Portico Quartet: Live/Remix

There is one advantage to the postponed concert by Portico Quartet at the AB, which was supposed to take place last year. Now, you can buy the first live album by the unconventional London-based jazz orchestra immediately after the concert, and thus take home the alienating, hypnotising atmosphere they create with their unique combination of sax, bass, drums, hang – a recently developed instrument – and electronica.

CD | Portico Quartet ●●
Live/Remix jazz/ambient/electro (Real World/Rough Trade Distribution)

Live, the quartet has also evolved from a tonal palette that was primarily inspired by their preference for jazz and minimalist music to a more electronic sound with a lot of loops, reverb, and ambient influences. But in spun out tracks like “Rubidium/Line” and the ominous “Laker Boo”, on which trains literally whizz past, the repetitive foundation is crucial, with unavoidably overwhelming consequences. The first tentative foray into vocals opens perspectives for the future, especially, with respect to expanding melody lines. An extra CD with nine remixes, including by the UK-based garage hero SBTRKT and Will Ward, broadens the horizon.

4/4, 20.00, €16/19, Ancienne Belgique