VIDEO GAME MELODIES AND LATIN GROOVES
Two local bands release very different albums
Two local bands with hybrid musical roots release long-overdue fulllength albums this week.
It’s all a game for Experience Points, who came together oneand-a-half years ago to exercise their enthusiasm for video game music. Their new album Try Blowing on the Cartridge offers 11 pieces taken from different game soundtracks, newly arranged by the members.
Because keyboardist Stephanie Urquhart, guitarist Brian Raine, bassist Aretha Tillotson and drummer Ryan Pliska are in their midto-late 20s, some of the themes go back to early games like Donkey Kong but they also include recent faves like Super Mario Odyssey, tied together in the medley Super Mario Bros. Jump Up Super Star.
Titles like Big Apple 3, Banjo Kazooie and Clock Town explain themselves, while a few get into gamer jargon like Aquatic Ambience, a reference to the low-key water level in one game. Urquhart says it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what attracted them to the material.
“My favourites are more complex compositions that start with a basic theme before they take off into a more original melody. And we picked some of the others because they’re fan favourites.”
Varied material on the album takes in some pretty snappy grooves and jazzy sources. The members are all graduates from MacEwan University so they’re well-versed in jazz and popular music practice, which helps when it comes to improvising in live performance. Urquhart says the scores can get quite complicated, effectively mirroring big band arrangements.
That album title, Try Blowing on the Cartridge, is a reference to an old, apparently debunked rumour that Nintendo cartridges would work better if you breathed on them before you put them in the machine.
A grant from the Edmonton Arts Council allowed the band to finish a full-length album with hired guests like trumpeter Bob Tildesley, saxophonist Jeremiah McDade, trombonist Audrey Ochoa and clarinetist Joe Semple. Ochoa and trumpeter Sergio Rodrigues will join them in concert Friday.
“We’ve all got different things going on so this band is really for the fun of it,” Urquhart says.
So far Experience Points has found a fan base in the local gaming community and touched base with a few other like-minded bands across Canada, but they hope to take their material further.
You can download the album via bandcamp or pick up a limited edition CD at the show. Experience Points plays The Aviary (9314 – 111 ave.) 7:30 p.m. Thursday with tickets $10 in advance from yeglive.ca.
MONTUNO WEST GROOVES
If the band name Montuno West is new to you, know they have been making hot Latin jazz under that banner for about five years but their collective experience goes way back.
Pianist Chris Andrew and bassist Rubim de Toledo are two of Edmonton’s finest, most versatile musician-composers in jazz, pop and other genres, with shared experience in the award-winning group Bomba!, which ended a decade ago, and in bands like Maracujah and Cumako. Now they’re working together with two drummer-percussionists, Cuban-born Raul Tabera and Venezuela’s Luiz Tovar, both based in Calgary for some years.
All four contributed compositions to the new Montuno West debut disc Tocar Tambor, released
Friday. It offers a rich, entrancing mix of breezy Latin grooves reflecting beats from Cuba, Brazil and beyond with a level of tight rhythmic interaction that compares with the best.
Andrew says it was a chance to stay in touch with some of their favourite groove music.
“I was blessed to be exposed to all these styles in Latin music and I feel like I don’t get enough of it now. I have an amazing respect for the genre and I hope it comes more frequently. There are so many elements in this music that have helped make me a stronger artist and this re-ignites that.” De Toledo agrees.
“A lot of people may know us as jazz guys but there’s this side we weren’t exploring as much as we could have. And to have Luis and Raul there ... I learn so much every time I work with them.”
Renowned Costa Rican-New Yorker trombonist Luis Bonilla was in Calgary for workshops last year and agreed to guest on four of the six album tracks.
As de Toledo explains, the record “evolved over time” as various members fine-tuned the arrangements and added their individual tracks to the mix.
As Andrew notes, “knowing the capabilities of the players in the band it was easy to get inspired to compose, but I tried to push myself out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to write.”