2020 / 2021

An end has come to this strange year 2020.
Like every year, I would like to look back at this year's musical activities.
Because of current situation, I have so many plans for next year, but because it's uncertain yet when old-fashioned concerts and festivals are going to be take place again, there are no concrete events planned. As always I am involved in a couple musical projects, and I hope to extend my Deserted Island Music label with more new and interesting releases. This year there have been four new albums on my small label (which are mentioned below), and hopefully our catalog will grow within next years.

But before the highlights, before I forget: I am wishing everyone a great, musical and prosperous 2021.
And that we are able to meet soon again in real life!

Deserted Island Music
Four new releases from different artists have been released on my Deserted Island Music label this year.

It might not sound that much, but until last year I mainly used to release music projects which were very close to myself only. Now, I have made a start to extend the catalog with other artist than REMY.
From the first release of this year, the cd's from now on come into gatefold digisleeves, instead of basic cardboard sleeves.

Now, I am aiming for a more consistent exposure of my label, so if you have any suggestions for great electronic music which definitely needs to be released, or if you think your own music fits within our catalog, don't hesitate to contact me!

For more details, see the links below or visit www.desertedislandmusic.nl.

Here's a short overview of this 2020's releases:

Mäläskä - First Day of Spring (DIM-009)
Born out of improvisations Petter Janse and I did in december 2019 in Jannum, Friesland.
The ambience and atmospheric laidback soundscapes are something completely different than our 2016 debut album "Uncle Jim's Cidney Factory".
Featuring Bas Broekhuis on percussion on one of the tracks.

Read more about the album on my blog:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4493991774210317112/1190478425073764303

REMY - The Other Side (DIM-010)
A conceptual album in the make for two years, and my first REMY album since 2016's "Fears".
Containing collaborations with Bas Broekhuis (drums), Judith Wessluis (vocals), Joost Verhagen (vocals) and Nausikaä de Blaauw (photography).

Read more:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4493991774210317112/3827413632895914746

Däcker - Pareidolia (DIM-011)
I produced an 2018 improvisation session by Peter Dekker. There are a lot of similarities in our musical styles and visions, so when I suggested to enhance Peter's 2-track recording, he immediately agreed. The result is "Pareidolia", which will appeal a lot of traditional electronic music lovers.

It seems that I haven't written a blog item about this album, but you can listen to album excerpts here:
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/syntheticman/dacker-pareidolia-excerpts-2020
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrF32GVJ2zE

On December 19th Peter and I did a live stream concert at BYSS. Below you can read about this.

Space Art - Entrevues (DIM-012)
In first instance my label did distribution and sales for the limited edition LP of Space Art's new album "Entrevues", which was released in March. However, earlier this month, the CD and digital download, have been released on Deserted Island Music. I am really proud to have this legendary band contracted!

On my blog I wrote about the limited edition LP release:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4493991774210317112/7265360976870964874

All versions contain slightly different tracklisting, and while the LP has been mastered by Patrick Pelamourgues, the CD and download have been mastered by Michel Geiss.

Schallwelle Preis

It's the time of the year again to vote for the Schallwelle Awards. Everyone can now vote for his or her favourite electronic music artists and albums of 2020.

All Deserted Island Music releases as well as individual artists can be found in the list:

 

Best Artist:

Däcker

Mälaskä

REMY

Space Art

 

Best Album:

Däcker - Pareidolia

Mäläskä - First Day of Spring

REMY - The Other Side

Space Art - Entrevues

 

Visit http://www.schallwen.de/swvoting/en/ for all details, the complete lists, and to vote.

 

REMY & Däcker live at BYSS
December 19th, Peter Dekker and I did a concert at the BYSS studio of Bas Broekhuis.

In first instance this concert was streamed live via Facebook. For all who missed it, the concert has been archived for watching on the same URL as the live stream:
https://www.facebook.com/events/222915992531041

Because not everyone has a Facebook account, the slightly enhanced version of the concert has been uploaded to YouTube: https://youtu.be/3bDa1O8ZOF8
Adjustments are described in the video credits.

Then, last 30 minutes of our concert was also broadcast live on Wim Dekker's radio show Haarlem Underground at Radio Haarlem 105:
https://www.mixcloud.com/wimdekker/haarlemunderground-19-12-20-21-2200

Last but not least, the entire concert is going to be broadcast on Jos Verboven's radio show Electronic Fusion on January 2nd.
The two hours REMY & Däcker special is going to be co-hosted by Peter and me.
Broadcasting schedule:

Saturday 02-01-2021 at 6 pm CET/CEST on Modul303 from Germany:
https://www.facebook.com/modul303com/
Sunday 03-01-2021 at 9 am PST/PDT on Krypton Radio from the USA:
https://www.facebook.com/KryptonRadio/
Sunday 03-01-2021 at 3 pm CET/CEST on Radio Dark Tunnel from Germany:
https://www.facebook.com/RadioDarkTunnel/
Monday 04-01-2021 at 1 pm VET on Electronic Music Radio from Chile & Venezuela:
https://www.facebook.com/ElectronicMusicFM1/

Afterwards, the show will be archived on Mixcloud:
https://www.mixcloud.com/brainvoyager/

My report of this adventure can be read on previous blog post:
https://exhibitionofdreams.blogspot.com/2020/12/remy-dacker-live-at-byss.html 

That's it for now!
I am very curious about what 2021 has to offer. For now, stay safe!

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.

New REMY, Mäläskä and Space Art albums

I am delighted to announce three brand new releases! These new titles will be available on April 11th.

To start with, a new REMY 'solo' album, "The Other Side", was in first instance scheduled for the end of last year. But due to the "Exhibition of Dreams" 20th anniversary celebration, this release was postponed until April 11th.
The four extensive album tracks contain some elements from the traditional electronic music, but also touch the borders of my musical interests.

With artistic collaborations by Bas Broekhuis, Judith Wesslius, Joost Verhagen, and Nausikaä de Blaauw.

For what I had in mind, this would have been the only release for early 2020. But then, during the end of 2019, plans slightly changed.

The last weekend of last year's November, Petter and I - accompanied with lots of equipment - locked ourselves into a house on the other side of the country, to create and record new Mäläskä stuff. The final day, Bas Broekhuis joined us during sessions. Read about it here.
The weeks that followed, we made a selection from the 11 hours of music that was recorded.
"First Day of Spring", is described as 'classical electronic music of the future' by one of the very early listeners.

And then, also late 2019, I was contacted by Dominique Perrier related to a brand new Space Art album. Inititally to be released as limited edition LP.
The result is new music, which is for the largest part in line with the band's early music from the 70s.
"Entrevues" is a valuable collaboration with Tommy Rizzitelli on drums, who perfectly succeeded in maintaining his father's legacy.
While the first part of the album consists of typical old-school Space Art style, some never before released tracks have also been added to the album's tracklist.


Coming days I will dedicate blog items to these individual albums.

For now, you can pre-order the new REMY, Mäläskä and Space Art albums from www.desertedislandmusic.nl.

2019 / 2020

Happy new year to all of you!

I would like to take some time to shortly resume my past musical year and look forward to some exciting things to come for 2020. Follow the links for more details.

Planet of the Arps (and Schallwelle Awards pre-nominitions)
In April my ambient side-project "Planet of the Arps" was released.
The well-received collaboration with Wolfram Spyra and Roksana Vikaluk is also in the pre-nomination list of the annual Schallwelle Awards. You can vote for the album or me as artist: www.schallwen.de/swvoting/en

Ars Phantasia
At the same time the piano album "La Papillone" by Ars Phantasia was added to the Deserted Island Music shop. Although not directly in line with the electronic music my label deals with, it has a lot of connections with the traditional electronic music scene. Including artistic collaborations by Francis Rimbert and Michel Geiss, who are also known for their work with Jean Michel Jarre.

Exhibition of Dreams
On December 22nd, two decades passed by since my debut album "Exhibition of Dreams". For the occassion of this 20th anniversary celebration there have been released limimted edition boxsets. Read more about it on my blog.







New solo and Mäläskä albums
In my first blog of 2019 I announced a new studio album, as well as the second Mäläskä release. Both didn't happen before the end of the year.
First, the new album has been postponed, because of the 20th anniversary releases of my debut album "Exhibition of Dreams". The upcoming "The Other Side" is now scheduled to be released on April 11th. Coming weeks, until the release of the new music, I will post more about this on this blog, social media and www.desertedislandmusic.nl.

Then, the follow-up of Mäläskä's "Uncle Jim's Cidney Factory" (2016) is finally being worked on.
One month ago, Petter and I did a lot of sessions during a weekend in Friesland. From the 11 hours we recorded, a selection has been made. Which will be the upcoming album release. As we are currently in the mixing process, I can't say much about it yet, with the exception that it will be one long trip, and actually not at all in line with our debut album or recent concerts.

Space Art
After more than two years of 'silence' Space Art is back with brand new music! Dominique Perrier asked me to have an exclusive Dutch vinyl release of the new Space Art album "Entrevues". Further details and plans will be announced later, but the new music is going to be available from Deserted Island Music, also somewhere in the first quarter of 2020.
I have already heard the music, and if you love the early Space Art sound and compositions, you will adore this one. With participation of Tommy Rizzitelli. His way of drumming definitely reminds of his father's style. A real treat.

And more...
And, for what is currently scheduled, there should also be released another (Berlin School-like) project I am currently producing. So, concerning new music and releases, a lot is coming up.

Then, on personal level, I am aiming to get involved into music more than ever before. Let's see what 2020 has to offer!

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...

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.

Mäläskä live at Pletterij and Patronaat

Mäläskä @ Pletterij (Photo by Albert Laanbroek).

Last week we experienced some really great vibes during our Mäläskä concerts.
The inspiring artistic collaboration of some lovely fellow-musicians resulted into an exciting output which we could never have predicted. And that is exactly what I like so much about Mäläskä!
Both evenings were a real blast sharing our musical journey with a lot of you. And it felt good to receive so much positive response.

Monday we kicked off with our full show at the Pletterij. In first instance intended as try-out for our performance at the Patronaat the day after, but as we had the whole evening, we also planned to do a full session for a second part.
The try-out part was Mäläskä featuring Tristan 'Lama Waaien' on bass guitar. This also was the line-up we intended for the Patronaat.

After having finished our threesome of 40 minutes, a break followed.
For the session, also Bas Broekhuis (percussion) and Joost Verhagen (vocals) joined us on stage.
We played around 35 minutes, and took another short break before doing an encore of 10 minutes.
I can try to describe the performances' content, but why not watching the entire (live streamed) concert yourself?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNsfPRsScNY

Mäläskä @ Patronaat (Photo by Nausikaä de Blaauw).

Tuesday we entered the stage at the Patronaat. Performing half an hour as support for the main act, Acid Mothers Temple.
The approach was slightly different, as we now really had to stop playing at the 30 minutes mark, instead of playing and seeing where it should end. Besides, we wanted to anticipate musically on the main act. Which was another challenge.
After the fruitful collaboration at the Pletterij, we decided to also invite Joost Verhagen for this gig.
For both evenings Petter prepared some different loops. None of the musicians heard these loops in advance, so we had to fully rely on the moment.
And to be honest, I think it worked out quite well on both evenings.

This Patronaat gig was also filmed. The material is being edited right now, so this will soon be shared with you too!

Many thanks to everyone at the Pletterij and Patronaat, crew, musicians, Acid Mothers Temple, and indeed everyone who attended the concerts and was part of the experience.

Coming time we are planning to bring more Mäläskä to you. So stay tuned!
If you have suggestions for us to perform, don't hesitate to share it with us.

Upcoming Mäläskä concerts

I am excited to announce some upcoming Mäläskä concerts.

Although we seem to have not been very active recently, Petter and I haven't done nothing in the last months.
A little while ago we did a private gig in Rotterdam, and most of the times we did sessions together in my studio.
Many, many hours of material has been recorded, so it is be likely that we will do something with parts of it in near future.

For upcoming concerts we invited some friends / fellow musicians. Both gigs will be completely different from each other, so if you consider to come to see us, please think twice before making your decision which one you will attend. Or maybe combine both!

Acid Mothers Temple.

The performance we are 'working towards to' is the one at the Patronaat in Haarlem, Tuesday October 23rd.
We will be playing as support act for Japanese space-gaze band Acid Mothers Temple.
For this opportunity we invited Tristan, aka Lama Waaien.
Tristan and I already played together a couple of years ago during one of the first editions of "Pletterij Impro Sessies".
Petter and I wanted to add some more low (by means of frequencies) to our music.
So, when thinking about an improvising bass player, I instantly came up with Tristan.

When we talked about a try-out for this show, we were warmly welcomed by Arno to perform at the Pletterij again.
Mäläskä also performed here with the "Uncle Jim's Cidney Factory" album presentation, back in 2016.
Because we will do a full show at the Pletterij on Monday October 22nd, we decided to do this as following:
Petter, Tristan and I will kick off with a try-out for the Patronaat gig. This first part is aimed to take approximately 30-40 minutes.
Then, after a break and some stage adjustments, we will come back with a second part.
Also inviting Bas Broekhuis (Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder) on percussion and vocalist Joost Verhagen (Grey Lotus) on stage.
We have never rehearsed or played together with this line-up, so on the day of the concert we are trying to find out if this is going to work. Really exciting.
In the case things work out positively, it might theoretically affect the Patronaat's line-up.


For information, tickets and reservations, please visit the links below:

22-10 Pletterij, Haarlem (try-out + session with guest musicians)
https://www.pletterij.nl/event/22-oktober-malaska-try-out/
https://www.facebook.com/events/247992502732564/

23-10 Patronaat, Haarlem (support act for Acid Mothers Temple)
https://www.patronaat.nl/23-10-2018/acid-mothers-temple-jpn-
https://www.facebook.com/events/1813872398704126/

Mäläskä live in Rotterdam and Haarlem

One week ago Petter and I did a private Mäläskä concert at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.
Our gig was part of festivities and performances at the medical centre, where we played in a nice and intimate barrack on the central square.

Petter kicked off with some poetry, after which we started improvising for the next 45 minutes.
Unfortunately our music seemed not to be attractive for most party people.
With the exception of a couple of attendees who stayed the whole performance, people walked in and out continuously. So in the end quite some guests took at least notice of our music.


After all we felt we did a proper set, which could eventually be used as guideline for our future concerts.
Our next concert will again be attendable for everyone!
It will be a special one we are looking forward to really a lot, as opening act for the Japanese psychedelic space gaze band, Acid Mothers Temple, at the Patronaat Haarlem, October 23rd.

To add some extra power and depth to our music, we will invite one or more fellow-musicians on stage. To be continued, as we are currently working things out.

Information and tickets: https://www.patronaat.nl/23-10-2018/acid-mothers-temple-jpn-

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!

Awakenings

Last Saturday it was time for the September edition of Awakenings. The electronic music event, where I performed twice before (a solo performance in 2012, and with Free Arts Lab in 2014) at the previous location in Burton-on-Trent, is now being held at Lea Hall Social Club, in Rugeley.
A smaller and more intimate venue than Paget High School.

Petter Janse and I were invited to perform here with Mäläskä last weekend.
We departed from The Netherlands on Friday morning, September 15th, took the ferry from Duinkerken, and overnighted in Folkestone, just south from Dover.

The next day we drove to Rugeley, while having a lot of heavy traffic on our way. Anyway, we were in time to get our equipment installed.

Sinewaves Light.
(Photo by Phil Booth)

The first concert, by Sinewaves Light started at 18:10, and ended at 19:00.
Mike Parrott exposed a wide variety of different touches of electronic music.
Despite the fact that the performance was technically sloppy from time to time, it contained some really good parts and themes. Very enjoyable.
The different tracks were clearly inspired by (or at least they contained clear comparisons with) the music of John Carpenter, James Horner, Vangelis, Jarre, and also featured some serious Berlin School sequences.

Infinity Curve.
(Photo by Phil Booth)

After the first break of half an hour, routiniers and frequent Awakening performers Jez Creek and Peter Challoner debuted as Infinity Curve.
Some dark and sinister ambient sound sculptures kicked off their one-hour set.
Subtle evolving and constantly emerging layers made this a very delightful and exciting listen.
After ten minutes a sequence appeared and evolved into some nice uptempo ambient.
From time to time some very subtle solo leads in the background, and also more than enough happening constantly, by means of sound effects, structures and samples.
After every following sequence part, another ambient passage made the bridge to the next sequencer sections.
Excellently balanced, great sounds, interesting layering, and brilliant sequencing. Really awesome!

Mäläskä.
(Photo by Phil Booth)

Then another 30 minutes break (in which we checked the final technical things) before Petter and I made our appearance.

We set off with some soundscapes, after which the first sequencing was done. Alternated with atmospheric passages.

A short impression from the first part of our gig can be seen here.

After a little longer than one hour we finished our set. At that point Petter suggested that I should do an encore on my own. So I started an improvised piano piece. Ending up with some more sequencing.
No idea what our output sounded like, but I will listen to the recordings within the coming days.

Unfortunately it was not the best visited edition of Awakenings ever. On the other side, many people did buy a virtual ticket, and supported the event this way. Which is much appreciated.
In any way we have had a great weekend; it was really good to be back!

Thanks to all who visited the concerts, and bought virtual tickets.
And many thanks to Phil Booth, Dave Buxton and everyone involved.

Mäläskä live at Awakenings

Mäläskä - the improvisation project together with guitar player Petter Janse - are invited to play at the Awakenings concert series in Rugeley, U.K., September 16th.

Free Arts Lab live at the Awakenings All-Dayer, 11-10-2014.
Photo by Phil Booth

Petter and I already performed here (although on the previous location of Burton-on-Trent) with Free Arts Lab in 2014, and I debuted with a solo concert back in 2012.

This edition's complete line-up also includes Infinity Curve and Sinewaves Light.

In the meanwhile I am preparing visuals. The hard part of this is that we never know the output of our gigs in advance, so hopefully I can manage to create something that fits within the development of the things we are going to create live.

Last week Petter and I already made adjustments in our setup, and later this week we will have a final rehearsal.

For tickets and information, visit www.awakenings-em.co.uk
 

or the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1413084412106266/?ti=as

Note that every ticket includes virtual ticket. Which means you will get the recordings of all performances in your mailbox afterwards. So if you buy a ticket, even if you are not able to attend the event, you directly support all performing artists. And you get something exclusive in return.

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/

Concerts with Mäläskä and My Breath My Music

Last weekend was a busy one.

Mäläskä @ Graauwe Hengst, Schiedam.
Photo by Paul Cummins.

Mäläskä @ De Graauwe Hengst, Schiedam
Saturday Petter and I did another concert with Mäläskä. This time at music cafe De Graauwe Hengst in Schiedam.
Setting up all gear around 21:00, we set in our first notes at approximately 22:30. Really no indication how many attended our gig, but most of the time the place was completely filled with people. Our ambient intro was followed with a rather 'hard' continuation of the first set, containing a lot of techno beats and sequencing. We improvised for something like an hour on what should probably have been our heaviest set until date.

After a short break, we came back with a shorter and somewhat more subtle second set. After approximately 50 minutes we finished our gig, slightly past 0:30. We have to listen back the recordings, but judging from our experience at that moment and the audience's response we were very satisfied with our output.

Thanks a lot to Hilly and Jan for the opportunity to perform in their nice music cafe, and everyone who attended our gig.

Then, it was time to get all equipment together, and drive to the hotel to have a relatively short sleep. The following morning I had to be present in Zoetermeer for the second stage appearance of the
weekend.

My Breath My Music In Concert @ Boerderij, Zoetermeer
Sunday, October 9th, it was time for My Breath My Music In Concert. A benefit concert-afternoon to collect money for the My Breath My Music establishment.

My Breath My Music concentrates on the development of adjusted instruments (like e.g. the Magic Flute). I already did a musical session (which we released on the cd "Sessions 2012") and concert with some of the establishment's members, and since then I am involved into their activities from time to time. It was an honour to receive My Breath My Music's invitation to join this wonderful event. Indeed I said yes to this. Even with the knowledge that it would take place on my birthday.

Around 10:30 my wife Paulien and I arrived at the venue. Strangely enough I had never been before on this really nice and atmospheric location.
Until 14:30 - the official start of the programme - we had all the time to setup, soundcheck, socialize and relax. The organisation and the venue's professional crew did a great job making everything happen flawlessly. The programme was scheduled to be finished at 17:30. The actual end was something like an hour later.

The venue offers space for approximately 750 people (standing places). Yesterday attracted around 350 visitors. Also including a relatively large amount of wheel chairs the place seemed to be filled for the largest part, and felt like a full-house.

A wide variety of musical acts made the program over-all interesting. While the main focus was to expose the musical skills of members of My Breath My Music, there were also involved a lot of supporting bands and artists. Participating musicians included ambassador of the establishment Candy Dulfer, The Bridge Band, DJ Storm, bagpipers, Big Band Enterprise, and many others.

Opening together with The Bridge Band, featuring Candy Dulfer.
Photo by Paulien Bouw.

The show started with a recorded video message by Steve Hackett, wishing all the best for the event. This was linked with the overture, which was the track "Prairie Angel", by the former Genesis member.
I started with some moody strings. Candy Dulfer set in with her saxophone. Then, the musicians of the Bridge Band accompanied. After this opening, we did a cover of Gavin DeGraw's "Sweeter". I played piano on this piece. Hereafter I left the stage.

Korneel, Remy and Christian after their performance.
Photo by Red Line Fotografie.

After a couple of great performances it was time for the 15-minute piece I wrote for this occasion. Featuring Korneel Oskam en Christian Gouweleeuw on Magic Flute and Elda Iyagbaye on drums.
I also made visuals which were displayed during our track. Although the piece might have been rather long for the average listener, we got a lot of positive response. The performance went quite well and the musicians did a great job!

As soon as we finished the track, Korneel, Christian and I got a nice and absolutely unexpected surprise: A wonderful award for our efforts for My Breath My Music.

MBMM Award.
Photo by Meeuwis Bouw.

The programme went on with more nice acts, and at a certain point the development of the Magic Flute 2.0 was announced. More and improved functionalities. Looking forward to the result of the final model.

Ruud van der Wel and everyone involved into this event did a tremendous job organising this wonderful initiative. Again, thanks a lot to Ruud for involving me into this benefit. Thanks to all musicians, all members of My Breath My Music. It was a pleasure to meet familiar faces, as well as meeting a lot of new people. Also many thanks to all helpful and friendly people at Cultuurpodium Boerderij. And, last but not least, everyone who attended this special concert afternoon.

So, that was my weekend!

Now again focussing on my upcoming album "Fears", which will see the light in less than 3 weeks...

With My Breath My Music ambassador Candy Dulfer.
Photo by Paulien Bouw.

Mäläskä mini concert tour

Last week Petter Janse and I did a couple of concerts with our improvised space electronica project Mäläskä.
The idea was to create something unique and spontaneuous live on stage, in the same way the material for our debut album, "Uncle Jim's Cidney Factory", was recorded in my studio.
We got the opportunity to do a couple of concerts at the time of the release. Based on completely improvised sessions, which should make every session and performance a totally unique and exciting experience. And performing this project in front of people makes it even more exciting. At least in our opinion.


Here is an overview of our mini-tour:

June 29th - Pletterij Debat- en Cultuurcentrum, Haarlem
Wednesday afternoon, around 15:45 we arrived at the Pletterij. A familiar place, because Petter and I (together with Jeroen Hagen) already performed here back in 2014 with a Free Arts Lab try-out. And I participated on an edition of the Pletterij Impro Sessions, earlier that same year.

Announcement @ Pletterij.

It is always a big treat to be at one of the most intimate and nicest venues in the centre of Haarlem. We got all the time to set up our equipment, and sound enigneer Rob and his assistant again did a great job to take care of the sound technical part.
Everything seemed to go flawless, while dinner was being prepared. We were actually ready for the soundcheck. Then, a significant power supply broke down, only 1,5 hours before the beginning of our concert.
First there was tried to solder the broken part, but the best option seemed to get a replacement at my home in IJmuiden. I had another similar power supply, but at that moment I wasn't sure about the technical specifications of it.
We departed from Haarlem around 18:30. A wonderful time for the evening's traffic jam. So it took us a while to get where we wanted. After picking up the power supply, we went straight back to Haarlem. Where we arrived one hour later.
Luckily the power supply was exactly the same as the one that was broken. Finally, we got everything working, and did a sound check.

Tonight was the album official release party of Mäläskä's debut album, "Uncle Jim's Cidney Factory".

Mäläskä @ De Pletterij.
(c) Ab Laanbroek

Although 20:00 was scheduled as the start of our concert, at the door the time was mentioned half an hour later. So we entered the stage slightly past 20:30.
I did a short introduction talk, after which Petter set in the first sounds, and there we started.

The first part of this evening last 53 minutes. Afterwards I noticed this set might have a couple of comparisons with what we created on our just released album.
Without the intention to recreate anything from our album, this first hour might incidentally have been most representive for what we were actually promoting.

Remy & Petter
seconds before the show.
(c) Michiel van Tilburg.

A break followed. Hereafter we continued with quite a different 58 minutes set. We experienced some very exciting moments, and enjoyed ourselves a lot. Musically seen we were very satisfied. And also the audience seemed to like it a lot.

We finished around 23:00. Hereafter the food we missed due to the power supply issue was warmed, again. Delicious.

The Pletterij video-recorded the first 15 minutes of the first set, and the last 15-20 minutes of the second set. The montage of this will follow soon.

Thanks a lot to all visitors, Arno Duivestein for the organisation and the delicious food, Rob Brakel for the sound, light and technical support, all volunteers at the Pletterij, Paulien Bouw for assistance and support, and Ab Laanbroek for photographing.

Announcement @ De Hommel.

July 1st - Muziekcafé De Hommel, Vlaardingen
Our concert in Vlaardingen was perhaps the one which I was most excited for.
Muziekcafé De Hommel is a location where anyone could just walk inside - even people who didn't come to listen to (our kind of) music - so we didn't have any idea what to expect at all.

We arrived around 20:00 and started to install all equipment in the back of the Music Café. In between this, we had some nice chats with the people who were already hanging around.
This time no technical issues during the setup and performances. Only 'issue' was a snare drum resonating during our first part of the evening. For the second part this background noise was removed.
The first people at the bar specially came to see us perform. Later on we also traced quite some unfamiliar faces.

Mäläskä @ De Hommel.
(c) Marco Blom.

22:30 the musical part of the evening started. The following 70 minutes we created a piece of music, which felt good to us. Hereafter we took the time to relax a bit and have drink and a chat.
A couple of people already start to leave the Café because they had to get their train. Unintentionally there was decided to do a second set. Luckily we did, because this might have been the best thing we did so far. This part last some 50 minutes. When overlooking all concerts from this mini-tour, this definitely must have been our musical highlight. Probably caused by the relaxing atmosphere and the fact we were expecting not too much from it.

As soon as the last note was struck (at approximately 1:45 a.m.) we where overwhelmed by the extremely positive response by all audience. Including the people who 'just' visited De Hommel this evening / night.

A couple of minutes later, Petter and I were interviewed by Iris Hidding for Grendel HQ. Information about the broadcast will follow soon.

Iris also reviewed the concert, and filmed the first performance.

It was about time to break down our setup, and head back home.

It would be a very short night, because within a couple of hours we already had to travel to Germany for the next gig. I got back home somewhere near 5 a.m., and got some sleep.


Thanks a lot to all visitors, Ben Visser for offering the opportunity to perform at his Muziekcafé De Hommel, and Iris Hidding for assistance.

July 2nd - Schwingungen Garten Party, Hamm, Germany
After barely 2,5 hours of sleep, I had to wake up to head to Germany.
We appointed around 10:00 somewhere halfway The Netherlands to get the remaining equipment into one car. Otherwise we would have travelled with three cars. Which wouldn't have been very practical.
From that point it was 2 hours driving to be in time at the Garten Party.
Then we got a two hours delay, because of an issue with a key which was left in a closed car.
After the incident we (Paulien, Petter, Michel and I) travelled directly to Hamm. As soon as we arrived at Winnie's, we carried all equipment into the garage.

As soon as we refreshed ourselves at our hotel, we headed back to the Garten Party to enjoy the music, the great atmosphere, nice chats, and delicious food. We were definitely having a great time.

Although I didn't actively attend the concerts during the day, I heard some nice music from the place in the back of the garden, where we sat for a large part of the time.

Different from what was announced on the concert poster, we were scheduled as the last act of the evening.
During Steve Baltes' very nice gig (which was before ours), I decided to not kick off our performance with the planned track from my upcoming solo album "Fears". Simply because I felt this should be something else at that moment.

Mäläskä @ Schwingungen Garten Party.
(c) Anke Betzler.

As soon as we started to install all our equipment on stage, it became clear that the time to do so was very limited. At that time we were already behind 3 hours on schedule. We were planned for 23:45, but our part of the programme started around 2:30.

One of the organisers, Frank Gerber, announced "Mäläskä". Petter set in the first sequence. Thomas Betzler, who was joining us especially for this ocassion, added the necessary percussion. While largest part of the day the sun had shone, it started to rain heavily slightly before we were about to start. The first 15 minutes I was absolutely unable to hear what was going on, so I decided to interrupt the thing we did at that moment. It was needed to take some time to adjust the sound to be heard on stage. Until that moment, I was totally unable to get the right focus.
The next 50 minutes we created things I wasn't aware of for a large part of the time.
Petter described it perfectly afterwards as "This is not music, this is a state of mind!" And I agree with him 100%.
Nearing the end of our gig, Petter decided to take a step back to enable me to create something that had to be created.
This lead to an intense piano solo piece, straight reflecting my feelings at that moment, joined by Thomas Betzler on percussion, who made the right additions at the right moments. Hereafter, to answer the audience's request for an encore, I did another solo improvisation.

We finished about 3:45 a.m. With which came an end to our mini-tour...

Mäläskä feat. Thomas Betzler @ Schwingungen Garten Party.
(c) Anke Betzler.

The next morning we had breakfast at 11:00, after which we headed back to the Netherlands.


A remarkable conclusion of this last performance of our mini tour I realized two days after the Party.
Actually when fellow-musician René van der Wouden posted the video from our entire concert on YouTube.
On the moment itself, the over-all feeling I had about the musical output, was not really positive. Until I saw that specific video. With some exceptions, there are some really surprising things to be heard. Anyone could have noticed some 'lack' of communication between Petter, Thomas and me. Especially within the first part. This can be explained by the technical issues, combined with the midnight time, and the lack of sleep we had the nights before.
However, in the end I think our appearance wasn't that bad at all. Although we didn't realize so at the moment of the performance. This might also explain the positive responses we got right after our performance. Actually pretty interesting.

Remy, Thomas and Petter after the gig @
Schwingungen Garten Party.
(c) Paulien Bouw.

Thanks a lot to all visitors (especially everyone who remained until the late hours to see and support us), Winfried Wiesrecker, Frank Gerber, Hans-Hermann Hess and the Electronic Circus crew for the organisation, Lutz Hilker for the sound, Thomas Betzler for getting involved into Mäläskä's musical journey, Paulien Bouw and Anke Betzler for assistance and support. And, last but not least, René van der Wouden for the realistic insight into our concert's output.

Three concerts in four days was very intensive and cost a lot of energy, but above all, it was a lot of fun, a real pleasure and wonderful experience. It always is a privilege to get the opportunity to create music together with people who are on a same musical level. Like in the first place Petter, but also Thomas. Until now Mäläskä has been an exciting journey full of surprises. And I am convinced there are a lot more surprises ahead. To be honest: I need more of it!

We are looking forward to your reactions, photos, videos and recordings. Please forward them to info@desertedislandmusic.nl.
And, stay in touch with Mäläskä's Facebook page for any updates.