Pokémon Go

Some of you may already know I am also a fanatic (retro) computer gamer.

Recently there has been quite some buzz in the Pokémon Go (yes, I am STILL playing) community around the so-called EX-raids.
During regular raids you can battle strong Pokémon, most of the times together with a group of other players. Some of these Pokémon can't be caught in the wild.
In special occasions there could be obtained so-called EX-raid passes, where a limited amount of invited players get the opportunity to defeat and eventually catch a very rare Pokémon: Mewtwo.

One week ago I was lucky to receive a pass to join an EX-raid, and today was the day I got the opportunity to defeat this very sought after creature and add it to my Pokédex (collection of all Pokémon I caught).

Around 11:30 this morning approximately 40 Pokémon trainers gathered at the location of the Ex-raid. The next 45 minutes became the stage for a nice meeting where a large part of the local Pokémon community gave their best shots to finally get that virtual creature, which caused a couple of sleepless nights in advance for many.

To keep it short: We all defeated and (except for one guy, as far as I am concerned) caught Mewtwo, so I am as lucky as a little child!

A weekend in the life of Mäläskä

Last weekend Petter and I rented a house to focus on our Mäläskä project, by means of creating new music and adjusting our setup / equipment.

We travelled to the province of Drenthe, in an environment with a lot of agriculture, and in the middle of an area where some serious Dutch music history was established.
And because we were a couple of kilometres away from the nearest big city, it was the perfect location to gaze to the very bright starry sky.

Our intention in fact was to get inspired and work unforced on new material when being in a different environment than where we normally make music. Fact is that we have to be productive once we are in my studio, within the limited couple of hours we have once in a while. Last weekend we didn't have to cope with that, which resulted in more than eight hours of newly recorded improvised music.

Friday and Saturday afternoon Petter and I adjusted some of our equipment, programmed a bit, and did a couple of jams together.

Saturday evening Wouter Bessels visited us and critisized the two sessions we did during his presence.

Sunday we got accompanied by Bas Broekhuis, who brought a drumpad and his very cool Oval electronic hangdrums. During the day and evening we did a couple of sessions together. At the moment of the jams we experienced some great vibes.
When Bas left the building, Petter and I did another session, after which we already had to unwire our equipment.

The next morning we headed back home again. In the meanwhile I listened back to a large part of the recordings of all sessions, which sound at least as satisfying as on the moment of creation. These very inspiring couple of days generated many new ideas and insights. And I have a strong feeling that the beginning of Mäläskä's next chapter started here.

To be continued soon!