Alex Meltzer 🎛️ & Machado Mijiga 🥁

Vibes were high at as usual at @pomalobarpdx , but @alley.oop.pdx is on a two-week hiatus from our residency for @santi.a.goh and I to play some prior obligations to our residency, so I had the pleasure of rocking w/ @almeltzerfaceoff as our duo project @_leftofcenter for the first time in ages! Mltzr went much more sample-heavy for this set and we effectively created several dozen beats from scratch in the course of two hours. Here's a snippet of our performance, featuring a clever flip from Mltzr that @thebrownalice must have recognized when she shouted "ayyeeeee" midway through the video. Next Thursday, I'll be absent from Pomalo for a brief tour, but Santiago will be rocking duo with @julialoguemusic from 8-10pm, as usual. Alley-Oop will be back at it again on the 23rd, but enjoy these alternate duo projects at the coziest bar in St. John's 🥂 (PS, bonus points if you can identify the flip 🌟) . . . . . #livemusic #producer #drummer

I had the absolute pleasure of closing out the @creativemusicguild Improvisation Summit pulling double duty on a split bill with @_leftofcenter (my duo project w/ @almeltzerfaceoff ) and @ian_yuck_lindsay 's "Yucky Jazz", which featured @alonkeys_ . Both sets were fully improvised and vastly different, but brought together by the diverse creative languages we all spoke to each other— major props to Alvin for pulling up and playing a fully improvised set for the very first time, and gratitude as always for Alex and Yuck being such inspirational creative powerhouses. Big thanks again to @instagambz for programming, organizing, and facilitating such an elaborate festival and even playing on several bills in the midst of teaching at two separate universities and releasing several solo albums within the same month — your output (and input) is equally inspiring and astounding, and I couldn't think of anyone better to represent a guild of creative musicians than Michael Harrison Gamble. Thank you to @scottraybecker of @sky_line.pro for allowing me to bring eclectic music to such a wonderful venue every month, and for partnering with CMG for this show a day after playing your own set of music for the same festival! Here's a carousel of my favorite clips from the night, alternating between Yucky Jazz and Left Of Center. . . . . . #skytav #creativemusicguild #electroacoustic #freejazz #improvisation #avantgarde #altjazz #keyboard #bass #drums #chops #fxpedals #artjazz #portlandjazz #pdxjazz #jazz #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #jazzmusician #music #pdxfreejazz #musicscene #musician #jazzmusic #portlandmusicians

Night 17/ final night of the fest! Wednesday, October 29 Skyline Tavern — 8031 NW Skyline Blvd, Portland 7PM | $15–$30 sliding scale An evening of sonic shapeshifting under the tree:) Left Of Center The collaborative brainchild of Alex Meltzer and Machado Mijiga, Left Of Center navigates a charged space where free jazz, sequenced loops, and electronic textures collide. Machado a genre-defying multi-instrumentalist, composer brings his production chops and jazz intuition into lockstep with Meltzer’s experimental edge. Together they build a sound that’s spontaneous, spiritual, and undeniably now. Yucky Jazz The solo project of Portland-based artist Yuck, Yucky Jazz blends folk, gospel, jazz, and hip-hop into something deeply personal and wildly engaging. Expect virtuosic instrumentation, left-field covers, and the kind of raw energy that only comes from an artist who’s both deeply rooted and joyfully unpredictable. Often joined by a rotating cast of local heavyweights — always bringing the vibes. Bring a jacket, bring a friend, bring an open mind. Skyline is calling you to cap off the festival Poster by @devin_._jane_._

Such a blast rocking w/ my boy @almeltzerfaceoff as @_leftofcenter last night for an awesome triple bill at @lollipopshoppepdx w/ @_juice_mouth_ , and @brothervsrobot Huge shout out to @theonerosewood for DJ'ing the whole night and keeping the crowd pumped as three electronic bands attempted to plug and unplug our elaborate setups between sets, but also for snagging this sick video of Alex and me towards the tail end of our fully-improvised performance. I hope LoC gets to play again very soon, and am so grateful to live somewhere with such a vibrant and diverse music scene ✨ Here's a glitchy supercut edited by me (Machado) of two clips Chris sent me from last night of some polyrhythmic hijinks set to the visuals of a godlike run of SSX Tricky for PS1.🤖 . . . . . #livemusic #leftofcenter #looping #ambient #glitch #portlandjazz #hiphop #bass #drummer #drums #jazztronica #jazzhop #sampler #mpc #backbeat #triphop #livebeats #hiphopdrums #pocketgroove #portlandmusic #dj #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #music #livemusic #pdxlivemusic #musicscene #musician

Here's another @_leftofcenter music video for y'all. Fully improvised electronic music; no overdubs or edits made. This one is called "Ouroboros," and is on our self-titled debut album, available on all streaming platforms. Filmed at @bluebutlerstudios by @kiran.raphael (color graded by me), recorded by @parisbluebutler , mixed and mastered by me; all other sounds by @almeltzerfaceoff . Special thanks to AEA @ribbonmics for working with Blue Butler Studios to provide mics for the session—this video is a pretty clear demo of how amazing their mics sound for drums. . . . . #musicvideo #bluebutlerstudios #leftofcenter #looping #ambient #glitch #portlandjazz #hiphop #bass #drummer #drums #jazztronica #jazzhop #sampler #mpc #backbeat #triphop #livebeats #hiphopdrums #pocketgroove #portlandmusic #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #music #livemusic #pdxlivemusic #musicscene #musician

It's been almost a month since @_leftofcenter released our self-titled debut album, and we're stoked with how it came out. A majority of the album was tracked live at @bluebutlerstudios , with the only edits being cuts to reduce the timing of each track (but no overdubs or comp takes). I had the privilege of recording with an excessive array of mics, but @parisbluebutler really wanted to give his new AEA @ribbonmics a try, so those are prominently featured in the mix. We teamed up with @kiran.raphael to shoot this music video (filmed and edited by Kiran, color-graded by me); stay tuned for a more gear-oriented mic comparison video by Paris using these same AEA mics against some industry standards (Coles, Shoeps, etc) We hope you check out the record if you haven't already! Here is "Allspark."

Happy to be back at @xportpdx for their Sunday jazz series, joined last night by @almeltzerfaceoff to do our first @_leftofcenter show for the year, following our self-titled album release on New Year's Day! If you haven't checked the record out already, it's on all streaming platforms, and you'll likely catch us doing live shows throughout the year as we develop this duo project more. Here are a few of my favorite moments from our fully improvised two hour non-stop set. . . . . . #xportsundays #leftofcenter #looping #ambient #glitch #portlandjazz #hiphop #bass #drummer #drums #jazztronica #jazzhop #sampler #mpc #backbeat #triphop #livebeats #hiphopdrums #pocketgroove #portlandmusic #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #music #livemusic #pdxlivemusic #musicscene #musician #remix

Super stoked to be developing my newest duo @_leftofcenter with @almeltzerfaceoff —Alex and I have been trying to bridge the worlds of production and improvisation through this duo project, and it's been a blast figuring out our "roles," and the equipment and techniques required to make it work. Alex has started working with unquantized loops instead of sequences, which has freed us up to build these soundscapes around free loops that are often slightly uneven, but I've enjoyed finding the micro-timings necessary to make it all feel like a true step sequence. Our first Left of Center release will be two super mixes of sequential music and a series of free loop improvisations, that will hopefully sound indistinguishable to each other as a listener. We've got another studio session coming up next month, then "L.O.C. Radio" should be out by the end of the year! Here are a few of my favorite clips from our show at @xportpdx on Sunday night—L.O.C. will be back there in January, but I'll be there with other bands throughout December, so stay tuned! . . . . . #xportsundays #leftofcenter #looping #ambient #glitch #portlandjazz #hiphop #bass #drummer #drums #jazztronica #jazzhop #sampler #mpc #backbeat #triphop #livebeats #hiphopdrums #pocketgroove #portlandmusic #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #music #livemusic #pdxlivemusic #musicscene #musician #remix

Having fun trying different approaches to this new duo @_leftofcenter w/ @almeltzerfaceoff We are working on an EP that was very acid-jazz and sequence based, but wanted to try something that was more ambient and loop-based. Alex was running bass, OP-1, MPC One, and a Critter & Guitari organelle into a Boss RC-505 loop with Hologram Microcosm and Chroma Console peppered into the signal chain somewhere. I'm just playing drums and trying to think of five interlocking parts at the same time to emulate the 5 tracks Alex has on the RC-505. Kinda hard to play five distinct parts with four limbs, but I'm using orchestration to feign a fifth part. We'll be back at @xportlounge on November 24th and hope to be performing a lot more as a duo when we figure out the ideal setup for live shows. . . . . . #xportsundays #leftofcenter #looping #ambient #glitch #portlandjazz #hiphop #bass #drummer #drums #jazztronica #jazzhop #sampler #mpc #backbeat #triphop #livebeats #hiphopdrums #pocketgroove #portlandmusic #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #music #livemusic #pdxlivemusic #musicscene #musician #remix

I started another new band! @almeltzerfaceoff and I (@machadomijiga ) are @_leftofcenter ⬅️ 🤓🤓 Alex and I have had a few informal duo jams at random gigs this summer and really wanted to put something together that captures the goofy, vibrant sounds of late 90s/early '00s electronic music in a live setting. Alex is rocking with an MPC, a $100 Behringer mono synth, a Prophet, and some corny freestyle rap 12" vinyls. I'm rocking with my goofy brain and whatever drums I bring. Alex sends me a click and sets a bass sequence, then everything else is improvised from there. Everything you hear is imposed over whatever the pulse is, but I take full advantage of the best bassist in the world (Behringer TD-3) to morph the listener's perception of where the beat is, and everything Alex does is MIDI synced to a global clock, so everything is technically a 16-step sequence. Basically, I get to have fun doing nerdy stuff with my pal, and hopefully we'll get some gigs. Here's 90 seconds of various unmixed clips from our session yesterday; there are no edits on anything, so you're hearing our live performance, sped up by maybe 20-40% (different for each clip) to get that compressed drum sound associated with DnB. . . . . . #leftofcenter #newband #dnb #acidhouse #idm #glitch #jungle #hiphop #drummer #drums #jazztronica #jazzhop #sampler #mpc #backbeat #triphop #livebeats #hiphopdrums #pocketgroove #portlandmusic #pdx #portland #pdxmusicscene #music #livemusic #pdxlivemusic #musicscene #musician #remix