Spinoza Gambit

Alternative electronic musician Spinoza Gambit is taking on a challenge that would make most artists balk: he’s going to put out an entirely new album at the end of February, made up of original tracks that will be available for download on his website.

It might sound easy, but the catch is that he is writing and recording the whole thing in a single month.

And he’s doing it all by himself.





He already has a basic concept. He will create tracks around his favorite lines from the 1927 prose poem “Desiderata” by American writer Max Ehrmann. That’s as far as he has gotten, since the idea is to do the bulk of the work in February – the shortest month of the year. At least this year he gets an extra day.

There’s no profit in this project. He’s doing it simply for “the sense
of accomplishment that will come from writing and recording that much material in a month, and the challenged of it and proving to myself that I can do it.”

While his music is largely inspired by jazz, he says he has a hard time
classifying it. However, he doesn’t really see this as a problem, except
for when it comes to marketing his music. “I think that most electronic music fans are eclectic in their listening, but they expect from artists that they’ll fall within a certain genre,” he explains.

It wasn’t a big leap from professional classical and jazz training to
electronica, even though it took years for the switch to happen. “My
first aspiration in music before I even considered becoming a musician or going to music school was to be a DJ. My first music love was dance music. It just took some time to be able to make the connections between studying classical and jazz, and to see how that could be incorporated into electronic stuff, basically.”

He hasn’t completely rejected his training, and continues to enjoy a
variety of music, including in his own compositions. However, electronic music remains his first passion: “I like it for the same reason as Raymond Scott (composer and inventor of early electronic instruments) liked it: you get to be the composer and the performer and the producer. You’re everything. Which is great.”

The one-month challenge is called RPM, or Record Production Month, a contest started by The Wire, a magazine based in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, USA. Musicians of all genres are welcome to participate and must submit thirty-five minutes or ten tracks of original, previously unreleased material. A hard copy of the recording must be mailed in by March 1st. The quality of the music and recording methods are irrelevant; the point is to get it done.

Spinoza Gambit will be joining 159 other artists and bands from
Newfoundland and Labrador who have signed up for this year’s RPM. He will be working on a solo RPM at the same time as an RPM with Robot Scout, an electronic band of which he is a member.

He released his first electronic album, “Wayward & Upward,” in December 2010. He has another album in the works, due to come out in the spring, which will be grittier, less refined, and more diverse, though still jazz-inspired.

For more information about RPM, visit www.rpmchallenge.com

For additional press photos and information about Spinoza Gambit, visit www.spinozagambit.com - St. John's The Scene Magazine

Alternative electronic musician Spinoza Gambit is taking on a challenge that would make most artists balk: he’s going to put out an entirely new album at the end of February, made up of original tracks that will be available for download on his website.

It might sound easy, but the catch is that he is writing and recording the whole thing in a single month.

And he’s doing it all by himself.





He already has a basic concept. He will create tracks around his favorite lines from the 1927 prose poem “Desiderata” by American writer Max Ehrmann. That’s as far as he has gotten, since the idea is to do the bulk of the work in February – the shortest month of the year. At least this year he gets an extra day.

There’s no profit in this project. He’s doing it simply for “the sense
of accomplishment that will come from writing and recording that much material in a month, and the challenged of it and proving to myself that I can do it.”

While his music is largely inspired by jazz, he says he has a hard time
classifying it. However, he doesn’t really see this as a problem, except
for when it comes to marketing his music. “I think that most electronic music fans are eclectic in their listening, but they expect from artists that they’ll fall within a certain genre,” he explains.

It wasn’t a big leap from professional classical and jazz training to
electronica, even though it took years for the switch to happen. “My
first aspiration in music before I even considered becoming a musician or going to music school was to be a DJ. My first music love was dance music. It just took some time to be able to make the connections between studying classical and jazz, and to see how that could be incorporated into electronic stuff, basically.”

He hasn’t completely rejected his training, and continues to enjoy a
variety of music, including in his own compositions. However, electronic music remains his first passion: “I like it for the same reason as Raymond Scott (composer and inventor of early electronic instruments) liked it: you get to be the composer and the performer and the producer. You’re everything. Which is great.”

The one-month challenge is called RPM, or Record Production Month, a contest started by The Wire, a magazine based in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, USA. Musicians of all genres are welcome to participate and must submit thirty-five minutes or ten tracks of original, previously unreleased material. A hard copy of the recording must be mailed in by March 1st. The quality of the music and recording methods are irrelevant; the point is to get it done.

Spinoza Gambit will be joining 159 other artists and bands from
Newfoundland and Labrador who have signed up for this year’s RPM. He will be working on a solo RPM at the same time as an RPM with Robot Scout, an electronic band of which he is a member.

He released his first electronic album, “Wayward & Upward,” in December 2010. He has another album in the works, due to come out in the spring, which will be grittier, less refined, and more diverse, though still jazz-inspired.

For more information about RPM, visit www.rpmchallenge.com

For additional press photos and information about Spinoza Gambit, visit www.spinozagambit.com - St. John's The Scene Magazine

Alternative electronic musician Spinoza Gambit is taking on a challenge that would make most artists balk: he’s going to put out an entirely new album at the end of February, made up of original tracks that will be available for download on his website. It might sound easy, but the catch is that he is writing and recording the whole thing in a single month.

And he’s doing it all by himself.

He already has a basic concept. He will create tracks around his favorite lines from the 1927 prose poem “Desiderata” by American writer Max Ehrmann. That’s as far as he has gotten, since the idea is to do the bulk of the work in February – the shortest month of the year. At least this year, he gets an extra day.

There’s no profit in this project. He’s doing it simply for “the sense of accomplishment that will come from writing and recording that much material in a month, and the challenge of it and proving to myself that I can do it.”

While his music is largely inspired by jazz, he says he has a hard time classifying it. However, he doesn’t really see this as a problem, except for when it comes to marketing his music. “I think that most electronic music fans are eclectic in their listening, but they expect from artists that they’ll fall within a certain genre,” he explains.

It wasn’t a big leap from professional classical and jazz training to electronica, even though it took years for the switch to happen. “My first aspiration in music before I even considered becoming a musician or going to music school was to be a DJ. My first music love was dance music. It just took some time to be able to make the connections between studying classical and jazz, and to see how that could be incorporated into electronic stuff, basically.”

He hasn’t completely rejected his training, and continues to enjoy a variety of music, including in his own compositions. However, electronic music remains his first passion: “I like it for the same reason as Raymond Scott [composer and inventor of early electronic instruments] liked it: you get to be the composer and the performer and the producer. You’re everything. Which is great.”

The one-month challenge is called RPM, or Record Production Month, a contest started by The Wire, a magazine based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA. Musicians of all genres are welcome to participate and must submit thirty-five minutes or ten tracks of original, previously unreleased material. A hard copy of the recording must be mailed in by March 1st. The quality of the music and recording methods are irrelevant; the point is to get it done.

Spinoza Gambit will be joining 159 other artists and bands from Newfoundland and Labrador who have signed up for this year’s RPM. He will be working on a solo RPM at the same time as an RPM with Robot Scout, an electronic band of which he is a member.

He released his first electronic album, “Wayward & Upward,” in December 2010. He has another album in the works, due to come out in the spring, which will be grittier, less refined, and more diverse, though still jazz-inspired.

For more information about RPM, visit www.rpmchallenge.com - Vents Magazine

Alternative electronic musician Spinoza Gambit is taking on a challenge that would make most artists balk: he’s going to put out an entirely new album at the end of February, made up of original tracks that will be available for download on his website. It might sound easy, but the catch is that he is writing and recording the whole thing in a single month.

And he’s doing it all by himself.

He already has a basic concept. He will create tracks around his favorite lines from the 1927 prose poem “Desiderata” by American writer Max Ehrmann. That’s as far as he has gotten, since the idea is to do the bulk of the work in February – the shortest month of the year. At least this year, he gets an extra day.

There’s no profit in this project. He’s doing it simply for “the sense of accomplishment that will come from writing and recording that much material in a month, and the challenge of it and proving to myself that I can do it.”

While his music is largely inspired by jazz, he says he has a hard time classifying it. However, he doesn’t really see this as a problem, except for when it comes to marketing his music. “I think that most electronic music fans are eclectic in their listening, but they expect from artists that they’ll fall within a certain genre,” he explains.

It wasn’t a big leap from professional classical and jazz training to electronica, even though it took years for the switch to happen. “My first aspiration in music before I even considered becoming a musician or going to music school was to be a DJ. My first music love was dance music. It just took some time to be able to make the connections between studying classical and jazz, and to see how that could be incorporated into electronic stuff, basically.”

He hasn’t completely rejected his training, and continues to enjoy a variety of music, including in his own compositions. However, electronic music remains his first passion: “I like it for the same reason as Raymond Scott [composer and inventor of early electronic instruments] liked it: you get to be the composer and the performer and the producer. You’re everything. Which is great.”

The one-month challenge is called RPM, or Record Production Month, a contest started by The Wire, a magazine based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA. Musicians of all genres are welcome to participate and must submit thirty-five minutes or ten tracks of original, previously unreleased material. A hard copy of the recording must be mailed in by March 1st. The quality of the music and recording methods are irrelevant; the point is to get it done.

Spinoza Gambit will be joining 159 other artists and bands from Newfoundland and Labrador who have signed up for this year’s RPM. He will be working on a solo RPM at the same time as an RPM with Robot Scout, an electronic band of which he is a member.

He released his first electronic album, “Wayward & Upward,” in December 2010. He has another album in the works, due to come out in the spring, which will be grittier, less refined, and more diverse, though still jazz-inspired.

For more information about RPM, visit www.rpmchallenge.com - Vents Magazine

A-

To start, I adore jazz. The same goes for electronic music. I also think that mixing the two together sounds pretty damn good. But this album isn’t just your standard sampled jazz remix.

While Jason Hayward, multi-instrumentalist and MUN Music alum, was away from the island trotting about Korea and Calgary, he’d been busy creating some interesting compositions under the guise of Spinoza Gambit.

He’s back in town again, and eager to show what he’s accomplished—a fusion of electronica, complex jazz melodies and world sounds he likes to call ‘electro-symphonic’—a collection entitled Wayward & Upward, which I assume comes from the roaming nature and lofty aspirations of musicians.

Composition is the appropriate word, too, because you’ll hear many notes and dynamic layers in the ten tracks on the disc. This isn’t to say it’s too heady for the layman; it’s very accessible, with strong, fast-paced melodies, retro-feeling 80s and 90s-style synthesizer, and drum sounds transplanted effectively.

You can also hear fragments of world music influence with exotic drums and plucked keyboard sounds on tracks such as “Minerva Revealed” and “Shakedown In Uptown” and bass-heavy synth dominating others like “401 Rush,” “Neon Skyline,” and “Waywardly Mobile,” which features a nice break-beat style.

The standout for me is the early lounge of “As Night Lifts,” with steady piano riffing and sweeping pads leading to a climactic bounce mid-way through. The album sends off with the steady throb and dream-like delays of “The Departure.” After some listening of the album, you can hear Hayward’s Crystal Method influences surface, as well as hints of Kraftwerk and HAL.

In all, the focus is on the nimble keyboard sounds of Hayward transporting you through a frenetic future world that embraces global culture using throwback sounds. Sounds eerily like the present, huh?

The lack of any vocal presence—samples, or otherwise—is definitely missed from the tunes, and might have been the one element that would have pushed it that extra inch. This factor may generate the appearance of being instrumental, background, or elevator music to some. If so, you’re in that elevator wearing a TRON suit, shaking maracas, hurtling ever skyward. No Replicants here, Brade Runnah.

Put it on in the background and enjoy a trip to wherever you’re going. - The Muse