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| Canadian Artist Jrocseventyone Releases Debut CD "Sponge" Jrocseventyone (aka JB) announced the release of his down tempo, instrumental jazz debut album, "Sponge", which is available on iTunes and Amazon.com, as well as other online retailers, including Spotify, My Space Music, Media Net, music, Deezer, and Rdio. "Sponge" boasts 7 tracks, most of which are between 5 and 10 minutes long. JB said, "Sponge is a very dynamic way of listening to intellectual drum beat composition, followed by fat bass lines, and warm harmonic soundscapes, with a tribal feel of percussion. One of the tracks, "Stop Tickling Me", is so rich with brass accompaniment; you'll feel like you're actually there while I'm playing. Born Jose Yupangco in Manila, Philippines in 1971, where grandfather owned a piano manufacturing company, Jrocseventyone was exposed to music at an early age. After moving to Los Angeles when he was 7, JB's parent permanently relocated to Vancouver, Canada where he now resides. Within a year, his father began teaching him piano, which he continued studying until the 7th grade. He began teaching himself to playing percussion when he was 14, subsequently moving on to other instruments, the first of which was the bass. Jose received his first DJ mixer as a present in 1988 for his 17th birthday and began DJing professionally around 1995, landing the DJ spot in the renowned jazz room at The Purple Onion in 1996, where major artists from New Orleans and San Francisco played. He began dabbling with the drums at 24, but didn't really take it seriously until 2006, when he began taking lessons from Jay Beachman at Tom Lee Music in Vancouver, and also enrolled in classes at two drum schools (Grandville Island Drum School in Vancouver and also Tom Lee Music School in Vancouver). JB started penning music at that time so he could begin writing drum scores. He played in various garage bands in high school, and joined the band Smak in 1998, which was in the process of dissolution at the time. He and fellow Smak band member Chris Mitchell formed Smaqu-2 in 1999, and performed as a duo on the popular television show Breakfast TV on a Vancouver Station, and at local venues, and university radio shows. The collaboration ended with the release of a Virgin Records CD release in 2000. From February 2000 - 2001, JB began playing and touring throughout the west coast of Canada with the band Gospel Space Juice, which was a funk/jazz/R&B band. When that ended in 2001, he continued playing at night clubs in Vancouver as a DJ, and created his own live band called Sushi On A Plate with band members from Gospel Space Juice, playing at the esteemed DV8 in downtown Vancouver. Each member of the band played an instrument, but also had a background in musical composition, which is where JB learned firsthand about the concept of practicum over theory. He ended Sushi On A Plate in 2001, moved to Japan that same year, and played for 8 months in Osaka and Kobe, then returned to Canada and took a break for two years. In 2004, he rejoined the music scene and began drumming heavily. JB started writing the music for Sponge in 2010, completing and releasing it in 2012. Jrocseventyone said, "I have many musical influences and am an educated composer, and have an open mind to all music. I can scratch, have a piano and drum background, and I'm using the most innovative software to date, called Ableton, which was made in Germany, while other people continue to use Reason and low end software. I don't have to hire a DJ or get music samples that other DJs use when they record. I can do all of that. My style of DJ'ing is a New York style, as opposed to the West Coast." MusicDish reviewers critiquing Jrocseventyone's new single said, "One 2-4" is quite nice. The dirty south drum roll sets up a clean mixed dance track that has a combination of nice hand percussion. Trumpet section hits that punctuate a very smooth soundscape of sounds that pad and enchant the ear with bells, and fresh ideas that are cool to listen and dance to are plentiful in this track. It's not overdone, revealing some very real experience behind what this guy is doing. The effects synch up nicely to the kick, and the vocal parts never get in the way of the forward motion of where the music is taking you. If you like Ambient music with more direction and groove for your mix, this is a track you'll want playing on your box. The mix quality and coolness factors definitely get 5 out of 5 stars, while the musical production doesn't lag far behind with 4 out of 5 stars. write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |