Old and new stuff

It has been a while ago since my last blog. But in the meanwhile I have spent a lot of time in my studio. And I am looking forward to share old and new stuff with you on short term.

To start with, next week there will be revealed details about the upcoming celebration of the 20th anniversary of "Exhibition of Dreams".

In first instance I had a different kind of schedule for the 20th anniversary celebration of "Exhibition of Dreams". While I simultaneously have been working on a brand new studio project, I had in mind to release both "Exhibition of Dreams - 20th anniversary" and the new studio album, near the end of 2019.
One of the releases - or more likely both them - would be overshadowed or it would have caused confusion when being released at the same time.
So I decided to reserve the end of 2019 for the celebration of my debut album, and postpone the new studio album until early 2020.

As part of the anniversary celebration of the 1999 album, I considered doing a concert tour covering my musical career so far, as well as an integral performance of the entire debut album.
I struggled with this for a few reasons. With the remake of a selection of tracks from "Exhibition of Dreams" (2009) as only exception, I have never redone finished things. Ok, as part of concerts I reworked and played some of my older tracks, but furthermore I didn't feel any need to come up with another revisited version of music pieces that have been created and recorded 20 years ago. Secondly, when doing a tour of, let's say, 10-20 gigs, performing a lot of the same pieces over and over again, I get bored. I could do it without any doubt, but it simply isn't what I want to do. So I decided not to do it this way.

Instead, I came up with a valuable addition to the "Exhibition of Dreams" franchise. But more about this in my next blog.

Then, the new studio album will be more conceptual than ever before, involving a couple of artistic collaborations. First things first, so you just have to wait patiently for the exciting things to come!

Extended availability of my music

Availability of my music is extended:

All my albums released on Deserted Island Music are available from Bandcamp as digital download and physical products: https://remystroomer.bandcamp.com/music

Alongside the Deserted Island Music catalog so far, "Planet of the Arps" can now also be obtained from a large number of digital download platforms, including Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, Amazon, Deezer, Pandora, and many more.

Customers from the U.S.A. might save shipping costs when buying physical copies from CD Baby: https://store.cdbaby.com/

New studio album 2019

While my ambient side-project "Planet of the Arps" is still smoking from its recent release, the production of my upcoming studio album also nears completion. It will be the first REMY album since 2016's "Fears".

The mixes of two of the four tracks are already finished. For the other two tracks some exciting additions have recently been recorded. These tracks are currently undergoing the process of being mixed.

Although the entire album will consist of electronic music, the final album track contains vocals by two lovely singers, known from their involvement into Haarlem post-rock formation Grey Lotus:
Joost Verhagen wrote the text to second part of the 22 minutes track, and Judith Wesselius arranged the structure of the lyrics. Their appearance on the finale part of the track is a mix of singing and spoken word, resulting into a bizarre trip.

Last weekend, for the remaining energetic sequencing track there have been recorded additional drums and percussion by Bas Broekhuis.
The recorded parts are a real blast.

Within a few weeks these tracks should have been mixed. I am really excited for the final results.

In addition to the musical part, Nausikaä de Blaauw made a wonderful photo series, representing the album's art concept I have had in mind.

Within the coming weeks there will be revealed more details about the album, its concept, featured collaborations, and more.

For now, there is no release date scheduled yet, but I am aiming for the end of 2019.

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.

Ars Phantasia - La Papillone

Before announcing some exciting news before the end of the month, here already is something nice to take off upcoming activities around my music and the Deserted Island Music label within the coming months.

I am proud to do part of the distribution of the beatiful, romantic and cinematic "La Papillone". The debut by Ars Phantasia.

This fairytale for piano contains elements and atmosphere which reminds of the music of Yann Tiersen, Erik Satie and Ludovico Einaudi.
Besides the fact I love the album's content, the connection with electronic music is that the composer - who prefers to remain in the background - is musically influenced for a large part by the music of Jean Michel Jarre.
When digging into the artistic collaborations and sound engineering credits, this link is more than clear, involving some familiar names from the Jarre-team from the past.

Visit www.arsphantasia.com for all details and soundclips.

The music performed by Hitomi Nishioka on grand piano, as well as the wonderful conceptual artwork created by Lisk Feng makes this album a treat to have in your collection.

Highly recommended!

Ars Phantasia's "La Papillone" is now available for ordering from www.desertedislandmusic.com.

2019

I am wishing everyone a wonderful, prosperous, musical and inspirational 2019.

For me, 2018 marked a rather musical productive year.
In the first place having created and recorded a lot in the studio. Fundaments for what is to come in 2019.
I also had great times during performances with Mäläskä. Each of the concerts was a total unique experience amd a blast. It really is a continuous pleasure to share a same state of mind with Petter, as well as the group of talented people involved into our unprepared sessions. Definitely looking forward to more!

This new year, my label Deserted Island Music is aiming to be more active than before.
Kicking off soon with the distribution of the beautiful Ars Phantasia project. A project in the making for a couple of years will finally see the light. More information about this album will be revealed within coming weeks!

Secondly, there will be a special focus on my debut album from 1999, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
"Exhibition of Dreams" will be celebrated with a special anniversary box set and several performances covering my career until date. Including an one-off integral performance of the original album's pieces.

On top of that, I am finishing studio work on an entire new solo album, scheduled for the third quarter of 2019. And in the meanwhile I am working on a couple of other exciting projects. More details follow as soon as they are available.

And last year's presence of Mäläskä will be continued and extended in 2019, by means of more gigs, and most likely a second album release.

Although I can't mention any concrete details and dates yet, I am excited for above mentioned announcements. So stay tuned for any updates!

Mäläskä @ Radio Haarlem 105

This Sunday, November 25, 22:00-24:00, Petter and I are guests in "Jazz or No", on radio Haarlem 105, hosted by Harry Schoonewelle.

We will talk about Mäläskä, and the program features various jazz tracks chosen by us.

Also some of our music will be featured, including recent yet unreleased live material.

Be sure to tune in on http://www.haarlem105.nl/jazz-or-no/radiogids/programma?1088

to listen to the broadcast.