Deserted Island Music label night

Yesterday it was time for the first Deserted Island Music label night.
The label I am running since 2011, and which has been expanded with various electronic music artists in recent years. So a good reason to present some of these artists live for an audience.

When I got the opportunity and confirmation to organize this evening at the pop-up location of the basement of the former V&D warehouse building in the center of Haarlem, I accepted this immediately. And then I had to set this all up in just one month. Besides all time and energy I put in promoting the event via social media, my label's newsletter, distributing flyers, and various other ways, I had the privilege to also get backing from connections related to local radio and newspaper on this short term.

This location has always been a nostalgic place for me, as I used to explore, listen and buy a lot of music and equipment, in the 90s and early 00s.
After January 2026 the location is most likely to be transformed into a permanent bicycle shed. In the meanwhile De Kelder ('The Basement', logical wise connected to the temporary venue) was set up to become an underground club for only three months.

Yesterday, November 13th, the moment was there!
Live on stage were Martijn Comes, Däcker & Skoulaman, Mäläskä and Feralia Planitia, taking off on 21:00, and ending at exactly 1:00.
Four live acts with totally different musical output, resulted into a nice variety of electronic music.
In between the concerts Basic Principles (who could not be here due to holidays) was featured on the video screen, performing brand new music as well as parts from his "Colours" album, exclusively recorded for this occasion.

Martijn Comes kicked off, but not before all visitors sang for his birthday. Then 40 minutes of dark ambient and deep drones passed in review. Partially outtakes from his sci-fi multimedia project "Frixtis", partially new music. Heavy and dark, but lovely stuff!

Followed by part 1 of three 10-15 minutes outtakes from Basic Principles' video concert. Recorded in his home studio, making use of synthesizers, a modular system, and various effects. Decorated with trippy visuals and lights.

Soundcheck.

Then, Däcker & Skoulaman improvised around their recent "Saudade" collaboration. A real treat for everyone who loves classic electronic music in the vein of Vangelis and Klaus Schulze. Yet recognisable, but sounding fresh. Always a pleasure to hear their musical output.

After Basic Principles part 2, I performed myself as part of the third act of the evening: Mäläskä. It was really exciting to make music again with this formation after quite a while, and even more because of a different line-up. Alongside Petter (guitar and looper), myself (synths) and usual suspect Tristan 'Lama Waaien' (bass guitar), we also invited Wouter Schaatsbergen on violin, with whom we have never played or rehearsed before. Got really inspired by this combination, which was built up slowly. And then, initially in the audience, it was spontaneously communicated during the - again fully improvised - gig that Joost Verhagen jumped in with his vocals, during the more energetic second part of the show.

After part 3 of the Basic Principles concert, it was already time for the final act of the evening: Feralia Planitia. As always, she delivered an energetic electro-set, which even got the remaining visitors dancing on the beats. 

Because the policy of De Kelder, it was not allowed to make photos and videos, so all attendees got a sticker on the camera of their mobile phones. I sneaked some, but please don't tell anybody! Luckily a photographer and camera man were present to capture the evening. Looking forward a lot to see and hear the results.

Despite the in first instance not-so-ideal time to organize this event (Thursday evening from 21:00 until 1:00), around 80 people found their way to the basement. In the end it all fitted, and worked out better than hoped for.

Although organizing an event is always time consuming, I felt rather relaxed on both the preparatory month, as on the day and evening itself. So I fully enjoyed every second of it! Also thanks to the De Kelder crew, as well as everyone else involved did their task brilliantly. So no issues, outside some random freezing of the video projector, while the laptop was still running. But hey, an event without technical problems is not an event!

So thanks a lot to everyone at De Kelder for their help and hospitality, the musicians who all managed to put on a great show, Micha (sound), Nausikaä de Blaauw (photography), David Smelik (video) and Paulien Bouw (merch sales and support), and last but not least everyone who visited the Deserted Island Music label night. Without any of you this evening could not have been successful.

Next stop: De Keuken at the Pletterij on Monday November 17th, where I will also have a stage appearance together with Däcker. We are going to give a preview of our upcoming collaborational project, due for April 2026.
Visit https://pletterij.nl/events/de-keuken-diy-broedplaats-4/ for details and tickets.

Awakenings #98 (All-Dayer)

A couple of months ago Peter Dekker (Däcker) and Hans van Kroonenburg (Skoulaman) were confirmed as part of the line-up of the 98th edition of the Awakenings electronic music concert series.
Not to be confused with the Dutch dance festival with the same name, but the English - quite underground - traditional electronic music event, to be held several times a year since 2004, at the current location of Lea Hall Social Club in Rugeley.

Shortly after the confirmation of Däcker and Skoulaman's appearance, the idea rose that I could also be part of the line-up. Which came together nicely, as their first collaboration was going to be released on my Deserted Island Music label, as well as I was already working on some new solo material.
Then, it had already been a while since I performed there. The first time in 2012, with a REMY solo performance, followed by appearances in 2014 (with Free Arts Lab) and 2017 (with Mäläskä).
The first of these were at the Paget High School in Burton-on-Trent, and the 2017 and current editions took place at Lea Hall Social Club in Rugeley.

So I was added to the list of performers, as part of the Awakenings All-Dayer.
The All-Dayer takes place once a year, and features five live acts during the day and evening, instead of the 'regular' two or three artist editions.

As the festival took place on Saturday, November 25th, Peter, Hans, my wife Paulien and I travelled to the U.K. by ferry one day earlier.
Peter and Hans stayed the night at Steve Whitlan's (fellow musician, and also involved into the Awakenings concerts) place. Paulien went to visit some friends, where we were invited to stay.

The next day was concert day. Because we all had to travel another 3,5 to 4 hours to the venue, we should have left far too early in the morning to be in time at the build-up time of 10:00. Instead, we arrived slightly past 13:00, when the opener of the Awakenings All-Dayer, Ashok Prema, just started his performance. Ashok and I had been on the same stage before, also during Awakenings, back in 2014, so it was a pleasure to meet again after his performance.
As the 'stage' was already full of equipment for the three acts playing the afternoon (Bouvetoya and Monkey Trial followed), we got the opportunity to set up our gear in the large break, between 17:00 and 19:00. So more than enough time to get everything working.

Photo by Phil Booth.

The evening program / my concert took off at 19:00, and improvised about one hour around new music, potentially for my next solo album, due for 2026.
After a short break Däcker and Skoulaman entered the stage and did their improvisation, including some themes and sequences from their just released "Saudade" collaboration album.
I slightly got lost in time, but I thought their part of the evening lasted for 70 minutes.
For an encore, I joined my two friends, and we improvised for another 15-20 minutes. I think it worked very well, keeping in mind we had never performed together before in this setting. And then an end came to the Awakenings All-Dayer 2025.

Encore. Photo by Genghis Postlethwaite.

In between the concerts I spoke to quite some people. It was a pleasure to meet a lot of you (again).
Thanks to everyone being present at this edition of Awakenings, and supported the artists and organizers by purchasing a Virtual Ticket and merchandising. Without you these kind of wonderful initiatives definitely have no right to exist.

When the hall was emptied from all equipment and cables, and our cars were packed, we parked our vehicles at our appartment, just around the corner of the venue.
Time for a drink or two and aftertalks, and finally back to our appartment when we were kicked out of the bar due to closing time.

'Afterparty' selfie with Hans, Peter, Phil, Mike and myself.

Sunday, after one hour extra sleep, because of winter time, Peter and Hans returned to Steve's home, and Paulien and I had some sightseeing in the wonderful Cambridge. Where we had plenty of time, as we only had to be at the ferry for our trip back around 21:00. After the sleep-over on the ferry, we came back home rather early the next day.

Thanks a lot to Phil Booth, Jez Creek and Dave Buxton for the organisation, and welcoming us again at their Awakenings event. It's always a pleasure to perform here.
Thanks to Peter Dekker and Hans van Kroonenburg for their good company and making music together.
And thanks to my beloved Paulien, and Hazel and her friend Phil for their hospitality. Really cool you were also there during my performance.

Remains the good luck for the 99th, and upcoming editions, and indeed the many Awakenings concert series to come! Looking forward to come back again soon!

Coming weeks there is no time to relax, as there still has to be done a lot of work for upcoming Deserted Island Music label night at the basement of the former V&D building in the center of Haarlem, on November 13th. There also has to be rehearsed for my participation together with Däcker at De Keuken at Pletterij in Haarlem, November 17th.

Visit to Brussels and Paris

Last weekend I went to Paris, together with Peter Dekker, for some business purposes.

Peter, myself and Mark at the Brussels Planetarium.

Friday, February 28th, our first stop was the Brussels Planetarium. The location where Peter Dekker, Mark de Wit and myself join forces for an evening of electronic music on June 21st. Three new albums will be presented and performed live by Peter Dekker (Synquentium - "Immersion in Total Emptiness"), Mark de Wit (Rhea - "Soon") and myself (Planet of the Arps - "Planet of the Arps 2"). Ticket sales start within coming days.

Hereafter we travelled to our hotel in Poissy, west of Paris. We were about to stay here, in the provence of Yvelines, until Monday.

A couple of months ago, Peter and I did a recording session for our next collaboration, which had also been filmed partially. To complement these recordings, and to visualize the concept connected with the music, we wanted to make film recordings on the location of Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to integrate into the video.
I will tell more about the story behind this later.
Saturday morning and early afternoon, and Sunday morning, we focussed on filming around this 12th century castle and its surroundings, 20 kilometers west from Paris, including a wonderful view of La Défense, on the other side of the forest in between.

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Then, on this same location, we had two meetings, both related to this project, as well as Space Art.

In the evening we had an appointment with Dominique Perrier's son, Jimmy. We spoke about his father, Space Art and exchanged ideas about the future (or at least about keeping alive the legendary's band's legacy). It still is too early to say something about this, but coming weeks or even months we will sorting out and digitalize various material.

Sunday afternoon we had another appointment, again with Jimmy, and Marine, on the east part of Paris. Marine also had been connected with Dominique for quite a while.

Monday after breakfast, we drove back home, and had another stop near Brussels to meet another friend.

Back home again, I have to prepare the last bits for my upcoming "Exhibition of Dreams 25th Anniversary" and Martijn Comes' "Frixtis" releases, which see the light on March 7th.