Concertzender Live: LOW in Catharinakerk

Concertzender Live: LOW in Catharinakerk Part 1 airs on May 18, 2009 at 8:00pm CET. Part 2 airs on June 15, 2009 at 8:00pm CET. Recording and “live”-mix: Kees van de Wiel Text: Hessel Veldman As the result of an earlier project with David Dramm, director of the Muziekcentrum Eindhoven Frank Veenstra envisioned the final performance at the Heartland Festival as a Low concert, to be arranged by Dramm. Dramm recruited an extraordinary group of musicians to accompany the American indie rock trio, including the five singers of VocaalLAB, the Swiss organ player Dominik Blum (Steamboat Switzerland) and two percussion players. The Muziekcentrum accoladed the artistry of Low by making the Catharinakerk available for the concert: a venue with challenging acoustics, for which a sound system was specially imported from Germany. Dramm worked long hours during the days leading up to the concert on January 22, 2009 with all of the musicians, using a total of 60 instruments, taking the location into particular consideration in order to create this “Best of…..LOW” performance. Dramm demonstrates his mastery in subtlety. He demonstrates his respect for the open Low sound. And manages to emphasize the slowness and the dark character of Low’s music like a dramatist. At the opening of the concert, Dramm treated the three members of Low to a specially composed intro: “The Wheel Of Catharina”. The intro was played on the church organ by Dominik and sung and whistled by VocaalLAB from the balcony opposite the nave. The piece flowed seamlessly into “Amazing Grace”, and over the next two and half hours some 29 songs in all resounded in the church. The somewhat religious character of “Candy Girl” is blown up into Purcellian proportions. “Pretty People” and “Take Your Time” are welded together by strolling members of VocaalLab, armed with megaphones. Dominik’s contributions on piano and organ are clever. Both percussion players thoroughly familiarized themselves with the Low sound. Tinkling instruments, Glockenspiels, vibraphones, drums and even steel drums are used to great effect at the exactly right time. In a piece like “The Lamb”, in which playing out of synch is essential, the intensity results in a exasperating and even painful tension. The musicians conclude the concert with “Dragonfly” and “Murderer”. After more than two hours of concentrated listening, the audience finds its release in tumultous applause. But releasing this experience is impossible, and the audience will not let the performers go before they have given three encores, with “When I Go Deaf” as the apotheosis. David Dramm and Alan “Black Eyed Snake” Sparhawk send the audience out of the church and on their way with a sound storm of raging guitars.(hv)

CHRISTMAS RADIO SPECIAL

For all believers. Use the direct link or go to the Audio Documents list. Wishing you all A Wonderful Christmas with a special dark mix; listen to music of The Residents, Morgan Fisher, Solex, The Ronettes, Bing Crosby, Ice Cream Blisters, Low, Sufjan Stevens, Damien Rice, Ab Kok, Basement 5, Herbst 9, Stephan Micus, Charles Matthews, and Arvo Part.

GORGONZOLA LEGS

1984 was the year in which Gert Jan Prins (www.gjp.info/) visited Hessel and Nicole at their appartment on the 11th floor, overlooking a big industrial landscape. Recording-sessions were started at Gert Jan’s “Fish Warehouse”-studio. Gert Jan Prins, Hessel Veldman, Herman te Loo and Jos van Duyne became GORGONZOLA LEGS. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of “live”-recording sessions took place. At some of these sessions other musicians were present, such as: Jos van Ommen, Ruud Junge, Martijn Swart and Masaki Oishi. At the end of 1984 “GORGONZOLA LEGS” was released. On this one hour cassette the first mixed recordings could be heard. The group also wanted to do concerts and so GORGONZOLA LEGS more and more became a “live”-band.

In 1986 a second tape was released, entitled “SALMON SQUEEZING IN WEIRD WEIRS’, a new compilation of “Fish Warehouse”-recordings. “BUNKER” was recorded live at the Bunker in Rotterdam, october ’86. The complete concert could be heard on another EXART-issue. In 1987 the powerfull voice of the Japanese singer Masaki Oishi gave a new dimension to the sound of GORGONZOLA LEGS. Hours and hours of recordings were made. At the end of the year 6 hours of mixed material had to be remixed to L.P.-format. In april 1988 EXART decided to make it Holland’s first independent C.D.-release: “PISCATORIAL DEBRIS’. At the same time, with the great help of Henry van Kleeff, the “PISCATORIAL DEBRIS”-video was made. A beautiful 20 minutes sound sculpture video was realized. The video and C.D. got a lot of international attention and was performed on several big music/video festivals.During the late 80’s GORGONZOLA LEGS-material was also released on labels in Portugal, Italy and the U.S.A.

PRIVATE DISCOGRAPHY: 1978 – 2000

“Unreleased Material: ITAL”

CDR 74min

GORGONZOLA LEGS

“Unreleased Material: SHORT STORIES”

CDR 74min

GORGONZOLA LEGS

"The Concert Sessions: STEDELIJK MUSEUM”

CDR 74min

GORGONZOLA LEGS

EXART DISCOGRAPHY: 1982 – 1995

F.N.T.C. in Amsterdam

(Hessel, Cora, Nicole, Willem;

photo Annie Sprinkle)

EA 001 C60

ROOTS OFF........#2 ROTTERDANS

EAD 002 C90

UNITED STATES XV HESSEL VELDMAN

EA 003 C60

SEMI HORA AART ZWAANS

EAD 004 C60

THE S.M. TAPE NICOLE AND HESSEL

EA 005 C60

LADY IN RED BROBAT ENEMA

EAD 006 C60

VAN EDE’S GLASWERK KEES AND HESSEL

EAD 007 C60

Y CREATE (GREEN) Y CREATE

EAD 008 C60

Y CREATE (BLUE) Y CREATE

EAD 009 C60

Y CREATE (GREY) Y CREATE

EAD 010 C45

PORTABLE VAUDEVILLE KEES AND HESSEL

EAD 011 C60

FAR FROM THE HE(A)RD Y CREATE

EA 012 C60

KNOCKED OFF MY PERCH HERMAN TE LOO

EAD 013 C60

ALLES SAL REG KOM Y CREATE

EA 014 C45

BABY GUTS ENEMA DIGEST

EAD 015 C45 EAD 016 C60 EAD 017 C60

THE BLACK BOX Y CREATE

EA 018 C45

FAMOUS WORLD TOUR PAUL DANIELS

EAD 019 C60

SONGS OF THE SPERM WHALE HESSEL VELDMAN

EAD 020 C60

GORGONZOLA LEGS GORGONZOLA LEGS

EA 021 C45

GLIMPSE OF LIGHT ENNO VELTHUYS

EA 023 C45

LANDSCAPES IN THIN AIR ENNO VELTHUYS

EAD 024 C60

MUSIC FROM THE WHITEHOUSE 1 Y CREATE

EAD 025 C60

SALMON SQUEEZING IN WEIRD WEIRS GORGONZOLA LEGS

EA 026 C45

DIFFERENT PLACES ENNO VELTHUYS

EA 027 C45

CA QUI PARLE CA QUI PARLE

EAD 028 C45

BUNKER GORGONZOLA LEGS (“Fishing with the Black Cow in the Movies” immediately reminded me of Dalí. The music doesn't, however. EST2) EA 029 C60

MUSIC FROM THE WHITEHOUSE 2 U.K. COMPILATION

EA 030 C60

MUSIC FROM THE WHITEHOUSE 3 U.S.A. COMPILATION

EA 031 CD

PISCATORIAL DEBRIS GORGONZOLA LEGS (It varies from the almost silent to piercingly loud noise, communicating a range of mostly unhappy emotions. It would make an ideal soundtrack to an early Burroughs novel. EST2) EA 032 C60

MUSIC FROM THE WHITEHOUSE 4 FRENCH COMPILATION

EAD 033 C60

R.E. F.N.T.C.

EA 034 C46

SEMPITERNELS/VRISCHIKA

EA 035 C60

IN YOUR HANDS SEEMEN

EA 036 C60

HEMOGLOBINE QUINTET DE L’ART

EAD 037 C60

RADIO TIMES HESSEL VELDMAN

EAD 038 C60

IN TRANSMISSIO HESSEL VELDMAN

Special release: EAD XX-4D

NEUROPA C60 + magazine FANATIC (F.N.T.C.)

EAD = Also on CDR (plus bonus track(s)). EA = No digital version mastered.

Madadayo

And at the end of 2004 shortly after the death of Hessel’s father and mother “MADADAYO” was born. Y Create (NL) ‘Madadayo’CD-December 2004 300 copies. (released by EE Tapes, Belgium) http://www.eetapes.be/ ”Musician and home-tape veteran Hessel Veldman, known from the legendary Gorgonzola Legs, F.N.T.C. and the Exart label ( IJmuiden, Holland 1982 – 1995), finally returns back to earth with the resurrection of his solo-project Y CREATE: a full-length CD (76:54) with new dark earplays, now for the first time available! All material on ‘ Madadayo’ was processed with original sounds from the rich Exart-archives.” Knowing absolutely nothing of this artist, after undertaking a little background research it seems that solo musician Hessel Veldman ran a tape label Exart from 1982 to 1995. Thus with a wealth of archival material to draw from, Hessel sampled, collated, arranged and mixed sounds to construct the final compositions on this album.Whist the promo blurb might bill this as dark ambient, to my mind this description is far too narrow to adequately capture the diversity of ideas at play. Admittedly the opening track ‘The white house walk’ might subscribe to a standard dark ambient sound, yet, things really take flight on ‘A tale from the dark side’ with a rhythmic tribal composition. The moody synth melodies of the title track avoid clichés given the underscoring trip hop beats introduced mid way through. ‘Daisy daisy’ likewise is truly wondrous, forging a halcyon sonic miasma, and yet another example of this CD being well above beyond a mere dark ambient tag.Without resorting to describing each individual track and its particular elements and sounds, Y Create’s album is truly one of the most diverse, professional, interesting and welcomed surprises I have come across in recent times. Lastly, the CD comes housed is a 7” record sleeve & is limited to 325 copies. 2005 - RJS (Aural Pressure) For more information, correspondence, sounds and music-exchange contact: HESSEL VELDMAN VELSERDUINWEG 52c 1971 ZE IJMUIDEN THE NETHERLANDS E-MAIL: djima@telfort.nl

EXART retrospective

Label, Studio and Archive Projects and Issues RETROSPECTIVE (1982-1995) Exart, founded by Hessel Veldman and Nicole, started its activities in october 1982. In 1978 Hessel started composing experimental music and before 1978 he was playing guitar in several local blues- and rock-bands. The label was there to spread new experimental and improvised music. The studio was the place to make compositions, recordings, radio-programmes, mixes and remixes. And at the same time Hessel started to preserve sounds in the EXART archive.

The first EXART issue was a tape by ROTTERDANS, a group of people from Rotterdam, who made their own city folk-music in an old building; one of the few that were left after World War II. Soon after the first EXART-release “United States XV” was issued. A one-month-tour through the States gave Hessel so much inspiration that fifteen soundscapes could be heard on this C-90 musiccassette. Things started to move fast after the first two releases. There was a lot of publicity in local newspapers and national music magazines. During that period Hessel and Nicole were recording their own music in IJmuiden, but also started to do recording-sessions with many other musicians. Constantly the studio was recording sounds of Kees Beukelaar, Herman te Loo, Jos van Ommen, Kees van Ede and Willem de Ridder. A lot of these improvisations and compositions were compiled on several Y CREATE issues. (Why create? or IJmuidense creations)

With Kees van Ede and Willem de Ridder live concerts started.Extra information about Willem: http://www.willemderidder.com/

Famous are the AORTA-concerts in Amsterdam and the live-broadcasts on the Dutch National Radio (V.P.R.O.). In June 1983 Willem de Ridder, Kees van Ede, Annie Sprinkle (http://www.anniesprinkle.org/), Veronica Vera (http://www.missvera.com/), and Hessel Veldman shocked Amsterdam, during the Holland Festival, with their four-day-erotic-soundscape-performance: “PORTABLE VAUDEVILLE”.

Meanwhile Kees van Ede and Hessel developed a complete new glass-organ, that could be played with human hands, but was amplified with special made equipment. Kees and Hessel worked on this instrument for almost a year and the result could be heard on the tape “VAN EDE’S GLASWERK”, which was completely recorded at the STEIM-STUDIO (http://www.steim.org/) in Amsterdam. 1984 was the year in which Gert Jan Prins (www.gjp.info/) visited Hessel and Nicole at their appartment on the 11th floor, overlooking a big industrial landscape. Recording-sessions were started at Gert Jan’s “Fish Warehouse”-studio. Gert Jan Prins, Hessel Veldman, Herman te Loo and Jos van Duyne became GORGONZOLA LEGS. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of “live”-recording sessions took place. At some of these sessions other musicians were present, such as: Jos van Ommen, Ruud Junge, Martijn Swart and Masaki Oishi. At the end of 1984 “GORGONZOLA LEGS” was released. On this one hour cassette the first mixed recordings could be heard. The group also wanted to do concerts and so GORGONZOLA LEGS more and more became a “live”-band.

In 1986 a second tape was released, entitled “SALMON SQUEEZING IN WEIRD WEIRS’, a new compilation of “Fish Warehouse”-recordings. “BUNKER” was recorded live at the Bunker in Rotterdam, october ’86. The complete concert could be heard on another EXART-issue. In 1987 the powerfull voice of the Japanese singer Masaki Oishi gave a new dimension to the sound of GORGONZOLA LEGS. Hours and hours of recordings were made. At the end of the year 6 hours of mixed material had to be remixed to L.P.-format. In april 1988 EXART decided to make it Holland’s first independent C.D.-release: “PISCATORIAL DEBRIS’. At the same time, with the great help of Henry van Kleeff, the “PISCATORIAL DEBRIS”-video was made. A beautiful 20 minutes sound sculpture video was realized. The video and C.D. got a lot of international attention and was performed on several big music/video festivals.During the late 80’s GORGONZOLA LEGS-material was also released on labels in Portugal, Italy and the U.S.A.

In the meantime Hessel and Nicole also were involved in the FANATIC-project. This project started after the Holland Festival shows in 1983. Willem de Ridder and Hessel allready started making radio programmes in the late seventies: normal stories and fairy-tales for children and experimental Radio Plays for adults.The first experimental Radio Plays were made in the EXART-studio and released on tape or broadcasted live on independent radiostations. But during all these recordingsessions also Nicole and Cora became part of the Radio Plays. So we needed a name: FANATIC was born. And FANATIC appeared more and more “on stage”, doing strange perverse sexual performances while audiences were blindfolded and/or confrontated with extreme sounds. In 1985 the name was changed into F.N.T.C. and several music- and videotapes were released during the late 80’s. “NEUROPA”(feat. William Levy) and “OPERA”(feat. Jon Rose; http://www.jonroseweb.com/) soon became top issues and were broadcasted in many different countries.

By distributing, performing and broadcasting music EXART became part of a big independent underground network of hometaping musicians. This was the reason EXART also started to release music from other cities and countries, where musicians were creating their own sounds and were searching for any kind of output. So, a long list of musicians found their music on EXART issues. ENNO VELTHUYS, from Den Haag, even made three musictapes to be released by EXART. BROBAT ENEMA, ENEMA DIGEST and PAUL DANIELS, from the U.K., also had their three projects released, working under different names. But there were many more complete tapes or tracks on EXART. For instance: SEEMEN (U.S.A.) (http://www.seemen.org/) , QUINTET DE L’ART (France), SEMPITERNELS/VRISCHIKA (France), THE DETECTIVE (U.K.), HOWARD INGRAM (N.Ireland), AUDIO LETTER with DON CHERRY (U.S.A.), GERT JAN PRINS (N.L.), BIG CITY ORCHESTRA (U.S.A.), BRUME (France), KLIMPEREI and DELETED (France) (www.homme-moderne.org/les2/) , LIZA NELIAZ (France) en PETER CORNELISSEN (N.L.). (This part of the retrospective is a short version of the one that was made for the exhibition “UNDERCURRENTS” in March 1991. Organised by N.D.Magazine and the MEXIC-ARTE Museum, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.)

Art Radio Mix /OPERA\

A live recording of FNTC's famous 3 dimensional hearplay. During this performance the audience was blindfolded and stretched out on couches. The sound came from all sides. Recorded and mixed in the summer of 1986. Use headphones while laying down. Opera has been featured in the All Chemix Radio Series and has been broadcasted by Stations in Canada, USA, Australia, Germany and The Netherlands. Willem de Ridder and Hessel allready started making radio programmes in the late seventies: normal stories and fairy-tales for children and experimental Radio Plays for adults.The first experimental Radio Plays were made in the EXART-studio and released on tape or broadcasted live on independent radiostations. But during all these recordingsessions also Nicole and Cora became part of the Radio Plays. So we needed a name: FANATIC was born. And FANATIC appeared more and more “on stage”, doing strange perverse sexual performances while audiences were blindfolded and/or confrontated with extreme sounds. In 1985 the name was changed into F.N.T.C. and several music- and videotapes were released during the late 80’s. “NEUROPA”(feat. William Levy) and “OPERA”(feat. Jon Rose; http://www.jonroseweb.com/) soon became top issues and were broadcasted in many different countries.