Popolo.. Doors are at 8:30pm and it's $8 at the door. I'm hoping to include some special guests..

#1 - CHRW 94.9 (London, ON) Jazz Chart - August 3, 2010

We were re-added to the jazz chart over at CHRW 94.9 in London, Ontario this week -- at #1. Thanks, CHRW!