Frans de Waard

Waiting for next year

The last thing to do each year is to write a little piece, reflecting on the past year. I will do this in a bit, but first, let me talk about next year. I haven’t gained clairvoyance capacities, but 2025 will see two interesting new developments, one of which will be my own doing, and one is fun but without my involvement. That one is that I will become a grandfather next year, which I am pleased about. I love kids, and being a granddad seems like something I can be good at.

The other thing is that, after 30 years, I will end Vital Weekly when we reach issue 1500, so somewhere in week 34 of 2025. It’s something that has been on my mind for quite some time now, and rather than stopping at a random number, why not 1500? I find it increasingly difficult to catch the words when reviewing something, feeling I’ve already said it. Also, since 2019, I have been publishing books, 18 so far, some of them a geat success and some not. I like this more than writing reviews; even when dragging a new print run up the stairs, repacking it into small parcels and running back to the post office is a chore. But writing and organising them is pretty fun, and I think I will do more and better books when I have more time. We’ll see; if it doesn’t work, I will just start Vital again. It’s the world of the internet, so I am sure I won’t be forgotten easily.

2024 was the first year ever in my life, including the Staalplaat years, that I published something that was a success. I am talking of ‘America’s Greatest Noise’, my book about Ron Lessard, RRRecords and everything that sails with it. When I shot some messages online, researching the topic, I sensed interest, but selling out the total print run of 1000 copies is something I didn’t expect. It brought me many new customers, which showed when I published Steve Underwoods’ ‘Even When It Makes No Sense’, his story of Broken Flag Records. That has been in the works for close to four years (and had there been no Vital Weekly, who knows how much quicker it would have been out?).
Alfred Boland and I published the second Annual, our second yearbook, with some great articles. I even managed to get a piece by Michel Faber. I hadn’t heard of the esteemed author before, never having read fiction, but Mark Poysden recommended his book Listen, which was great. I also learned from it that Faber is interested in my music, so one thing leads to another.
The fourth book is a reissue of Kirstian Olsson’s Giftnalen 1, a 480-page bible of the black arts. The first one was difficult to read, so I proposed a larger size. It worked.
I could mention all the plans for new books, but maybe they will take longer, and you’d be waiting and waiting.

All of this book stuff meant I had less time for music. The things released (listed below) were mainly recorded in 2023, except for ‘Ripples’, a complete rework of the Modelbau concert in Hamburg in June this year. That was the only Modelbau concert this year. Kapotte Muziek played two, and the second resulted in a cassette, ‘Use Kapotte Muziek Now’, a four-track mix with the instruction to mix yourself. Every mix will be added to the Bandcamp release and should be regarded as new material. There are already some mixes online.

The two other concerts were collaborations. In May, I was in London and stayed with Steven Wilson. We were recording within two hours of arriving, and we did so the next day. On the third day, we rehearsed for the concert we played at Cafe Oto, which Steven had prepared the basis for and to which I added sounds. Our collaborative recordings may be released in 2025.

In October, I played a concert with Peter Johan Nijland, of Trepaneringsritualen fame, my go-to guy for mastering and with whom I also done other collaborations, and Edward Ka-spel, best known for his work with The Stone Tapes, which also includes Big City Orchestra, Phil Knight and me, and his work with The Legendary Pink Dots (maybe I should have lead with that). Together, we did a CD as Dynasty, which Mark from Extrapool liked so much that he invited us to play. Here, too, we did some intense recording sessions, which we are currently trying to mix, but it’s quite a work due to the amount of time and tracks recorded.

Because Alfred Boland keeps pushing old cassettes through my front door, grandfather’s Creedence tapes and such, I decided to do a short-lived label, Kringloop Kassettes. I used old paper I found for the covers when I cleared out Felix Hess’ house. In November, I did another run, and next year, a third batch, maybe even a fourth, depending on the influx of old cassettes.

Mentioning Felix Hess. Mark Poysden and I are the curators of his legacy. Dead Mind Records released a best-of of his ‘Frogs’ cassettes, and Mark and I are considering a 10 CD with all of his work in one box—hopefully, something we’ll release in 2025.

Bass Communion & Modelbau photo by Rick Sanders
Dynasti photo by Erik Gibbels

releases this year

[Modelbau]
‘Now: Zero’ on Homework Year 9 (download, Taalem)

[Kapotte Muziek]
USE NOW (cassette, no label, edition of 20 copies)

[Modelbau]
‘Mechanical Shadows Of The Fading Light’ on taâlem advent calendar 2024 (24x 3″CDR by Taâlem)

[Kapotte Muziek]
untitled live recording from a concert on 30 December 2023 on ‘Partikel’ (CD, Licht-ung)

[Modelbau]
FADING (cassette, Kringloop Kassettes 011, edition of 32 copies)

[Modelbau]
1X33.3 (CDR, Love Earth Music 364)

[Modelbau]
SCUM (miniCDR, Inner Demons ind0194, edition of 42 copies)

[Frans de Waard & Sindre Bjerga & Fabio Orsi]
COUNTING BACKWARDS FROM ∞ (CDR, Attenuation Circuit ACU 1070, edition of 100 copies)

[Modelbau & Matt Atkins]
THE DECONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE (cassette, Moonside Tapes)

[Modelbau]
MYTHS OF THE NEAR FUTURE (cassette, Econore, edition of 20 copies)

[Modelbau]
GROEF (CDR, Ballast ballastnvp065, edition of 47 copies)

[Modelbau]
BLACKOUT (LP, Love Earth Music, LEM 328)

[Modelbau & Howard Stelzer]
WE AGREE (cassette, Kringloop Kassettes 002, edition of 26 copies)

[Modelbau]
SINGLE STREAM (cassette, Kringloop Kassettes 002, edition of 26 copies)

[Modelbau / Steffan de Turck]
Zweites Treffen (undefiniert) (split CDR, Kirigirisu Recordings kgr043, edition of 30 copies)

America’s Greatest Noise

The next book on Korm Plastics contains no photographs of the artists, no list of released records, no pictures of record sleeves, and no footnotes. It is not a hardcover, not on glossy paper and is not expensive.

‘America’s Greatest Noise’ tells the story of Ron Lessard, owner of RRRecords, a record store in Lowell, Massachusetts and, from 1986 to 2009, a record label, releasing the albums of Blackhouse, F/i, PGR, the first Merzbow LP outside Japan and many more, regional compilations, three widely acclaimed lock groove records and a series of anti-records, records with no music but a more conceptual and visual edge. RRRecords is also responsible for the RRRecycled Music series, which has over 300 releases on re-purposed cassettes.

Ron Lessard played music with his group Due Process and solo as Emil Beaulieau. Up until his retirement from the noise scene in 2006, he played many concerts and released a string of cassettes, LPs, and CDs. During his concerts, Lessard dressed up like a businessman and used a four-armed turntable, dubbed the Minutoli, and his performances were comical.

In this book, he tells for the first time his story in music about the highs and lows of running a label and a record store, weird projects, unfinished projects, encounters with other musicians, being on the road, and much more. Also included are two appendices: one with interviews from the past (fanzines and websites) and a chapter from Michael Tau’s ‘Extreme Music’ about the anti-records released by RRRecords.

Images used were sourced from flyers, invitations and fanzines. Introduction by Dominick Fernow (Prurient, Hospital Productions)

The first 1000 copies come with an anti-flexi, cutting up a conversation about anti-records between Ron Lessard and the author of the book, Frans de Waard. Cut up by Howard Stelzer. You may use this flexi as a bookmark.

Paperback book, 144 pages, black and white images. Design by Alfred Boland

Ships after July 1st; official release date: July 5th (if you know, you know)

Price
The Netherlands/Germany: 16 euro postage included
Europe: 18 euro postage included
The rest of the world: 21 euro postage included

two ways of paying;

Banktransfer is always preferred;
(RABONL2U) IBAN NL25 RABO 0167 8338 55 from F.W.F. de Waard
send an email to info@kormplastics.nl with your address

Or, if you can’t resist, Paypal, but, IMPORTANT: please use the friends/family option. Elon Musk doesn’t need any more of our money. If you want buyer protection, add 2 euros to the 21 euros for Paypal costs: https://www.paypal.me/FdeWaard;
send an email to info@kormplastics.nl with your address

if you want to order multiple copies or combine this order with other book(s), please inquire about postage first; send an email to info@kormplastics.nl

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