Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition

As you could have read in my previous blog post, I am organising an music evening at a very special location.
Here is all information:

On the evening of Friday June 27th, 2014, Deserted Island Music and Heerlijkheid Brederode present:

“CHILL AT THE CASTLE - ELECTRIC EDITION”

A magical evening at the historic location of the Ruïns of Brederode, situated in Santpoort-Zuid (just outside of Haarlem), featuring a wide range of live electronic music performed by the finest musicians in the electronic music scene around:

• Free Arts Lab (Remy Stroomer, Jeroen Hagen, Martijn Scholte)
• Wolfram Spyra
• Planet of the Arps (Remy Stroomer and Wolfram Spyra)

The Castle of Brederode was founded in the second half of the 13th century.
In between 1351 and 1573 the castle did undergo several attacks and pillages. And in the 19th century the remains were one of the first buildings to be restored by the government, and the became the first national monument of the Netherlands.

The concert site offers place for around 200 people, seated in front of the stage, which is situated in front of the large wall of what once was the kitchen.

Information and tickets: www.desertedislandmusic.nl/brederode

FREE ARTS LAB
The group Free Arts Lab is founded in 2014 in Haarlem by Remy Stroomer (keyboards/ synthesizers), Martijn Scholte (guitar/bowed guitar) and Jeroen Hagen (drums/percussion). All three come from a different musical background. With Remy’s electronic and ambient compositions, the name refers to the Zodiak Free Arts Lab or ‘Zodiak Club’. This club in Berlin once was a place where musicians were unlimited in developing their experimentation. From the same point of view and free state of mind of musical creativity, Free Arts Lab combines different art forms together in live perform-ances and studio recordings.

Remy Stroomer (1979, keyboards/synthesizers/compositions) starts to take keyboard-lessons at the age of nine and around the same time, he creates his first com-positions. At the end of 1999, Remy’s first album “Exhibition of Dreams” is released as a double-cdr on the independent AKH Records and that marks the start of a enduring career as an award winning solo-artist. Besides, Remy also collaborated with Ron Boots, Synth.nl (Michel van Osenbruggen), Gert Emmens and My Breath My Music. He has released thirteen solo-albums under his own name.

Martijn Scholte (1978, guitar/bowed guitar) has played and sang in various poprock and progressive rockbands, besides his singer-songwriting. His musical inspirations are mainly This will destroy you, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Helios, Sigur Rós, Hammock, Patrick Watson, Gravenhurst, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd and Radiohead. By combining and experimenting with a variety of styles, Scholte aims at a wide sound. His choice for bowed guitar stems from his affection for Sigur Rós’ music and his love for the cello. This results in an extra dimension and a soundscape from his guitar.

Jeroen Hagen (1970, drums/percussion) has a broad interest for music and art. His musical foundation is influenced by bands from the sixties, the early seventies and the nineties. He has been part of several bands, covering symphonic rock, rock, grunge and folk, mainly from the Rotterdam-area. His most important influences are The Beatles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Yes, Bob Dylan, The Who, Neil Young, Stone Temple Pilots, Norman Cook, Pearl Jam, Weezer, Johnny Cash and The Black Crowes.

REMY discography
Exhibition of Dreams (1999), The Art of Imagination (2000), DisConnected (2003), Connected (2003), Different Shades of Dust (2004), Sense (2006), This is not the End (2008), EoD (2009), Exhibition of Dreams - 10th Anniversary (2010), i-Dentity (2011), The Great Church Trilogy (2011), PrimiTiveS (2013, met Synth.nl), Sessions 2012 (2013, with My Breath My Music).

WOLFRAM SPYRA
Wolfram Spyra (1964) is a composer of electronic music, sound artist born in Eschwege in Germany. Sound is his art form. He has worked for film, television, theatre, dance and as sound designer.
Spyra began his career in the early 1990s constructing soundscapes and installations around Germany. He has collaborated with a wide range of visual artists, musicians, producers and DJs and released several albums, starting in 1995 with “Homelistening Is Killing Clubs”.
Spyra’s focus is on electronic music. While sometimes experimental, most of his music has a certain acces-sibility in terms of the rhythmic and melodic components.
Spyra’s new album will be released in June 2014 and reveals the complexity and strangeness in analog synthesis. He calls his new found genre ‘post-electronic’. The record will have its world-wide live premiere at “Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition” at the Ruïns of Brederode on June 27th.

Spyra discography
Homelistening Is Killing Clubs (1995), Phonehead (1997), My Little Garden of Sounds (1997), Future of the Past (1997), Sferics (1998), Etherlands (1999), Elevator To Heaven (2001), Invisible Fields (2003), Meditationen (2005), Orphan Waves (2006), High Phidelity (2007), Gasoline - 91 Octane (2008), January in June (2009), No Beats For One Hour (2010), tba (2014).

PLANET OF THE ARPS
As the ‘grand finale’ of this evening at the ruin, Wolfram Spyra will join Remy Stroomer for a real-time rework of Remy’s one hour ambient piece “Planet of the Arps”.
This original composition dates from 2010 and has been performed live by Remy at the Zeiss Planetarium in Bochum (Germany) in September 2012.
From the time the musical piece was finished, Remy wanted Wolfram to rework this track.
Now, four years later, this project has finally brought both artists together and an excerpt of this piece will be created live at the ruin.

Free Arts Lab & "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition"

The first weeks of 2014 I have been very busy with a couple of things behind the scenes.

Time for an update!

Free Arts Lab

After my performance at Theater De Wegwijzer on January 10th (see most recent blog item), we (the involved musicians: Jeroen Hagen (drums and percussion), Martijn Scholte (bowed guitar), and myself) decided that our collaboration should be continued.
Last weeks we have discussed a lot about the new formation and the things we want to do and achieve.

Initially we decided to focus on my electronic music compositions. At least for the moment.

Jeroen and Martijn add their visions, musical skills and expertise to these tracks.

Because there is a lot of space for everyone's input, and because there has already been included a large improvisational part into our setlist, it is very likely that involved musicians will also be part of the composition process in a later stage.

As part of our "Free Arts Lab" - how we named our project - we are planning to involve other musicians (with various musical backgrounds) and any kind of artists and their ideas, to experiment with various artistical points of view. At the moment, for example, we are negotiating with a video artist to create fitting images for our upcoming concerts.

With the dynamic line-up we have at the moment (in which electronic music meets a wide variety of other musical directions) we are convinced to make the rather 'niche' non-commercial electronic music genre more attractive to a larger audience.

"Free Arts Lab" is derrived from the short-lived, but highly influential, Zodiak Free Arts Lab. The famous club in Berlin, where Krautrock found its origin.
With more or less the same point of view we will try to find ways to go into different musical directions.

Coming week we start rehearsing our new set. In the first place to prepare our upcoming gig (see further below) and secondly for a series of concerts we are planning for the end of this year. Of which I can already announce our appearance at the Awakenings All-dayer, to be held at the Paget High School in Burton-on-Trent (U.K.).

I already did a solo concert here before, two years ago, and I am really looking forward to perform here  again.

Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition
As you might perhaps know I am organising an upcoming music event at the wonderful location of the Ruïne van Brederode, in Santpoort-Zuid (near Haarlem).
The complete line-up and details will be announced somewhere this week, but I can already reveal that Free Arts Lab is the opening act for "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition", which takes place on Friday evening, June 27th.

So be sure to write down this date into your agenda.

"Chill at the Castle" is an existing concept that has already been organised before at the same location. With the focus on acoustic music sessions.

When I had in mind to organise a music event at this wonderful location (which are the remains of the 13th century Brederode Castle) it was suggested by the Dimitri Arpad (from "Heerlijkheid Brederode", initiator of "Chill at the Castle"), to organise a concert evening in the line of this concept. I thought it would be better to specify this, because the focus of the upcoming edition should be on electronic music, so with electr(on)ic equipment.

Therefor we decided to call the evening "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition".

Again, all details will finally be announced within a couple of days.
As soon as there is any news, you will get to read more on my blog about "Chill at the Castle - Electric Edition".
So stay tuned!

Concert at Theater De Wegwijzer

Friday January 10th was an evening I had been looking forward to a lot, because this actually was my first complete solo-evening.

In first instance it was the intention to perform solo entirely, but when preparing all music - having in mind that it should be an evening that should offer some more than just the 'standard' electronic music - I decided to invite fellow musicians Jeroen Hagen (drums) and Martijn Scholte (bowed guitar). With this formation we rehearsed for a couple of weeks.
I specifically wanted a fine drummer to make things sound more dynamic and organic. When getting in touch with Martijn, I was impressed by the sounds he produced with his bowed guitar, which are very characteristic and sometimes spooky. I immediately had clear ideas to fit this into my music. Finishing the concept with fitting visuals.

Last Friday's concert evening was devided into two parts, split by a break.

First I had in mind to play the first set on my own, and the second set together with Jeroen and Martijn, but when we started rehearsing for this show, it was decided that we were going to do both sets together.





Here are the tracks we performed:

Set 1:
1. Destination: Berlin - part 1
2. Awakenings - part 3
3. E-Live 2013 - part 3-2
4. MMIX a.D.

Set 2:
1. Zequenzzze 1
2. Zequenzzze 2
3. Improvisation
4. Zequenzzze 3
5. Improvisation

The first set contained all existing music. Track 1 and 4 are from previously released albums ("i-Dentity" and "The Great Church Trilogy"), and tracks 2 and 3 are from other concerts I did (resp. Awakenings (2012) and the E-Live Festival (2013)).
The second set was specially composed for the evening.

Although it was not a sold out evening, I think we could look back on a great and exciting evening. Artistically seen we (the musicians) were very satisfied.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the following people:
- Fellow-musicians Jeroen Hagen and Martijn Scholte for lending their excellent musical skills. It was a pleasure - and also big fun - to make music together.
It would be great to give any continuation to this project with these guys.
- All people who attended the concert. Besides some 'familiar' faces, it also was nice to meet new people. However, it was a pleasure to perform for all of you!

- Paulien Bouw and Melanie Swart for their assistance and support.
- Marius Roeting for his time and efforts to get an electronic music act into a theatre.
- And maybe most important:
Big thank you's to Arnout Schop and Trudi Wams from Theater De Wegwijzer.
First of all they took the risk to book an act which was not in line with their regular programme. In fact I am very honoured to be the first artist to perform electronic music in their wonderful theatre.
They did a tremendous job making us feel very welcome, by means of hospitality, excellent food and drinks, and good conversations. Thanks you so much!

The coming days I will sort out the audio and video recordings.
To be continued...

(Photos by Paulien Bouw)

Rehearsing session for the January 10th concert

Today was rehearsing day for the upcoming concert in Theater De Wegwijzer, on January 10th.
The morning was used to move Jeroen's drum kit to my studio, and set it up.
Once installed we spent some time adjusting the technical stuff for the drums and the monitoring.

Later on we were joined by Martijn and his (bowed) guitar.
We rehearsed all parts in which drums and bowed guitar are involved.
For now we skipped my solo parts, but we will do the two complete sets entirely later this week.
Today it wasn't the first day we rehearsed the music of the concert, so most of the tracks went very smooth.
Actually there was only one track that had to be adjusted slightly.
When having done this I can say that I am very, very excited about the over-all output so far.
We ended the day with some improvisations!

Here is a video excerpt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mdpFfheVXQ&feature=youtu.be

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