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.

Rehearsing with My Breath My Music

As you could have read in a previous post, I will be joining "My Breath My Music In Concert", at
Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer, October 9th.

Yesterday we (me with three members of My Breath My Music) did a rehearsing session for a brand new 15 minutes piece I composed for this occassion. It was good to be back at Rijndam Revalidatiecentrum in Rotterdam.

Because the largest part of the track will be filled with improvisation, we put the focus on selecting lead sounds on the Magic Flute. Sounds with which Korneel and Christian felt comfortable while playing their parts. We played through the music piece a couple of times, and set a global structure.

Glenn took care of the drums and percussion. Born without hands it is unbelievable to witness him controlling the drums.
Each time again, it is a real treat to see and hear all these musician's passion and feeling for the music.
Coming time the drum pads will be programmed with the fitting sounds. Although there still is enough room for improvisation, Glenn's output has to be more structured, because of the development of the track.

Then, I will also participate during the 'overture' on the day of the event. Together with organiser and My Breath My Music chairman Ruud van der Wel we worked out my contribution on this.

There are still tickets left, so spread the word, consider joining us, and bring all your family and friends, on October 9th!

Info and tickets: http://cultuurpodiumboerderij.nl/programma/my-breath-my-music/

My Breath My Music benefit concert

Today, it is exactly two months to go to the release of "Fears". So expect more details and teasers within the coming weeks!

In the meanwhile I am also recording a new piece of music for the upcoming My Breath My Music benefit concert. The piece is going to be performed together with Christian Gouweleeuw, Glenn Nugteren and Korneel Oskam. Three members of the foundation, with whom I also recorded music for our "Sessions 2012" album. Karin van Dijk recently underwent a major surgery, so at this moment it is not certain if she is able to make it to the event.

Besides the approximately 15 minutes of new music, I will also participate in the overture of the event.

 

The benefit will take place at Cultuurpodium De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, on Sunday, October 9th. On my birthday:-)

Info and tickets: http://cultuurpodiumboerderij.nl/programma/my-breath-my-music/

 

Here is the press information (in Dutch):

“My Breath My Music In Concert” is een benefietconcert vóór en dóór jonge mensen met een ernstige lichamelijke beperking. De gelijknamige stichting “My Breath My Music” ontwikkelt elektronische muziekinstrumenten waarmee kinderen en jong volwassenen met een handicap zelf muziek kunnen maken. Tijdens dit benefietconcert treden een aantal jonge musici met een fysieke beperking op. Zij worden bijgestaan door een keur van Nederlandse artiesten, waaronder ambassadeur Candy Dulfer. 

Eén van de elektronische instrumenten die tijdens deze middag bespeeld wordt is de Magic Flute, een prachtig en makkelijk te bespelen blaasinstrument. De meeste jonge muzikanten die meespelen hebben een progressieve spierziekte. Het bijzondere van de Magic Flute is dat je dit instrument zonder handen kunt bespelen. Met medewerking van: Candy Dulfer + Secret Guests, Remy Stroomer, Bigband Enterprise, De Bridge band, DJ Storm, Stan Stolk, Jan van Bijnen, Tanja van Schuylenburg, Karin, Florine, Anne, Elda, Marleen, Deva, Karin, Ivo, Joris, Ruud, Quezaida, Christian, Dewi, Michel, Robin, Glenn en Korneel. De opbrengst van dit bijzondere concert gaat in zijn geheel naar de stichting My Breath My Music.

2013 overview, Schallwelle Awards, 2014 upcoming events

Hope you have all had a nice Christmas!
Still a couple of hours until the end of 2013.

I am wishing everyone a tremendous and prosper 2014. Have a great year and hope to meet you somewhere again soon. During one of my upcoming concerts, or somewhere else!

A short 2013 overview

A year in which I released two new albums:
- "PrimiTiveS", the result of 1,5 years of studio work together with Michel van Osenbruggen, aka Synth.nl

- and the release of "Sessions 2012", which was established  after last year's session I did together with members of My Breath My Music.

October 19th Ron Boots gave the opportunity to expose the My Breath My Music collaboration live on stage during the E-Live Festival in Oirschot, which was a great experience.

An exclusive solo track, "Dresden", appeared on the "Schallplatte 15" compilation. Only available for members of the German Schallwende community.

In the 'background' I also worked on several other (non-EM releated) collaborations (of which I hope to reveal more information very soon) and did a lot of preparations for upcoming events.

Schallwelle Awards

Both projects with Synth.nl and My Breath My Music (and their related albums) have been nominated for the annual Schallwelle Awards (in the categories 'Artist International' and 'Album International'). You can vote here: http://voting.schallwelle-preis.de/
Simple intructions for the voting are also be found on this side.



2014 upcoming events

January 10th I will be doing my very first solo concert evening at Theater De Wegwijzer in Nieuw & Sint Joosland.
Besides having recorded a lot of new music for this event, I also worked on accompanying visuals.
I will get assistance on stage from Martijn Scholte on bowed guitar and Jeroen Hagen on drums.
It's less than 2 weeks from now, so don't wait much longer before ordering your tickets.
Also keep in mind that there are only 80 places available.
Information and ticket sales: http://www.theaterdewegwijzer.nl/index.php?page=programma&nr=33&item=voorstelling

Early June I will be organising an unique event at the 'Ruïne van Brederode', located in Santpoort-Zuid (near Haarlem).
This old ruin dates from the second half of the 13th century.
At least one exciting act will share the stage. As I first want to focus on my performance on January 10th, things should take shape in the short period after this. Keep in touch with this blog!

E-Live 2013

Although yesterday ended with a bitter aftertaste, we could look back on a very successful E-Live Festival.

Saturday October 19th was the day that I got the opportunity to expose the collaborational project I started more than a year ago, with members of the My Breath My Music foundation, at this annual electronic music event.

With only one track for each of the students as base (featured on our recent “Sessions 2012” release, as the result of the session we did back in August 2012). I had to compose new tracks for a full performance (of 45 minutes). Containing one new solo track, as well as another track with one of the Magic Flute players.

During the day we did three performances. One of the students representing one set. Due to health issues Korneel Oskam couldn’t join us unfortunately. So Glenn Nugteren, Christian Gouweleeuw and Karin van Dijk got the opportunity to show their skills.

Set 1: With Glenn Nugteren.

13:15 I started the first set, with Glenn Nugteren. Due to some technical issues we started a bit stressful (but in time), but I think this didn't reflect into the music at all. In fact everything worked out excellent. Glenn seemed to be completely relaxed and from the beginning his chill Magic Flute sounds were absorbed perfectly into the pads of the opening track. Indeed I will still have to listen to the recordings, but at the moment of the performance, the flow of the complete set felt really natural. Starting this first set with a full upper room, and also ending it with all seats filled, gave a lot of energy.


Set 2: With Christian Gouweleeuw.

Then, three hours of waiting before the next gig could take place. Due to the late ending of the concert on the main stage, we started about 20 minutes later. Christian Gouweleeuw made his appearance. He also didn’t seem to cope with nerves or so, which also resulted into a very smooth performance during the second set. Unfortunately not all seats were taken, but (as known) 17-18:00 isn’t the most comfortable time for a performance, because of dinner-time. So be it!

The beginning of the final track, the volume of the choir produced with the Magic Flute started a bit too loud, but very soon I already forgot this happened. Looking forward also hearing back the recordings of this set.

Soundcheck for set 3: with Gert Emmens, Karin van Dijk and
Ruud van der Wel.

20:15 Should have been the start of our third set, but also here we started about 10 minutes later because of the ending of the preliminary concert on the main stage. We kicked off with a new track which I wrote together with Gert Emmens. To start with Gert on keys. As soon as Karin van Dijk joined on Magic Flute, Gert took place behind his drum kit. After only one rehearsing session, one week ago, I was very satisfied with yesterday’s output (in fact this goes for all three sessions).

The 20-minute opening track was followed by an energetic sequencing solo track, joined by Gert on drums.

Once this track was finished, the situation occured that one of the E-Live crew members asked me - while I was playing - about the remaining length of my set. Which was not a very proper way to handle in my opinion. While this question could have better be asked to my sound engineer, it already got me out of my concentration.

Secondly the organisation was known with the length of my sets (max. 45 minutes per concert), and should have known better.

Then... 90% of the present audience (and it definitely was a full room) left all of a sudden,, like a herd, after the second track was finished. Still one to go... The audience noticed what just happened, and apparently found it more important to be the first to enter the main hall and get their front row seats. Leaving 5 minutes before the hall doors actually opened. So we could have easily finished our remaining 15 minutes without any of this have happened, as in the end there where at least 5 minutes left before the headlining concert was actually about to start.

Afterwards, festival organiser Ron Boots told me that - due to this situation – he decided to open the doors of the main hall 10 minutes later. Only problem was that the spectators of our concert weren’t aware of this, which yet resulted into the sudden departure of most of the audience.

Thanks to the driven Karin, I decided not to abrubtly end the gig, but to complete the remaining part. Which felt like an eternity to accomplish... So actually I don’t have any idea what it sounded like, as from the moment of disturbance on I had not a single clue what I was doing but pressing some white and black keys...

After the regular programme I’ve had a good talk with Ron Boots to empty my thoughts and get things clear. Although we didn’t agree on all points, it was all o.k. in the end.

Nevertheless I still have a bitter aftertaste, but my anger has already cooled down on this day after. 

Just for your information: with my plea above, I will not make any offends or start another discussion, but I felt the need to tell the situation the way I experienced it yesterday. Mainly because we didn’t come to E-Live ‘just’ to play some music, but to share a part of our lifes and emotions with the audience. It sounds sentimental, but it is just the way I experience it. notwithstanding it concerned an upper room concert, and not the main stage. You should know that this was my fourth appearance at the E-festivals (and I hope this definitely wasn’t the last one), which I see as an absolute privilege. But despite the upper room is mainly used for 'newcomers' or 'less known' artists, I expected a slightly more careful treatment. Again, things have been spoken out, so for now, for me, the discussion is closed.

 

In the end it’s always easy to let negative issues overrule the positive things. When resuming the whole day, we could only agree that all of us had a great experience, which was received very well by a lot of people.

Musicians and crew.

 

Big thank yous go to the organisation of the festival. Thanks to Ron Boots (who gave us the opportunity to expose this project to a larger audience, which is definitely highly appreciated very much), All present audience and people who supported My Breath My Music by buying the “Sessions 2012” cd. Thanks a lot for your interest and for all your positive and motivating reactions.

And despite the fucked up ending, I especially want to thank all of you who did not leave the room 10 minutes before the end, and had the respect and patience to stay with us until the very end of the show. You didn't give a fuck to just take the seat behind the one you could have seated when having joined the rest of the herd to witness the concert of ARC. Thanks to you we were able to finish our set (although it felt like one of the longest 10 minutes in my life...). This meant a lot to us! So much appreciated!

And last but not least: this project couldn’t have taken place without the help, support, assistance and cooperation of Ruud van der Wel (My Breath My Music, sounds and musical assistance), Wouter Bessels (sound, mixing, technical assistance) and Paulien Bouw (sales and assistance). And most important, the musicians: Glenn Nugteren, Christian Gouweleeuw, Karin van Dijk and Gert Emmens!

Enough for now! The coming days I will concentrate on one of my other passions: computer gaming! And then... reloading for some very interesting other projects to get involved into. First of all preparing my solo concert at Theater De Wegwijzer.

And getting busy with another event I am going to organise myself at a very special location. More information soon...

Above featured additional photos were taken by Paulien Bouw, Karin van Dijk and Erwin Wolters.

E-Live 2013 rehearsal



Set 1: Glenn Nugteren.

Today I rehearsed with Glenn, Christian and Karin from My Breath My Music, and Gert Emmens, for next Saturday's performances at the E-Live Festival in Oirschot. Besides tracks from the recent "Sessions 2012" cd we also did some brand new tracks. Ruud van der Wel (founder of My Breath My Music) selected some great sounds to play with the Magic Flute, and Gert played keys and drums during the third set.


Set 2: Christian Gouweleeuw
and Ruud van der Wel.

 Except for some fine-tuning within the coming days, we are ready to share this project with you. Really looking forward to this.

Don't wait too long getting your ticket, because the ticket sales already exceeded the 250 tickets. Which means the E-Live Festival has almost been sold out! See www.e-live.nl for all information and tickets.


Set 3: With Karin van Dijk
and Gert Emmens.


For those of you who have missed it: here again is the complete festival's time schedule:
12:00 Doors open
13:00 Box office open
13:15 - 14:00 REMY & My Breath My Music - session 1, featuring Glenn Nugteren
14:20 - 15:15 Concert by Beyond Berlin.
15.45 - 17:15 Concert VoLt & Friends:
17:15 - 18:00 REMY & My Breath My Music - session 2, featuring Christian Gouweleeuw
19:15 - 20:15 Concert by The Otherside of FD Project
20:15-21:00 REMY & My Breath My Music - session 3, featuring Karin van Dijk and Gert Emmens
21:15 - 22:45 Concert ARC

The cd-release of this last year's session with My Breath My Music (as well as my 'regular' releases) can be bought at the Deserted Island Music stall.
Benefits from the sales of our "Sessions 2012" release are fully going to the "My Breath My Music" foundation.
More information about the project: http://exhibitionofdreams.com/remy-mbmm.html

E-Live preparations and "Schallplatte 15"

E-Live
Although there have been no recent blog updates, I have been rather busy with preparations for the upcoming E-Live concerts with the My Breath My Music foundation (which is exactly one month from now).
Besides some tracks from the latest release "Sessions 2012", we will perform some brand new music.
Last weekend I did a sort of session with Gert Emmens. Actually we have only been working for about half an hour to create a base for a new track for our E-Live collaboration. The remaining time we have had a lot of fun, and took the opportunity to make a nice series of pictures.

Here is the global schedule for E-Live:

12:00 Doors open
13:00 Box office open
13:15 - 14:00 REMY & My Breath My Music - session 1
14:20 - 15:15 Concert by Beyond Berlin.
15.45 - 17:15 Concert VoLt & Friends:
17:15 - ? REMY & My Breath My Music - session 2
19:15 - 20:15 Concert by The Otherside of FD Project
20:15-21:00 REMY & My Breath My Music - session 3, featuring Gert Emmens
21:15 - 22:45 Concert ARC

Order your tickets here: http://e-live.nl/

And I am already working out plans for my solo concert on January 10th, at Theater De Wegwijzer, in Nieuw en Sint Joostland, Zeeland.
More information on this gig soon, but there will definitely be room for some special participations.
You can already purchase your tickets for this event here: http://www.theaterdewegwijzer.nl/index.php?page=programma&nr=33&item=voorstelling
Don't wait too long getting yours, because there is only place for 80 people!

Schallplatte 15
Every year, the German Schallwende e.V. foundation releases a dedicated compilation album containing new and exclusive electronic music.
In the past I have submitted various pieces which can only be heard on these "Schallplattes", which are only available for members of the Schallwende community.
This year's edition, "Schallplatte 15", saw the light, with the subject "City Sounds".
And this edition also contains one of my tracks, called "Dresden".
The disc contains contributions by Arcanum, Neuronium, Gert Emmens, Remy, Lambert, VoLt, JampyKeys, Moeckesch, Picture Palace Music, Uwe Reckzeeh, Spyra, WiesenBerg, Synth.nl and Mystical Light.

About my contribution:
During my trip to Berlin and Prague, back in 2010, my wife Paulien and me also visited Dresden. Although we have been here for only one day, it left quite an impression on me.
In the night of February 13th and 14th, 1945, Dresden was destroyed for 85 percent.
Almost 70 years later, this capital city of Sachsen is still being reconstructed.
Traces of the horrible things that happened here can still be seen and felt.
On October 20th, 2010 I visited Dresden. It was a cold and rainy day. Dark clouds covered the baroque monumental city.
Slightly ominous, which characterized the history, and which emphasized Dresden's beauty and vigour even more.
With this piece of music I tried to catch the atmosphere I experienced during my stay in Elbflorenz.

As just told, the album will not be available, unless you are a member of Schallwende, but the first person who places a reaction on this blog message, will get a copy of this "Schallplatte 15" compilation cd!

E-Live performance with My Breath My Music & guest appearance

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you might probably know that I will be performing live together with members of the My Breath My Music foundation, at the E-Live Festival on October 19th.
The three performance throughout the day are focussed on our recent "Sessions 2012" release. Besides this there is also room for some brand new solo material, as well as full improvisation.

Today, Gert Emmens said 'yes' to my request to perform together with us. I am very happy he is going to join us on stage, because without him the collaboration with My Breath My Music wouldn't have evolved into this current shape.

Early 2012, when I was approached by Ruud van der Wel for a collaboration with his My Breath My Music foundation, I got to hear that he contacted Gert Emmens in the first place. Because Gert couldn't participate this project at that moment, he directed Ruud to me. The rest is history.

Gert already joined me on stage during my E-Day concert in 2011, and exposed his skills on the title track of my album "i-Dentity". Quite a while ago we both agreed to do a collaboration in near future, but until now it seemed to be a bit of a problem to adjust both our agendas...

At this moment I am working on the music for the live sets for E-Live, so details about the content should become clear soon.

E-Live information and ticket sales: www.e-live.nl

"Sessions 2012" and Rensselaer Conference

"Sessions 2012" and Rensselaer Conference
The right pressing of the "Sessions 2012" cd-release finally got in! Actually we received them last Thursday, but there weren't printed a couple of pictures in the artwork.
As a result of this, the production had to be sent back to the factory in France, where they replaced the inlays. Luckily, all problems solved right in time, because Ruud van der Wel and Karin van Dijk of My Breath My Music will travel early Friday morning to New York for the Rensselaer Conference on "Assistive Technology" for the Arts, where they will do a presentation about the My Breath My Music foundation the Magic Flute, and... our collaborational album release, on Saturday June 8th.

All information about this event can be found on:
http://news.rpi.edu/luwakkey/3187?destination=node/40122

The event will be streamed live at:
https://new.livestream.com/accounts/4019220/ISATMA2013
and
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ISATMA2013

The first review and airplay
"REMY & My Breath My Music" already got the first review by Bert Strolenberg of Sonic Immersion:
http://www.sonicimmersion.org/review.php?letter=R&review=72696

And on June 8th, there can also be listened to two tracks of the album, broadcast on Harborough FM (U.K.), hosted by Terry Hawke:
http://earth.passionradio.co.uk/HFM
See the program's Facebook page for information, tracklisting, etc.:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/512708218776871/

New release: "REMY & My Breath My Music - Sessions 2012"

While still being involved into recent "PrimiTiveS" release by Synth.nl and me, I am already announcing the next album.
The third release on my own Deserted Island Music label will be another collaboration:

"REMY & My Breath My Music - Sessions 2012".

It is the surprising output of a very special music session with students from the "My Breath My Music" foundation.

The purpose of "My Breath My Music" is to offer people with severe physical disabilities, an opportunity to make music especially with instruments developed for their needs.

The Magic Flute, a specially developed instrument which was originally designed as an adaptive musical instrument for people with little or no arm movement, was built with the goal to allow people with a wide range of disabilities to perform live electronic music and aim for the highest professional levels of performance.

The Magic Flute is an electronic wind instrument. It is unique because it can be played without hands. The wind instrument can also be connected to other electric sound sources like synthesizers or MIDI computers enabling the user to generate a broad variety of different sounds. The sounds used for this project are specially programmed. They respond very well to breath controlled data produced by the Magic Flute.

August 3rd, 2012, I was invited by Ruud van der Wel to perform a special project with members of his "My Breath My Music" foundation. I had no idea at all what to expect, but the young and talented musicians did a tremendous job improvising on my tracks, while they were entirely unfamiliar with my (kind of) music.

I am very honoured to have been part of this wonderful initiative. On the album (which contains the full sessions) you can hear the possibilities of the Magic Flute, as well as proof that there are no restrictions to speaking the language of music.

All information about "My Breath My Music" and the Magic Flute can be found on their website.

Press photo (c) Paul Oomen.

Album release information:

Available as cd and digital download.

Release date: June 3rd, 2013

Label: Deserted Island Music (DIM-003)

Tracklisting:

1. Temptation - 13'29 (with Korneel Oskam)

2. In High Places - 17'33 (with Christian Gouweleeuw)

3. Hunter - 15'14 (with Glenn Nugteren)

4. Full Moon - 15'03 (with Karin van Dijk)

The music on this cd contains adaptions from tracks which also appear on the first two Deserted Island Music releases: "REMY - i-Dentity" and "REMY - The Great Church Trilogy".

I have specifically chosen for these tracks as basis, because they perfectly offer room for improvisation.

Soundclips will be added on www.desertedislandmusic.nl within a couple of days

 

Benefits from the album sales will go to the "My Breath My Music" foundation.

E-Day 2013, "PrimiTiveS", and more...

"PrimiTiveS" released
One week ago, "PrimiTiveS" - the album by Synth.nl and me - was released and presented at the E-Day Festival in Oirschot. The cd can be ordered from Groove Unlimited (www.groove.nl) or directly from me (www.desertedislandmusic.nl). Also MP3 and FLAC downloads are available from Groove Unlimited.

Information and soundclips: http://www.synth.nl/music/collaborations/primitives

Besides the 'casual' airplay and announcements, an extensive 2-hours "PrimiTiveS" special (including interview with Michel) was aired during April 7th edition of 'Sunday Synth' by Bruce Gall. And here are links to the first reviews:
- A Ultima Fronteira Radio (Roberto Vales)
- Sonic Immersion (Bert Strolenberg)
- Synth & Sequences (Sylvain Lupari)

Within the coming days the Ambient Visions website should also feature an extensive interview with Michel and me. And I hope to announce more reviews and media appearances very soon.

E-Day 2013
A couple of weeks ago it was very uncertain if the festival was going to take place (due to dissapointing ticket sales), but in the end about 200 people found their way to Theatre De Enck. Even more visitors than last year's edition.
Besides chatting a lot and promoting and selling my music, I've also attended some of the concerts. Strangely enough I am not always in the mood for electronic music at these kind of festivals, but this time I more or less was.


Synthex and Gert Emmens.

 One gig I was really looking forward to was the one by the 14-years young Synthex (aka Jeffrey Haster). He was accompanied on stage by Gert Emmens on drums and keys. According to his first appearance (which was the one I saw), I think the young boy from Eindhoven did an excellent job.
He was very conscious about every thing he did, and together with experienced colleague Gert Emmens, things worked out very smooth and natural. A pleasure to listen to.

I unfortunately missed the concert by Bernhard Woesteinrich, but did catch most of the TMA & Alien Nature gig. The kind of electronic music I really like. And very attractive to whitness due to a dynamic line-up: Torsten 'TMA' Abel and Alien Nature on synths, Martinson on guitar and Thomas Betzler on drums and percussion. Their show consisted of strong and intriguing themes. Great stuff!


René Splinter in action. (c) Phil Booth.

 Another concert where I was looking forward to very much, was the one by René Splinter.
The day in advance René phoned me somewhere in the evening, a little bit in panic, because his transport cancelled at the very last moment. Although completely not on the route, Paulien and I picked up a lot of his gear. Luckily René's concert could go on, and it definitely was the highlight of this year's edition of the festival. His 'old' as well as new material matched perfectly and his skilled keyboard-playing made the whole concert a pleasure to listen to from the beginning until the end. The excited audience also got two encores, to conclude with an excellent performance of "Palace of Dreams". René's variation of the famous Tangerine Dream piece - which was also performed on this same stage by its composer Johannes Schmoelling (as part of the legendary Loom concert) on grand piano, during E-Live 2011 - was at least as exciting as Johannes' version. Excellent!
For me this was the musical end of this - again - very nice day. Code Indigo headlined E-Day 2013, but at this point I've had heard enough music for the day.
Neil Fellowes gave me Code Indigo's new cd-release afterwards, so I am going to listen to this formation's new album very soon!
Instead of the concert I have had a very nice chat with Ruud Heij. Hereafter Paulien and I left direction Rotterdam, to drop René Splinter's equipment.


From the archives: early 1999.

And more...
Last Thursday I performed at an intimate "reunion" evening at my former high-school.
Kicking off the event with one of my solo electronic music pieces, and concluding the "classical, jazz and vocal" concerts (as it was announced) with a performance of an occasional formation (consisting of a singer, saxophone player, bass player, drummer, and me on keys) I've been part of in the end-90's.
We've actually only made music during festivities related to the school, but after our recent rehearsing studio sessions, we decided that it would be fun to eventually play together more often and write new material. Really looking forward to this very much! Besides this and an upcoming studio session with another band, I am working out plans for some exciting upcoming "solo" projects for the end of this year / early 2014.


With students of My Breath My Music.
Press photo (c) Paul Oomen.

 With about two months there will be released a musical session I did with physically disabled children from the establishment 'My Breath My Music'. End 2012 I've already wrote a blog item about this special and spontaneous session, but now it will also come to a cd publication.
De basis consists of some of my tracks on which the students improvise with the special developped Magic Flute wind controller.
The students were totally unfamiliar with my kind of music, and we had never played together before, but all of the four skilled children contributed to the very unique output, of which we find it of significant value to have a release of. Proceeds of the album sales will go to the establishment 'My Breath My Music'. More information on this upcoming release follows soon!