2015: Himmelhoch jauchzend zu Tode betruebt

Last year I wrote that 2014 wasn’t easy and I said that would continue into 2015. It did and no crystal ball was involved in that prediction. My mother passed away in September after being ill for close to a year. It is sad to see her go, but I’m happy all of the suffering is over, especially for my mother who hated losing her independence. This has made this a most strange year also, in which I seemed to have not as enjoyed many films, books or music. I found it hard to think of a few, but there is a list below. Also I did a lot less music it seems than other years, although since September I have been working on various new projects, such as a new flexi with source material by Michael Esposito, which is reworked by Bass Communion and Freiband. Also as Freiband I did a new piece, ‘Hot August Night’ to be released by White Paddy Mountain. Also I am returning to projects that have been laying around for some time, such as mixing my collaboration with Richard Francis, Z’EV and hopefully also more work with Howard Stelzer, which has been recorded some two years ago.

This year I talked with Mark Poysden a lot about my book on Staalplaat. His suggestions for a better grammar and wording, as well as editing made this a great book. Timeless Edition in France will be releasing this in the first quarter of 2016, along with a cover by Erik Kriek, who did the Staalplaat bags. I am very excited about this, as I consider this book as one of the best things I ever did. I never spend as much time as I did on this book as anything else in my life. Writing books is more complex than making music. Odd.

I started a new project with Jos Smolders, which, through the help of Facebook, we christened WaSm (thanks Holger for that). In December we did our first gig and Silken Tofu might be releasing a CD from us next year.

In March I will be touring with Sindre Bjerga again and we’ll also be playing together and we choose upon the name Tech Riders. Two new bands! I also left a band behind in 2015: in May I decided to leave Beequeen due to what is usually called ‘musical differences’. Our last 7″ should be in March 2016.

In 2015 I created a whole bunch of new QST pieces, which are getting better, if I may say so. I am seriously considering the possibility to play live as QST in 2016.

An unfortunate encounter I had with a Russian guy with whom I released a collaborative release, ‘Zondag’. It uses his sounds, but I did the bulk the work on it. I didn’t like that he put his name first on the released CDR. However that wasn’t what caused a rift between us, but his anti-gay stances were. His worldview seemed very limited in many aspects and while I believe everybody is free to believe whatever they want to, I have the freedom to be without them. It’s a pity, as it’s a fine release. I am happy to send everyone a free copy.

On August 8th 2014 I started to keep a diary for a year, something I wished to do for a long time, and I managed to keep this up until August 7, 2015, the day before the picture above was taken. Himmelhoch jauchzend indeed; the best party of the year!

Like I said it seemed I enjoyed not as much stuff as in other years, but I surely enjoyed this:

– I got various boxes and records from Vinyl On Demand, such as Sema, O Yuki Conjugate, Conrad Schnitzler, Portion Control and Rob Van, which were all highly appreciated.

– Second Layer – World Of Rubber 2LP with bonus material

– Various releases by Matt Krefting

– IDEA FIRE COMPANY – LOST AT SEA (LP by Recital)

– PSEUDO CODE – REMAINS TO BE HEARD VOL. 1 & 2 (2CD by EE Tapes)

– 300 BASSES – TRIA ATOMA (CD by Moving Furniture Records)

– Jim O’Rourke’s Bandcamp

– VA AA LR releases

– Asmus Tietchens

– ICE YACHT – POLE OF COLD (cassette by Fragment Factory)

– Amalgamated – various releases

– JON SHEFFIELD – SPRINGBOARDS (cassette by Obsidian Cuts)

– AKIRA RABELAIS – THE LITTLE GLASS (2CD, private)

– DENEUVE – UGLY (CD by Blowpipe)

– ANTOINE PANACHE – J’AI UN AME SOLITAIRE (cassette by Barreuh Records)

And it was great to see finally a new album by New Order, which I enjoyed a lot, however it is also a bit long. What’s wrong with your best stuff in 40 minutes? Where do they teach that albums have to be sixty or more minutes and filled with lesser pieces? Oh, well, maybe I am a grumpy old man.

I saw a bunch of concerts this year and I very much liked Sweat Tongue in Rotterdam, Steven Wilson in Utrecht and Rummelsnuff in Extrapool. Three entirely different musical events.

Although I saw lots of movies, I can’t remember of any standout, though the second season of ‘Fargo’ I really enjoyed; likewise it was with books I read. I enjoyed Chrissie Hynde’s and Kim Gordon’s autobiographies for instance, but it wasn’t that great. John Lydon’s new one comes close being great, but that’s because he talks about PIL a bit, but he could have used someone to edit the book down a bit. Their 2015 record was a dramatically bad one, though.

2015 saw the following music become available:

[Doc Wor Mirran] SYMPHONY IN A(NNOY) (CDR, Attenuation Circuit ACR 1018)

[QST] ‘B3. marilli remxd’ Marilli Remixed (download, http://banabila.bandcamp.com)

[Wieman] CRYPTONESIA (LP, ini.itu 1501)

[Shifts] FADE IN (cassette, Maneki Neko Tapes NMT 007)

[Frans de Waard] ‘Drone #2 (Extraction #1)’ on Drone Cinema 2015 (Raspberry Pi by Timemachines)

[Modelbau] KEYNOTES (businesscard CDR, Korm Digitaal 219)

[Frans de Waard] I’M FREEZING (7″ flexi disc with Michael Esposito & Frans de Waard, “Dreams of the Incorruptibles”, Korm Plastics/Phanton Plastics kp 3060)

[Frans de Waard] COURRIERE (CD, Mystery Sea MS78)

[Freiband & Bass Communion] COURAGE/COWARDICE (12″, Important Records imprec 423)

[Freiband] ‘Noise’ on ‘Listen To The Drums’ (download, Oggy Records)

[Modelbau] HYPHEN (cassette, Powdered Hearts Records ph 10)

[Frans de Waard & Howard Stelzer] FAULT (download, Korm Digitaal 214)

[Frans de Waard & Howard Stelzer] HOWEVER (cassette, Banned Production,

[Freiband] ZONDAG (CDR; material by Vitaly Maklakov) Ostroga otr 040

[Freiband] ‘Monoplain’ (3″CDR split with Kromeshna) Ostroga otr 035

[Frans de Waard] DRONE # 2 (download, Korm Digitaal 221)

[Modelbau] GETAWAY (3″CDR, Korm Digitaal 211)

[Wieman] PLAYS GOEM (CD, Kvitnu 36)

[Modelbau] DO WITHOUT (cassette, Maneki Neko Tapes MN002T)

[Frans de Waard] AFTER ALL (cassette, Copy For Your Records cfyrt 11) Collaboration with Howard Stelzer. Edition of 50 copies

[Modelbau] EXTRUSION (cassette, Bookend Recordings, BE 019) Edition of 26 copies

[Freiband] PENNY ARCADE (cassette by Vulnavia Editions, no catalogue number) split release with Tanner Garza, based on a collaboration

 

I played these concerts:

Kapotte Muziek

14-11-2015 Les Ateliers Claus, Brussel, Belgium FdW+RM

Wieman

14-11-2015 Les Ateliers Claus, Brussel, Belgium

Modelbau

01-04-2015 Occii, Amsterdam

02-04-2015 Koffie & Ambacht, Rotterdam

03-04-2015 Etalage Derde Wal, Nijmegen

05-12-2015 KuS, Heerlen

WaSm

05-12-2015 KuS, Heerlen

Beequeen

10-01-2015 Kroese, Nijmegen

07-02-2015 Vrooom, Rotterdam

Frans de Waard

27-03-2015 Vrijplaats, Leiden

 

Onwards!