Thursday, 16 December 2010
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Ever Changing Scenes (ECS) is a Shoreditch based audio-visual design house specializing in motion design, film production and innovative branding. ECS was founded by Carlo Rossi and Soichi Matsumoto (Quadroptica) who between them have over 20 years experience in motion and sound design. They created ECS to bring their love of experimental film and live electronic music together and explore unique ways of mixing art and sound
Today, their foundations have flourished, whether creating film content for concerts, video installations for the arts, music videos within the entertainment industry or tailoring brands for bespoke events inside the corporate market they pride themselves as a continually evolving company with a passion for pushing the boundries of multimedia, so if your interested in exploring new frontiers and broadening your creative pool or if you just want to chat about an idea, we’d love to hear from you
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Carlo Rossi and The Organic Jam present from ECS on Vimeo.
Dervish Is Digital: Our new project which sees VJ Soichi Matsumoto & The Organic Jam perform
with the sacred Whirling Dervishes. Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto
Kizuna trailer from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Trailer for 'Kizuna' produced for a ballet performance by Fran Goteburg for
Stockholm's Stenhammarsalen in Konserthuset, Gothenburg, Sweden to raise
funding for Japan's earthquake victims. Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto
FashionEXPO 07 Platform fashion show from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Intro produced for Platform fashion show at the FashionEXPO 07 at the Design
Centre on 4th and 5th of November 2007. Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Talvin Singh presents TaBtek 'Chill' from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Material used for Talvin Singh's multimedia project, Tabtek.
Music composed by Oskar Vizan. Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
april/2010 face:on from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Soi created a promo for Hear Colours and their installation project, Face:on. Face:on
is an interactive art installation that incorporates a 3D model of a face that can
morph through interaction from the audience. Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
FashionExpo 08 Profile/Platform Fashion Show from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Profile/Platform fashion show. FashionExpo at the Design Centre, Islington, 19th
November 2008. www.hearcolours.com. Director/VJ/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Vision One Deep Space from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Soi produced, filmed and edited a video for laughing Buddha and Hear
Colors' DVD release of 'Vison One' which was recorded in 5.1 sound.
Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Trash City, Roundhouse, Camden from Frolic Productions on Vimeo.
Hear Colours created a video installation for Trash City which launched a month long
'contemporary circus festival, aptly enough in a ravished landscape
VJ/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
spring rising from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
One of the pieces i created for the pianist Syuzanna that was held in the Prince
Charles Theatre in Soho. One of the most spectacular child prodigies in the world,
12 year old Syuzanna began performing aged 5, won her 1st major competition
aged 8 and was admitted to the renowned Moscow Conservatory aged 9. She
recently the Konzerteum Award in Greece and the Nikolai Rubinstein award in
Paris. Syuzanna has performed all over the globe, for Vladamir Putin to Gerhard
Schroder. Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Talvin Singh presents Tablatronic USA/Canada tour 2010 from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
A segment from the film Soichi specially created to accompany Talvin Singh's
US tour 2010.Director/Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
urban screen from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Visual show by Hear Colours for "Urban Screen 2010" held in the historic center
Plaza de Santa Maria in which Artists are invited from all around the world to show
work that interacts urban architecture and 3D mapping technologies.
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
plateaux "atlantik" from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Plateaux "atlantik"
Music: Oskar Vizan.
Video: Soichi Matsumoto.
"My Show Reel in One Minute." showreel preview from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
As it says on the title, my show reel condensed into a minute.
Music: 'Watersong" by Thomas Brinkman taken from album 'Tokyo+1' (max.Ernest).
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Biography of Soichi Matsumoto:
Soichi began as a freelance video maker/editor after completing his MA in DMI (digital moving image) at London's Guildhall in 2001. Quadroptica was set up by Soichi and his colleagues as a one off VJ outfit in 2002. The success of his first gig was so huge (much to do with his totally unique film take on VJing) it lead to bigger and bolder projects. A new found passion in live visuals has kept Quadroptica going ever since, performing countless shows at many of the biggest festivals and clubs across the globe including four years residency at the UK's infamous Glade Festival. In the last four years, Soichi has expanded from live visuals to video designing music videos, concert visuals, brand launches and fashion shows. In 2006 he founded Ever Changing Scenes with Carlo Rossi.
ever changing scenes: portfolio
MITSUBISHI iCAR press launch from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
We were approached by Rouge to create a visual show for the press launch of the
Mitsubishi Hybrid iCAR. Our brief was to show the iCAR in relationship to Japans
urban and future-looking youth culture and to challenge the auto-marketplace to
think outside of the cultural boundaries that often blind them to new ideas.
Utilizing the iCAR's ad-campaign graphics and cinema/tv ads we were given free
reign to deconstruct and animate their graphics and ads. Delving into Japan's
passion for design we chose to juxtapose imagery of iCAR's hybrid technology and
Japan's Y-generation and their breaking of tradition and reinvention of world fashions.
Animation: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi.
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Winter Wonderland -E:CUBE- from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
E:Cube E25 from ECS on Vimeo.
E:Cube Relaix and Chateaux from ECS on Vimeo.
ECS were commisioned by Evensus Events to create an 15m video art installation
inside an inflatable white cube that moonlighted as a shell fish bar and concert space next to the
Serpentine Gallery. The E:Cube opened from November 21st 2010 through to January 5th 2011
and had over 5000 attendees. The installation explored the theme of winter. The installation was
sponsored by Relais Chateaux and the super car company E-Curie 25. We also created soft
advertising ads (above) for the sponsors that would appear every 30 minutes.
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi.
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
A Night of Exploration & The National History Museum from ECS on Vimeo.
Celebrating 100 years of exploration we were asked by the NHM to create a visual
journey through man's exploration into the unchartered. The film covering the ocean,
highest mountains and space was performed at the anniversary party held at the NHM
with The Organic Jam.
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi
Editor: Carlo Rossi.
GM Style 07 Dubai from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Vivacious Events approached us to put together a live visual show for GM Style
event that would combine Dubai's embracing of its past and of its future. We were
commissioned to edit and fuse the imagery from such ground-breaking films as
Baraka, Powaaqatsi and Koyaanisqatsi, in order to convey their subconscious
message; the world as one organism. We selectively mixed together imagery
of Arabic culture and sustainable natural resources that are ever so presently
becoming the future energys of the world. Showcasing GM's concept hybrid -
the Chevrolet Volt, the event was held at The Madinet Jumeriah where Soichi
VJ'd the visuals to The Organic Jam
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto
Teletext relaunch. from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
We were asked by Teletext to create an environmental space that showed
the new teletext to be as simple as water, always fluid and filling every
space it inhabits while always being as clear as sky. The relaunch was held
at Sketch in Conduit St where they have 12 projectors that project onto all
four walls to crate an overall feel of being immersed inside water. The visuals
were mixed live by Soichi to set by The Organic Jam
were mixed live by Soichi to set by The Organic Jam
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto
Steelcase Solutions promo from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi.
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Delonghi/Cool Brands from Quadroptica on Vimeo.
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi.
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto.
Maquerade from ECS on Vimeo.
Direction: Soichi Matsumoto / Carlo Rossi
Editor: Soichi Matsumoto
Stills of ECS and The Organic Jam performing at the National History Museum
for the launch of '100 Years of Exploration' hosted by Sir David Attenbourough.
Stills of ECS and The Organic Jam performing at the WTTS Awards. Dubai.
Stills of the Teletext re-launch at Sketch 2010.
Stills of ECS performing at the Quaboos Awards 2011 in Muscat, Oman.
Poster for the opening of the E:Cube in Hyde Park, London.
'Champagne Pommery, Supercar Club Ecurie 25 and Relais Chateaux are set to sponsor the award-winning Evensus E:Cube bar this winter in London’s Hyde Park.
With Pommery’s Brut Royal in full flow, an indulgent bar menu on offer and performances by The Organic Jam, a collaboration of London’s top DJs and live musicians, the ‘igloo style’ E:Cube will be the coolest place to eat, drink and play this Christmas. Located in the park's Winter Wonderland, the E:Cube is an entirely white, innovative structure, designed by Evensus Creative Event Management to host a wide range of events throughout the year.
Visitors’ unique experience will be enhanced by the screening of experimental video Art by Europe’s best digital artists lead by mercury prize winner Talvin Singh's video director Soichi Matsunoto and the ambient-style house music of The Organic Jam, a progressive concept created by Carlo Rossi, which sees renowned live musicians accompany London’s top DJs - giving the E:Cube a distinctly contemporary and sophisticated feel.
E:Cube’s exclusive grand opening will take place the evening of Thursday 18 November. It will open daily to the public from 19 November until 4 January 2011, from 10am to 10pm'.
To book, either use this link to make a request or email ecube@evensus.com with your details'.
Christian Rose-Day. Fluid Style.com
Soichi Matsumoto's latest projects:
Talvin Singh's Tabtek project LIVE @ LOVEBOX. Video Art by Soichi Matsumoto.
Soichi Matsumoto VJing @ Oxjam 2010 for FAITHLESS, ZERO 7 & HERVE @ The Coronet.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
21st Century Disco is a spectacular, hi-impact, audio-visual like no other. A collaboration between Soichi Matsumoto/Qaudroptica -VJ and Visual Art creator of Mercury prize winner Talvin Singh and Carlo Rossi And The Organic Jam. 21st Century Disco remix and recreate cult and classic film & music moments like you've never seen or heard before, nostalgic yet contemporary, hilariously comedic in their outragousness yet subtly sophisticated and always for the dancefloor.
Carlo and Soi began moonlighting from their supposed 'day job' in The Organic Jam and Quadroptica to play records and VJ in clubs and festivals. Stubbornly unpretentious in their tastes, gleefully determined to avoid genre-lisations, 21st Century Disco come to the party with one clear aim: to get you dancing. They achieve this by VJing a brilliant concoction of edits from iconic & legendary film to the maddest Art House Cinema while laying down remixes of pop, rock, electronica, hip-hop & a few obscure tunes - every now and then, laying down the hugest sing-along ballads too.
Having a near-genius instinct for what unlikely combinations of records will work with each other: Green Velvet with Led Zeppelin; Nirvana with Destiny's Child; The Stooges with Salt'n'Pepa; Jay Z with AC/DC.. These are the 'bootleg' mixes or 'mash-ups' of which you may have heard about, but 21st Century Disco, by nature of their musical upbringing and studio experience, do more than bounce a couple of tracks together on hi-tech software: they edit, loop, EQ, pitch control and edit again to turn the result into something entirely original. Below are two excepts taken from their live performance at the 2010 RSVP Awards at Fulham Palace.
watch their video samples from
Sunday, 10 October 2010
The Interviews
Tonight, Carlo Rossi & The Organic Jam will step on stage with one DJ, some samples and an
orchestra. There's no score, and no one has any idea what they'll be playing.
Tim Richards tells us about the ultimate improv gig
Five years on, Carlo Rossi & The Organic Jam look like a prescient outfit. But in late 2005, just before the internet started to siphon off record industry profits, forming a band and announcing that you intended to write no tunes, have no rehearsals, and not make or sell any recordings struck many people as, well, a pretty dumb move. Something must have gone very right, though, because after a supposedly one-off gig five years ago, The Organic Jam have appeared in a list of top clubs & events, notching up a ridiculous amount of gigs (over 1000!) with a client list that gets longer and more international by the year.
Tonight, they'll be upping the ante as they'll be headlining the Royal Academy's biggest party of the year: Carlo Rossi will collaborate with Sarah Mallock, electric violinist of and strings arranger of Morcheeba and Adele www.sarahviolin.com, Trumpet virtuoso Andy Davies - resident and host of Wednesday eves at Ronnie Scotts', Tello Morgado from Groove Armada, Faithless, Defected Records and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Anna Croad with her Blue Topaz Orchestra in an entirely spontaneous performance.
But how is a band that improvises two-hour sets of continuous dance music going to work with a DJ - not to mention an orchestra of additional brass, woodwind and string players? It comes down to technology. As The Organic Jam play, Rossi will respond by layering samples for the orchestra using a midi-controller and a computer program called Ableton. As the Organic Jam's percussionist Tello Morgado puts it, as a working method, it is "totally liberating. And scary as hell."
"The important thing about the way we improvise," says DJ/ samples/effects player Carlo Rossi, "is that it's not 'free' in the sense of one guy doing a mad solo while the others step back. It is very groove-based, and group-voiced. We want a sense of structure and organization, but for none of the parts to be pre-prepared. We want to be the improvisor of the orchestra."
"The irony", says Rossi (who has released two monumental albums under Organic Records), is that now, "it's practically impossible to make a living from sales, so people are signing deals with the labels on the basis of projected revenue from live appearances. If you look at the whole history of music, the recorded medium is a little blip. It's the aberration. The bulk of it is musicians performing to people, whether for a community function, telling tales, religion or just pleasure. So in a sense we're traditionalists. It's not radical. Improvising lends itself to the step-by-step, loop-based world of dance music, and the band work at giving their sound the production values of dance records, rather than acoustic instruments copying electronic music forms. Lyndsay Evans, for instance, plays mostly electronic pads, and uses a tai-chi inspired technique that expends the smallest possible amount of energy - hence her ability to hold down hours of live club beats."
Rossi and Mallock also think of the music as disposable. There are free MP3s on the band website/blog page, but they are meant to be tasters, or souvenirs for people who have been at a particular night. Given that they are used to getting feedback in the form of dancing, doesn't the event space or major Art galleries, where people's expectations may be different to those of clubbers, daunt them?
"God, yeah," says Rossi, "when we first begun i couldn't distract them with moving their feet. This was so unusual for me as i'd spent 8 years performing at 6 in the morning to crazed dancers in the underground scene. Perhaps dancing is the equivalent, in comedy improvisation, of laughter, and we were teetering in the in between. But then something began to happen, my nervousness in terms of being scrutinized for an act that was more performance art and not dance floor disappeared as we began turning our events into dance floors without the audience ever expecting it, we knew that this was our breakthrough and kinda ran with it from there."
The musicians may be more used to the concert hall or festival stage, but live, high-speed improvising and arranging is surely a step outside their comfort zones. "There's an element of danger, that's for sure," says Davies. "It's scary, but I'm looking forward to it. I think what we do will affect how The Organic Jam play - maybe look to make fewer changes, use more loops on the fly, let the musicians go in tangents, or perhaps evolve the music more gradually"
"Who knows, oneday i thought of learning to play woodwind without anyone knowing - Halfway through, we'll swap." says Tamar Osborn www.myspace.com/tamaros, one of the guest musicians.
The Organic Jam players come from the top of their fields and from a a variety of backgrounds (jazz, classical, folk), and are determined to prove that being an orchestra, a jazzer and reading scores doesn't have to mean you are tied to a past of classical or jazz form. Rossi, no stranger to conceptual thinking - he's a graduate of Central/St Martins School of Art explains "They can improvise as well as read the dots - so I'm hoping they will add their personality and ideas to the parts, for an electronic music lover and event organizer my friends and i were beginning to be so bored of live acts turning up with a laptop and pretending to be working it." Rossi says his main preparation has been to practice Ableton, so he can work the program fast enough.
The Organic Jam have two simple principles to get this kind of music to work. One is to always do less, rather than keep adding. "It's a confidence thing, to learn to step away from it. Literally, just drop out, and it will sound better," says Rossi. "The most important thing is not to be afraid to bin something if it is not working. After all, that's a luxury that most bands don't have on the spur of the moment."
"I've always been in love with improvised film and music... it's a bit like watching an Elia Kazan or a Mike Leigh film, or even the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm," says Rossi. "There is a huge amount of improvisation in there, but I didn't realize it at first. After knowing that, somehow it makes it special and much more interesting."
"Yeah, but you want them to like it because it sounds good," says Mallock. "You don't want charity for the process, people saying: 'Hmm, this unlistenable rubbish is great because it is improvised.'"
Most importantly, "it's about putting ourselves on the line," says Rossi. "It's about chaos."
"You certainly never get bored doing this," adds Mallock. "Remember the time we pitched up in Dubai for a gig? Who'd have thought we'd be playing on the beach, rebounding the sound from our instruments off the glass walls of the hotel to hear what each other was playing, and end up playing in the sea."
People they would rather share a bill with include Underworld, Trentemoller and Radiohead - but it certainly looks like they have not such a bad winter ahead as they plan to be playing in an inflatable white cube for 6 weeks next to the Serpentine Gallery with visuals by Soitchi Matsumoto, who is the video artist behind Talvin Singh. Perhaps they could do a bespoke performance to match each band they appear with. "Yes, we could be like the Marlon Brando of bands," says Rossi, "fitting the contours of every age!"
TERENCE CONRAN'S QUAGLINO’S IN CONVERSATION...
To get the Autumn season of Q Cocktail Club on Thursday nights off to a bang; The Organic Jam will be our resident act for Thursday nights starting from Thursday 11th August to get us warmed up for the start of the new season. We caught up with the man behind The Organic Jam - Carlo Rossi to tell us a bit more about Thursday nights at Quaglino's.
Q: Carlo, you have played at many wonderful parties and events over the years from the China White tent at the Cartier Polo to London Fashion Week . How did you come up with the concept of The Organic Jam?
C: I've always had a love for improvising when it comes to music, art and film. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time deeply immersed in DJing in the electronic music scene; I became disenchanted with seeing so many live acts perform with one man and a laptop pressing a key once every few minutes and it made me really push my ideas of how live electronic music could be performed while being spontaneous and entertaining at the same time.
I grew up in a jazz club which my parents owned in a sleepy town by the beach and every once in a while one of the greats of jazz would pop through the door and it was here where I fell in love for the first time with musicians creating something totally unique for that one moment in time. Hence the start of The Organic Jam.
Q: Who and what inspires you to create your fun and electric vibe of music?
C: My biggest inspirations come from hearing two or more genres colliding with each other where the music becomes something new. Bands like Noze, Matias Aguayo, Dop, Audiojack and labels Circus Company and Get Physical Music are doing something really special at the moment as they mix Balkan, Brazilian, African and disco melodies and instrumentation over intricate house rhythms. However I’ve always admired Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Nina Simone, Charles Mingus, Sarah Vaughn and especially Miles Davis as he always made jazz exciting and new. He lead jazz through so many different periods and made albums that really connected with people all over the world.
Q: What attracted you to want to be Quaglino’s resident DJ for Thursday nights?
C: Quaglino's has always had a history of great jazz being played by many of the best jazz players in the UK, numerous being guest musicians from the legendary Ronnie Scotts. Having such a rich history in music as well as being an iconic Terence Conran venue, when I was approached with the concept that they wanted me to take jazz and reinterpret it into a future form I couldn't resist... how could I say 'no'!
Q: What can we expect from The Organic Jam at Quaglino's for the Autumn Season?
C: One of the biggest aspects of what makes The Organic Jam really work is in the quality of the musicians that I’ve been so fortunate to play with. I always wanted to make The Organic Jam a talent pool for the best up and coming jazzers as well as the most prolific musicians working in the UK. This upcoming season at Quaglino's, every week we'll have special guest musicians, many from some of the biggest jazz/electronic bands touring the UK. I look forward to seeing you all there!
The Organic Jam is headed up by established DJ/producer/music director Carlo Rossi, who plans to work with an impressive selection of guest artists over the coming weeks. Already confirmed to appear are trumpet player Ben Edwards (Mark Ronson, Basement Jaxx, Groove Armada), electro-violinist Sarah Mallock (Adele, Madonna, Jay Z, Oasis) and Annie Davies, host and co-ordinator of the legendary Wednesday nights at Ronnie Scott's.
The bar is open until 1am on Monday - Thursday evenings and until 3am on Friday and Saturdays making it the ideal place for a late night drink. For more information on The Organic Jam at Quaglino’s on Thursday nights please contact Georgia on 020 7484 2005 or email georgiaa@dandlondon.com
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