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.

Another 5 minutes – 25th & 26th February

I did find out about it indeed, although it was more unpleasant due to the cold then the uncomfy position. After I grabbed my bones together we headed for the train station, ready to change Polish soil for the Czech one.

 Praha is our first destination. After a short walk into town we pretty soon find the venue for tonight. The Chapeau Rouge is located on a stone’s throw from the main town square (the one with the clock tower and stuff) and it’s there where we also meet up with the KlangundKrach guys (who set up our 2 shows in the Czech republic). They take us all the way down to the second basement and we end up in another great room + the first real backstage of the tour! There we are treated on a great meal and some really nice beer.

Nils at the Chapeau Rouge

Big amount of people came out to see the show tonight. Well, relatively speaking that is… and as compared to Poland it was a big step forward in attendance. Great crowd nonetheless: they came up close to the stage and stood there with attention. Was happy with my show and at the end of the night we also did a trio impro set, which went down quite well (although slightly disturbed by the dancehall beats from upstairs.).  Also had a nice talk about the music scene in Praha with a girl that plays the violin in an experimental setting. Makes me wonder if it’ll be in any way like Cybéle Collins’ work. Hope to receive something soon.

Breakfast at KlangundKrach headquarters

Great night altogether and we end it in the apartment of the KlangundKrach guys: drinking another beer and eventually laying my weary head to rest. When we wake up the next morning it’s the first day that we’re not in a hurry: no train or bus to catch in the morning. We take an easy breakfast, drink one more coffee and are chatting with our generous hosts. Later on, they take us back into town and put us on the bus to Varnsdorf.

After a comfortable two hour drive through winter wonderland we end up in a little village and about 5 minutes later we’re picked up by our new hosts, guiding us to their home, which is a dream on its own:  a gigantic farmhouse from 1857, almost entirely made out of wood. Again we’re treated on some good food and soon we’re off to the RC Peklo (RC for Rock Club). A place where they usually put on lots of Death Metal, Grindcore and the likes. So I was preppin for a though crowd… turned out to be a weird crowd in the end. It were around 20 people that showed up, but instead of giving us some attention they rather stayed in the bar area of the place, drinking beers and chatting. After my set, I decided to applaud for myself and give it a heartfelt “yeah!”. Had my fun by doing so. After the gig we asked at the bar if we could take some beers home and they translated that in a amusing form.

Beer for home

 

 

KAWIARNIA AIN’T CAVIAR

Sitting in the train that’ll take us from Krakow, Poland, to Praha, Czech Republic. Am enjoying the endless whiteness outside and wonder if I ever saw so much snow over so many miles. Looking back on two good days in Poland, which started in Warszaw on Monday. Think that I spent most of that day in a zombified state of being, since the lack of sleep was working pretty much against me. At the airport we meet up with Hubert, who organized the gig in Plan B. First place he took us was the Oki Doki Hostel (in which we got the “Africa room” … tigerprints on the beds etc.) and shortly thereafter we went on to grab a bite. Tried out a falafel that looked like little donuts and were fluffy in texture and taste; quite different from the ones I knew. After the meal we headed back to the hostel; Hubert had to give some lectures at his school and before heading off to the venue we tried out some local beers…

Snow everywhere

Plan B is a bar with a separate little venue space and seems to be quite a hip place: lots of young people looking lots of pretty. The amount of people already sitting inside, gave us some kind of confidence for the gig of tonight. Didn’t really work out in the end though as most people stayed in the bar space… well, it wasn’t that bad really. People that showed up were interested and that’s what counts in the end. Think I wasn’t too happy with my set: too much fiddling around in the first 10 minutes, which weren’t necessary at all and didn’t make a point. Sindre and Hubert did a duo set. Guess Sindre had a few beers too many already by the time he had to play… throughout the set he was rambling into the microphone like a little troll. It was funny though.

Sindre at Plan B

While smoking a cigarette in the bar I started to get the feeling that I could pass out any minute, so it was becoming time to return to the hostel.

Next morning I wake up almost reborn. Apart from a little remained weariness in my head I’m feeling top-notch. Not much time to hang around in Warszawa though, as we have a long train trip ahead to Krakow. While shopping for breakfast I discover that the Polish have a certain love for cherries; found a little bag of dried cherries covered with chocolate and couldn’t leave them on the shelf.

By the time we get to Krakow I start to remember that I have been here before. Must have been at least ten years ago or a little more. In that time I used to spend my holidays all over Europe, working at social/constructive projects for a few weeks, every summer. Guess it was somewhere during the mid-nineties that I was in Poland (helping to build an elderly home) and that I spend a weekend in Krakow. It all comes back to me when Simon guides us through the city center towards the venue, which is in the middle of the Jewish quarter. More memories popping up: in that same weekend in the mid-nineties my friends decided to bring a visit to nearby Auschwitz, while I passed for that idea and chose to spend a day in Krakow on my own. Most of it hanging around in the Jewish quarter: visiting cemeteries, drinking tea and eating pastry in bars etc.

Sindre and me doing an improv set at Kawiarnia Naukowa

Simon is another great host, treating us on fine beers and a nice warm meal. The Kawiarnia Naukowa is pretty little venue housed in an ancient building; constructed entirely out of natural stones and wood. Tonight I changed the order of my set that I have been playing for quite a while now. Guess it wasn’t that bad, but I’d better return to the original order and just cut out the fiddling in the beginning that I started to add in some time ago. After Nils’ and Sindre’s solo-sets me and Sindre finish with a duo set that worked out quite well; more satisfied with it then my solo-set to be quite frank. Later on I try out several flavored vodka’s. Apparently the Polish chose to spend their time on inventing all kinds of vodka’s since they don’t produce wine in Poland… In a rather pleasant state we end up in the house of Simon’s friend where we can stay the night. I sleep on the floor and will find out about that in the morning.

Simon and Sindre after the gig