Easily the best record I own by a long way

Cobblestone Jazz has been performing live electronic music for five years together. The three members of the group are programmer Tyger Dhula, keyboardists Danuel Tate and Mathew Jonson. The nature of their music balances electronic composition with a live and moving element that results in the exploration of many different styles. Cobblestone is a bit of an anomaly in this day and age of studio refinement, opting to approach music from a performance perspective first, as opposed to recreating studio pieces for their live shows. A large part of this is due to the involvement of Tate, whose background as a jazz musician has led to a large emphasis on playing live. The group’s influences range from jazz and dub to breakbeats and minimal techno, and many points in between. ‘India In Me’ has been one of the highlights of their recent live performances at venues including the Montreux Jazz Festival and Panorama Bar in Berlin. Likened by some to electronic whales singing to each other, the groove undulates and develops constantly over the course of each session. Both tracks are recorded and mixed in a live outboard setting. No pre-arrangement was done; the tracks are just improvised and mixed straight to tape. Both versions share the same principle parts – Mat playing the bassline on an SH-101 and Danuel on Vocoder jamming together – plus atmospherics from Tyger of an early live recording of Danuel playing trumpet through lots of reverb. The A side has a freer composition and broken rhythms while the B side appears straighter, more obviously for a club setting. Both build and destroy dancefloors, capturing minds and feet, waking us up to the unique and unmistakable sound of Cobblestone Jazz.