Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
This double album was another Black Friday hot deal. It has resided on my wishlist since its release, so it was high time to buy it. Here we've got two accomplished musicians and composers in a symbiosis, creating something real stunning, which doesn't fit readily into one of the established genres. Sylwia Białas' vocals are the icing on the cake, no matter if she sings scat, or her own lyrics in her native language, Polish - one of the world's most beautiful languages.
Favorite track: Nocturnity.
Carsten Pieper
And yet another gem released by MoonJune Records. The quartet around MoonJune percussion/drum stalwart Asaf Sirkis and Polish singer/composer Sylvia Bialas offer a very idiosyncratic mixture of very different ingredients: Polish folklore, Mid-Eastern and Indian music/rhythms, prog-rocky bits and more. Quite adventuruous, one might think, but it works astoundingly well together. Fascinating!
Favorite track: Message From The Blue Bird.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
SIRKIS/BIALAS IQ - Our New Earth (2CD)
The CD will be shipped from October 15, 2019.
Includes automatic download of the album. 24bit/96khz files in any format of Your choice: WAV, FLAC, ALAC/M4A, MP3-320.
Includes unlimited streaming of Our New Earth (HD)
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"European jazz is promised a virtually limitless future if it continues to stick close to its European roots embedded in the subsoil of specific regional cultures, and it continues to be performed by bands as imaginative as the SBIQ. " - Bill Bruford, Liner notes from "Our New Earth", Surrey, England 2019
The SIRKIS/BIALAS IQ is an on-going band, established in 2014 consisting of four unique musical personalities bringing their individuality and working together as a team to create new explorative-forward-looking music. The new album explores many different colours on the emotional spectrum, using some rarely used instruments in jazz such as the church organ, waterphone, crotales, konnakol, and different vocal sounds.
With an emphasis on band interaction and sheer joy of playing, ‘Our New Earth’ celebrates music from both Sirkis and Bialas, covering a wide range of influences such as contemporary classical music, Polish folk, Progressive rock, South Indian and Middle Eastern musics as well as a wide range of dynamics – from the most delicate ballad all the way to high-energy electric lines and everything in between; expect soulful melodies, aerospheric sounds with strong grooves, a full colour electroacoustic jazz with an ethnic touch and some uncommonly used instruments and sound effects.
Although Sirkis/Bialas IQ’s music can sometimes be generically referred to as ‘vocal jazz’, Sylwia’s approach to singing is different; making the role of the voice more like an instrument rather then a lead.
In her own words:
“I truly feel no need to take the central spot on stage (as a singer is often expected to). I am tremendously fulfilled in being part of the band, contributing to its sound, adding different colours, sharing the joy of interacting and taking risks together. There’s no greater satisfaction for me than to stand ‘inside the band’, listening to the sound created by my fellow musicians at its source, watching their body language. I feel very happy and thankful that both audience and critics recognise and accept my personal approach.
Our New Earth is the second album from the Sirkis/Bialas IQ. In comparison to the band’s debut album - Come To Me - this album is edgier, darker, full of tension and dissonance sound textures.
In the words of Sirkis and Bialas:
"The message behind Our New Earth is reflecting the drastic changes we are currently experiencing individually and collectively world-wide with the prevailing of technology, social media, and many other issues. We’d like to offer this music as a reflection, a wish of reconnection with nature and a kind of a prayer in music for a better world for all of us and hence the name Our New Earth".
“On the evidence of this concert, ‘Our New Earth’ from Sirkis/Bialas IQ should help further establish the quartet as one of the most interesting of contemporary jazz ensembles. With music this uplifting, so sensitively and passionately rendered, it`s hard not to be seduce”.
Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
******************************************
This album is a result of collective love, devotion to music and a very special musicianship. We would like to dedicate this album to our planet in the hope for a better future for all of us... Big thanks to Leonardo ‘MoonJune’ to Pavkovic for his support and idealistic approach in caring for music & artists. Bill Bruford for being an inspiration, for taking time and putting his effort in listening to our music
& writing the liner notes for this album. Many thanks to all of the people who contributed to making this album happen. Special thanks to Chris Reiss for his incredible work,sensitive ears and friendship. Thanks to Alex Klebl for putting the cherry on the top of our cake. Thanks to Frank Harrison & Kevin Glasgow for their creativity, sensitivity and for making it easy to enjoy every gig we play together. Thanks to Peter Phippen & Victoria Shoemaker for their support in translating the polish poems into english. Thanks to Harald Mayer for putting the final touch on the cover artwork, to Sławek Janus for creating our waterphone.
SIRKIS/BIALAS IQ - Our New Earth
featuring:
ASAF SIRKIS: drums (all tracks), crotales (3, 6, 7,10), konnakol (7, 11), Manjira (7), frame drums (7)
SYLVIA BIALAS: voice (all tracks), waterphone (7, 9), overtone singing (6), lyrics (1, 2, 5, 10), konnakol (7)
FRANK HARRISON: piano (1, 2, 4, 5, 6 ,8, 10), keyboards (1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 11)
KEVIN GLASGOW: six string electric bass (all tracks)
Tracks 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11 composed by Asaf Sirkis. Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 10 composed by Sylwia Bialas. All arrangements by Asaf Sirkis & Sylwia Bialas, all lyrics & vocal arr. by Sylwia Bialas.
Recorded at Masterchord Studio, London (UK), Aug. 2017 | Voice recorded & produced by Christoph Reiss & Sylwia Bialas, Würzburg (GER), Dec. 2017 / Jan. 2018 | Mixed by Christoph Reiss (GER), Jan. 2019 | Mastered by Alex Klebl at the Marell Music Group (GER), Feb. 2019 | Cover artwork by Sylwia Bialas
Produced by Asaf Sirkis & Sylwia Bialas.
Executive production for the International release on MoonJune Records by Leonardo Pavkovic.
Asaf Sirkis on the critically acclaimed album Pasar Klewer of the Indonesian piano icon Dwiki Dharmawan, feat. Yaron Stavi, M. Wingfield, G. Atzmon, N. Meier. 5 stars in DownBeat Dec 2016. Asaf Sirkis
supported by 304 fans who also own “Our New Earth (HD)”
Mark Wingfield is always recommended listening for fans of Jazz or Fusion guitar (among the names usually dropped you'll find Alan Holdsworth, Terje Rypdal, Pat Metheny). Nevertheless, this isn't just pure Jazz. I seem to hear more traces of progressive rock than in his other recordings, but probably that's just an early impression... Carsten Pieper