The Signal with Laurie Brown - tune in tomorrow! (CBC Radio 2)

I'm told that one of our tracks will be played tomorrow night (Thursday November 11th) on 'The Signal with Laurie Brown' on CBC Radio 2, near the beginning of the program. The program airs at 10pm EST.

We'll also appear on the Signal's podcast #20, which is going live tomorrow, on November 11th. Thanks to everyone at the Signal for the support!

[EDIT] Looks like the podcast is live now.

Chart catch-up - CHRW (London, ON), November 2

Catching up here, I see that we were on the jazz chart over at CHRW (London, ON) for the week of November 2, 2010, at #6. Thanks again!

Review on The Big Takeover (Brooklyn, NY)

Yesterday we received an album review on The Big Takeover, the Brooklyn, New York-based music magazine. Many thanks to Matt Lee for the review! Here's the text:

The Arboreal Quartet - The Arboreal Quartet (Independent)

by Matt Lee

There have been few times in my life when music has caused me to shed tears. Interestingly, all of these heart swelling tear inducers have been instrumental. John Coltrane ’s “Spiritual”, Albert Ayler ’s “Ghosts: First Variations” and Ravel ’s “Pavane Pour Un Enfant Defunte” (the solo piano version). To that list I can now add the opening track, “Theme”, from The Arboreal Quartet ’s debut.

Based in Montreal, The Arboreal Quartet may seem at first glance to be of the “global jazz” ilk, following a path trod prior by Ry Cooder and V.M. Bhatt ’s A Meeting By The River in it’s fusing of guitar and sarode music. In this writer’s opinion that watermark is here surpassed, not necessarily in it’s musicianship (which is masterful), but in it’s successful crafting of it’s own language. The cast of the music draws from jazz and traditional Indian music, naturally, but the scaffold of the songs are less a platform for endless virtuosic soloing than a series of linked vignettes.. poignant without feeling maudlin, engaging without overreaching or overstaying the ear’s welcome. Songs like “Mountain” for example, build on deceptively simple motifs set forth by the sarode and guitar, are garnished by mellifluous sprinklings of solo work and held firmly in place by the tasteful upright bass and brushed drums. Without a scrap of lyric, the songs manage to be incredibly lyrical, singing images pleasantly into the mind’s ear. The attentive listener is transported into splendid harbors of bright and comforting light and shade, to the point where the texture of the music is almost palpable to the touch.

Spearheaded by Montreal musician John Wrinch Williams (sarode), The Arboreal Quartet also includes Tom Eliosoff (guitar), Fernando Gelso (drums) and J.F. Martins on bass. On this, their self-titled debut as an ensemble, all are playing with the virtuosity and restraint evident in players at the top of their abilities. One listen is enough to leave an indelible impression on your soul. Isn’t that why we play, listen to and seek out music in the first place? A beautiful, deep and triumphant album.

CHRW plays (London, Ontario)

I just noticed that over at CHRW 94.9 MHz - London, we're at #2 on their weekly jazz chart for the week ending October 5, 2010. Thanks, CHRW!

AQ1 streaming on SoundCloud

On our website I decided to take a step back and make it easy to listen to the album. I took inspiration from the website for Mos Dub (produced by Max Tannone - A remix album featuring Mos Def and dub reggae music).

I like the simple "here's the artwork, here's a giant play button, here's how you get it" approach, so I did a quick redesign of our homepage with this in mind.

Again, as we move towards the next recording I need to make room for it on the site :) Here's the SoundCloud stream that can also be found on our homepage. I wonder if I could add it as a sidebar to this blog.


AQ1 by user907003

AQ1 now on CDBaby

We're pleased to now be available at CDBaby, the largest online distributor of independent music. As we move towards recording our next release, I wanted to make sure that our first album (which we released only 6 months ago!) has a good home.

It became more and more obvious that CDBaby was the choice, as it's internationally known, reliable, and easy to use.

Check out our release page on CDBaby!

Back in !earshot-online's monthly jazz chart (August 2010)

Our CD has re-appeared on the !earshot monthly jazz chart for August 2010, at #11.