Change of plans

Yeah well, in the end I didn’t make it anymore to the Brabant Noise night in Utrecht… which was a pity but I had to give priority to something else that day. The night before (on a Friday) I got a distress call from my girlfriend Leilani who just started a trip through Eastern Europe and was in Prague at the moment. Her travel partner turned out to be quite impossible to hang out with for another 10 days and she had to ditch him. On top of that she was spending the night at a squat filled with assholes… We were trying to look for a solution through the phone, trying to get her moving on towards Vienna or maybe coming back to Tilburg. In the end I suggested to come over to Prague and try to make something good out of this trip she started. About an hour later I was in the car on my way to Prague.

Turned out to be one of the longest drives I ever did in one go… fueled by coffee and cigarettes I sped my way through Germany. My TomTom doesn’t know anything about the Czech Republic, so by the time I reached Chemnitz it was back to the good old fashioned Google map print outs. Worked out well though, only time I got into a bit of a problem was when I tried to find the Letensky tunnel that would get me into the part of Prague where I needed to be. I met up with Leilani at the Palladium Mall and humped her as an excited little puppy right there on the bench where she was sitting on.

We made a nice weekend out of it. Had a big breakfast with Bloody Mary’s at the Mall, strolled a bit along the shops and went out on the look for a hotel, as we decided to spend the night there. Not happy with the available possibilities of the middle class hotels, we chose for the 5-star luxury of the Imperial hotel with its fabulous art deco interiors. It was the right thing to do at the moment, we were both in need of some serious relaxing and the sauna was a welcome extra. After a nap we went into the city around 1 am, heading for the Chapeau Rouge where DJ’s were spinning on every floor. We danced, enjoyed the crowd and had shots of Absinth at the bar. Satisfied and drunk we returned to our hotel.

Next morning’s breakfast at the hotel was lovely and later we went out for a walk through the old town centre and took a walk on the Karls’ bridge. At 1 pm we were going to meet up with Jan from KLaNGundKRaCH records and one of the guys who organized my gig of last February at the Chapeau Rouge. After some coffees and chats about music and squatting in Prague, me and Leilani decide to start our trip back to Tilburg. The huge amounts of snow falling from the sky already gave a prediction of a long and tedious drive back… but we made it.

New gigs in 2010

I’ve got 2 new gigs coming up in the first 2 months of 2010. Next saturday, the first one of the year will be at the Vechtclub in Utrecht. It’ll be a Brabant Noise night… Breda will be represented by Kristus Kut, Eindhoven by Paddo One Obie One and Tilburg by yours truly. Gonna be fun I bet!

Vechtclub, Utrecht

and then, about a month later, another one in Tilburg at the Cul de Sac, supporting Jackie-O Motherfucker. Will be a collaboration with the Meldy Peaches, so much like the show I did in Extrapool, last November. Expect tape loop feedbacking with a dance performance by the Peaches. Other acts performing that night will be Eternal Tapestry and local doom heroes GGU:LL. Hope to see you there!

Cul de Sac, Tilburg

Happy Holidays!

Oh yes… we’re heading towards the end of the year again. 2009 in a nutshell.. was basically one of big changes. Things slowed down a bit with Vatican Analog in terms of organizing gigs, but we did move into a new studio and the building where this is in does give new opportunities for the future. A break from organizing stuff and less touring than in the years before, gave me more time to focus on my music and work out new projects. Next year should see the release of an album that covers the last 6 or so years of me being staplerfahrer: the best bits of all those cdr, mp3 and compilations that came out during that time. Another thing that should see completion somewhere next year, is a project I started with Jos Smolders and Wouter Jaspers. Version 2.0 of the EARLabs 3 project that Jos originally took up with Sascha Neudeck and Christopher McFall.

And yes, the biggest change of them all is quite frankly the best. Who would have thought that the girl that I met during touring the US East Coast and with whom I spend a really good time in Chapel Hill and New York, would turn out to become my girlfriend and now lives with me here in the Netherlands? Oh! The magical realism of life! Me and Leilani wish you all the best for 2010 and that you have a good one at new year’s eve. Go wild, go nuts, go stupid, ghost-ride the whip!

New Geluidpost release and more

Been some busy days, this past month. Unfortunately not directly involving music. It was my dayjob, for instance,  that kept me from going on a UK tour with my buddies Sindre Bjerga and Nils Rostad… and that was quite a bummer. But the Incubate fest came along in September and there I did an “incognito” performance as part of Scottish noise act Atomized. Local music blog 3voor12 described my appearance as a “sex slave for sale” (see me below on the left). I met Russell just a few hours before the gig and that’s when he gave me the samples and the info on how to use them. Made me a bit anxious and nervous, but turned out to be a good gig… and always fun to dress up ofcourse!

atomized at Incubate 2009

During Incubate I also met up again with Martijn Hohmann. He presented me the new 2CD release of Geluidpost, which is a listening room at Art Gallery Lokaal 01 in Breda, The Netherlands. Every two months a different artist is invited to create a piece specifically for the Geluidpost space. Martijn curated the program during 2007/2008 and all works created during this period are now compiled on this release (in chronological order). I was Lokaal 01’s last geluidpost participant for 2008 and composed a piece entitled Mode of perception that deals with microsounds and sounds emitted by electromagnetic fields. You can find it on the 2CD alongside tracks by people like Machinefabriek, Merzbow, Steve Roden and Francisco Lopez!

geluidpost 2CD

geluidpost 2CD

Gigwise there’s some news on the horizon: next week on the 6th of november I’m playing at the artspace Kelderman en van Noort in Eindhoven, together with Orphax, Ruistuin and Phase Alternating Line. Starts around 19:30 hrs and the entry will be free! More gigs are in the planning, but yeah… hope to see you in Eindhoven!

6th November Kelderman en van Noort

new release at Control Valve

Transcendental Wound

Control Valve is a new noise netlabel run by Roger “chefkirk” Smith. So far he released mp3 albums by Carl Kruger, Caustic Castle and Torstein Wjiik. Some months ago he asked me to send him some material for the fourth release on his label. The result being a selection of two live tracks and an old studio track (Magical Mystery Blah). “Staring up at Infinity” is a recording of a solo live performance during last february’s Radio Majjem sessions, while “Astral Engine Cassette” is a recording of a 2007 live gig at the legendary Hondenkoekjesfabriek in Nieuw Leusen.

Download all of it over here.

Shut Up or Shut Off

It happened several times before in the last few years that, during the course of a performance, people made me aware that I should stop with what I was doing at that moment. There were people under the influence of drugs (freaking out on the bad side of the psychedelic spectrum), shouting at me that my sounds were horrible… and there were soundguys displaying their fear for the health of their equipment and demanding me to stop. Last week, during the third edition of the Optimus Prime Noise fest, my plug was almost pulled out because I was playing too long (as I found out later… at the moment itself I was wondering if my set was crap). A short discussion at the amp gave me enough time for “keeping up appearances” and pull the plug myself. Time restrictions in noiseland… who could’ve thought? Oh well, looking back at the video it kinda amuses me.

Earlabs review: Freiband “True Type”

For those of you who didn’t know yet: I write reviews for Earlabs: “an interactive site for composers of electronic and/or electroacoustic music, be it high brow or plain fun rhythmic stuff”. Below one of my latest ones.

 

Freiband “True Type”

 

A new Freiband? No, not really. A first time on CD yes, but all the tracks on True Type have in fact been released before on the (now defunct) mp3 labels techNOH, Term, Tiln and Earlabs. Why a re-release? Well, the info on the cover tells us that this is the way that the music actually should sound like. So there you have it. All the mp3 releases Freiband ever did and I guess the gentle folks at Moving Furniture were more then willing to release it and share it with us.

The first four tracks were previously released as Reflection on techNOH, a netlabel that was run by Brian Lavelle between 2000 and 2003. Abstract pieces that display low end rumble and distant repetitions and distortions. As if it was all recorded inside a deep frying pan. Great stuff.

Parallel was released in 2002 by 12k’s online-only series of minimalist sound explorations: Term. It features remixes of Theme’s On Parallel Shores Removed album that was released on UK noise label Fourth Dimension. The sound still distant and warm, but in a way more cleaner than the techNOH pieces. Lots of repetition with added layers of crackle and pops. Glitchy popmusic so to speak. The track Lights brings back memories of People Like Us, which is good.

Tiln was founded in March 2000 by Marc McNulty until January 2002, and then taken over by Aesova. For Tiln Freiband made 5 remixes of material released on the label by Richard Chartier, Formatt, John Hudak, Pimmon and Ven Voisey. The tracks are (as expected) as diverse as the artists. From the calmness of Chartier, to the short feedback hiccups of Formatt and also the natural sound deconstructions of John Hudak. Altogether, yet another fine collection on its own.

The grand finale of this album (titled EARLabs) is made up of Jos Smolders’ A-Z Blender remixes that were both originally released on Earlabs’ Laboratoire Moderne series in 2003. Using primarily Akira Rabelais’ lovely Argeiphontes Lyre software, this is a collection of harsh and rigorous noise outbursts, while layers of the original material is breathing underneath.

Quite a historical release so to speak, but at the same time a nice and welcome way to hear back some of the early Freiband material, which nowadays is hard to find.

A new Freiband? No, not really. A first time on CD yes, but all the tracks on True Type have in fact been released before on the (now defunct) mp3 labels techNOH, Term, Tiln and Earlabs. Why a re-release? Well, the info on the cover tells us that this is the way that the music actually should sound like. So there you have it. All the mp3 releases Freiband ever did and I guess the gentle folks at Moving Furniture were more then willing to release it and share it with us.

The first four tracks were previously released as Reflection on techNOH, a netlabel that was run by Brian Lavelle between 2000 and 2003. Abstract pieces that display low end rumble and distant repetitions and distortions. As if it was all recorded inside a deep frying pan. Great stuff.

Parallel was released in 2002 by 12k’s online-only series of minimalist sound explorations: Term. It features remixes of Theme’s On Parallel Shores Removed album that was released on UK noise label Fourth Dimension. The sound still distant and warm, but in a way more cleaner than the techNOH pieces. Lots of repetition with added layers of crackle and pops. Glitchy popmusic so to speak. The track Lights brings back memories of People Like Us, which is good.

Tiln was founded in March 2000 by Marc McNulty until January 2002, and then taken over by Aesova. For Tiln Freiband made 5 remixes of material released on the label by Richard Chartier, Formatt, John Hudak, Pimmon and Ven Voisey. The tracks are (as expected) as diverse as the artists. From the calmness of Chartier, to the short feedback hiccups of Formatt and also the natural sound deconstructions of John Hudak. Altogether, yet another fine collection on its own.

The grand finale of this album (titled EARLabs) is made up of Jos Smolders’ A-Z Blender remixes that were both originally released on Earlabs’ Laboratoire Moderne series in 2003. Using primarily Akira Rabelais’ lovely Argeiphontes Lyre software, this is a collection of harsh and rigorous noise outbursts, while layers of the original material is breathing underneath.

Quite a historical release so to speak, but at the same time a nice and welcome way to hear back some of the early Freiband material, which nowadays is hard to find.

This is a refreshingly new website!

Ah yes, Pentecost proved to be a good day off (from work) that allowed me to transform this wordpress page into a fully functional staplerfahrer website. Guess the previous one was not that pretty anymore and I was unsure whether to choose for facebook, myspace or “what else?” as a starting point. I think wordpress proved to be the best alternative. Most of the desired information found its place here: you got your discography, your gig list, some nice pictures from gigs I played during the past few years, links to all the aforementioned sites and the blog will let you know if I keep the site up to date. So keep coming back!

Prague is cancelled and other things that are going to happen

The planned gig for the 3rd of June in Prague is cancelled due to a serious lack of time from my side (work related) and some flaws in organization on the Czech side. Pity, but no worries since it is in the planning for some time later this year.

Not a lot else to mention gig wise. Simply because I haven’t got that much planned for the coming year. The exception being the 3rd installment of the Optimus Prime Noise fest, which will be held on the 12th of June in my hometown Tilburg. See the flyer below: I’ll play under my Kamloops moniker. 

But music wise things are still in development. At the moment I’m working on an overview album covering the years 2003 to 2009. Will be a collection of tracks that were released as mp3’s, cdr albums and on compilation/remix albums. In a way, a means to end a chapter in my life (giving an insight on what I’ve done so far) and a motivation to explore new musical territories. The tracks are selected and what’s left to finish it off is the mastering. I’ll keep you posted.

OPN3 flyer

One crazy Saturday in Berlin

Whoa…Wouter and me got up at 3:45 am today, after sleeping little less than 3 hours. This due to the fact that yesterday we scheduled in a little poker night at my place and the previous plans to go to bed early that night, did not really succeed. Anyway, after the obligatory tooth brushing we stepped into the car and were on our way Düsseldorf Weeze Airport, because tonight we’re going to attend the “20 years of Sudden Infant” party in Berlin!

20 Years of Sudden Infant

Yes, our friend Joke Lanz has been performing under the “Sudden Infant” moniker for 20 years now, and he is going to celebrate this anniversary by hosting a mini-festival at the Ausland venue in Berlin. We are so much looking forward to this that the lack of sleep is almost forgotten when we cruise down the empty Dutch highways.

 Around 5:45 am we arrive at Weeze, so just in time for our flight that leaves at 6:30. Why so early? Well, it was the cheapest way… Upon touching our seats in the plane we fall asleep, not waking up again before we arrive at Berlin Schönefeld: first power nap of the day! Brrr… we were hoping for some good weather but instead Berlin is cold and grey. Whatever. We head into town and take the U-Bahn to Rathaus Neukölnn, where we take a little walk and find us a place to have some breakfast.

Breakfast in Berlin

 It’s after nine now and still we have a long day ahead of us. After breakfast we go out for a walk and make a phone call to our friend Christoph “Kakawaka” Petermann with whom we make a date for noon at Hermannplatz. Inbetween we nourish some Turkish tea at a place nearby the former “O Tannenbaum” and enjoy Berlin a bit further. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I feel so at home every time that I’m here. This city seems to be so alive and vibrant, and you walk into another world with every block that you cross. Bliss around every corner.

With Christoph we go to a bar, where he once met up with John “Massaccesi” Fanning. The latter apparently enjoyed this bar so much, which made us eager to go there as well! We talk about renting rooms in Berlin, since Wouter is planning to move there later this year. We have lunch, say goodbye to Christoph and walk on to the new Staalplaat store for our date with Rinus van Alebeek. Staalplaat moved places this weekend and will re-open in about a week, hence the endless boxes of cd’s and lp’s scattered all over the place. Rinus is going to start a coffee corner in the back of the building and that’s where we meet and have a… beer. After updating each other of the latest developments we have a second power nap that day. Two hours later we join Rinus to his apartment where he treats us on some excellent bread with exquisite herring in a dille sauce: very yummy! Around 8 pm we leave him so that he can watch “Germany’s next Topmodel” and head for the “20 years of Sudden Infant” party! Yay!

Meeting up with Christoph

When we arrive at the Ausland, we meet Joke in the doorway and he greats us with “Tilburg is in the house!” which makes us feel very welcome. The place is already pretty packed and among them we see many familiar faces, which in effect builds up to the “feeling at home in Berlin” vibe. I guess at its peak there where about 150 people in there, and with them we enjoy some excellent performances by a.o. Dick Tourette, Family Battle Snake and Raionbashi. But highlight of evening was without a doubt Joke’s performance together with his son Celeste: blowing on whistles while playfully (and in turns) carrying each other on the back and stumbling through the audience (and at the same time a soundcollage was playing in the background). An emotional and magical moment! The overall atmosphere and the organization of the night was great by the way, and I guess some photos and videos will pop up somewhere soon, because everything was well documented. Around 4 am we say goodbye to Joke and start our trip back to the airport. Before we get on the U-Bahn we have a falafel at one of the many places that are open 24-7 and contemplate back on a crazy but great day in Berlin. Our plane will leave at 8.