Mäläskä - First Day of Spring [new album release]

For April 11th there are scheduled three new album releases on my Deserted Island Music label:

- Mäläskä - First Day of Spring
- REMY - The Other Side
- Space Art - Entrevues

I will spotlight each of these albums on this blog within next couple of days.
Starting with the new release of Mäläskä: the improviational project of Petter Janse and me.

Pre-order your copy from www.desertedislandmusic.nl

First 50 physical orders include a free poster!



Mäläskä - First Day of Spring

Deserted Island Music | DIM-009 | CD and digital download | Release date: April 11th, 2020

Then we felt the wind.
And we knew that this was an omen of things to come.
We’d let go of our luggage and personal belongings.
Then we threw away the map and the book of rules that kept us on well-known roads.
We’d forget all rhythms and melodies that attached us to the old world.
For the first time we felt freedom.
This energy inspired us.
It was the first day of spring.
From ‘The secret teachings of Gerhard Schultz’

TRACKLIST
1. First Day of Spring
2. Dialogue Between Birches and Oaks
3. Song for the World
4. Die Morgenlandfahrt
5. Green Glasses Don’t Make the World Green
6. Crisis? What Crisis?
7. Dawn for the Pollution Eating Elves
8. In Loving Memory

THE ALBUM
From November 29th to December 2nd, 2019, Petter Janse (guitar, electronics and stuff) and Remy Stroomer (synthesizers, sequencing and stuff) locked themselves into a house in the small village Jannum, in the Dutch province of Friesland. They brought a large amount of equipment which was put in the right place in the living room, all cables were connected, and from the moment there was any sound, the recorder was turned on. Within the next days, Petter and Remy recorded 11 hours of unprepared improvisations. Joined by Bas Broekhuis (drums and percussion) on the final day.

Although the musical output was quite varied, the over-all loom state of mind during these days resulted into the ambient mood of the tracks selected for First Day of Spring.

Anyone should listen to the music to know what it sounds like, however, the musical content has already been described as ‘classical electronic music of the future’ by one of the very early listeners. This soundtrack sets the mood for this year’s first day of spring.



THE STORY SO FAR
Petter Janse (Rotterdam, 1963) and Remy Stroomer (Haarlem, 1979) are the core of the improvisational act Mäläskä since 2016.
Their first creative studio sessions instantly resulted into the well-received debut album Uncle Jim’s Cidney Factory. A soundtrack about party animals and dropouts at an American college.
After their first offense, Petter and Remy invited various artists to join their studio and live sessions, resulting into fruitful collaborations with Thomas Betzler (drums and percussion), Tristan ‘Lama Waaien’ (bass), Joost Verhagen (vocals) and Bas Broekhuis (drums and percussion).

Since Mäläskä’s establishment, the formation performed several times in the Netherlands, Germany and U.K. Own evenings, festivals, as well as support shows for Acid Mothers Temple and Monomyth.
From the very start, the promise of Mäläskä has been affirmed through international reviews and airplay.
With this second album release and some upcoming shows, Mäläskä threw away the map and the book of rules that kept them on well-known roads.

Bas Broekhuis, Petter Janse, and a lot of equipment in the living room.

Environmental view from the house in Jannum.

A weekend with Mäläskä

It is really inspiring to make music in another, unfamiliar environment.
For the third time Petter and I went to such a place to try out another setup and create new stuff with Mäläskä.

This year we drove to the province of Friesland, and settled in Jannum; a small village near Dokkum.
The wonderful landscape, looking out over the Dokkumer Ee, on which the Elfstedentocht passed for the last time in 1997.


Our creative weekend started Friday 29 November. And Monday 2 December - the day we had to return to our nomal lifes - was already there before we actually noticed.

Friday afternoon we set up our equipment in a comfortable way. You can see a timelapse of this here: https://youtu.be/_ToGBj7PB18
In the evening we did the first two sessions, which felt slightly searching.

Petter brought with him a laptop running Ableton and linked to an Akai controller, some rack synths, a synth-guitar with the necessary effects.

The setup which I have been using for quite a while was slightly adjusted. This time consisting of my Korg Kronos, Roland Juno 106, Novation Supernova 2, Korg MS20, Access Virus TI and Clavia Nord Rack 2.

Almost the entire Saturday we played and recorded 6 inspiring sessions.

Just like last year's weekend in Vledderveen, Bas Broekhuis joined us on Sunday, bringing along his hang drums, cajon and electronic percussion. Throughout the day and evening there were recorded 4 sessions together.

The Monday we mainly used to pack our equipment, but in the first three days we recorded around 11 hours of music.

In the meanwhile I made some quick mixes, and started to listen to all recordings.
Normally I can still remember what I have played recently, but it might have been the combination of the extremely relaxed atmosphere, state of mind, and perhaps the fact that we were fully focussed on creating music the entire weekend, which resulted into some very unexpected output when listening the first couple of recordings afterwards.
Not exactly as planned (which is the most exciting about our musical approach) we seem to have been in an ambient mood largest part of the weekend, which resulted into some serious space trips.

Coming days Petter and I will be listening to the remaining recorded material, and discuss future plans for Mäläskä.

To be continued...