Mäläskä - First Day of Spring [new album release]

For April 11th there are scheduled three new album releases on my Deserted Island Music label:

- Mäläskä - First Day of Spring
- REMY - The Other Side
- Space Art - Entrevues

I will spotlight each of these albums on this blog within next couple of days.
Starting with the new release of Mäläskä: the improviational project of Petter Janse and me.

Pre-order your copy from www.desertedislandmusic.nl

First 50 physical orders include a free poster!



Mäläskä - First Day of Spring

Deserted Island Music | DIM-009 | CD and digital download | Release date: April 11th, 2020

Then we felt the wind.
And we knew that this was an omen of things to come.
We’d let go of our luggage and personal belongings.
Then we threw away the map and the book of rules that kept us on well-known roads.
We’d forget all rhythms and melodies that attached us to the old world.
For the first time we felt freedom.
This energy inspired us.
It was the first day of spring.
From ‘The secret teachings of Gerhard Schultz’

TRACKLIST
1. First Day of Spring
2. Dialogue Between Birches and Oaks
3. Song for the World
4. Die Morgenlandfahrt
5. Green Glasses Don’t Make the World Green
6. Crisis? What Crisis?
7. Dawn for the Pollution Eating Elves
8. In Loving Memory

THE ALBUM
From November 29th to December 2nd, 2019, Petter Janse (guitar, electronics and stuff) and Remy Stroomer (synthesizers, sequencing and stuff) locked themselves into a house in the small village Jannum, in the Dutch province of Friesland. They brought a large amount of equipment which was put in the right place in the living room, all cables were connected, and from the moment there was any sound, the recorder was turned on. Within the next days, Petter and Remy recorded 11 hours of unprepared improvisations. Joined by Bas Broekhuis (drums and percussion) on the final day.

Although the musical output was quite varied, the over-all loom state of mind during these days resulted into the ambient mood of the tracks selected for First Day of Spring.

Anyone should listen to the music to know what it sounds like, however, the musical content has already been described as ‘classical electronic music of the future’ by one of the very early listeners. This soundtrack sets the mood for this year’s first day of spring.



THE STORY SO FAR
Petter Janse (Rotterdam, 1963) and Remy Stroomer (Haarlem, 1979) are the core of the improvisational act Mäläskä since 2016.
Their first creative studio sessions instantly resulted into the well-received debut album Uncle Jim’s Cidney Factory. A soundtrack about party animals and dropouts at an American college.
After their first offense, Petter and Remy invited various artists to join their studio and live sessions, resulting into fruitful collaborations with Thomas Betzler (drums and percussion), Tristan ‘Lama Waaien’ (bass), Joost Verhagen (vocals) and Bas Broekhuis (drums and percussion).

Since Mäläskä’s establishment, the formation performed several times in the Netherlands, Germany and U.K. Own evenings, festivals, as well as support shows for Acid Mothers Temple and Monomyth.
From the very start, the promise of Mäläskä has been affirmed through international reviews and airplay.
With this second album release and some upcoming shows, Mäläskä threw away the map and the book of rules that kept them on well-known roads.

Bas Broekhuis, Petter Janse, and a lot of equipment in the living room.

Environmental view from the house in Jannum.

Planet of the Arps

It's been a while ago since 2017's "Return of Planet X".

Now, in 2019, it is finally time again for a new release. To start with.

To kick off, I am presenting a project of 8+ years in the making: my ambient side project "Planet of the Arps". Featuring Roksana Vikaluk and Wolfram Spyra.

Back in July 2010 I recorded the first version of an ambient music piece. It became a trip of one hour which might be at some points in the line of my solo work, but I decided that this project was about to be presented as an ambient side-project. To be called “Planet of the Arps”.

The name refers to the musical phenomenon arpeggio (whether or not produced by an arpeggiator), Halton Arp and his Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, Alan R. Pearlman and his legendary ARP-synthesizers, and it might be clear that it also winks to the “Planet of the Apes” science fiction franchise.

Flyer for the Planetarium
Bochum concert.

As soon as the first version of the music piece was recorded, I had in mind to involve a fellow musician to contribute to this project, as I felt it needed an extra touch before it eventually could be released.
When the Ricochet Gathering event took place in Berlin, in October 2010, I asked Wolfram Spyra to be part of this ambient work. Although ‘Der Spyra’ wanted to work on it, there seemed to be lack of time, and above all we both had other priorities at that moment. The project was set aside for the time being.

When I was invited to perform at the Zeiss Planetarium in Bochum (Germany),  September 15th 2012, I decided to perform this particular piece of music. Simply because it was about to fit perfectly on this location. Some additions and edits were made, and during this solo concert version 2.0 was established.

Wolfram Spyra, Roksana Vikaluk and Remy performing
"Planet of the Arps" live at the Ruïne van Brederode.

Then, almost two years passed since then, when I organised a concert evening at the Ruins of Brederode in Santpoort-Zuid (Netherlands), June 27th, 2014. For the line-up I programmed my band at that time, Free Arts Lab, as well as Wolfram Spyra.
To conclude the evening, the idea came in mind to do an improvisation around an edited version of “Planet of the Arps”.
Which took place in a different way I had in mind. Due to circumstances there was no time to rehearse the collaborational session, and just before the show it was decided that Spyra’s partner in crime and singer Roksana Vikaluk was about to join. Resulting into a 20 minutes live version of “Planet of the Arps”, in an entirely improvised setting. The outcome was, so to say, really exciting. Musically, as well as atmospheric, everything seemed to fall into its place.

"Planet of the Arps" cover artwork.

Hereafter it again took a while - more than 4 years - before it was decided that “Planet of the Arps” should get the release in its current form:
The original piece, remixed and sublemented with elements from the live performances.
Let’s see it as a project which needed this time to evolve, and to result into the version to be heard on this “Planet of the Arps”.

"Planet of the Arps" is available for pre-ordering from www.desertedislandmusic.nl.
Release date is April 6th, where the cd will be presented at the E-Day Festival in Oirschot.

From this point on, stay tuned for more exciting upcoming news.
Including the celebration of the 20th anniversary of my debut "Exhibition of Dreams" later this year, as well as an entirely new REMY solo studio album.

Live ambient at the Vishal

My setup with Grote
of St.Bavokerk view.

It should be the beginning of a series of ambient concerts to be organised in the Vishal, situated in front of the Grote of St.Bavokerk / Great Church of Haarlem. I was approached by Joost Verhagen of the Haarlemse Popscene to accompany Belgian ambient act Premonition Factory (aka Sjaak Overgauw) for the kick off of this special "Visfest" event at this excellent location, which definitely has great potentional to make its continuation in 2013.
The exhibition space in the centre of Haarlem offers perfect ambiance and acoustics to fit with the kind of music that was performed yesterday.
At this moment there has been exposed art by Piet Zwaanswijk and Gerrit van Dijk. Prominent Haarlem artist Gerrit van Dijk passed away recently (December 4th), yet wishing the organisation good luck with yesterday's event. Also with approval of his family the performances luckily weren't due to be cancelled.

Co-organiser Peter Stufkens started the afternoon with a talk about the current exhibition, as well as a short history about the origin of ambient music. Accompanied with a demonstration on his Korg Monotron.


Premonition Factory.

After this I started my set of approximately 50 minutes. From the beginning the ambiance felt very comfortable and - also because of the kind of location and the seated area - the 20-30 people audience attended the atmospheric circumstances in absolute silence. The perfect circumstances for a musician!
My setlist:
1. Opening (from "i-Dentity")
2. new untitled track
3. Return of Planet X - part 5 (from the Great Church performance, May 2012)



Me and Sjaak Overgaauw.

As soon as I was finished, Premonition Factory started his gig, which contained (in contrast with my more sequencer-based tracks) pure ambient. Excellent atmospheric music with subtile changes within the tracks to keep everything very interesting for the 45 minutes of the set. Really enjoyed!

After this second concert the successful afternoon ended and I really hope (and actually assume, according to the over-all reactions of the audience, the organisation and the Vishal crew) this kind of events will see a continuation on regular base at this location.

Thanks a lot for the organisation / Haarlemse Popscene, the Vishal crew, Sjaak Overgaauw, and all visitors to make this happen. Already looking very forward to a next edition!