2016 Overview

I would like to wish you a wonderful, prosperous and musical 2017.

2016 has been a very active musical year for me.
It all started with my new album, called "Fears", which was already scheduled back in 2015. For this first solo studio album in 5 years there was done a lot of studio work.
Details:  https://desertedislandmusic.nl/shop/cd/remy-fears-3-detail

While working towards the new album's release date of October 27th, there were published re-releases of my existing albums so far. All remastered by Wouter Bessels, and including revisited artwork.
In between May and October, each three weeks another title became available as digital download.
Details: http://exhibitionofdreams.blogspot.nl/2016/09/all-remy-remastered-albums-available.html

Then also episodes 3 and 4 in the "Archives" series were released in respectively April and October.
"Archives 3" contains tracks from 2007. "Archives 4" covers earlier musical years (1999-2000).
Details: http://exhibitionofdreams.blogspot.nl/2016/10/archives-4.html

Completely unexpected was the fully improvised output, established together with Petter Janse. With Mäläskä we released our debut album, "Uncle Jim's Cidney Factory", as well as we did a couple of concerts in the Netherlands and Germany.
Details: http://exhibitionofdreams.blogspot.nl/2016/06/malaska-album-release-and-concerts.html

Another special moment was the My Breath My Music in Concert event in Zoetermeer, on October 9th. For this ocassion I wrote a new piece which I performed together with members of My Breath My Music. On this day I also received a special award.
Details: http://exhibitionofdreams.blogspot.nl/2016/10/concerts-with-malaska-and-my-breath-my.html

The November edition of LivePodium Magazine featured an interview about my music and new album: https://www.joomag.com/magazine/livepodium-magazine-uitgave-19-november-2016/0928803001479832643?short

In December I submitted an unreleased song for the 100th edition of Sequences podcast.
Details: http://exhibitionofdreams.blogspot.nl/2016/12/sequences-podcast-100.html

And, during the last days of 2016, I visited my friend and legendary musician of electronic music, Dominique Perrier. This year is the 40th anniversary of his formation Space Art, which is going to be widely celebrated. I am very excited and honoured to be part of this! Within the coming weeks there should become available details about this celebration, including the announcement of worldwide concerts. 

Visit www.desertedislandmusic.nl for all releases by REMY, Mäläskä and Space Art. 

Now the new year has started, it also is time to vote for the Schallwelle Awards again!
REMY and Mäläskä both have been included in the list of pre-nominees, in the categories "Artist International" and "Album International".
During January you can vote here: http://schallwelle-preis.de/voting/en/

I am looking forward a lot to the musical year 2017. I have a lot of plans for new releases, concerts, and organizing another event myself again. Hopefully there will be enough time to establish everything (or at least as much as) I want to do. Probably not, but we will see...

To close this overview, here are some announcements of broadcasts: 

1-1-2017
E-Cloud - Electronic Music Radio Online, hosted by Marc van Oers.
My new album "Fears" is album of the month. A track from this latest released is aired.
Stream: http://178.21.116.54:9090/live
22:00 - 23:00 CET 

January 2017
Dreamscape Radio, hosted by Ron Boots.
Featuring the first 36 minutes of the New Years Party concert in Theater de Enck, back in 2015.
Participating musicians:

Harold & Eric v.d. Heijden, FD Project, Remy Stroomer, Jeffrey Haster (Synthex), Bas Broekhuis, Rene Splinter, Rene de Bakker, Martin Peters.
Stream: http://www.dreamscaperadio.nl/

Schallwelle Preis 2016

Voting for the annual Schallwelle Preis is started!

And REMY is also on the list again (in the category "Artist 2015 International").

I assume chances to win a price are not very large (mainly because last year there hasn't been a physical release and because I only did one concert (and that even wasn't under my own name)), but if you want, feel free to vote. On me, or at least on fellow musicians and their music!;-)

http://www.schallwelle-preis.de/test/voting/en

 

The voting ends on January 23rd, 2016. Everybody can participate, but only once. The name and a valid e-mail address must be given. The following four categories are open for votes, where in each category up to 3 artists or 3 albums, respectively, may be voted for:

• Best Artist National (i.e., German artists or bands)
• Best Artist International
• Best Album National (i.e., by German artists or bands)
• Best Album International

2016 + new album

Happy New Year!
Hope you are having a wonderful and healthy 2016.
Indeed surrounded with a lot of great music.


A very large part of last year I dedicated to activities with and around Free Arts Lab. On which I will definitely spend a lot more hours in 2016. But more about this later.

New studio album
Last summer I also recorded the material for what will become my tenth* studio album. Actually my first new solo release since 2011's "i-Dentity".

* Despite the fact "i-Dentity" partially consists of live recordings, you might consider 2009's "EoD" as my last solo album. And if you don't count this re-interpretation from my debut album "Exhibition of Dreams" - so not 100% new material - as a new solo album, it must be guaranteed "This Is Not The End", from 2008.
So it took me somewhere in between 5 and 8 years to come up with a new long player.
I am excited to finally have something completely new to share with you, very soon!

In the past five years I worked on a couple of other projects with for example Synth.nl, My Breath My Music, Ron Boots, Planet of the Arps and Free Arts Lab, and did some performances. Also a concert registration, "The Great Church Trilogy", was released on cd in 2011, and download only compilations "Archives 1" and "Archives 2" saw the light in 2015. And then there are even some projects on which I have also been working in the background. Which might have been the main explanation of the fact that the announcement of a new solo album took so long.

Besides, there was a need to come up with something slightly different from my recent albums. This simply needed time.

About the upcoming release
The new project is called "Fears".

One of the emotions that intrigues me is 'fear'. Just like all other emotions, it is part of human life. And there are moments that emotions affect our lives more than we want.
The impact differing for each situation. Some emotions - and so fears too - can be controlled. Some can't.

You can fear losing someone dear, fear failing a test or losing your job, fear stupidity or power, or you can have a phobia for creepy crawling creatures. Fears might be there when you encounter certain confrontations or when you enter a plane.

With our activity on the internet and the power of various media, more negativity than ever is being spread. Sometimes creating a lot of unneccessary fears. Today, terrorism, racism, hate, attacks and war are getting much closer than we want and than we are used to, by means of for example the large amounts of refugees, confrontations with extremism. But also in mind comes the increasing extreme weather. Just to name a few. 

In the end we should keep in mind that - especially in current times - fears should never get the upper hand of our regular lives! And that is not always that easy.

Airplay
The first excerpts from the new album can already be heard during upcoming radio shows:

- January 10th: House of Prog, REMY-special and interview (recorded in September, last year) by Iris Hidding:
https://www.facebook.com/events/981384411920205/

- January 16th: The Hawke Chill Out Sessions @ Harborough FM, live interview by Terry Hawke:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1641507272770596/

More details about the album, artwork, release, etc. will follow within the coming months.
There has not been set a release date yet.

New studio album in 2016?

Recent weeks I have been mixing for the upcoming Free Arts Lab EP, as well as my 2012 project "The Return of Planet X". Both should be released within the coming months, so detailed information on these releases is going to follow soon.

And in the meanwhile, I even found time and inspiration to record a nice amount of new music, which is very likely to become my next solo studio album.
Although there still need to be made minor adjustments to the tracks, most of it might already be considered as finished.

With the new REMY-album in the making, I am attempting a slightly different strategic approach.
As part of this, Concertzender's X-Rated* radio host Bob Rusche visited my studio yesterday, for an exclusive pre-listening session of the upcoming album.
And yes, indeed this was combined with delicious food and drinks, pleasant conversations, and more of these things.

While my most recent studio release "i-Dentity" (and after this there were also released a live registration ("The Great Church Trilogy"), as well as two collaborational projects (with Synth.nl and My Breath My Music) and the first episode of my archives recordings ("Archives 1")) already dates from 2011, I didn't have any urge to release another new album. Simply because I felt that the music I recorded since then, didn't add anything new (or at least insufficient) to my current catalog. In the years in between I did write and record a lot of new music for various occasions, and although I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with these established tracks, I didn't have the feeling that any of these tracks would lead to the base for a new long player, in a way I had in mind.
But then, with the recently recorded new material, this situation changed. Actually without being planned so.

The new REMY-album is likely to contain 7 tracks with a total duration in between 70 and 80 minutes, with a rather minimalistic and slightly sober approach.
A total of 7 tracks, which might sound quite different from each other, but are clearly connected.
Having in mind to have a physical release early 2016, I already hope to reveal some audio within the coming weeks / months!

The idea for this project evolved indirectly from the concept of "The Return of Planet X".
A intriguing subject which I have already planned to write about detailed as soon as the release date has been set.


In the meanwhile I will focus on publication opportunities and schedule for this new release.


* X-Rated is aired each Sunday from 21:00-23:00 (CET), and can be listened to via the audio player on the Concertzender's website.