Frans de Waard

A rather normal year

Kapotte Muziek, yesterday in Leverkusen

While I wouldn’t call 2023 the best year of my life, it’s also not the worst. Is ‘mediocre’ a word you attach to a year?

As much as I like to say I am always working on publishing new books, and some projects have been going on for years, I realised in May that no book was imminent for publication. Quick action was required, and I asked David Elliott if I could publish his six Neumusik fanzines in one book. I read those with my laptop a lot before and found it quite a drag. He said yes, and the book was published in late August to much acclaim.
One of the projects dragging on for years was Nul Nul, the fanzine I did before Vital (which I did before Vital Weekly; I have to repeat that until the end of my days, too). There are only four issues: cut and glue, all in Dutch. I decided to translate and concluded we used bizarre language in the 1980s. Mark Poysden and I worked on it for a long time, and then we chose the design to be the same as the original. And a CD, so there is finally a proper document of industrial music in The Netherlands and Belgium.
Alfred Boland and I worked this year on The Annual, the Korm Plastics yearbook/magazine, and 200 pages of articles under the flag of ‘everything you didn’t know you were interested in. ‘ A thing of true beauty. If we sell a few, we may repeat this in 2024. If not, we don’t. Oh, and the website got a fresh look, thanks to Bambi and Alfred Boland. Vital Weekly will get one later this week.

As for next year, I hope to expand the book business and publish the Broken Flag book and ‘True Enough, ‘ which is the first LP by The Hafler Trio. I am writing a book on Ron Lessard/RRRecords/Emil Beaulieau, and we have talked for about 30 or more hours. I have a lot of text. Because RRRecords (the store) exists 40 years in 2024, the book should be out in 2024. There are more books in the works! A thought in my mind is to lay Vital Weekly to a (temporary) rest and concentrate fully on publishing books.

I also released two CDs this year, much against the idea that I have a record label. De Muziekkamer’s Kamermuziek has been on my wish list for a CD reissue for ages, so I finally put my money where my mouth is. Later on, I found an old demo from Illusion Of Safety, which Daniel Burke reworked a bit, so I also decided to release that one on CD. That’s for me as a label. I think.

As much music as I did as Modelbau in 2020-2021, this year it was even less than in 2022. Early on, I recorded three 20-minute pieces, all connected, and two will end up on ‘Blackout’ LP, with photos from wartime Kyiv, and one is a 3″CDR for Maneki Neko. I released a cassette with my tape-delay experiments, and work is ongoing on a Modelbau CD with individual pieces, yet I managed to do two more 40-minute pieces. Still, I’d like to avoid becoming the Mike Oldfield of lo-fi ambient.

I didn’t travel to London to meet Steven Wilson, but I certainly will in 2024.

Hopefully, Edward Ka-spel and Peter Johan Nÿland will work some more together and even play a concert. Our Dynasti release was most certainly a highlight of this year.

In February, I visited Wouter Jaspers in Berlin, and we recorded new music, played two concerts together, plus one as Modelbau, and hung out. It was a weekend well spent. In November, I played the second Modelbau concert of this year in Münster, and I ranked that one as the best Modelbau concert ever.
Yesterday, Kapotte Muziek played for the first time in 12 years as a trio in Leverkusen, Germany, and it was an experience we thoroughly enjoyed. Hopefully, something we can repeat next year.

Yes, I read books, a lot of them, and yes, I saw movies, also a lot. No lists. Also, there are no particular great releases or reissues.

releases this year;

[Modelbau]
HONOURS (10″ lathe cut, Spalt-ung, edition of 21 copies)

[Modelbau]
KOPF AB (CDR, licht-ung, edition of 31 copies)

[Modelbau]
EXTRICATE (CD, Sublime Retreat SR 18, edition of 100 copies)

[Modelbau]
RRRECYCLED (cassette, RRRecycled)

[Modelbau]
INSOMNIAC’S DREAM (CDR or cassette, Aphelion Edition. both in an edition of 35)

[Shifts]
WHAT REMAINS (cassette, Grisaille 76, edition of 50 copies)

[Howard Stelzer]
various sounds on ‘Euclid Os A Dead Sponge (Suburban Observances Vol. 3) (CDR, Oxidation, CDROT129)

[Modelbau]
‘The Art Of Peace’ on Tomorrow Is Big Distance (Sentimental Productions sentiment 020)

[Modelbau]
‘My Memory Of What Happened, Is Not What Happened [A Reconstruction]’ on Struppig Mahlen (Licht-ung)

[Modelbau]
MARCH WIND (cassette, Grisaille 67, edition of 38 copies)

[Modelbau]
NIGHT ROUTE (cassette, Cosmic Winnetou CW60, edition of 50 copies)

[Modelbau]
SHADOW MEN (cassette, Anticipating Nowhere Records [anr2.03], edition of 20 copies)

[Dynasti]
QUANTUM PRIMITIV (CD, Klanggalerie GG437)

[Modelbau]
INLETS (CDR, Love Earth Music LEM 301)

[Modelbau]
split with Gerald Fiebig and William Rossi (cassette, Grubenweher Freiburg & Attenuation Circuit GFAC 1003, 50 copies)

[Kapotte Muziek]
Ars Forum, Yaroslavl 2008′ on Fertile Ground (cassette, Odmwa)

[Frans de Waard + Machinefabriek]
untitled track on ‘+’ (Machinefabriek)

New Books

I know, I have this website thing that I only seem to use at the end of the year to tell you what I could have told you before. Anyway, see this beautiful image (hohum) of new publications and then click here and arrive at my beautiful new designed website to buy them

18740

I am sure this is about the 15th time I write a yearly update, and it’s getting harder to figure out a funny title to go with it. So this year, I gave it the number of kilometres I did on my exercise bike. Had the thing not broken down in early December, it would have been over 19,000.

I played one concert, in Leverkusen, in June of this year. It was fun. Bertin drove the car, allowing me to bring some reel-to-reel machines. So do I miss playing gigs? Not really. Next year, I have two already planned, in Berlin, with Wouter Jaspers. I hope I’ll survive.

The main thing about this year was making a significant step forward in publishing books—seven in total, one being a co-production with Bertin. I am proud of all of them. ‘I’m Sure We’re Gonna Make It’, the first ever book on Dutch punk and a translation of a 90s book, got much attention and sold out. A reprint will be made early next year. Freek Kinkelaar’s book about the first ten years of The Legendary Pink Dots was a surprise hit at the end of the year. One book is a novel, roman à clef as it is called, by Adam Morris, formerly working for Killing Joke and The Orb. A hilarious, funny book that could easily be a TV series. And, of course, my little pet project book, about the first ten years of Modelbau, turned out quite beautiful. More books next year, lots of plans, and some still need work.

On November 1st, I launched a DAT-only label, getting rid of all my old DAT’s by releasing new music from a bunch of friends. Still available, but that’s hardly a surprise.

I recorded a lot less music as Modelbau this year. This is not because of laziness, but because I changed my working style. Almost everything up this year was Modelbau ‘live in the studio’, with a bit of editing, but I worked using multi-track recordings this year, so all recordings I made went into that. That’s good. A bit less Modelbau is not bad.

In 2017, Kapotte Muziek played a concert in Trondheim at Klubb Kanin. We also played there in 1997. I was asked to edit the recordings into a cassette, which may be out by now (supposed to be released at Klubb’s 25th anniversary in October 2022). The edit is quite crude, with cutting away stuff, amplifying quite bits etc., and thus being more of a collage. This gave me the idea this year to apply these methods and other Kapotte Muziek live recordings, resulting in three pieces for three compilations. Maybe more to follow. I doubt Kapotte Muziek will ever play again, so perhaps this is the next phase? In 2021, I transferred all my old cassettes and found a bunch of ‘raw material’ cassettes I used in the 80s. I announced this last year, but I will indeed work on this in 2023.

So… what else? I read a lot of books and saw a lot of movies in the cinema. I particularly enjoyed ‘The Menu’, ‘Speak No Evil’, ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, and I won’t mention the ones I didn’t care about.

Likewise, I have no favourite music releases. So it is great to see A Blaze Colour finally re-issued on CD, Krylon Hertz on LP and I played the Nekrophile box during Christmas. Odd, re-issues are what I remember best?

Early next year sees the release of a CD by Edward Ka-spel, Peter Johan Nÿland and myself for Klanggalerie. Peter and I plan to work on more of these collaborations. I may travel to London and record with Steven Wilson. I am sure more exciting stuff will happen.

My releases for this year

[Modelbau]
X book & CD, Korm Plastics Vanity Series 001, 100 copies)

[Levensleed]
DWEEMOED (miniCDR, Smeerlappen, edition of 35 copies)

[QST]
OP.72, A SYNPHONIC POEM (FOR PETE NAMLOOK) (CDR, no label, 52 copies)

[Modelbau]
ANNEX ANNUM (DAT, NOw DAT’s What I Call Music 003, 17 copies)

[MODELBAU]
VANITY (cassette, Astipalea ast#0060)

[Kapotte Muziek]
MUSIK OHNE ENDE (CD, Tribe Tapes TRIBE 015)

[Modelbau & Pool Pervert)
DEFINITION NOT SPECIFIED (cassette, Steep Gloss SG 56, edition of 40 copies)

[Frans de Waard & Martijn Comes]
EQUAL WEIGHTS (CD, Moving Furniture Records 102, edition of 200 copies_

[Modelbau & Scanner]
LOESS (2LP, Moving Furniture Records, edition of 300 copies)

[Modelbau]
BUCHSTABEN – (6 cassettes, Maneki Neko Tapes MN018T)

[Modelbau]
THE ENCOUNTER (cassette, Dark Passage DP 8)

[Frans de Waaard & Kozo Inada)
(no title) (cassette, Temporary Mountain, edition of 50 copies)

[Modelbau & TR Kirstein]
‘Fur Monitor’ on This Is Release MFR 100 (2CD, Moving Furniture Records MFR 100)

[Modelbau]
MAY FLOWER (cassette, Grisaille 60)

[Modelbau]
‘Absentia (Life From Home)’ on Struppig Droehnen! 3. Dezember 2021 (CD, Licht-ung)

[Modelbau]
‘Object Of The Attack’ on Blurred (cassette, Grisaille 50)

Now DATs What I Call Music

What in a fresh hell did you do now?

I wanted to get rid of old stuff, miniDiscs and Digital Audio Tapes and such for a long time. I no longer have the machines to play these DATs, so one day, two years ago, I borrowed these ancient machines and copied all the music onto a hard drive. The best next thing would have been to toss the lot in the bin, but then I thought about labels such as Vacancy Records and Hyster Tapes, recycling old cassettes. Why not do a Modelbau-only DAT release and miniDisc? The latter was easy, I only had 40, so I did something and gave them away. More than 175 DATs is a different thing. Why not start a label with DAT only’s and invite a couple of friends?

It turned out to be sixteen friends, or are there going to be more?

No, this is it, sixteen DAT tapes, varying from 16 to 120 minutes, released in an edition of 17 each. Every artist gets one, and I keep one, 15 for sale.

But who cares about a medium that no one can play?

Good question! You buy the tape and receive the complete music digitally via wetransfer from me. Not a Bandcamp link. You get the music in the same quality as I received it. 16/24 bits audio, WAV files. You can downgrade them if you want – not recommended.

That’s neatly elitist – 15 buyers!

Hold your horses. On Bandcamp, lovingly designed by Rutger Zuydervelt, who also supplied artwork, you’ll get something for free from each release. Once a DAT sells out, the music will be on Bandcamp in its complete form for the same price as I sell the DATs for. So, there is something to hear for all, and maybe one day for everybody.

But some will not sell at all.

Who knows? Of course, I hope people are adventurous enough to buy all tapes in one go at that lovely special rate of 8 euros per tape, or 128 euros in total, excluding shipping.

And the price per copy?

001 Roel Meelkop (90 minutes) 11 euro
002 calineczka (120 minutes) 12 euro
003 Modelbau (120 minutes) 12 euro
004 Orphax (34 minutes) 8 euro
005 Howard Stelzer (48 minutes) 9 euro
006 Coagulant (60 minutes) 10 euro
007 Rick Sanders (90 minutes) 11 euro
008 Nÿland/Verbeek (60 minutes) 10 euro
009 Craig Johnson (90 minutes) 11 euro
010 Radboud Mens (60 minutes) 10 euro
011 Mark Poysden (90 minutes) 11 euro
012 Tim Olive (15 minutes) 7 euro
013 Pool pervert (120 minutes) 12 euro
014 Martijn Hohmann (60 minutes) 10 euro
015 Jonathan Deasy (46 minutes) 9 euro
016 Vertonen (60 minutes) 10 euro

But, hey, man, I don’t want to be too difficult, but some of these boxes are dirty, broken, or have writing on them. What the …?

It’s a recycling label; what else do you expect? The covers are all freshly printed and wonderfully designed by Rutger Zuydervelt. Again, the old meets the new.

That sounds good; I’ll send you a demo for the next batch!

Great as that indeed is, these sixteen are ‘it’, no more releases for Now DAT’s What I Call Music.

And next? You’re doing reel-to-reel tapes/

Please don’t get me tempted there.

contact: info@kormplastics.nl to order them all

https://nowdatswhaticallmusic.bandcamp.com/

2021: Reel To Reel Cacophony

Oh, it’s that day of the year again? Again? Another year, another cliche? No question mark is needed. I have been writing these end-of-year roundup things since 2008, and much like last year, I find it hard to say much sensible about this year. Maybe because this was a year in which not a lot happened. Or so it seems.

One concert, together with Martijn Comes and an impromptu thing with Jos Smolders, also performed that night. While I had some reservations about playing live, the evening went well. The train ride to ‘s-Hertogenbosch, thirty minutes from Nijmegen was no fun. Hot, mouth masks on (well, about 60% of the people, the other people didn’t give two shits. That’s the Dutch way, I guess), this was the first time on the train since February 2020, incidentally to the very same place I was now going.
I had another show planned in December but hesitated, dreading a longer train ride to Leverkusen, Germany. Finally, I found someone to drive, envisaged I could bring my tape recorders, she crashed her car, and I had to cancel.
It made me realize that I rather not play concerts if I have to travel by public transport until mouth masks (of which use I have no public opinion) are off. If that means just shows in Nijmegen, fine; if that means no concerts for another five years, also fine. I may make an exception for THU20 whenever they play again; who knows?

In March, I saw a picture of Wouter van Veldhoven’s cleaned up studio space on Facebook and realized I once handed him a reel-to-reel machine that didn’t work and which he was going to repair. I reminded him of that, and we both forgot which machine it was, but he kindly offered me another one to pick up, which I did. Rick Sanders visited me a day later and said, ‘I have one you can use if you want’. Peter Johan Nijland a week later: there is one in our studio that you can use. Then Rick gave me a second one, and I bought one. So now I have five reel-to-reel machines, and this year I made good use of them; well, in my humble opinion, of course. I spent about 190 nights recording music as Modelbau and released a music piece a week as part of the process.

That I will not do in 2022, I should finish a few projects that keep lying around; the final album as Quest, a QST album with one long piece, the ‘synphony’ and one QST with short pop (?) songs. The third Ruisch album that I started and never got around to doing. Plus a Kapotte Muziek album! Yes! In 2021 I transferred all my DAT tapes to digital with the idea of re-using them for a DAT only label (to find out a few days ago that my machine may no longer function) and also almost all of my cassettes. Part of that is a whole box of ‘raw material’ tapes, from Asmus Tietchens, Merzbow, Yeast Culture, All Fours, TAC, Agencement; well, basically all those I once made music with. It would be great to do an LP with that stuff, called ‘Distant Attractions’. I will explain that when the time comes.

Korm Plastics published three books; ‘De Nederlandse Cassette Catalogus’, ‘Wondersound’ by Freek Kinkelaar and ‘The Abrahadrabar Letters’ by Anthony Blokdijk and John Balance. I wish I could say there were more books done, but the release of the English version of the history of Dutch punk takes more time than I anticipated. However, it is great to report that Bertin van Vliet is now on design. More books are in the works; the complete BOH fanzine in a book and CD, Nul Nul with translation and CD, a book on Broken Flag, the Hafler Trio first Lp, Modelbau book, and Adam Morris’ novel ‘Losing It’. It would be great if, in 365 days, I could report that they are all available. Or more!

The cinema was open for about five months, and I managed to see about 40 films. I enjoyed ‘Nobody’, ‘The French Dispatch’, ‘The Father’ and ‘Benedetta’.

No other lists, other than my round up of releases. I should really use this website more!

[Freiband]
‘051020’ on Aural Annex (CD, Telekinett)

[Freiband]
‘Nein’ on 9 Beet Stretch 2.0 Meta Tones (USB, Telekinett)

[Modelbau & Pool pervert)
UMBAU 1-5 (CDR, NonInterrupt Records)

[Doc Wör Mirran]
MISCHEN IMPOSSIBLE (2 cassettes, Masking Tapes MT 633)

[Modelbau]
BIENENKORB (cassette, Vacancy Recs VAC-046, edition of 26 copies)

[Doc Wör Mirran]
CASSETTE (7″ by Marginal Talent thirty-one (mt-631), edition of 23 copies)

[misc]
CASIO COMPILATION 9 (3″CD by ao to ao)
tracks by Kapotte Muziek, Doc Wor Mirran, QST, Quest, Howard Stelzer & Frans de Waard, Shifts, Gome, Freiband, Surge, Wander, Wieman, THU20, Bass Communion & Freiband, The Toboccanists, Ezdanitoff, Modelbau, WaSm, Tech Riders, Ruisch, Hyster, Asuna & Frans

[QST]
QST 64/QST 60 (cassette single, Superpolar Taips spt30)

[Modelbau & PBK]
THE DEAD TIME (CD, Oxidation CDROT 091)

[Modelbau]
APRIL SHOWER (cassette, Grisaille 42, edition of 38 copies)

[Freiband]
‘The Smallest Cube’ on New State Of Flux (2CD, Reverse Alignment RA51)

[Modelbau]
AETHER ALEATORICA (cassette, Superpolar Taips SPT 23, edition of 50 copies)

[QST]
‘Auto 42 (QST remix)’ on ‘Somnoroase Pasarele – Auto [r]’ (cassette, OTA, OTA42, edition of 30 copies)

[Tech Riders]
IN A ROOM (cassette, edition of 20, CDR, edition of 20, Aphelion 19)

[Modelbau]
PREY (cassette, Tribe Tapes TT 118, 25 copies)

[Modelbau]
ORPHAX/MODELBAU (split cassette by Invisible City Records ICR 83)

[Modelbau]
WITHIN WITHOUT (cassette, Falt)

[Doc Wör Mirran feat Stadlmeier/De Waard/Gormley]
HOMININE PARTS 4 TO 6 (CDR by Attenuation Circuit ACU 1031, 100 copies)

[Modelbau]
ESCAPE CLAUSE (cassette, Dead Hound dhr 084)

[Modelbau]
SENDERFOLGE (cassette, Universaal Kunst MH-12, 40 copies)

[Modelbau]
NO TIME LIKE THE PAST (cassette, Grisaille 30)

Two new Modelbau Tapes

https://deadhound.bandcamp.com/album/escape-clause

https://grisaille.bandcamp.com/album/no-time-like-the-past

2020: An overview

Back in April, I had dinner with a friend and when I left her it was still early, twilight started to set in. It had been sunny and warm, unusual for the season. An ordinary weekday. A bike ride home is about fifteen minutes, taking me along the University grounds of Nijmegen, across the train track, along the bowling alley, take a right at the roundabout and then over the grounds from the former army barracks, up the street where I live. In all of that time I didn’t see anybody; no other people on bikes, nobody walking, no cars. It was, as if, a neutron bomb, that thing we feared so much in the eighties, had exploded during our dinner, leaving everything intact and wiped out mankind. I admit I enjoyed the silence.

When I grew up, I had endless discussions with my father about any subject but mostly politics and music. Whenever he had enough he would throw out, “You know what they say, Frans, ‘Oh, Lord, help me to keep my mouth shut until I know what I’m talking about’, but you never do”. Nor did he.

I am ever the optimist, contrary to popular belief.

As I just promised to keep my mouth until I know what I am talking about (a word to the wise), I will discuss 2020 purely in personal, narcissistic, egomaniac (whatever else) terms. That is not to say I don’t care about anything else; sometimes I do.

I am well off, I fully realize that. Since I left Staalplaat, early 2003, I work from home, doing Vital Weekly, selling a few records and doing some music, so for me, nothing much changed. Of course, I wouldn’t mind going to the pub, restaurant, cinema (which I actually did this year, some 42 times, no less) or my favourite Saturday pastime (not the footie) and it’s not easy while it lasts so long. I hope a vaccine will be handed to me soon, I am ready for any side effects.

This year I added publishing books to my activities, following the 2019 re-print of my Staalplaat book. This year I published two more, and I was quite surprised they sold quite well. More books to come next year, we have some exciting plans! We, because I do this with Alfred Boland (design) and Mark Poysden (wordsmith hammering out the mistakes).
I didn’t see many concerts and only remembered the last; Zea & Oscar Jan Hoogland and Matthijs Kouw, early December in Extrapool.
I played one public concert this year, on my birthday and coincidentally the hottest day of the year and I did two of these ‘home concerts’, but it’s not for me. Working the technology while doing the music at the same time is a bitch for an old man. The first time went alright, the second time not so. I am not repeating that.
Being cut off from public life allowed me to do a lot of music at home, and I am happy to say I recorded one thing or another for about 150 evenings this year. Mostly crap of course, but working and reworking same ideas in new configurations for a couple of days before moving on to something else. Modelbau is my improvisation project! I opened up a Bandcamp for it, where there are quite a few works for free, and some, well, for a few bucks.

I am, as always, proud of any of my releases. 2020 saw the launch of a new name, Ruisch, my dub/industrial/voodoo/psychedelic music. I did the mixing with Peter Johan Nijland. The music on the first CD was recorded in 2019, and this year I completed a new one.

this sums the releases up; the only list this year

2020

[Construction]
THE VERY EARLY RECORDINGS OF FRANS DE WAARD, 1981-1982 (download, Korm Digitaal)

[Modelbau]
THE MIDNIGHT SUN (cassette, Grisaille 18)

[Modelbau]
‘Escapement’ on Pattern Recognition, A Benefit Compilation For Bradley Kokay (CDR by No Part Of It)

[Ruisch]
SUBTERRANEAN CAMPFIRES (CD by Erototox Decodings ETD0034)

[De Fabriek]
REMIXES VOL. 10 (CD, De Fabriek Records & Tapes)

[Frans de Waard & Richard Francis]
RETIRED DILLETANTS (The Tapeworm TTW#134)

[Modelbau]
A THING ABOUT MACHINES (cassette, Grisaille 12)

[Tech Riders]
FOR ETERNITY (cassette, eh? 113)

[Modelbau & MvK]
THE HIDDEN ACCORD (cassette, Invisible City Records ICR70, edition of 50)

[Beequeen]
WINTER (LP, A Colourful Storm acolour 029)

[Ruisch feat. Salar Asid]
‘A Small Drop’ on To Yemen With Love’ (download)

[Modelbau]
untitled track on ‘__‘ (cassette, Steep Gloss SG00)

[Frans de Waard & Miguel A. Garcia]
INTERIOR SOUNDING (cassette, Steep Gloss SG 13)

[Modelbau]
‘The Sound Sweep’ Music For A Few People Vol. 3 (CDR, Non-Interrupt)

[De Fabriek]
De Fabriek, REMIXES REMIXES VOL. 9 (CD, De Fabriek Records & Tapes)

[Modelbau]
UNRUHE (split cassette, Grubenwehr Freibug GW/Fr 18, edition of 25 copies in a normal box and 15 copies special edition. Split with Pit Horse Doom Orchestra)

[EMERGE]
reworked field recordings by Freiband on STEPS (CD by Attenuation Circuit 1021) edition of 300 copies

[Frans de Waard & Martijn Comes]
VARIOUS WEIGHTS (CD, Moving Furniture Records mfr 083). First 50 copies with bonus CDR ‘Live In De Ruimte’)

[Freiband]
‘Piano Music Redux’ on Moving Music, Sounds From The Rocking Chair (CD, Moving Furniture Records mfr 080) collaboration with Orphax

[Tech Riders]
DOUBLE FACTORIAL (2 3″CDR, Sleep Fuse/Reverb Worship SF 37, edition of 30 copies)

[Modelbau]
SYNCHRONY (CDR, Econore, edition of 40 copies]

[Modelbau]
WHERE IS EVERYBODY (download, not on label)

[Ruisch featuring Michael Esposito]
‘Every Door Out Is A Way In (insanetorium dub)’ on ‘Pandemic Response Division’ (download by Spectral Electric)

[Modelbau]
THE END OF THE BEGINNING (2CDR, Humanhood Recordings)

[Tech Riders]
OF THE LOST ARK (cassette, Ikuisuus ikasus-076, edition of 60 copies)

[QST]
‘On Her Satanic Majestic Secret Disco Service’ on Mighty Giant Pinky – Tribute to Satanicpornocultshop (cassette by Strategic Tape Reserve, STR034)

[Doc Wör Mirran feat Stadlmeier.De Waard/Gormley]
HOMININE PARTS 1 TO 3 (CDR by Attenuation Circuit ACU 1018, 100 copies)

[Modelbau]
20200101
20200202
20200303
20200404
20200505
20200606
20200707
20200808
20200909
20201010
20201111
20201212
(individual pieces on Bandcamp)

[BJ Nilsen & Frans de Waard & Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarssen]
THREE OPTIONS (CD, Some)

[Modelbau]
ARCADIA (5″ lathe cut, Humanhood Recordings hhr 87, 20 copies)

You Should Read More!

Extremely pleased with the release of both my new books, pictured here:

more information here and here

They should be in print for some time to come, but let that not keep you back of ordering a copy today

Even In The Darkest Times

 

https://econore.bandcamp.com/album/synchrony

https://humanhoodrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-end-of-the-beginning

https://bluesanct.bandcamp.com/album/zev-de-waard-n-land

http://www.reverbworship.com/6.html

https://ikuisuus.bandcamp.com/album/of-the-lost-ark

https://movingfurniturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/various-weights

2019: Time Goes By Too Fast

(photo by Roger NBH)

This was the year of doing collaborative works with other people. It seemed maybe more than ever, but of course, I don’t keep statistics. It saw the release of the first album by The Stone Tapes, the ‘supergroup’ (haha) with Edward Ka-spel, Phil Knight, dAS and Ninah Pixie and myself, which we recorded in 2018 and now released by Attenuation Circuit. In 2020 there will be more recordings by us.

On the off-chance that Steven Wilson wasn’t occupied with something else, I asked him if we could do a one-minute song for the Casio compilation that I am working on, and will have pieces by most of my various pseudonyms. He made five, and that was the start of an extensive back and forth emailing of sounds, pieces and it resulted in a 3CD, ‘VL Tones’.

There is collaborative work also next year by Kozo Inada (my piece is completed) and by Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson & BJ Nilsen. Jos Smolders and I re-launched our work as WaSm. Tapeworm will release the work I recorded with Richard Francis a long time ago; I am very happy that will finally be released by this respectable house. With Steffan de Turck I may start a new thing called Hyster.

It was good to see I am still a part of De Fabriek and that they are now more visible on the internet!

The picture you see above is Martijn Comes and me in concert on September 14th in Amsterdam. Of course it a picture by my homey Roger NBH. It was a benefit evening for Moving Furniture Records and in my humble opinion one of the best concerts I ever did in my life. period. Martijn and I worked on an album, which Moving Furniture will release shortly, and we did some preparation for this duo concert, but still, it was largely improvised. It will be available as a bonus CDR with the official album.

I also played a concert with Lilia Scheerder in Extrapool which went well, and maybe repeated in 2020 should changes come up.

It was a good but not a great year for concerts. Highlights were (also) the concert I played in Rotterdam on the church organ there, THU20 afternoon in Rotterdam and an evening with Ezdanitoff in Berlin. Sadly Tech Riders didn’t tour this year and only played one concert (which could have gone a bit better).

I finally went out, fired up by the enthusiasm of Wouter Jaspers, and re-published my Staalplaat book. It was well-received and I finally made some money on it. From all the work of writing, editing and promoting the first edition, I didn’t make a single euro. It also made me decide to publish some more books; next year I will publish a 500+ page collection of all the Vital fanzines from 1986-1996 (no, not the Vital Weekly thing, before that) and a collection of stuff I wrote over the years not being reviews,

By far the saddest thing was my dear friend Jolanda taking her life. She played for all the 11 years I worked for Staalplaat a vital part in that story by being obnoxious, sexy, lovely, friendly and probably the most human person around. After that, we stayed in contact and I still can’t believe she’s gone. If anything, it helped me decide to publish my book again. No comfort really.

In 2020 I will start a new musical project, Ruisch. “The end of new music” and “drum music for the third decade of the third millennium”.

Since six months I have a pass for the cinema and saw more films in the cinema than ever before in my entire life, or so it seems. My top 4 for this year are ‘Monos’, ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, ‘Joker’ and ‘Motherless Brooklyn’. On TV (should I have one) I thought ‘Chernobyl’ was the best series in a long time (well, there is good stuff around anyway), and I enjoyed ‘Veep’ (having watched it for the first time, the entire thing) and ‘The Man In The High Castle’. ‘Doctor Who’ was great too. I had more hopes for ‘This Time With Alan Partridge’, but upon re-watching, I got more what kind of humour they were after.

I am sure I saw some great concerts, but the only I seem to remember is Drekka in Extrapool. I don’t go out much these days, I guess.

Same goes for books; read a lot though.

This is some of the stuff I enjoyed hearing this year

Reinhold Friedl – Music For Piano,… Spring/Flower/Cracker/Stream (LP by Holotype Editions)

Jon Heilbron – Pieces For Chord Organs (CD by Intonema)

Hunter Complex – Open Sea (LP by Death Waltz Originals)

Idea Fire Company – The Island Of Taste (CD by Fuordämning Archiv)

Werner Durand – Schwingende Luftsäulen 2 (CD By Ants Records)

David Jackman – Herbstsonne (CD by Die Stadt)

Enrico Piva – Anticlima (5CD by Spazio Di Hausdorff)

Jacinthebox – Incomplete 1984/86 (LP by Supreme Tools Supply)

Philip Sanderson – On One Of Those Bends (LP by Seance Centre)

E.M.I.R.S. – Adem/Breath (Cdr, Private)

Orphax – Live Circles (CD By Moving Furniture Records)

Dan Armstrong – A Long Time Coming (CD by Reflection Records)

The Legendary Pink Dots – Angel In The Detail (CD by Metropolis)

Drekka – Beings Of Imberindus (CD by Somnimage)

:Zoviet*France: – Gris (LP by Vinyl On Demand)

Mono-Poly – Testlab (LP by Blowpipe)

Perfect Vacuum – I Must Not Think Bleak Thoughts (LP by Blowpipe)

Deneuve – Push Push Rock & Roll (12″ by Blowpipe)

Bass Communion – Dronework (2019 (CD by Headphone Dust)

Jim O’rourke – To Magnetize Money And Catch A Roving Eye (4CD by Sonoris)

O Yuki Conjugate – Sleepwalker (CD by Auf Abwegen)

Howard Stelzer – Anathematization Of The World Is Not An Adequate Response To The World  (Double Cdr by Chocolate Monk)

Hessel Veldman/Enno Velthuys – Boezem Ballet/In Ijle Lucht (7″ by Stroom TV)

Vanity Records 11 CD/6CD/2CD Re-Issues

Plus I enjoyed The Beat – Public Confidential very much. Yes, I do listen to pop music, apparently.

the 2019 releases list:

2019

[Modelbau]

SUNSPOT (c90, no label, 25 copies)

[Modelbau]

‘The Killing Ground’ on Homework Year 4 (download, Taalem)

[Quest]

(A) QUARTER (3″CDR, Taalem alm 130, edition of 32 in mini digipack; also in jewel case)

[Modelbau]

TRAVELERS (cassette, Park70 park 11, 50 copies)

[Howard Stelzer]

casio sounds by Frans de Waard on ‘Stop! Just Let Me Think’ on ANATHEMATIZATION OF THE WORLD IS NOT AN ADEQUATE RESPONSE TO THE WORLD (double CDR by Chocolate Monk choc 457)

[Modelbau]

ALL THINGS (cassette, Invisible City Records ICR 54, 50 copies)

[Bass Communion & Freiband]

VL TONES (3CD, Tonefloat TF 194, 1000 copies)

[The Stone Tapes]

REVOLUTIONS IN THE HEAD (CD, Attenuation Circuit ACU 1015, 300 copies)

[QST]

COLLECTING SPACE (CD, Carpe Sonum Novum XV, 200 copies)

[Modelbau]

NIGHTCRAWLERS (CD, Norwegianism Records Nor 022)

[Modelbau]

‘The Index’ on Music For A Few People Vol. 2 (cassette, Non-Interrupt)

[Quest]

WINTER’S SUN (CDR, Fuzzy Panda Recording Company fprc 19.2)

[Frans de Waard]

REMIXES VOL. 1 (CD, De Fabriek Records & Tapes)

[Modelbau]

THE WHOLE TRUTH (cassette, TT 129)

[Frans de Waard & Asmus Tietchens]

OORDEEL (CD, Auf Abwegen aatp64)

[Modelbau]

COSMIC TWINS (split cassette with Antoine Panache, Barreuh Records bar-casspl-007, 30 copies)

[Modelbau]

THE FEVER (CDR, Hologram Label 17, 50 copies)

[Modelbau]

MIRROR IMAGE (CDR, Hologram Label 16, 50 copies)

[Modelbau]

NIGHT CALL (cassette, Important Drone Records #04)

[Modelbau]

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE (cassette, Regional Bears 15)

[QST]

untitled track on Changez Retravaille (3CD compilation, Ricerca Sonora RS7, 300 copies)

[Modelbau]

‘Terminal Beach’ on Akusmata (CD, Antenna Non Grata ANG CD 04)

[Modelbau]

‘Time Of Passage’ and ‘The Air Disaster’ on Music For A Few People (cassette, Non-Interrupt NI 07)

[Modelbau]

WAVELENGTH (Cloud Chamber cc17, edition of 30 copies)

[Freiband]

various sounds contributed to @C ‘Espaco, Pausa, Repeticao’ (cassette, Cronica Electronica 150-2019)

[Modelbau]

LONG DISTANCE CALL (Non-Interrupt NI 04)

[Modelbau]

KICK THE CAN (download, Stront Tapes)

[De Fabriek]

ARCHAIC (2CD, De Fabriek Records & Tapes fabprod 26)

[Modelbau]

FÜR JOLANDA (download, not on label)

[Idea Fire Company]

THE ISLAND OF TASTE (CD, Fördämning Arkiv F-arkiv 2, edition of 300 copies)

[Quest]

YESTERNIGHTS (CD, St.an.da 1909, edition of 100 copies)

[Modelbau]

THE INVADERS (cassette, Hemisphare Nokukyo HNK008)

[Modelbau]

THE LATENESS OF THE HOUR (cassette, Audio Visual Atmosphere AVA 64, edition of 55 copies)

the 2091 concerts

Modelbau

19-01-2019 Oude Kerk Charlois, Rotterdam

22-03-2019 De Perifeer, Deventer

05-04-2019 KM28, Berlin, Germany

06-09-2019 FJage I Hillevag, Stavanger, Norway

21-09-2019 Harmonic And Non-Adaptive Sounds, Goor

02-10-2019 Van Abbehuis, Eindhoven

Ezdanitoff

06-04-2019 Sari Sari, Berlin, Germany (concert)

THU20

23-06-2019 Worm, Rotterdam

Frans de Waard

08-09-2019 FJage I Hillevag, Stavanger, Norway

Tech Riders

07-09-2019 FJage I Hillevag, Stavanger, Norway

Frans de Waard & Lilia Scheerder

27-01-2019 Extrapool, Nijmegen

Frans de Waard & Martijn Comes

14-09-2019 De Ruimte, Amsterdam