PAST PROJECTS

HEADBUTT

Headbutt was a modern take on the "power trio", based in Amsterdam, and collectively led by Ante Medić, Azubike Onwuka, and Diego Miranda.

The band’s artistic approach has jazz language and improvisation at its core, while also welcoming other influences such as Electronic music, Afro-Caribbean music & Rock. Dreamy soundscapes, energetic grooves, rhythmic cycles, exciting interplay, and uplifting vibes often characterize our music.

During our creative sessions, we participated in a collaborative discussion and elaboration of ideas, which leads us organically to create unique compositions.

The goal of our co-creative process was to stimulate creativity by engaging the collective mind. In our laboratory, ideas get composed, decomposed and recomposed, with a touch of each of the band members’ imaginations.

The result was a collective work that is free from the limitations that we face as individuals.

Years active: 2024

Azubike Onwuka | bass guitar
Ante Medić | guitar
Diego Miranda | drums

TINY GIANT

Tiny Giant was an innovative electro-acoustic jazz project that drew inspiration from the realms of classical, pop and electronic music.

At its core, the band's composer drew his main inspiration from the collective sonic qualities of the ensemble's instruments and the emotive essence of each performer. By merging the warm and dreamy tones of a Fender Rhodes and electric guitar with a heavy rhythm section and two alto saxophones, the goal was to create complex but beautiful musical textures that harmoniously coexist.

The focus lied in composing musical material that pushes the boundaries of each band member, placing them outside their comfort zones while maintaining a connection to their musical roots and well known framework.

EARGONAUTS

“Once upon a time in a distant corner of the universe...

An asteroid drifted aimlessly throughout the cosmos, across the aeons and into our galaxy, eventually colliding with a planet ruled by a primal order and chaos. This cataclysmic event, in turn, sent a chunk of the Earth into space, which eventually became the moon, but it also created something else...

It created THE EARGONAUT, the funkiest cosmic body in our galaxy.

Now, millennia later, The Eargonauts, the inhabitants of the Eargonaut (the oddly ear-shaped planetoid), drift together in the void of space attuned to the frequencies of the cosmos.

These sonic sorcerers beam their interstellar melodies of contemporary jazz masterfully mixed with a wide range of genres down to Earth as a gift for all. Feel the gravity of their groove.

They are the Eargonauts, and they come in peace.” - Chris Wallace

Eargonauts was a contemporary jazz project led by guitarist and composer Ante Medic and drummer Domen Cizej.

Years active: 2018 - 2020

Notable performances:

UJazz Festival - TivoliVredenburg, 2018
Kamfest (SLO), 2018
Crossover Festival (CRO), 2018
Gallus Hall, Cankarjev Dom (SLO) 2019
Jazz Club, Ljubljana Castle (SLO), 2019
Appearance on NPO 2 Soul & Jazz Co Live! radioshow, 2019

Releases:

Self released EP Eargonauts, 2019

HIMARCK

Himarck was a contemporary jazz quartet led by guitarist and composer Ante Medic and pianist and composer Victor Tsilimparis.

After playing together for many years in various jazz projects and collaborations, the desire arose to create a group with no stylistic boundaries in which both musical and improvisational freedom could thrive with set rules. We composed material as precise as classical music scores, combined with the concept of open and intuitive improvisation.

The cooperation eventually gave birth to years of performing and the Himarck EP, released on Zennez Records. With this band we aimed for a group sound characterized by organic interplay between piano and electric guitar and the acoustic reverberant quality of ECM’s catalogue, combined with the constant search for more raw edge fusion-like timbres.

Years active: 2017–2019

Notable performances:

UJazz Festival - TivoliVredenburg, 2017
CloudNights - TivoliVredenburg, 2017
NPO 2 Soul & Jazz Co Live! - Nick Vollebregt recording sessions/live radio show, 2019

Releases:

Himarck EP (ZenneZ Records), 2019
Featured on NPO 2 Soul & Jazz, Co Live! Nick Vollebregt Jazz Cafe, compilation, 2018-2019

SHANZHAI SONATA

“Shanzhai sonata is a research turned into film about data driven technologies. In particular, machine learning prediction algorithms and their prospective impact on the environmental and human scales. It depicts an imminent future where such services become integrated into the post-work economy in response to automation. Through a deliberately meta cinematic language, the benefits and the hazards, always in a tango, lead the audience along the line of what is and what might be. The lead role of the speculative ‘might be’ is played by Presense, a new machine learning platform.

The research began at Strelka Institute of Media, Architecture and Design and was originally developed by Igor Sladoljev, Gleb Papyshev, Sveta Gorlatova and Artem Nikitin in 2019 under the title Presense and presented at Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture the same year.” – Igor Sladoljev

Year: 2020
Soundtrack: Ante Medić