Cobblestone Jazz: Rounded Techno

The tech-jazz-funk of single Dumptruck and its freeform, acid-tinged follow-up India Me were embraced by DJs as varied as Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, Theo Parrish and Richie Hawtin; now the unfettered, almost organic production approach of Canadian trio Tyger Dhula, Mathew Jonson and Daniel Tate is set go on full display with the release of their debut album, 23 Seconds.

Starting out in their hometown of Victoria, Canada, the three were first known as Modern Deep Left Quartet alongside fourth member, The Mole. When he left, Cobblestone Jazz was born; Mat responsible for basslines and drums, Tyger on percussion, programming and mixing, Daniel on vocoder and Fender Rhodes.

"We began purely as a live outfit, just jamming without practicing," explains Mat, the band's creative nucleus. "When we started playing higher profile gigs in other cities, we had a responsibility to the crowd... we wanted to get people dancing so introduced more structure, but still kept room for improvisation, even when we moved into the studio to create tracks for DJs."

Indeed, they maintain a similar approach to recording as they do to playing in front of an audience, as Mat confirms: "Our mixer is set up to record everything we each do separately to the computer. We keep playing together till we reach a good point, we jam on it for a while, stop the recording and take out the parts that work, put them back into the mixer and re-work it all. Basically, we play together like a jazz band would; the way we started out, trying to make it work, right on the fly."

Coming from a musical family, Mat was encouraged to play an instrument as a child and began drumming lessons aged seven, going onto learn classical piano at ten. It wasn't until his teens that he branched out into jazz drumming. Though fellow member Daniel Tate has been the main driver in Cobblestone's embracing of the jazz ethic, thanks to his jazz piano training as a child and tours of the North American jazz circuit in his teens: Mat feels that their productions have benefitted from his early introduction to the basic fundamentals of drumming.

"I played quarter notes half an hour a day, in an adult band, which was really disciplined. We focussed on the rudiments of drumming when we were practising, gradually developing into more complex rhythms – having that ingrained in me, I don't know what I would have done without it."

On hearing 23 Seconds, it's clear how Mat and Daniel's past training have influenced both the Cobblestone sound and their emphasis on playing live, or as live as possible, while in the studio. Coupling this with Tyger Dhula's experience as a DJ and electronic producer has helped create a sound that combines the necessary rhythms required to move a dancefloor and the improvised aesthetic of jazz. Mat points out that it's their use of analogue over digital that's probably had the largest impact on their production style: "The three of us, we're playing analogue instruments, mixing it all live; in some ways this can make it sound raw, more human. With no loops prepared, it's not so clean or thought out as something that's come from a computer... none of us like super digital sounds anyway... even when I do my own stuff I prefer big warm pads and warm analogue basslines."

Unlike many techno artists, Mat balances production skills with his own musicianship, making not only Cobblestone productions but also own solo efforts much more distinctive. "I embrace both... I'm a musician because I play a lot of live instruments. If you go into a lot of producer's studios they won't even have a keyboard, they'll be doing everything with a mouse. If I don't have a keyboard to play all my basslines, I can't do what I do."