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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)