Schallwelle Awards & "PrimiTiveS" update

Dominique Perrier, Hans-Hermann Hess
and Michel van Osenbruggen at the
Schallwelle Preisverleihung.

Last Saturday I have been at the Schallwelle Preisverleihung at the Zeiss Planetarium in Bochum. This time not as one of the nominees. An advantage of this was that there were no nerves of having any chance to win a price myself. So time to relax and enjoy the ceremony and the nice concerts by Thomas Lemmer and Steve Baltes.
However, I was sort of involved, as the French formation Space Art was nominated into two categories where they could win an award. Their third mentioning was on the tenth position in the category 'Best Album International'. Unfortunately, Dominique Perrier and his fellow-musicians didn't receive one of the awards. However, congratulations to all 'winners' for each category:

Newcomer:
1. Nisus  2. Erren Fleissig Schoettler und Steffen 3. Vraigaist
Neuentdeckung:
1. Sankt Otten 2. Space Art 3. Akasha Project
Album International:
1. Glenn Main - Ripples 2. Nooten, Pieter - Surround us 3. Boddy, Ian & Erik Wøllo - Frontiers 4. VoLt - Circuits 5. Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder - Red 6. Morpheusz - Garden Gnomes & Goblins 7. Eno, Brian - Lux 8. Lamp - The Three Towers 9. Kebu - To Jupiter and Back 10. Space Art - Space Art Tribute
Album National: 1. Loom - Scored 2. Picture Palace music - Indulge the Passion 3. Brückner, Michael - 100 Million Miles Under the Stars 4. Schroyder, Steve & Alien Voices - Qigong Dancing 5. BatteryDead - Sands of Deception 6. Reckzeh, Uwe - Mirror Images 7. Schiller - Sonne 8. Sankt Otten - Sequencer Liebe 9. Moonbooter - Cosmophonica 10. Erbe, Stefan - Emotiondesign
Künstler International: 1. VoLt 2. Glenn Main 3. Boddy, Ian & Erik Wøllo 4. Space Art 5. van der Heijden, Erik 6. Boots, Ron 7. Kebu 8. Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder 9. Eno, Brian 10. Morpheusz
Künstler National: 1. Picture Palace music 2. Erbe, Stefan 3. Schiller 4. Matzumi 5. Sankt Otten 6. Kistenmacher, Bernd 7. Schulze, Klaus 8. Schroyder, Steve & Alien Voices 9. Rainbow Serpent 10. F.D.Project

This weekend also the masters for "PrimiTiveS" (the forthcoming collaboration album by Synth.nl (Michel van Osenbruggen) and me) have been finished. Thanks a lot to Wouter Bessels, who did a great job with this! Yesterday these masters have been sent to the factory, so all we can do at this stage is to concentrate on the promotion and related issues. You can already expect the first airplay within the coming days.
In the meanwhile Michel is also working on a 3D-animation preview of the album to present at the E-Day Festival (which will go on luckily (see my previous post)), on April 6th. Hopefully this is ready in time.
While I am working on my artists website www.exhibitionofdreams.com (which should finally be online at the beginning of April), you can already listen to excerpts from the forthcoming "PrimiTiveS" album on my label's website: www.desertedislandmusic.nl.

Important AKH Records & E-Day 2013 news

And here's something which I have also been involved into recently:

January 1st I quit my function at AKH Records v.o.f.

In 1999 Ewout Koek and I established AKH Records, with the release of my debut "Exhibition of Dreams".

We decided to make a compilation of tracks which I recorded in the two preceding years, and release it as double cd-r. The release was distributed in small quantities, and it didn't take too long before all copies were sold out.

Before having the chance to make a re-pressing, a copy got in hands of Dutch electronic music label and mailorder company Groove Unlimited, and it was decided that an official cd was to be released.

Winfrid Trenkler hands over the

Schwingungen Price.

In first instance there were ideas to make a one-cd compilation containing the best tracks of "Exhibition of Dreams", but because it was actually meant to be a double-cd, there was chosen to release an entire new album, containing new and yet unreleased music: "The Art of Imagination". This became the first official release on AKH Records; a co-operation with Groove Unlimited.

With this album, I received the third price in the category 'Best Newcomer Electronic Music' at the 2001 edition of the well-acclaimed German Schwingungen Festival, hosted by Winfrid Trenkler.

The first AKH release:
REMY - "Exhibition of Dreams"

In September 2000, together with this first official release, AKH Records was registered officially at the Chamber of Commerce.
Until 2012 we have released 12 official albums, as well as 7 special editions, containing music by REMY, Sutrastore, Iuno, Fractional, Lebenswelt and After Affects.
We also did part of the distribution and sales for Soapkills, Francis Rimbert and Dominique Perrier / Space Art.
Last years our musical interests and purposes with AKH Records started to differ more and more, which finally resulted in the logical ending of our cooperation with AKH Records v.o.f.

Ewout continues AKH Records on his own and I will completely focus on my own music and my Deserted Island Music label, which was established back in 2011.

My albums which have been released on AKH Records are still available from AKH Records, as well as from Deserted Island Music.

Releases by Francis Rimbert and Dominique Perrier / Space Art can not be obtained anymore from AKH Records, but are exclusively available from Deserted Island Music. The music of Soapkills is being distributed exclusively by AKH Records.

For now, from my side, there is going on a lot. A couple of projects in the background (e.g. preparations for new releases and performances) of which you will hear more very soon. As you might know, the first upcoming fact will be the "PrimiTiveS" album release by Synth.nl and me, which will be released on the Groove Unlimited label on April 6th.
This conincides with the E-Day Festival, to be held at Theater De Enck in Oirschot. Ticket sales for this annual festival seems to be dissapointing until now, so if you read this, please consider this very nice festival, offering some concerts with the finest electronic music, stray and facilitate musicians which are definitely willing to have a nice chat with you and pose together with you for a nice picture to put above your bed.

At the E-Day Festival

Also a variety of electronic music labels and musicians have a stall where their music is being sold. And if you are kind enough to them, they might even want to sign their albums for you. Information and ticket sales: http://e-live.groove.nl/
I will also have a stall with my Deserted Island Music, where my music, as well as the new "PrimiTiveS" album can be obtained.
Really hope to see you there!

"PrimiTiveS" final stage

"PrimiTiveS"
Last weekend Michel van Osenbruggen (aka Synth.nl) and I completed the final mixes from our forthcoming "PrimiTiveS" album release. It was a very exhausting part of the process, only listening very focussed to every detail, and trying to trace any kind of unwanted clicks or errors which might eventually appear. After last Monday's final listening check there can be concluded that everything sounds excellent.
In the meanwhile Wouter Bessels started his mastering and post-productional activities.
Exactly one month to go for the release and presentation at the E-Day Festival in Oirschot. Really looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

Here is a render of the artwork, created by Michel:

To give you an impression what the album sounds like, there will be uploaded some excerpts on my websites within the coming days.

For all of you who have a Facebook account, and haven't yet seen photos of our previous sessions in the Apollo Studio, check out Michel's photo album.

And... the album can already be pre-ordered from Groove Unlimited.

Another very productive "Primitives" studio session

Last weekend was a very productive and intensive one, having worked for two days in a row in the Apollo Studio with Michel (Synth.nl) for the production of our "Primitives" album.
Although we are in the final stage of the process, there still is a lot of work to do.
Everything is absolutely manageable, but we really need to tune both our schedules as efficiently as possible the coming 4-5 weeks.
We now particulairy focussed on the mixing of two tracks which needed most attention. They also got a nice boost with the addition of some extra solos and effects.
And unfortunately we have had an very unexpected technical issue with another track, which took a lot of our precious time. Luckily, this morning I received a phonecall from Michel that he fixed the problems.

Another part of our recent session also consisted of discussing the mastering and post-production process with Wouter Bessels.
Wouter (who has been doing the mastering for my solo albums since 2008) is going to concentrate on this final phase of our project, before the audio master is being sent to the factory.

Next month we should  at least have two more studio sessions to complete "Primitives", and in the meanwhile Michel and I both will make some more adjustments in our own studios.

2013

The first update of 2013! While last year my musical output was mainly noticeable by means of the concerts I did, this year I am also planning some other concrete activities.

While working on the video montage of the Great Church performance I did last year with Ron Boots, I am also in the final phase of the production process of the "Primitives" album with Synth.nl.
This weekend we will work together again on the mixes and discuss the mastering process, which will be done by Wouter Bessels.
Currently we are perfectly on schedule for our release at E-Day, on April 6th, so I am really excited for the final result of 1,5 years of work. The album will be released by Groove Unlimited (www.groove.nl).

Another issue I have been involved into lately was quitting my activities at my own established label AKH Records. My compagnion continues the label on his own.
Detailed information about this will follow soon, as there still have to be arranged some formal things.
Now I can finally focus on my Deserted Island Music label, which I started in 2011.

Furthermore I am near completion of my artist website www.exhibitionofdreams.com, which should be online early February.

Like last year, I will again be involved into activities by the French formation "Space Art".
In continuation of their succesful and well-acclaimed 2012 European promotional tour, Dominique Perrier and his band prepare a complete concert concept to perform later this year. I hope to reveal more information soon.
With the intensive touring of last year, as well as the new album release, Space Art have been nominated for the German Schallwelle Awards (in the categories "Best Artist International" and "Best Album International").
And how nice: I am also nominated in the category "Best Artist International".
Everyone can vote once, and voting is still possible until the end of this month: http://voting.schallwelle-preis.de/

Remy & Synth.nl - Primitives

First of all I would like to take the opportunity to wish all of you a great Christmas and all the best - in good health - for another fascinating musical year to come, 2013.

Yesterday, Michel van Osenbruggen and I worked on the artwork and album credits of our collaboration album "Primitives". Michel really did an excellent job creating the 3D artwork. Here you can see the cover:

With the - finally - set release date of April 6th, 2013 (at the E-Day Festival in Oirschot), we will have a couple of more weeks for the final mixing, editing and mastering.
It's nice to know that our project is nearing completion, since we did our first recordings back in August 2011.

The album will be released by Groove Unlimited (www.groove.nl). Stay tuned for pre-order information, tracklisting and soundclips.

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!