Jeremiah Chiu played Public Records

Modern synth wizard Jeremiah Chiu played an album release show at Public Records for his new LP Edge Conditions and Booker Stardrum accompanied on drums.

Categorizing music can be a challenge and often it feels unnecessary even when it can be a little helpful. Take the music of Jeremiah Chiu for one example. When he's playing amongst the quartet SML, they're often called a jazz band, but it's probably not the jazz you're expecting if you've mostly listened to people like Miles Davis or John Coltrane. It's other worldly, improve-based music that defies time signatures and any established patterns, instead vying for the moment and wherever the groove takes them. On his newest solo album Edge Conditions, he still fits a lot of those similar patterns from his main band, but the mood certainly feels a lot different. This isn't jazz music, or at least not traditional jazz. For this record, Chiu explored more sonic ranges via his collection of synthesizers, looping sounds, programing beats, and conjuring up sounds that never seem to go where you expect. Things zig when you think they'd zag and there are zips and zaps that seem to defy logic, popping up to create interjections that you think might change the course of a track, but really just offer up new textures along the sonic journey. Hearing these tracks on an album is one thing, but watching him make his magic happen in person is a whole new experience of wonder. For their first ever set as a duo playing these songs, Chiu and Stardrum (already a contender for artist of the year with his staggering run of new records in 2026) each entered from opposing sides of the stage and quickly settled into place as they wasted no time in diving into their undetermined sound. Stardrum crashed into his kit, limbs flailing about as he leaned into a heavy fill while Chiu hung a microphone over the drums and instantly got to work looping the rhythms as they set out to bring the new tracks to life. Working in tandem, at least in their own minds, the two each plugged away at their various contraptions in front of them, Chiu twisting knobs with his eyes closely monitoring for details while Stardrum appeared to be lost in his own world of rhythms as he made his way around the kit somehow following perfectly into place even when it appeared as if he must be way behind in the count. However, just like that, the two would lock into a pattern and warp a groove so tight that it felt like it would surely burst at the seams at any moment. Chiu stood at the helm, guiding the set of whirrs, whirls, and whips that lit up the stage with bands of electronic jolts that perfectly accentuated with Booker's emphatic beats. Taking an approach to jazz in the same vein as electronic composer Sam Prekop, the fusion of vintage synths and Tortoise-inspired post-rock drumming laid out their inspiration in crystal clear formats, their notion for crafting these whimsical worlds of bouncing pings and pangs that gave the crowd just enough to sway along and get lost in the music, fading into IDM territory with beloved passion. When SML plays as a quintet, it's easy to allow yourself to surrender to the band and not question exactly how they're making these sounds, but it's even more perplexing and wondrous to witness Chiu take charge and produce the magic mostly on his own (no offense to Stardrum who was doing plenty to enhance the night through his own mesmerizing work), teasing out the sounds with each slight adjustment on his board or twist of a knob. For their live debut as a duo playing these songs, it was really a sight to not only see, but hear and get lost in as well. These winding grooves full of rich, unsuspecting patterns, always tend to lead towards something prosperous such as kaleidoscopic piano riffs or twinkling jingles of shells, bells, and other chimes that sprinkle in the right amount of charm as well. Chiu closed it out with a solo number and without the anchor of Stardrum's effervescent drumming, he floated a bit higher and things got a bit looser, the baggy melodies really giving it the space to encompass the room for one final swarm of electronic hums before folding it all back in to end it on a drop, breaking the jam and returning us back to reality.