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.

Awakenings

Last Saturday it was time for the September edition of Awakenings. The electronic music event, where I performed twice before (a solo performance in 2012, and with Free Arts Lab in 2014) at the previous location in Burton-on-Trent, is now being held at Lea Hall Social Club, in Rugeley.
A smaller and more intimate venue than Paget High School.

Petter Janse and I were invited to perform here with Mäläskä last weekend.
We departed from The Netherlands on Friday morning, September 15th, took the ferry from Duinkerken, and overnighted in Folkestone, just south from Dover.

The next day we drove to Rugeley, while having a lot of heavy traffic on our way. Anyway, we were in time to get our equipment installed.

Sinewaves Light.
(Photo by Phil Booth)

The first concert, by Sinewaves Light started at 18:10, and ended at 19:00.
Mike Parrott exposed a wide variety of different touches of electronic music.
Despite the fact that the performance was technically sloppy from time to time, it contained some really good parts and themes. Very enjoyable.
The different tracks were clearly inspired by (or at least they contained clear comparisons with) the music of John Carpenter, James Horner, Vangelis, Jarre, and also featured some serious Berlin School sequences.

Infinity Curve.
(Photo by Phil Booth)

After the first break of half an hour, routiniers and frequent Awakening performers Jez Creek and Peter Challoner debuted as Infinity Curve.
Some dark and sinister ambient sound sculptures kicked off their one-hour set.
Subtle evolving and constantly emerging layers made this a very delightful and exciting listen.
After ten minutes a sequence appeared and evolved into some nice uptempo ambient.
From time to time some very subtle solo leads in the background, and also more than enough happening constantly, by means of sound effects, structures and samples.
After every following sequence part, another ambient passage made the bridge to the next sequencer sections.
Excellently balanced, great sounds, interesting layering, and brilliant sequencing. Really awesome!

Mäläskä.
(Photo by Phil Booth)

Then another 30 minutes break (in which we checked the final technical things) before Petter and I made our appearance.

We set off with some soundscapes, after which the first sequencing was done. Alternated with atmospheric passages.

A short impression from the first part of our gig can be seen here.

After a little longer than one hour we finished our set. At that point Petter suggested that I should do an encore on my own. So I started an improvised piano piece. Ending up with some more sequencing.
No idea what our output sounded like, but I will listen to the recordings within the coming days.

Unfortunately it was not the best visited edition of Awakenings ever. On the other side, many people did buy a virtual ticket, and supported the event this way. Which is much appreciated.
In any way we have had a great weekend; it was really good to be back!

Thanks to all who visited the concerts, and bought virtual tickets.
And many thanks to Phil Booth, Dave Buxton and everyone involved.

Mäläskä live at Awakenings

Mäläskä - the improvisation project together with guitar player Petter Janse - are invited to play at the Awakenings concert series in Rugeley, U.K., September 16th.

Free Arts Lab live at the Awakenings All-Dayer, 11-10-2014.
Photo by Phil Booth

Petter and I already performed here (although on the previous location of Burton-on-Trent) with Free Arts Lab in 2014, and I debuted with a solo concert back in 2012.

This edition's complete line-up also includes Infinity Curve and Sinewaves Light.

In the meanwhile I am preparing visuals. The hard part of this is that we never know the output of our gigs in advance, so hopefully I can manage to create something that fits within the development of the things we are going to create live.

Last week Petter and I already made adjustments in our setup, and later this week we will have a final rehearsal.

For tickets and information, visit www.awakenings-em.co.uk
 

or the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1413084412106266/?ti=as

Note that every ticket includes virtual ticket. Which means you will get the recordings of all performances in your mailbox afterwards. So if you buy a ticket, even if you are not able to attend the event, you directly support all performing artists. And you get something exclusive in return.

Awakenings All-Dayer

On the road.

Two and a half years after my debut at the Awakenings Festival, I was being asked to perform here again. This time as part of the All-Dayer. Which is the final edition of the season.
On the four evenings of this festival earlier this year, three acts entered the stage. The All-Dayer (as you might expect) is spread over the whole day. Offering three acts in the afternoon, and three in the evening.
In 2012 I performed solo, and because I am involved into Free Arts Lab at this moment, I decided to perform with Jeroen Hagen and Petter Janse at this edition, when I was being invited.

Arriving at Dover.

Friday, October 10th early in the morning we loaded our van with all equipment and headed to Calais to take the ferry to Dover. Before midnight we arrived at our hotel in Derby, and before going to sleep we had a drink at a local bar in the centre of Derby.

Saturday, October 11th, right after breakfast, we drove to Paget High School in Burton upon Trent where we unloaded our van and enjoyed the concerts throughout the day, which started around 13:00.
Six concerts varying in length in between 40 and 70 minutes, with intervals of 15 minutes in between each of them.

John Sherwood opened this third edition of the Awakenings All-Dayer with his musical creations which could be categorized somewhere in between ambient and minimal. A nice ambient start, and later on sequencers. Unfortunately it lacked any progress within the tracks and musically and performance-wise it couldn't catch me.

The set by Jah Buddha (aka Bob Hedger) mainly consisted of strong and driven Berlin School sequencing, and from time to time typical solos. Excellent layering of sequences, great and well chosen sounds and very interesting progress during his set. Absolutely recommended and highly enjoyable for the ears.

Ion, a three-piece formation, headlined the afternoon session. Starting their set with soothing ambient, blended with elements of dreamy new age. After this, an uptempo track, more ambience and then another energetic and exotic eastern-influenced track featuring a belly dancer. Continued by a cheezy English folk song  featuring (out of tune) flute and violin. The following uptempo tracks luckily did forget its precedor.
Although the band's presentation was chaotic, they delivered a nice set. Accompanied with from time to time nice visuals.

Soundcheck.

Then a long break followed in which we setup our equipment and did our soundcheck.

Ashok Prema continued the programme at 19:00. Because we had to change clothes I missed a large part of it. The part I heard contained nice music, with a lot of Hindi influences. The trio played their tracks without intermissions in between, so it was a nice constant listen. Very melodic, clear themes and well chosen and characteristic sounds. Only the two younger keyboard players could have played slightly more accurate and convincing.

Free Arts Lab. (c) Phil Booth.

20:00 it was time for us.
Our second Free Arts Lab performance in this formation, and although we did a satisfying try-out last week, we were very excited to learn how our music was going to be received by the audience. As well sound- as performance-wise.
We were a bit overwhelmed by all positive vibes and reactions of the audience. Still I have some points of attention for our performance and setup, but I think the audience didn't notice most of that. We left the stage very satisfied.

Directly after our show, I was honoured to get officially accepted as part of the Awakenings-family, and was very surprised to receive a delicious birthday-cake. Complete with lighted candles. Thanks a lot!

Then it was time for Audiometria, who came over all the way from Tenerife to debut at Awakenings.

A couple of months ago Radio Massacre International should have headlined the festival, but due to health reasons of bandmember Gary, the Canary Island duo was invited in place.
Miguel and Javi performed a typical traditional electronic music set. With a lot of power sequencing.
Intermissed with some ambient pieces layered with virtuoso piano solos. It is always a pleasure to notice that there are schooled musicians around who are capable of doing just that little bit more. Really nice!
And then again... Deep and powerful sequencing which definitely should appeal everyone who is into electronic music. Excellent headliner!

My synthesizers setup.

My second Awakenings experience was again a very positive one. Musically seen there was offered a varied programme. The number of visitors was ok (somewhere in between 30 and 40), but could have been slightly higher. In any case it again was an absolute pleasure to perform at this event and venue.

The day after, we headed back home.

Rest to thank the organisation and crew (Phil Booth, Jez Creek and Dave Buxton), volunteer girls from the catering and all people who were present this day and/or supported by buying a virtual ticket.

The coming time we will focus on Free Arts Lab's future plans and activities. To be continued...

Free arts Lab in concert

Yesterday evening we did a very satisfying final session with Free Arts Lab before some upcoming gigs.
The last months we have been rehearsing really a lot, and since our first performance together (although this was meant as support to a REMY gig) at Theater De Wegwijzer in January, I think we are evolving into the right direction.
Within the last months, we decided to work on my music as the core of Free Art's Lab set (at least for the moment), and adjusted the setlist to create a stable basis, so all musicians have the opportunity to get comfortable with the music.
From here on it is the intention to extend all musician's individual input and influences, which might eventually lead to new musical creations. Which already is the case with our improvisational intermissions, which evolve into something completely different, each time we play through our set.

At this moment Jeroen, Petter and I prepared a 70-minute solid show, accompanied with exclusively created visuals by Sietse Bruggeling. The musical content was premiered at the Ruins of Brederode, during "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition", 3 months ago. and now, there are some more upcoming concerts, of which the first two have been confirmed:

October 3rd

Try-out concert @ Debat- en cultuurcentrum De Pletterij, Haarlem
Tickets: €5, reservation required
http://pletterij.nl/index.php?page=12

October 11th

Awakenings All-dayer @ Paget High School, Burton on Trent, U.K.
Tickets (includes VT with the complete recordings of all concerts): £30
http://www.awakenings-em.co.uk

It would be great to share our musical adventure with you at these or any of our future gigs!

Free Arts Lab update

It might have seemed rather silent around Free Arts Lab, but the last weeks we have been very busy making music in my studio.

In first instance Jeroen, Martijn and I rehearsed for recent "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition".

After this event it was decided that Martijn would go into an other direction after we discussed the band's future plans.

While preparing for the upcoming Awakenings gig in the U.K. (Burton-on-Trent, October 11th), as well as other future performances, Petter Janse joined Free Arts Lab, after a couple of try-out sessions.
Petter is an experienced and wide-oriented composer and guitar player.
According to me and Jeroen, the new collaboration feels like an excellent addition to Free Arts Lab and the musical output our band would like to achieve.

But there is more!
Besides the musical developments, Sietse Bruggeling did a great effort creating and customizing visuals for Free Arts Lab's current setlist.
Within the coming period this part will be fine-tuned, but for now you can already watch a preview of this part of our show: http://vimeo.com/103143972

The next weeks we will continue rehearsing and developping their set for the upcoming shows. Any media will be updated as soon as here is something to share with you. So stay tuned!

Free Arts Lab & "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition"

The first weeks of 2014 I have been very busy with a couple of things behind the scenes.

Time for an update!

Free Arts Lab

After my performance at Theater De Wegwijzer on January 10th (see most recent blog item), we (the involved musicians: Jeroen Hagen (drums and percussion), Martijn Scholte (bowed guitar), and myself) decided that our collaboration should be continued.
Last weeks we have discussed a lot about the new formation and the things we want to do and achieve.

Initially we decided to focus on my electronic music compositions. At least for the moment.

Jeroen and Martijn add their visions, musical skills and expertise to these tracks.

Because there is a lot of space for everyone's input, and because there has already been included a large improvisational part into our setlist, it is very likely that involved musicians will also be part of the composition process in a later stage.

As part of our "Free Arts Lab" - how we named our project - we are planning to involve other musicians (with various musical backgrounds) and any kind of artists and their ideas, to experiment with various artistical points of view. At the moment, for example, we are negotiating with a video artist to create fitting images for our upcoming concerts.

With the dynamic line-up we have at the moment (in which electronic music meets a wide variety of other musical directions) we are convinced to make the rather 'niche' non-commercial electronic music genre more attractive to a larger audience.

"Free Arts Lab" is derrived from the short-lived, but highly influential, Zodiak Free Arts Lab. The famous club in Berlin, where Krautrock found its origin.
With more or less the same point of view we will try to find ways to go into different musical directions.

Coming week we start rehearsing our new set. In the first place to prepare our upcoming gig (see further below) and secondly for a series of concerts we are planning for the end of this year. Of which I can already announce our appearance at the Awakenings All-dayer, to be held at the Paget High School in Burton-on-Trent (U.K.).

I already did a solo concert here before, two years ago, and I am really looking forward to perform here  again.

Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition
As you might perhaps know I am organising an upcoming music event at the wonderful location of the Ruïne van Brederode, in Santpoort-Zuid (near Haarlem).
The complete line-up and details will be announced somewhere this week, but I can already reveal that Free Arts Lab is the opening act for "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition", which takes place on Friday evening, June 27th.

So be sure to write down this date into your agenda.

"Chill at the Castle" is an existing concept that has already been organised before at the same location. With the focus on acoustic music sessions.

When I had in mind to organise a music event at this wonderful location (which are the remains of the 13th century Brederode Castle) it was suggested by the Dimitri Arpad (from "Heerlijkheid Brederode", initiator of "Chill at the Castle"), to organise a concert evening in the line of this concept. I thought it would be better to specify this, because the focus of the upcoming edition should be on electronic music, so with electr(on)ic equipment.

Therefor we decided to call the evening "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition".

Again, all details will finally be announced within a couple of days.
As soon as there is any news, you will get to read more on my blog about "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition".
So stay tuned!