Exitmusic – Passage

This duo consists of husband and wife Devon Church en Aleska Palladino, from (Shit, again?!) Brooklyn, New York. With EP From Silence, which they released a year ago Exitmusic showed us their first sign of life.. Passage, their debutalbum, is a bit more bombastic, but still got the sultry sound. Next to this sultry vibes, we have to add with capital letter MELANCHOLIC. Maybe new music for the ones that didn’t like the last album of Beach House.

MV & EE – Space Homestead

Like Exitmusic Matt Valentine and Erika Elder, shortly MV & EE, are husband and wife. But their music is nothing like Exitmusic, this music is more for hippies who don’t know that Internet is exciting. These neo-hippies are making really nice psych folk songs since the beginning of this century, and this new record, Space Homestead is no exception. A nice thing to know it that this duo, who are touring every time with other band members, are playing live with a sound and light system which they created their self. And now the best thing; they will be playing this year’s Incubate, so make sure you’re gonna check this out!

alt-J – An Awesome Wave

alt-J, or ∆ (if you got an Mac keyboard), is an artpopband headed by Joe Newman. Newman is (like most bands) inspired by death, love and tragedy. That sounds like a pretty trite combination, but we promise you; this album sounds much more original than that you probably think. At our office we were trying to find a band which sounds similar, but that was actually pretty hard. The best where we could think was ‘Wild Beasts on XTC, with Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan on lead‘.

El-P – Cancer 4 Cure

The problem with this kind of (tropical) temperatures is that you became languid, lazy and everything what you do takes a lot of effort. If you are in this mood, we recommend you to listen to this new record of El-P. Just listen to first song Request Denied and you’re immediately awake and paying attention again. When El-P announced a new album since five years, we first heard the awesome track The Full Retard, which was a perfect warming up for this new record. Jaime Meline, El-P’s birthname, started in the nineties with his trio Company Flow and has made with C4C his fourth solo album. With this record El-P let us hear that he’s still the leader of the underground hiphop.

Mount Eerie – Clear Moon

Since Phil Elverum first alias The Microphones released an album with the title Mount Earie, his nickname changed into this name. With Clear Moon he made under this last name his sixth album. And Elverum revealed earlier that we he’s gonna release his seventh album, Ocean Roar, in the fall of this year. He stopped performing for a while, just to take some time to record these two records together. This album was a bit more clear, the follow-up is gonna be more dark & weird. We really getting curious, because Clear Moon is again a really stunning album.

Friend and former Incubate dancecurator Sonja Augart starts a workshop Feldenkrais next weekend. Feldenkrais is a method based on Somatic Education and emphasises on the connection between thinking, feeling and moving. A moment to rediscover the pleasure of moving.

Time:          10 – 15 hours ( 1 hour break)
Teacher:   Sonja Augart
Location: Yoga Surya Chandra
Molenbochtstraat 64
5014 ER Tilburg
Price:          €75 (with lunch)
Required: Easy, warm clothing annnnddd socks!

Apply and info : Sonja.augart@tele2.nl 

Our hero R. Stevie Moore is coming back to the Netherlands. This bassplayer is a lo-fi pioneer with more than 400 albums/tape releases on his name. In the end of 2011 Moore showed us by playing at Incubated that this living legend is also legendary on stage. On saturday the 16th of June he’ll be playing at Bitterzoet, presented by Paradiso.

To give you the opportunity to see him live (again) we’re gonna give away 2×2 tickets for this awesome gig. If you want to win one of those tickets make sure you answer the next question:

With who made R. Stevie Moore a 61 tracks-counting tape with the name Ku Klux Glam?
(Hint: We posted earlier about this collab on our blog!)

Do you (or Google) know the answer on this question, send an email to win@incubate.org before next friday. At the beginning of June we’re gonna chose the lucky ones.

Fear Falls Burning has recently resurrected but is already on its way back to its grave. The musical moniker behind FFB Dirk Serries has founded a new project in his ongoing search for the essence of his sound. Fear Falls Burning has fulfilled his mission with their last and concluding album Disorder of Roots. With the expand of their soundpallet with 3 drummers, electric bass and a vocalist Serries’ ultimate vision became complete.

Fear Falls Burning will return to the stage with one final assault. Instead of going for an all out ‘rock’ concert they chose for the balance between acoustic, electrified, intimate and overpowering. Paradox is a perfect fit for that setting and also served as a safe haven for them.

All visitors will receive a free single-sided 7inch with 1 additional exclusive song, aptly titled ‘Our Corruption And Emptiness’. Make your reservations now, limited seating : click here (the page is in Dutch, click on ‘reserveren’ to fill in your name + address + number of tickets – payment is at the boxoffice on the day of the concert).

Listen to the album preview on Soundcloud.

Cult surrealist, mystic and Mobeius collaborator, Alexandro Jodorowsky‘s debut film Fando y Lis caused riots upon its Mexican release in 1968, and forms the gateway to a Jodorowsky triple whammy, including 1970′s El Topo and 1973′s The Holy Mountain.

“Most directors make films with their eyes; I make films with my testicles.” – ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY

Location:
WORM
Boomgaardsstraat 71
3012 XA Rotterdam
Check the event page here

Also these Alejandro Jodorowsky films are shown during the months June and July at Worm.

June
Fri 15 / El Topo
Wed 20 /  El Topo
Sat 30 / La Montaña Sagrada
July
Wed 4 / La Montaña Sagrada

Malcolm Middleton has set three unbreakable rules for his alter-ego ‘Human don’t be angry‘.

1) Act like you know what you’re doing.

2) No beer onstage.

3) Absolutely no interviews.

Our friends from The Quietus made him break (at least) one of those, you can find the entire interview here.

Port St. Willow is the project of Nick Principe. A name that you might have heard before after doing a song or two with The Antlers, and created a totally new song for Shaking Through together with Antlers frontman Peter Silberman. The tunes from that collaboration and his free EP Even//Wasteland created high anticipation for his first full album release. And now it’s finally here!

The combination of melodic wonderlands and Prinicipe’s wide-ranging vocals lend easy comparisons to Youth lagoon and The Antlers. But Holiday is way more than that, it’s an album that demands attention from its listener, when you’re all alone with only your headphones to have your back. An album full of emotional depths, something we haven’t heard that much on any albums this year.

Stay awhile, and listen.

Our friends from INDIE INDIE are organizing the last time a lot of cool evenings at Meneer Malasch. The first edition was with Ceremony and the second one was with the French guys from The Feeling of Love.

For next week, the 2nd of June, they arranged the Swedish punkband Holograms. They’re releasing there long-awaited seftitled debutalbum on Captured Tracks. This record label from Brooklyn is known for releasing albums from bands like Beach Fossils, The Soft Moon & Mac DeMarco. Other bands they are playing that evening are the New XY from Amsterdam and CROWDS from Rotterdam.

The guys from INDIE INDIE were so nice to give us again tickets. And because we’re in a generous mood, we’re gonna give away two tickets. Looking forward to have a nice time next week? Than make sure you’ll send an email to win@incubate.org with as subject INDIE INDIE before next Monday. On the first day of next week the winner will receive a nice message from us. Good luck!

“Imagine being followed by a choir of ghosts in ancient, desolated and haunted ruins of the city of Constantinople” is what we wrote about Ides of Gemini when we were announcing this band for our festival. During Incubate this band will play at Friday the 14th of September.

Officially their new album will be released next week, the 29th of May, but luckily you can now listen to this album right away. Constantinople is listenable on the site from Aol, click HERE. Enjoy!

One of our personal favorite albums of 2012 so far is the record of Young Magic. This trio headed by Australian Isaac Emmanual who recorded al lot of different sounds during his trip around the world. That’s why album title Melt is definitely the best way to describe this record. A weird mixture of psychedelic dreampop mixed with chillwave and contrary African rhythms. The result is a really stunning record, especially for fans of Yeasayer’s debut All Hour Cymbals.

Now the good part is that this band is coming to Tilburg this friday to play their album live at 013. And now the best part; the entrance is for free! So we can understand that you can’t go to every event that we are recommend, but this time it’s for free so make sure you don’t miss this. Besides friday, make sure you’ll be at 013 on Thursday as well; Yukon Blonde is playing.

Bristol is musically probably best known for the “Bristol Sound”, which was the name given to a group of artist who broke through into the mainstream with a sound that was given the stamp ‘trip-hop’. Best known are probably Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky, but there were many others. Even though Portishead’s Geoff Barrow later rejected the term, trip-hop still remains a genre to this day.

But a city with such a rich history holds so much more music. That’s why we decided to delve into Bristol’s music scene and check out what’s going on these days. Incubate is also no stranger to Bristol’s music acts, in the past we had plenty of musicians from Bristol over to play at our festival.

Portishead mastermind Geoff Barrow has been a very active force in Bristol’s music scene before and ever since Portishead’s successes.

Geoff always having been a large hip-hop fan led him to start Quakers a hip-hop collective with 35 rappers, surrounding producers Fuzzface  (Geoff), 7-Stu-7 (Portishead’s in-house producer) and Katalyst (Australian producer and partner of Invada Records). They found most of their rappers on MySpace and even sampled a marching band version of Radiohead’s Fitter Happier. They released their first album at the end of March on Stones Throw Records.

Geoff started Invada Records in 2001. The label has released several artists during its runtime and it also features some interesting Bristol acts.
Some are his own projects, like Beak>, which was started by Geoff Barrow, Billy Fuller and Matt Williams all three musicians from Bristol. Their debut album was all improvised live and recorded without any overdubs, very different from what Geoff had always done with Portishead. The result is a set of songs with heavy Kraut-rock influences. The band is currently prepping a new album, which promises more Kraut-y goodness.

But this guy doesn’t sit still. He also has a project called Drokk together with composer Ben Salisbury. They created a soundtrack called ‘Music Inspired By Mega-City One’. This project started when they worked on a real soundtrack that was supposed to accompany the upcoming movie Dredd, based on the comic book Judge Dredd. But for reasons unknown their soundtrack had been dropped, so Barrow decided to release it on his own label. It’s dark, brooding synth music, which sounds like a perfect soundtrack to an 80’s action movie.

Another release is by Anika although not always living in Bristol, but travelling between that place and Berlin. Geoff recorded her debut album with Beak> as backing band within 12 days. The result is a lot of dub and post-punk cover versions of other songs.
A band that played at last years Incubate, Thought Forms hasn’t released on Invada yet, but they are currently working on a new album, which will. They play a kind of music that sounds like it’s all coming from some sort of unconsciousness. A mix of ambient and noise guitars, with a heavy sprinkle of psychedelics. The Fauns is another band who are currently working on an album to be released on Invada. This band is a bit more transparent about it’s influences. They are shoegazing beautifully, with the Twin Peaks like vocals from their singer. Not the most original music ever, but really well performed, and that also counts for something.

But Geoff isn’t the only one doing interesting stuff in Bristol. There is a large collection of wonderful underground bands. Not all alike in sound, but definitely very interesting and progressive.

A band that has been playing the Netherlands frequently and also played Incubate (ZXZW) in 2008 is Zun Zun Egui. This band plays such an eclectic mix of styles and influences, that it’s almost impossible to put a name on it. A weird mix, but still recognisable at times.

Another interesting project by one the members from Zun Zun Egui and SJ Esau is Hesomagari. This one is also chaotic, but stays a bit more on the popside. Probably best describable as experimental pop music. Thumping drums, chants and sunny melodies.
The other half of Hesomagari is SJ Esau. This guy played Incubate in 2011. His music is an experimental form of pop music, which you might know from the older Animal Collective records. He seems immersed in a lot of Bristol’s music, so I’m glad he had the time to answer me some questions. He is currently working on a new record, check the preview below.

A more electronic oriented kind of music can be heard from Silver Pyre (incu 2009), they fuse electronic beats, shimmering synths, minimal guitars and lush vocals to a form a mix that finds itself somewhere between dance and indie. Another previous Incubate artist is Gravenhurst.

Also check out: Landslide Purist. He recently released his album ‘The Ghost in Daylight’ on Warp Records. His mellow tunes are beautiful sonic-folk songs, with a certain depth in the music that takes a few listens to get through to you.

OLO Worms, make dark-electronic tunes, that bring to mind some of the city’s history of trip-hop music. A bit more on the indie side are Francis Fear. It’s indie disco with danceable melodies and a driving rhythm section. Something that is worth checking out, but probably is just a one-off project is Silver Stairs of Ketchikan, a project by Charlij Romijn from Thought Forms. Slow droning improvised pieces, set up for Bang The Bore’s 20:20 project.

Matt Loveridge once played in a band called Team Brick but he quit that one and now he plays in several projects. I was not able to get the full overview but I know that he at least makes music under the moniker MXLX and Klad Hest.

Kochari, creates loop-heavy down-tempo ambient tunes. With some found sound samples to give it a very atmospheric and nostalgic feel. Stumbleine, is also down-tempo, but more break-beat and glitchy tunes. He incorporates some heavy bass, to give it a dub feel. Very warm music, that is probably perfect for a Sunday hangover.

Xihilisk, creates electronic music that goes all over the place; sometimes very downtempo, but it can also evolve into more Fuck Buttons-like noise or post-rock like parts.

Be sure to also take a listen to: The Manatees (folkpop), Fraincois & The Atlas Mountains (indie folk), Crash Paris (riot grrrl) and Liftmen (groovy post-punk).

There is also a really active club/dance scene in Bristol. Sam from SJ Esau gave his vision on why this is so: “Bristol is mainly known for its club scenes I think.  Dubstep was / is a big thing here with lots of that genre’s celebrated artists coming from here.  That relates to the dub influenced “trip-hop” of the past too.”

I think these dub influences are very present in a lot of the work from Bristol-based producers. One of them is Al Tourettes. This guy creates a unique brand of electronic music; it’s energetic, bass-heavy and very funky.

Headhunter (incu 2010) is a producer who also works under the name Addison Groove. His style can be defined as bass music, it’s a mix between dubstep, drum ‘n bass, grime and a lot more. Peverelist used to own an influential Bristol record store and now runs a Bristol Dubstep label called Punch Drunk Records and Livity Sound. He also creates his own dubstep tunes.

Eats Everything is an underground techno producer, who’s thumping bass lines are perfect dance floor material.

Joker is a producer who comes from the so-called “purple” movement in Bristol. Together with Guido and Gemmy they created a kind of music that mixes grime and dubstep, into something unique. They incorporated melodies and synths into the heavy garage sound. Joker has become one of the biggest of these three. He performed at Incubate 2009.

Asa is a producer who worked with the aforementioned Stumbleine. The music they create sounds amazing, but he also does some fine work on his own. Coming from a dubstep background, he started experimenting more with sampling and created his own style, which could best be defined as a very chill, laidback kind of dubstep. Or whatever.

Also check out: Girls on Drugs, and three bands that played at Incubate 2009; Komonazmuk, Bronnt Industries Kapital and Hyetal.

There is probably tons more of dance/club music coming from Bristol, but I don’t have enough time to get to know it all. So I hope the above will help you on your way.

I had some trouble finding the right kind of clubs and venues to cover, so I will let Sam from SJ Esau do the word for me: “The Cube is a really great place.  It’s an arts cinema but they have a lot of live music too and are always up for hosting interesting things.  The Croft and The Louisiana are great solid venues but it depends what they’re putting on any given night. Cafe Kino hosts a lot of great DIY shows. “

If you have any tips, recommendations or comments on this article, you can add them blow.

Just as always I  have tried to fish out the most interesting music from what I could find, but it’s impossible to get a full overview of everything that’s going on.

Diverse Universe is a nomadic performance art festival, that has taken place annually since 2005. The overall organisation is in hands of the Non Grata Performance Art Group from Estonia. They work together with local organizations all through Europe. In May and June 2012, a group of artists travels to all locations. Local artists are invited by the organizations involved to join the festival. They will visit three places in the Netherlands. Nijmegen, Rotterdam and Eindhoven whose programme you can find below.

For this day, Extrapool is a guest at Artspace Flipside in Eindhoven. The programme will be:
20.00 doors open

Lars Leeuw (NL)
Orion Maxted (UK)
Jung Hoon Lee (KOR)
Peter Rosvik (FIN)
Da Yeon Kim (KOR)
Amber Lee (Virginia, USA)
Technical Difficulty: Janek Karakats (EST) & Ken Siebert (USA)
NON GRATA (EST)

Prior to the evening programme at Flipside, there will be a special programme for students. You can sign up here.

Flipside Student Programme: 
Doors open: 13.00
Price: free
Lecture by Anonymous Boh and Orion Maxted
Workshop programme by Danielle Lemaire and Lars Leeuw

Maybe by hearing this name it doesnt ring any bell, but you’re probably familiar with this picture. This (and hundreds of other photos) are from Jon Rafman‘s website 9-eyes.com, what stands for Nine Eyes of Google Street View. This is ongoing blog where he’s posting weird or shocking images that he finds ‘accidentally’ on Google Maps.

But next to 9-eyes this Canadian does got a lot of other cool projects. For instance where he’s playing Kool-Aid Man in Second Life. His exposition New Age Demanded, is also pretty interesting; an expo full of odd, abstract paintings of statues.

Malcolm Middleton @ Incubated, January 2012, photo by William van der Voort.

At The 405 they interviewed Malcolm Middleton (ex-Arab Strap) what his favorite band line-up would be. He would call this band Lotus Land, and his choices are certainly not predictable, but man, are they great.

My fantasy band would be:

• Drums: Tomas Haake (Meshuggah)
• Bass: Jenny Lee Lindberg (Warpaint)
• Lead Guitar: Tommy Victor (Prong, but must be playing similar style to first two albums Primitive Origins and Force Fed
• Rhythm guitar: Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath. Controversial role here, but I like his riffs more than his solos…)
• Vocals: Stevie Nicks (using her early 80′s voice)
• Backing singers: The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts (as heard on Paul Young’s No Parlez album)
• Piano: Errol Garner
• Synths: Harold Faltermeyer (Axel F etc)

And maybe Kanye West doing some rapping in the middle. I’d get Dutch Uncles & Miaoux Miaoux to write the songs, and I’d probably want to throw a Rihanna vocal sample in somewhere.

Matt Wallace (Faith No More’s The Real Thing) would produce the album.

And the band would be called Lotus Land

As far as I’m aware none of these people are dead, so this really should happen…

We would love to see this band perform, but are equally thrilled for the abroad-debut of his Human Don’t Be Angry at Incubate in september.

Hear the recording of Malcolm Middleton’s performance at Incubated in January 2012:

Very funny short documentary about John Baldessari, and when you are John Baldessari, you can get Tom Waits to narrate your story.

Via Laughingsquid

Rolling Stone’s website is streaming the new Joey Ramone album, ya know? It’s his second solo release with song he written during the last 15 years of his life. It’s a little more slick, polished and tamer than The Ramones but still a good addition to the punk pioneer’s legacy.

This is the direct link to the RollingStone Music Player

Dutch artist Munchi is doing really well as you can see in the following video at Sonar festival in Sao Paulo. They described him the following:

The king of moombahton

Munchi’s tireless work as a producer has made him the king of moombahton, one of the youngest sounds to emerge from the American underground. From his studio in Rotterdam, he mixes his Latin roots with a musical interest that crosses all frontiers, and which takes in kuduro, cumbia, slices of a capella, Caribbean riddims, upfront dirty south and everything else he takes a fancy to. With that sort of approach, it is no surprise that MIA and Diplo took an interest in his skills and invited him to work and play with them. Something strong and fresh to stimulate the appetite before M.I.A. (his special guest on “Murda Sound”).

Enjoy

In the first month of this year we heard the second record of Cloud Nothings; Attack On Memory. The lo-fi indierockband from Cleveland worked for this record together with grunge producer Steve Albini, who also worked together with Pixies and Nirvana. Together with Albini they sounded more focused and made a really nice record.

And because the last show in Effenaar where we gave away tickets for, Factory Floor, was cancelled we decided that we’re gonna give away a new bunch of tickets. Next sunday, at the 27th of May, the boys from Cloud Nothings will play at our favorite venue from Eindhoven and that’s why you can win 2×2 tickets! The only thing that you have to do is to answer the following question:

What is the name of  record label where Cloud Nothings is releasing their albums?

Make sure you’ll send the answer of this question to win@incubate.org, including your full name before next monday!

Manchester dark house king Andy Stott has released a officiel remix of the new single of Brooklyn band The Hundred In The Hands. Their new single Keep It Low, which you can download for free here, is a preview for the new record of The Hundred In The Hands. The new album is called Red Night and is gonna be released on WARP on the 11th of June.

Stott, who’s also announced for Incu12, made a more hypnotizing and mysterious version of this track. Last couple of months he also released a remix for Blondes, BNJMN and TriAngle‘s Holy Other

Next Incubios is this Thursday, on Ascension Day. So when all stores are closed you still can get your daily doses of popcorn at the Hall of Fame, and watch 2 movies while you’re at it. And not just movies, no! Movies that bring something extra to your life, new experiences. Movies that touch you deeply and movies that makes you laugh at the same time. Movies that (try to) make a point. Movies with a different point of view. About art. Daily life. Music. Politics. Love. Death. About everything you can think of…. Movies like Titanic II..…

And also the short film Captain Fork. About a father-son relationship gone wrong.

We hope to see you there, let us now if you will on the event page.
Incubios 4 –  May 17 @ Hall of Fame
Films: Captain Fork + Titanic II

I bet most of you wondered how Maria & The Mirrors actually sound like after reading their bio. It was something like: Dueling drums, shrieking vocals all tied together by a variety of electronic devices banging out a wall of pummeling power electronics. 

Well, you are all cordially invited to listen to their new EP ‘Gemini Enjoy My Life’ and experience it for yourself.

from Factmag

The contemporary artist Urs Fischer, who’s working in Zurich and New York, is a striking appearance. With quiet a lot  of innovative expositions a draw the attention. Be sure to check out more of this artist.

For instance what he made for la Biennale in Venetia; a copy of ‘The rape of the Sabine Women’ in.. tallow. Next to this statue, there is man, als in tallow, who is ‘melting’ away. At the opening of this expo the ‘candle’ was lighted and slowly melted away.

Or this one, ‘Untitled’ (Lamp/bear)

Rotterdam, it’s the second biggest city in the Netherlands and also host to the largest and most important harbour in Europe. Since I don’t know too much about Rotterdam, this might have been the hardest Scene Report to find information about. I tried to contact locals, but did not get too much response, so I hope that this article gives a nice overview of what’s happening in Rotterdam.

VENUES

There are several big venues, and some smaller ones in Rotterdam.

Rotown is one of the bigger venues; located closely to Rotterdam central station it’s a stage that hosts some of the more accessible names in music. With a mix of pop, rock, hip-hop, dance and everything in between, it’s a pretty standard music venue.

De Unie is the debating venue of Rotterdam. But between all of the debates, movies and symposium they also managed to make some time for music. The program is not a steady one, but most of the time worth you while.

Poortgebouw (photo) is a national momument located on the south bank of the river Maas. Today it’s inhabited by a collective of 30 people, organised as members of an association. In the ‘80’s they finally managed to legally rent the place, instead of squatting it. Most of the inhabitants are somehow connected to Rotterdam’s cultural or artistic community. Their music program features a lot of experimental music. With improv, experimental jazz, electronics, but also the occasional dance party.

Nieuwe Oogst is a multidisciplinary venue, which is located in the Maassilo. They organise concerts, club nights and expositions but also projects for photography, street art, dancing and more.

Worm is Rotterdam’s institute for Avant-gardistic Recreation and one of the city’s most interesting venues. As the name implies, their music programming and dance nights feature experimental and avant-garde music, very different from most venues. They also have the occasional expo, movie screening or workshop, where you can make your own electronic fun box, film or experimental guitar.

It is of no surprise than that Worm recently married with Roodkapje Rottterdam. Check out the amazing video for their ‘wedding’ below. Roodkapje is a centre for art, music and culture. Sometimes external partners curate the concerts, but with the Rottt project they also shine a light on Dutch bands every month.

BIRD is a jazz club. They focus more on soul, jazz, funk but also the occasional hip-hop or dance night.

Furthermore there is Baroeg a bar/venue that focuses on the harder music styles like rock, metal, hardcore, gothic, etc.

Besides all the venues you shouldn’t forget the Motel Mozaique festival in Rotterdam. This annual festival tries to connect the music and the audience with the city, by organising guided tours, camping’s on the roof of old train stations and using different parts of the city for the festival. The festival also incorporates art and theatre into its program, but music stays the biggest part.

TinyMusic is an initiative that tries to get musicians and the audience closer together by organising concerts on intimate locations. The concerts take place on special locations, like the deck of a ship, shops, galleries, churches, etc.

LABELS

I will try to pick some interesting labels from Rotterdam, but to be honest my knowledge about the Rotterdam music scene is limited, and this time I didn’t get too much reply’s. One of Rotterdam’s newest music labels is Samling Recordings. This music label focusses on a group of musicians/friends. It’s not really a genre they focus on, but more a feeling. From the slowcore of Luik, to Eklin’s ambient pop music; it’s a certain atmosphere that seems to surround all these artists. You might call it hazy, but it carries a certain comforting feeling, although the music never gets dull. The latest release is one from Future Shuttle, this time not a Dutch artist, but a Brooklyn trio. Listen to a 48 minute live drone together with Bebe Fang (Incubate 2010) here.

PRSPCT Recordings is an Rotterdam-based drum ‘n bass label, that features a lot of Netherlands biggest names in the genre, as well as some prolific names from other places.

Clone Records is a record label and shop, which focuses on experimental/underground electronic dance music. They have become a big name inside and outside of the Netherlands and are also a distributor for a lot of other, smaller labels. Clone also have their own record shop inside Rotterdam.

MUSIC

To get some sort of overview, I tried to sort bands on genre. This didn’t really work out, but at least got it better sorted. Sorry if I offended or annoyed anyone with this.

Pop/Acoustic/Folk

Afka is a synthpop project between singer/songwriter/performer Aafke Kloppenburg and producer Adriano DiTamorra. They released their EP ‘Thunder in Our Heart’ in February, and make a strong first impression.

Wolf in Loveland is a folk/pop band surrounding singer-songwriter Jan Minnaard. This 19-year old guy knows how to create a lovely folksong.

Oliver Oat is one of my personal favourite discoveries. Intriguing folk songs that take unexpected turns while they unfold. Oliver definitely has good voice for this kind of music.

Shoegaze/garage/indie

One of the bigger bands from Rotterdam nowadays is Rats on Rafts they played Incubate 2011 and since then they have been on a steady streak of success. After the release of their debut album ‘The Moon is Big’ on Subroutine and later on Topnotch, they played all around the Netherlands, supported The Minny Pops on their UK tour and got a lot of attention from national and international media.  Their take on post-punk and new wave seems to work well, seeing that they will play the Primavera festival.

Crowds are one of the two bands to play at Incubate Scene Report: Rotterdam, on May 31 in Cul de Sac. Their blend of shoegaze and noisepop already made a good impression when they played Vera’s Kelderbar during Eurosonic, so we are excited to see what they can do in Tilburg.

Neon Rainbows is the second band to play at Incubate Scene Report. All members have been around for some time in the music scene. Having previously played in different bands and settings such as Feverdream, Model Fuckers and At No Bikini Beach, it’s no wonder that together they are a sure win with their mix of pop, shoegaze and noise. Take a listen to their debut album ‘An Idea For A Plan’ here.

AC Berkheimer is another shoegaze band that managed to intrigue with their album ‘We Tell Them Tonight’, released on Subroutine. With clear influences from Sonic Youth, Jesus & The Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, they are able to either blow away or pull in the listener.

S As in Assasins is an indiepop band who remind me a lot of Menomena.  They are currently selected for Hollands Popronde 2012, so we’ll probably hear more of them.

Another must listen is the garagerock by Organisms with their distinct organ and howlin’ vocals. It’s catchy, energetic and doesn’t grow boring. The live shows are apparently even more energetic and crazy, will have to check it out some time.

Low Point Drains is another garage/trash rock band from Rotterdam that rage their way through the songs.

Experimental/Alternative

Surrounding Samling Recordings there are also quite some Rotterdam-based musicians. One of the more notable names is Luik (whom are playing Incubate 2012!), after releasing their album ‘Owls’ they played all over Holland and are getting good reviews for their live show and album. The music is a mix of slowcore, ambient and indiepop, slowly creeping it’s way in your ears.
The guitarist in Luik, Gerrit van der Scheer, also has his own project, called Herrek. It has undergone several transformations in sound and setting; the latest sounds can be heard on their Bandcamp, where their release on Samling focussed on noisy soundscapes, these are more song-oriented. Hoping to hear more of them.

But it doesn’t end there. Luik’s drummer Keimpe Koldijk (who also played/plays in Eklin and Fang, both former Incubate acts) teamed-up with Eklin band mate Michiel Klein to form Mike Koldin, synth pieces with a strong minimalistic approach. Slowly developing throughout the songs. Another outfit surrounding these bands is Woud, slow and dark ambient songs with haunting vocals.

On a whole other spectrum you have Albatre a free/experimental jazzcore trio. The music seems to go all over the place, though the musicians always now what they do. Like a schizophrenic jazz band gone wild on some very bad drugs.

But let’s not forget Harry Merry he’s been unknown to many, but very active in the music scene for a long time with a steady cult following. His music could be defined as ‘Outsider music’, like R. Stevie Moore or Ariel Pink. This distinct figure has made quite the impression on some people. He also played some shows with the guys from Rats on Rafts after their album release.

(Photo: Harry Merry at Incubated 12 by Erik Luyten)

Punk

A band that has been on the scene for 16 years is The Apers. And they don’t seem to be calling it quits anytime soon. They will be re-releasing their debut album and releasing a live album called ‘Live at Eldorado’.

The Bat Bites are another straightforward poppunk band, which feature one steady member from The Apers. In February they released a free EP, appropriately called ‘Take It It’s Free’. And if you like them you should also take a listen to Accelerators. Full of energy they play their shows, fast punk rock songs.

Electronic

It’s hard to believe that Machinefabriek is just Rutger Zuydervalt. If you see his latest batch of releases you might shit yourself. Not only his list of solo work is impressive, also the list of collaborations: Nils Frahm, Celer, Peter Broderick, Gareth Davis and much more. He has also created music for several art projects, making him a busy man. His music stands somewhere between ambient, electro acoustic, drone, field recordings and noise.

Also in the drone spectrum, we have Mono-Poly. Working with analogue and modular synthesizers, to create a tense layer of moody and heavy ambient-drones. Body II Body on the other hand, are more interested in making you dance. They already performed with their DJ-set on Incubate 2011, but are currently working on their own material.

▲NGST create a more haunting and dark kind of music. Call it which house, call it doom gaze, all I know is that this stuff is frightening. It’s definitely more interesting than most acts that came up during the whole ‘witch house’ era. ▲NGST already played Incubate once with his other project FFF. This music is a lot faster than his other project and more in the breakcore/ravecore corner.

Munchi is probably well known among the loyal Incubate or Generation Bass follower. He’s the Moombathon-pioneer here in Holland and put the genre on the map in and outside of our own country. He has already played Incubate two times in the past, so definitely someone you should check out.

Also be sure to take a listen to: Heiz Karlhausen & The Diatonics (jazzcore), Joensuu (prog-metal), Feaver (folk/pop), Misery Kids (psycho rock), Vanity & Jokes (indie-pop) and Michel Banabila (electro-acoustic).

Just as all the other times, there is way too much going on and way too little space in this one article. Also, my knowledge about the music scene is only limited. I try to get as many sources as I can get, but there are always some things that I manage to overlook. So if you have any additional tips for venues, bands or other music related stuff in Rotterdam, put it in the comments. You can also add bands to our list of bands and musicians in Holland on GetSatisfaction.

‘Contemporary Incidental Accumulation of Particles‘ is an exhibition project in constant motion, which consists of an accumulation of 4 presentations. These 4 presentations are created in direct and continuous collaboration with 14 artist. These artist will converse various loosely components (data, materials, axes, angels etc) into an exhibition period which create a (un)certain order.

The core of Part 4 is provided by author Els Moors. She will shape the entire project in a literary way with a publication at the end. Whether this will be in a novel, poem, essay or something entirely different shall be guided by the course of the project.

You can see all work that were shown during the project in the space below, like a cloud of art. Also the pieces of art that are on loan at the Breda´s Museum are selected. Above, the artist are building to a common ´carrier´ on which they show some new and some existing works of themselves.

You can visit the CIAoP at Lokaal01 Breda from 18 May – 15 June.
The 14 participating artist are: Ronja Mooij, Arte Colder , Tijl Orlando Frijns (New Jacks 3.0), Valérie de Ghellinck, Nathalie Guilmot, Paul Geelen (New Jacks 3.0), Yves Coussement, Ada Van Hoorebeke, Wouter Huis, Katrien Ligt, Esther de Graaf, Roger Kelly, Ghazaleh Abassalian, Jasmijn Krol

Watch the following short documentary of last [Incu Thursday] confirmed artist King Midas Sound. We hope you’re looking forward to their show, we do!

Part 1

Part 2

Na een ontbijtje aan het strand gaan we weer. Je hebt hier vroege shows, dan even niks en dan begint het avondprogramma.
Amatorski speelt om 14 uur in de Green Door Room een set van 25 minuten. De moeite waard voor de band om de plas even over te steken. En ze maken het ook wel waar. Verzorgd en Geconcentreerd. Met de beperkte middelen die sommige podia bieden weet de band een volle Green Door room te boeien. De ffijne uitgesponnen en goed gearrangeerde nummers komen binnen. Muisstil op momenten. Dan een welgemeend applaus. Dan ‘s avonds na een etentje met de Mojo-jongens op weg naar Haim in Audio, een club die normaal dienst doet als disco. Net op tijd om buiten een te lange rij te voorkomen. Er schijnt veel om te doen te zijn. Wat zelfovertuiging is er, maar dat komt vanzelf als er veel om je te doen is. De liedjes beklijven niet echt echter. De drie vrouwen met een mannelijke drummer weten het publiek wel wat voor zich te winnen, de liedjes doen nog niks helaas.
Trust uit Toronto in audio above dan. Helaas ook hier een niet waargemaakte hype. Met indie-vocalen over net te platte house-beats alleen kom je er niet meer. De grote barriers in een zaal waar 150 mensen in kunnen en een podium van 20 cm hoog doen ook geen goed moet ik zeggen.
DZ Deathrays uit Australië doen het wel zoals het zou moeten. In Horatios zie ik de eerste crowdsurfers, mooi als dat gebeurd op de pier, zo’n tien meter boven de zee. Hun trashpop wordt met alles wat de band heeft het publiek ingeslingerd. En dan verdien je ookzo’n publiek.
Na middernacht lijkt Brighton helaas over te gaan in een platte uitgaansstad. Zelfs de clubs waar misschien nog 1 of 2 acts spelen vinden de rij met zuipende stappers belangrijker dan de zogenaamde ‘delegates’. In de rij dus. Gelukkig is Sticky Frog zo vriendelijk om ons snel binnen te laten. Cave Painting wat door moet gaan als fleet foxes en yeasayer doet echter in geen geval wat de bio beloofd. Maar aangezien het vliegtuig over een pqar uur vertrekt is het tijd voor nog 1 borrel in queens, het hotel waar de lobby tijdens TGE de hangout is voor de aanwezige muziekbuss-mensen. TGE, een niet hele hoge score met nieuwe ontdekkingen, nieuwe inzichten en ideeën daarentegen genoeg!

The Great Escape lijkt zijn naam eer aan te doen op vrijdagavond. Vrijgezellenfeesten overspoelen de stad al ontdekken we ook dat meer dan de helft van deze gezelschappen ‘normaal’ op stap is. Het festival laat gelukkig nog een andere kant zien al zijn de wat bekendere/gehypte bands of bands die zich al heb bewezen niet meer te bezoeken. Twee dagen achtereen geprobeerd om Django Django te bezoeken zonder succes. Gisteren zelfs bijna 2 uur voor de show richting de Blind Tiger gelopen waar een driedubbele rij van meer dan de zaalcapaciteit nog buiten stond. Het lijkt me dat TGE net wat teveel tickets heeft verkocht en delegates wel wat voorrang genieten, maar we niet als prinsen van oranje behandeld worden. Waar overigens ook wel iets voor te zeggen is aangezien de kaartenkopers ook graag hun favoriete bandjes zien. Hoogste score tot aan nu: Cloud Nothings, al was dat wel te verwachten. Vorig jaar in 013 bleek al wel dat dit het ging worden. Gedurfde set met ruimte voor improvisatie en lange soundscapes. Dan ben je wel zelfverzekerd. Howler deed gisteren overigens een beetje aan cloudNothings denken. In Horatios – helemaal op de kop van de pier – weten de vier jonkies met een enorme bravoure en bijna nonchalance hun liedjes met veel overtuiging te brengen. Net wat rauwer dan The Strokes moet ik toch heel even aan dezelfde frisheid denken maar vooral de houding van ‘oh, maakt ons eigenlijk niet uit dat het een showcasefestival is’.
Rond middernacht speelt NZCA/Lines onder in de kelder van Sticky Mikes Frog Bar, een plek waar het net lukt om rechtop te staan, springen is echter af te raden. De soms wel inventieve synthpop is echter aan de saaie kant. Drie nummers houden ze de aandacht vast, al was ik misschien al eerder weggeweest als het biertje al eerder op was. Ik begin nu echter een beetje tegen de pints aan te hikken.
Stay+ in Coalition maakt gelukkig weer wat goed. Met name de visuals over de postdub/witchhouse zijn mooi, goed verzorgd en boeien. Muzikaal ben ik na een half uurtje wel verzadigd. Morgen als eerste Amatorski op het programma.

Because of the trip to the SPOT Festival in Denmark we didn’t do a Spotifriday last week, but we though that you would have enough new music to check if you read our reports (Part one & Part two). But today we’ve chosen five new albums to fulfill your weekend. Have a nice one!

Soul Clap – EFunk: The Album

By their press photo’s you can think that Soul Clap is the new Chromeo. And in a way it actually is, both duo’s are making tunes where it’s hard to stand still. But where the Canadians of Chromeo are making almost a parody of the beloved ’80s-time Soul Clap are taking it pretty serious and it seems that this music is made with a serious intension. They are more mixing modern-day house music with ancient soul music from the 70s. And with a lot of different mixes last year (Essential Mix, FACTMix and a DJ-Kicks episode with labelowners Wolf+Lamb) Soul Clap prove themselves as a perfectmixduo. With this record, EFunk or Everybody’s Freaky Under Nature’s Kingdom, they let us hear that they can also produce a good album.

Pond – Beard, Wives & Denim

We have to admit, this album has been released almost two months ago, but we didn’t mention it. A shame, because this album is definitely worth listening. Everybody who is talking about this album is beginning with the next two words; “TAME” “IMPALA“. And that’s not without any reason. Pond is a side project of three members of the succesful Australian band. And musically they are pretty close as well. But where it took some time to make the polished record of InnerSpeaker Beard, Wives & Denim is recorded in two weeks in a farm which is rebuilt to a studio. And if you’re listen to these tracks of Pond you can hear it, they’re more unpolished and more spontaneous. Besides Tame Impala, fans of Sleepy Sun and even MGMT (listen to the chorus of Elegant Design!) gonna love this band.

King Charles – LoveBlood

We’re certain for one thing; this album is definitely winning this week’s best coverart contest. While the cover art looks like a new Captain Morgan commercial the music is not sounding really pirate-ish. This so-called King is a buddy from the folk’s of Mumford & Sons. Luckily this music isn’t taking hisself so serious. A bit lightweight poppy songs especially made for the summer. We’re already gonna nominate Rock ‘n’ Roll-twistsong Bam Bam for the Summerhit of 2012.

Here We Go Magic – A Different Ship

With Pigeons, the album from Here We Go Magic from 2010, the quartet from Brooklyn let us hear a dreamy and also psychedelic popalbum. Their new album, A Different Ship, is recorded together withRadiohead-producer Nigel Godrich, and it sounds that they showing an other side of them. The psychedelic and dreamstyle have been more replaced to krautrockinfluences. Still a pop record, but with more repetition and quiet carefull pieces, but without being dull.

Light Asylum – Light Asylum

We end this week’s Spotifriday with an album where we all, the whole office, waiting for, for a long time. After the EP In Tension, music video of Skull Fuct and a really awesome (is what we’ve hear from a collegae) perfomance during Motel Mozaique it’s finally time for the full debut album from Light Asylum. A few tracks of this album, we’ve heard before so the sound of this record is not a complete surprise, but for people who never heard Light Asylum before; They’ve got an almost militarian sound, it almost sounds of frontman Shannon Funchess is giving your commando’s. With the typical dark synthwave sounds Funchess proves with this album that she IS the new Grace Jones.

We always encourage new infinitives in our beautiful city. Especially if it’s something with superior dance music. Because besides us and 013 there aren’t so many organisations who are paying attention to alternative techno or live electronic music.

That’s why we’re happy to see that the first edition of Kindergarten will take place tomorrow at Stadspark Tilburg. The organisation of Kindergarten did their best to make this first edition to a success if you’re looking to the line-up. One of our personal favorites is the French producer Kavinsky who made together with Daft Punk‘s Guy-Manuel the track Nightcall, which became known by the Drive OST. From Lektroluv-records are coming the Belgium neighbours from The Subs and Sound Of Stereo who both playing a live-set. Other cool acts are Mickey Moonlight, Secret Cinema and localhero’s Schoolplein & Skanketron it seems that tomorrow Tilburg is gonna turn to a playground. Cause with a tagline as Never grow up! and the trailer that you can see below you can image that the expectations are high.

Tickets are still in presale here (€25), make sure you’ll get your tickets before tonight; Tomorrow the doorprice is €35.

A lot of people are waiting on the follow-up to the first album of Nosaj Thing; Drift. Instead of a new album he kept us busy with a remix album in 2010 (including edits of Jamie xx, Dorian Concept and Daedelus) and stunning live perfomances (like he did on Incubate 2011).

Now, somebody took one of the key songs of Drift; Fog and turned it into a wonderful acoustic version. Especially with Mother´s Day on the way we can recommend this track instead of the original one.