Dido & Aeneas
November 08, 2008 @ 13:35 (2 months ago) - filed under gigs
And now for something totally different… an opera!
A few months ago I was asked by local choir Kallíope to produce dance music for the opera Dido & Aeneas. I was very surprised and deeply honored to be asked to do this.
After some late, late night sessions and a lot of experimenting, I finished six dance pieces, inspired by Henry Purcell’s original music. Although this project was something very different from what I normally do (musically), I am very happy and proud with the results.
Tonight the choir, orchestra, dancers and me will do a live performance of the opera in our local theater,,,,.
As a bonus, I decided to offer my pieces as free downloads (320kbps MP3s):
- Fear No Danger
- A Dance Gittars Chacony
- Echo Dance of Furies
- The Groves’ Dance
- The Sailors’ Dance
- The Witches’ Dance
Enjoy!
Manual Laptop Orchestra Set
July 28, 2008 @ 23:50 (5 months, 1 week ago) - filed under gigs
The first performance of the Manual Laptop Orchestra, which I’m proudly part of, took place last weekend. We played at the famous Melkweg in Amsterdam, during the Electronation 6 Year Anniversary party.
We had an awesome time, despite everyone being awfully nervous before and during the show :). Thanks everyone for the support!
For nostalgic purpose, but also for those who’ve missed it, we recorded and officially released the show via BitTorrent. You can find it at:
Please seed if you downloaded the recording! Feedback is more than welcome…
Has anybody seen my headphones?
April 17, 2008 @ 19:35 (8 months, 3 weeks ago) - filed under general
Last weekend I did a live performance at Planet Rose, Doornroosje, Nijmegen. It was an awesome night with an amazing crowd and awesome DJ’s. Thank you.
Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my headphones, my Sennheiser HD 25-1’s. After I finished playing in the backroom (‘kleine zaal’), I left them on the mixer for other live acts to check their sound on, and forgot about them. They have been there until at least 5:00 am.
I went to Doornroosje to search for them today, but to no avail.
I love these headphones, I made and played loads of great music on them. Besides their huge emotional value, they have cost me a pretty, pretty penny (about EUR 200,-). You might imagine how desperately I want them back :(.
So if anyone has seen them, or seen someone with them, please let me know. You can call me on +31 6 52 160 880 or mail me. I’ll do you a big favour if you are able to get them back to me!
Going to Berlin
April 16, 2008 @ 15:13 (8 months, 3 weeks ago) - filed under gigs
For the second year in a row, Berlin is hosting the European Club Night. Artists representing the European countries will be playing music in the clubs throughout Berlin, starting late Saturday night.
Like last year, The Netherlands will represent under the moniker Satellite 31. Giorgos Gatzigristos, Tron and I will rock the house at Club Fate.
The journey to Berlin is going to be something special: Tundra, Thomas Lauren, Roel H, Giorgos Gatzigristos and I will be busy making music for our special Amsterdam-Berlin EP, which will be released by Electronation’s Echoism label.
DJ Broadcast will cover the trip (in Dutch, here’s the English translation) by publishing an article about it.
I’m looking forward to it!
Being Sued, April Fooled
April 02, 2008 @ 00:03 (9 months, 1 week ago) - filed under general
I got ya, didn’t I?! Yesterday’s post about being sued by BREIN was a joke (and probably a display of totally bad taste).
Although I was joking, I did pick the subject of (the war on) piracy for a reason. It has become clear now, that music distribution and promotion in the traditional sense are outdated. Still, the giants of the music industry are desperately trying to hold on to their old business models, focusing on hits, selling millions of copies.
On the other hand, the market (people buying music) are asking for more diversity, cheaper music and easier access (digital distribution).
The friction that results from this can only lead to a revolution. We are seeing this revolution taking place now: digital music sales are booming, small artists are just as accessible as big ones and the pipes of the interwebs are getting clogged from people sharing their music.
I don’t approve of piracy all that much, but I am loving how it sparked the revolution that’s taking place right now. Take Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead for example. They decided to let their fans decide if and what to pay for their music, NIN even released music through The Pirate Bay. They are kicking the industry’s ass by showing this actually works!
Update: whoops, I guess it wasn’t too obvious that it was a joke. Sorry!
