dinsdag 19 maart 2013

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.

dinsdag 12 maart 2013

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!

woensdag 6 maart 2013

"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.