2012 brings light

Yup, some new hope on the horizon for the Perron 58 album! The way it looks like now it will get published on AudioTong this year and then most probably in April. So better late than never I guess… On a different note: my buddies Frans de Waard en Wouter Jaspers just released an album full of positive synth vibes entitled “We Bring Light”. They did this under the Ezdanitoff name and the cd can be bought via the Silentes label website. Jos Smolders made a fine job of mastering this album and Rutger Zuyderveld delivered a gorgeous sleeve for the cd. But enough with the name dropping… just buy the damn thing already!

Ezdanitoff "We Bring Light"

 

Exiled In Bilbao

Problems in Poland are keeping my album “Perron 58″ from being published and at this point I’m not even sure if Audiotong will ever release it at all. Makes me sad as I was hoping to have it “out” for several months already. Hope to hear something positive by the end of this year, but I guess sometimes it’s just better to take matters into your own hands. Like “we” did with the Larraskito sessions from 2008. In that year Sindre Bjerga, Jan-M. Iversen and I were touring the Basque country and met up and worked together with local artists. On the 29th of June (the day that Spain defeated Germany in the Euro 2008 final…) we organised a day of sessions with Miguel A. Garcia, Oier I.A., Kakofunk, Carlos Valverde and a passing by Cam Deas. During that day we recorded a string of 20/30 minute sessions in which a rotating set-up of 3 people would improvise with each other.  The edited and mastered results of these sessions are now finally available on CD. It’s a joint effort between Goldsoundz, Series Negras, TIBProd. and my own Dim Records. A listing at Discogs can be found here (soon with sound clips!).

Exiled in Bilbao (front)

Exiled in Bilbao (inside)

The Joy of Music

This Saturday Wouter and I were attending and performing at a festival in Landgraaf, Limburg. No, it had nothing to do with Pinkpop but we only wished that they had taken promotion as serious as Pinkpop… They did have big plans for us: 2 solo’s, 1 duo performance and a duo DJ-set (to top it all off). Most of it worked out pretty well : we had a nice set up for our equipment, PA was okay (after some messing around), there was an endless stream of Duvel… but there was hardly any audience.

Apart from the bartenders, sound guys, organizers and other artists, there where about 4 attendees sitting at the bar. After some head scratching we decided to give it a go anyway and started off in duo formation. And that was the start of something really great. For at least an hour we played a dynamic set of electro acoustics, drones and noise and thus exploring all the possibilities of the instruments we brought along. I can’t remember if I ever played for so long on stage, but it was so much fun. We were enjoying it a lot. At 11 pm we told the audience that we’d leave them for a 5-minute cigarette break and would return for the DJ-set. In the end we even made 3 people dance to our crazy mix of mp3′s, cassettes and live electronics…

Preliminary Saturation at the AIA-festival in Landgraaf (NL)

Staying in touch with Modern Art

“Staying in touch with Modern Art, increasing youth participation and creating a modern, absorbing exhibition are the main ingredients which will widen interest in Art. Being located in the centre of the Euregio (Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands) the AIA-Project can develop into an exhibition of importance using its avantgarde disposition. The first AIA exhibit will be located at De Oefenbunker, Heerlenseweg 62 Landgraaf on 29/30 October 2011.”

Wouter Jaspers and I will be playing at above mentioned exhibition on the 29th of October. We will play both solo as duo sets at this happening and I’m curious how things will roll…

AIA Exhibit 29/30th October 2011

 

Re-released

As you might have heard me mention before, Jos Smolders did an excellent job in mastering my upcoming CD “Perron 58″ that soon will be released on AudioTong records. Looking back on the beginnings of our friendship, I remember sending Jos some demos in 2003 or so. I also remember the very negative but sincere criticism I received back from him. I used it as good advice, recognized the flaws in my work and started working on making my music “better”. Some years later I sent him a new demo and received positive feedback, though with an advice to change the order in one of the tracks. I did and it indeed made more sense. I appreciate that a lot in Jos: the constructive criticism during the process of making music. Eventually my music got released on Jos’ Earlabs netlabel in 2006. Earlabs as a label was a bit off the radar for a couple of years but has made a comeback in a new form in 2011. In the light of that event some of the old releases have been re-released and so has mine. You can listen to and/or download it over here.

Für Katharina

Het Schaduwkabinet

This week’s Schaduwkabinet at the Subjectivisten site features a review of my Perron 58 album. It surprised me as the album isn’t out on the market yet. Some communication with the reviewer learns me that the album is already very much out there on Soulseek. So that’s what is going on… At least it is giving me some good promo. This is what thay have to say (in Dutch) about Perron 58:

“Zonder enige aankondiging verzorgde Steffan de Turck aka Staplerfahrer afgelopen zondag een kort optreden in de Middelburgse Vleeshal. Dat deed hij met een aantal cassettes, wat pedalen en noisy effecten; de akoestiek deed de rest. Op Perron 58 - een ode aan het in december vorig jaar gesloten kunstatelier in Tilburg – gebruikt hij heel wat meer geluiden. Veel daarvan lijken in het pand zelf te zijn opgenomen: een ventilator, kapot vallende tl-balken, allerlei gevonden voorwerpen en een hoop galm. Die field recordings zijn door allerlei filters en loops gehaald waardoor er uiteindelijk gelaagde composities van elektronica, noise en musique concrète ontstaan. Een boeiend geluidsdocument en ongetwijfeld een waardig afscheid van Perron 58.”

live at De Vleeshal, Middelburg

 

Incubate 2011

Incubate 2011 was an awesome party with memorable performances by Omar Souleyman, Health, Austra and Girl Unit to name but just a few.  Wouter Jaspers and I also had the honour to be part of this year’s edition: we played a set as Preliminary Saturation at Koen’s Workspace. The PA was a bit of a struggle as it didn’t seem able to handle the amount of sound we were transmitting to it, but in the end this was just a challenge that we had to work around with. It was fun and we had an extra member for this occasion: Christian Zollner of KOMA Elektronik. Somebody filmed parts of our gig, which you can view below.

Oktoberfest

And all of a sudden October turned out to become a busy gig month! This coming Wednesday the 5th we’re organizing a house show at our new home in the Lange Nieuwstraat. Eva Aguila (ex-Kevin Shields and Gang Wizard) is coming over with her new project Sporay and friends from MSHR. I’ll play as well so that I can introduce my new housemates to my music. On the 9th I’ll perform at De Vleeshal in Middelburg as part of the exhibition I Can’t, I Can, I Care which will feature works by Bas van den Hurk, Koen Delaere, Dennis Tyfus and others. Especially looking forward to that one as Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson of Stilluppsteypa will also perform! Then on the 14th I’ll play at the third edition of Kernel Panic in Den Haag, which is organized by the chaps of Mouches Volantes and at the end of October on the 29th my buddy Wouter Jaspers and I will play solos (and a duo set as Preliminary Saturation) at Atelier 07 in Landgraaf. Exciting times in the fall. Hope to see you at one or maybe some of these events!

Sporay + MSHR + staplerfahrer at the MDKLNKRT, October 5th 2011

Perron 58

It’s not officially out yet, but my upcoming “Perron 58″ album (soon to be released by Polish record label Audiotong) has a review in the latest issue of the Gonzo (circus) magazine.  You can read it (in Dutch) below.

Perron 58 in Gonzo (circus) #105

Clearing memory

Yesterday the Tilburg funfair opened its attractions to the public. In conjunction with these festivities the tenants at Bisschop Zwijssenstraat 20 (the house where we have our studio) are organizing a week long of exhibitions, discussions, reading, music and other reflections on the theme “cleansing”. I’ll be present on the 28th of July and do a performance as staplerfahrer. Check out the website for all other activities during the fair week.