ANTENNA FARM & MAIN - BROMBRON 01: AF_M
Staalplaat • CD only • No Barcode • Now Available download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
AF_M is the result of a collaboration between Main (Robert Hampson, formerly of Loop and Godflesh) and Antenna Farm (David Howell and Alastair Leslie). As the very first artists in Staalplaat's new Brombron series, both artists were kindly invited to spend a week living and working at the Extrapool studio in Nijmegen, to collaborate together, and then release the results on a CD.
These recordings were made utilising a variety of tools - powerbooks, contact microphones, guitars, mixing desk, fx, and and field recordings gathered from around Nijmegen. The three of them spent long hours in the studio working alone processing our own sounds, and then coming together at the end of each day to improvise collectively with these sounds. Becoming increasingly focussed, these improvised sessions were recorded directly down onto DAT. At the end of the week (July 7th - 13th, 2000), they returned to London with around 3 and a half hours worth of DATs. After a short break, they came together again at Robert's studio in Croydon and began to isolate sections and edit together this material (again on powerbook). This editing was simple and truthful to the original recordings - no new sections were added, there was no reprocessing done. They simply isolated what was felt were the strongest recorded sections and then bolted these together. There were some crossfades created, but everything was kept in chronological order. The resulting audio coheres into a focussed document that slips from extreme quiet to scratchy, crackly ambience, drone passages, and occasional bursts of a more violent nature. Not something that works as a background music, the 5 tracks have been carefully placed together and require closer listening.....
STEPHAN MATHIEU & EKKEHARD EHLERS - BROMBRON 02: HEROIN
Staalplaat • CD only • No Barcode • Now Available download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
The first release to materialize from this project is by Stephan Mathieu and Ekkehard Ehlers and was recorded in the very last days of 2000 and the very first of 2001. Stephan Mathieu used to be the drummer in a free improv duo Stol and since they split he works as a laptop artist. He has released various records for Kit Clayton's Orthlong Musork label (under the moniker Full Swing) and on Ritornell (the excellent 'Wurmloch Variationen') and in the near future on Fällt. Ekkehard Ehlers was also in a duo, Autopoieses, a laptop micro-glitch project, but also plays techno inspired click n cuts as Auch (which has an album on Mille Plateaux) and under his name he composed the more serious side of music (a record of Albert Ayler versions is about to release).
The collaborative project is entitled 'Heroin', because much of it carries the trademarks of popmusic and popmusicians (the real, big ones that is) are all addicted, you know. Guitar, drums, organ, melodica but also laptops and plug ins are used to create a rich, warm music, sometimes with simple melody lines, sometimes with the trademarks of microwaves. This CD should not just appeal to electronic music lovers, but also to those who have a warm heart to more rock like music.
ROEL MEELKOP & TORE HONORE BOE - BROMBRON O3: SOVEZACHT
Staalplaat • CD only • No Barcode • Now Available | cover
"The Brombron project of Extrapool and Staalplaat is one of those rare opportunities for artists to exchange ideas and work together in a very close way. To be locked up for one week in a recording studio and live only one flight of stairs up is very intense and also very productive. When I was invited to do the project I had no idea what it would become. After some initial time scheduling problems, I invited Tore do to the collaboration with me. We did not decide on any theme or concept before we started, so we were basically blank when we entered the studio. The studio itself, with all its equipment and its specific acoustic qualities, became our source of inspiration. Working with the analogue synths in there and making room recordings, we gradually built up a body of raw material that led the way to the construction of the tracks on this CD. I am very happy with the result, because it is indeed a reflection of what happened between Tore and me in that space during that period. We slept very well.
About Tore Honore Boe: '...a link between Dada, Merz or the long collage and concrete music tradition: Boe creates a personal, crystalline and sparklingly clear sound constructed out of microphysic elements of chance and risk by occasionally using amplified everyday objects and, in other instances, field recordings and processing of all these. A personal creator with a style avoiding comparison and whose choice of unusual formats has led him to work with records, floppy disks or micro-cassettes. The singular beauty of his music stems from this premises, but also from the emotional atmosphere of the spaces where his live interventions take place...' (www.kunst.no/origami/tore)
About Roel Meelkop: Roel Meelkop (1963) studied visual arts and art theory at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. During a post-graduate course at the same academy he decided to dedicate his work to sound and music. His musical activities date back to the early 1980s when he started influential group THU20, with Jac van Bussel, Peter Duimelinks, Jos Smolders and Guido Doesborg. The working method of THU20 included many discussions about how to compose and why. This period was crucial in forming his ideas and concepts about sound and how to organise it, but it was not until the mid nineties that he was able to fully realise these ideas. The purchase of a sampler and later a computer radically changed his possibilities of working with sound, offering infinitely more control and freedom. Since then he has worked steadily on a body of work with releases on such labels as Trente Oiseaux (Germany), Staalplaat (Netherlands) and Intransitive (US). His other activities include working as a member of both Kapotte Muziek and GOEM with Peter Duimelinks and Frans De Waard and organising sound events in Rotterdam. Aside from releases, Meelkop also creates site-specific sound installations, often in collaboration with other artists and has performed live around the world.
HEIMIR BJORGULFSSON & JONAS OHLSSON - BROMBRON 04: UNSPOKEN WORLD TOUR
Staalplaat • CD only • No Barcode • Now Available download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
Icelandic artist Heimir Bjorgulfsson(ex-Stilluppsteypa) and Swedish artist Jonas Ohlsson team up for a strange blend. A frozen margarita from the north perhaps...? Both artist are educated in the visual arts as well as Heimir having studied sonology at The Royal Conservatory in Den Haag and Jonas electro-accoustic music at Fylkingen in Sweden. They both live and work in Amsterdam, and have numerous releases behind their back, solo and in various projects. Bringing their nordic background into the Extrapool studio in Nijmegen, the pair used a lot of old analog gear available to them there in combination with their own high-tec digital machines to make this very varied album of 23 tracks ranging from funky noise to abstract old school acid... quite different from previous outputs from them. Strange things started to happen as the Gelderland Legend appeared unexpected in the studio and singing sessions even took place to ad just the right flavour of this otherwise unique cocktail.
RADBOUD MENS & JAAP BLONK - BROMBRON 05: BEK
Staalplaat • CD only • No Barcode • Now Available download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
'Bek' brings together dutch vocal artist Jaap Blonk and dutch techno musician Radboud Mens. Jaap is known from his two previous Staalplaat releases ('Flux de Bouche' and 'Vocalor') and recites sound poetry of his own writing, aswell as from others. He is also reknowned as an improviser and has worked with almost everybody in that field. Radboud Mens is a trained visual artist, but is also a skilled audio engineer. In his techno based music he searches for the physical aspects of sound. Previously he had releases on Staalplaat ('Sine' is still, limited, available) and Audio.NL (who are about to release a second 12" of his work in 2002).
In 'Bek' (dutch for 'mouth') all sound sources are derived from Jaap Blonk's voice. He mimics techno rhythms, which were recorded by Radboud Mens. Together they created five distincively different dance music pieces. There are five different approaches: techno, drum & bass, minimal techno and gabber. Upon playing this CD, the rhythms will grab and you won't hardly notice the fact that this is voice based. Only upon close listening you will hear the difference between a 303 and Jaap's voice.
JASON KAHN & STEVE RODEN - BROMBRON 06: SHIMMER/FLICKER/WAVER/QUIVER
Korm Plastics kp 3013 • releasedate: November 1st 2003 • CD only | cover
Brombron 06 by Steve Roden and Jason Kahn will be the first Brombron release on Korm Plastics - the previous five were released by Staalplaat (and are unavailable from Korm Plastics). But after leaving Staalplaat, Brombron co-curator Frans de Waard continued releasing CDs and now the Brombron releases will be realized by his Korm Plastics imprint.
In the year 2000 Frans de Waard and Extrapool started the Brombron project. Two or more musicians become artists in residence in Extrapool, an arts initiative in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with a fully equipped sound recording studio. These artists can work in a certain amount of time on a collaborative project; a project they always wished to do, but didn't have the time or the equipment to realize.
In September 2002, Jason Kahn and Steve Roden joined forces in the Extrapool studios. Steve Roden played small acoustic objects, electric guitar, contact microphones and guitar pedals whereas Jason Kahn played minimal percussion, laptop and analogue synthesizer. Their focus on sound is a central factor in this work. Six beautiful pieces of microscopic, precise music - like watching through the looking glass at the smallest particles available.
Jason Kahn was born in New York, grew up in Los Angeles, moved to Berlin in 1990. He now lives in Zürich. His audio work is a mix of electronic and acoustic sound sources, produced with minimal percussion, laptop or analogue synthesizer. In recent years he has also created several sound installations, using field recordings and sound waves as concrete forms. He started the label «cut» in 1998.
Steve Roden is a visual and sound artist from los angeles. His sound works involve the electronically transformed sounds of acoustic objects, instruments, and field recordings. since 1993 he has released many recordings under his own name as well as 'in be tween noise' on various labels including his own 'new plastic music'.
Steve Roden: http://www.inbetweennoise.com
Jason Kahn: http://cut.fm and http://jasonkahn.dfekt.org
KODI & PAUSA - BROMBRON 07:
IN ONE WEEK AND NEW TOYS TO PLAY
Korm Plastics kp 3018 download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
Natalie Bruys (Kodi) is foremost a visual artist who studied at De Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where she graduated with the production of a vinyl record with her own music. She then moved temporarily to Berlin where she continued to produce her own unique blend of soundscaping, plunderphonica and techno.
Lukas Simonis (aka Pausa) has his roots as an instrumentalist and musical ‘activist’ in the industrial music and noise rock of the Eighties ( Throbbing Gristle, the Residents, Pere Ubu, Sonic Youth and beyond).Being a part of the Rotterdam jazzbunker scene (a collective that consisted of heavy drug induced punk rockers, freejazzers, early electronic musicians and pre-postrock combo’s) he discovered the delimited world of improvisation. In the meantime he played in bands like Dull Schicksal, Trespassers W and Morzelpronk. At the same time he was writing for underground magazines like Trespassers W, Opscene, Mondain Den Haag and the Koekrandt as well as organizing concerts, events and films, first at the Jazzbunker in Rotterdam later on the Dissonanten festival, the Dissidenten festival, Popifilm, Dodorama and finally WORM, a multimedia centre for experimental art. At the moment Simonis plays in Coolhaven (with Peter Fengler and Hajo Doorn), Liana Flu Winks (with Nina Hitz and Wilf Plum), ApricotMyLady (with the Bohman Brothers and Ann Laberge), The Static Tics (with Henk Bakker) and Vril (with Chris Cutler and Bob Drake). This sounds like a lot of work (and sometimes it is) but these bands and projects all exist only a few weeks or months a year. (so time enough to sit at home).
On ‘In One Week And New Toys To Play’ Kodi & Pausa combine their totally different background of rock and techno, playing the studio’s analogue synth collection (aka the new toys to play) but also guitar, banjo, rhythmbox and a touch of the city’s sounds through their use of field recordings.
HOWARD STELZER/GUISEPPE IELASI - BROMBRON 08:
NIGHT LIFE
Korm Plastics KP 2023 | CD only | release date: january 1st 2006
download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
The method we chose was to first proceed to the closest coffee shop for a breakfast of cheese and meat sandwiches (me) and cookies (Giuseppe), then we’d record improvisations for a few hours until lunchtime. I primarily used cassette tapes and Giuseppe used a guitar, but we also both played synths and electronic doodads and microphones, and I made some tape recordings around the city that I brought back in to our improvisations. Our minds were open, and we experimented without deciding in advance what sort of album we might be making. We’d then take a long walk, go to the Nijmegen record shops (where Plurex records are still cheap!), have some lunch, maybe also a snack, and then start to edit out the good bits from the morning. We’d also add some effects and change some parts, use the recordings as source material in a small way. Then we’d return to the record shops to buy the records we hesitated on in the afternoon, have some dinner and relax. The next day, we’d wake up, have coffee, and do it again. Our pace of working and comfort matched quite well. For the final few days of the residency, we started to piece together our bits until they worked as compositions. Then we edited some more until the album emerged.
About the title.... we gave a duo concert at Extrapool as part of the requirements of our residency. There was an art opening happening at the same time, so the gallery was packed with people. It was a lot of fun, but it also made us both feel a bit strange; we’re somewhat awkward in social situations, and didn’t know anyone at the Extrapool party except for Frans and Roel Meelkop, who drove out from Rotterdam. After our set, we split to go get more fried Dutch snacks. Along the walk, we talked about how we used to go out to parties more often when we were younger, but now we aren’t even so old and we generally enjoy staying at home where it’s quiet, listening to records and reading. Giuseppe was reminded on the song by Arthur Russell, “Losing My Taste for the Nightlife”. Maybe we are. Or, maybe that’s just how we felt on that evening. It doesn’t matter, really, I suppose.”
- Howard Stelzer. Cambridge, MA (USA)
December 2005
JOE COLLEY/JASON LASCELLEET - BROMBRON 09:
ANNIHILATE THIS WEEK
Korm Plastics KP 2024 | CD only | release date: january 1st 2006 download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
Colley and Lescalleet had never met before their grey week in Nijmegen. Though neither of these melacholic composers were prepared for the conflicts and compromise of this collaboration, they found common ground in rejecting the need for deep meaning or complex concepts.
46 minutes remain after harsh judgement from two perpetually dissatisfied artists.
But what does it sound like?
Amidst the detritus of yard sale junk and old, broken equipment, Colley and Lescalleet engage in the pursuit of resurrecting the essence of sound and exposing beauty that others discard. Locked away in the recording studio of Geluidwerkplaats Extrapool for ten days, they found music in the natural process of decay. These compositions seem weathered and eroded. Rather than aiming for excitement or dazzling expression, Colley and Lescalleet embrace the tedium of everyday life as something beautiful and compelling. This is music with a slow absorption rate and a high toxicity.
FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER/PETER DUIMELINKS - BROMBRON 10:
FFLUX
download sample (mp3/32kbps) | cover
Frank Bretschneider is one of the vital producers in the global electronic network. A member of the raster-noton collective, he also has releases under the names Komet and Produkt. Bretschneider has created some spacial electronics of the late 90’s and 00’s, unlike so much output in the microscopic music scene, his music has always flourished with activity. Precise sound placement, volume levels and the contrast of tones in Bretschneider’s production makes his compositions captivating. Bretschneider goes beyond the plug-in or plug research electronics. He redefins the genre by rendering the parameters playable, reentering the musical domain with unprecedented ease. Bretschneider discovers the complexity of the virtual: microtonality, clicks, complex rhythm textures, melodic fragments.
Peter Duimelinks’ music activities date back to the mid eighties, in a time in which he co-founded the musique concrete group THU20 with a.o. Roel Meelkop and Jos Smolders. Working with THU20 was of vital importance to Duimelinks and it shaped his ideas and concepts about sound and how to work with it. Traces of this period can still be heard in his more contemporary solowork, which usually consists of field-recordings sometimes heavily reworked but mostly used in it’s pure form, and then organised into a composition. He is also a member of the improvisation trio Kapotte Muziek and electronic pulse trio Goem. In the last 15 years he has also collaborated extensively with visual artists, film and video makers and contemporary dance choreographers, and has had several exhibitions of sound installations. He runs the V2_Archief music/sound label and the audio.nl label.
In their playing together Bretschneider and Duimelinks go back to the core of minimal, click related techno music, to the early days of Komet and Goem. Minimal but engaging music, always with the heartbeat pulse at the bottom.
FELIX KUBIN & COOLHAVEN - BROMBRON 11
SUPPE FÜR DIE NACHT
Korm Plastics KP 3025 | CD only | download sample (mp3/32kbps) cover
Many years ago, Felix Kubins uncle Walter Knoth was looking for a composer to musically illustrate some of his old-fashioned brilliant Schlager texts. Naturally, his first choice was his own nephew Felix - but obviously this young guy did not have the versatile qualities to manage such a thing on his own.
Walter placed some big advertisements in all the important German music mags. After a long period of auditioning Madonna-lookalikes, Wanna-be-Genesis-P-Orridges and Bearded Kraut Rock Acidheads, Dutch pop mogul Frans de Waard showed interest and decided to take the Rotterdam group Coolhaven into the boat – an ecclectonoclast trio consisting of Dorn, Fregge and Guy Simons. This menage-á-quatre was supposed to record another top-selling album for de Waards Brombron series.
Due to budget reasons the musicians were only given a period of one week to work on their songs in a dirty old studio in Rotterdam (Studio L6S - For All Your Special Projects). Nevertheless, the hyperactive quartett managed to record about 18 hours of rough material which was finally melted down to 42 minutes of sheer brilliance. Under the influence of strange instruments, dusty corners and atmospheric pain, the recording resulted in a fruitful mixture of ‘German Weirde Welle’ Optagonism, Conservative HipHop, Stockhausen Schläger, No Improv Mixing and Gabberpop. The mixing was done in long sessions (the longest being 36 hours) where everybody could have his say. Thats why it took 18 months to release the bitch. But here she is; Suppe Für Die Nacht. Have some. And don’t ask questions.
