january 12 2010

reviews

incendiary magazine
by richard foster

It’s freezing in the SUB. And Katadreuffe are still sound-checking. But hey, the bar (well okay the fridge under the stairs) has got beer in it, and there’s the usual sprinkling of alternative music addicts including headliner Spoelstra himself, quietly chatting on about the evening’s entertainment, which is a special one for him, as the gig doubles up as his new LP’s (named The Almighty Internet) release party.

Before incendiary get to see Spoelstra we take in Katadreuffe, a four piece guitar band with fringes. They look brittle and sullen; the singer rarely looks up at the audience, which I find a very good thing indeed. Even better is the sound they make. To say they are a revelation is not too wide of the mark. The guitar and drums rip and shudder through SUB, leaving vast echoing shards of rich electronic feedback behind them. Incendiary are rightly shell-shocked. A clever pay off is the glacial synth sound too, activated in quieter moments by the bass player. Add the aforementioned diffidence the singer displays and you have a fabulous proposition. Tracks sound brittle as glass and there’s a tremendous abstract quality to the music that could be pretentious as hell if it wasn’t so bloody good. Incendiary magazine says: go and see them.

A quick break then it’s the great man Spoelstra himself. Replete with beer, positioned behind his work bench-cum-pedal-twiddling centre, he seems happy to be here. I love the music he makes and the sonic ideas he experiments with. Musically, it should be well nigh unlistenable at times, and I could say the sound he makes is deliberately tinny, tuneless, discordant synth whining. But that of course would be a tiny fraction of the story. What Spoelstra somehow conjours up is a genial, teasing presence that gives you the patience to submit to the Lilliputian beats and splurts; and appreciate this madcap’s ideas. It’s like listening to Conny Plank’s more demented studio outtakes. On another level you could imagine Spoelstra playing his stuff with a couple of young dancers, or at an old people’s home. Or a roundabout. It would be completely appropriate.

By the end things get quite giddy; and a cheering circle of similarly manic individuals urge the Loki-like presence to make just a few more ridiculous electronic squeals before bedtime.

A top, top evening and one Incendiary wishes all our readers could have attended.

original article

last.fm
by bertels

The week started poor for Coach Bertels, after the Koppenhinksteeg kickback and the tremendous 3D Cinema Experience concerning a blue society in need, it was very hard to get back on the track working 40 hours per week in serious boring circumstances.
Luckily Tuesday evening presented some interesting gigs in the belly of The Black Tower, not just a few gigs like any other ordinary line-up, oh no! This night was totally and utterly narrow-minded, entirely hosted by the Narrominded label. That stands for all Dutch and all new in the field of noise, electronics and surprising elements.

Coach Webber was also interested in the event, but unfortunately he simply forgot about it, pre elementary event listings don’t work with the red fisher guys from the outer rim.

Coach Bertels managed to steer his iron horse through the freezing cold, icy roads and onto the Black Towers portal without colliding in the streets and defying the elements.

Coach pressed the button several times to assure somebody would see the little red light flicker, and almost immediately a small, old looking kid came to the door and let Coach in. This dude welcomed Bertels to the Black Tower, took place behind the fridge and asked for the fee. “Only in combination with a nice cold beer” Bertels replied. That was a deal, just five euros for a night at the electronics fair. Coach made out the silhouettes of Romec and The Spirit against the dark stair in a corner, both Puin + Hoop members were attracted (or perhaps forced) by the label they signed up with. They wished Bertels all the best for the new year and, kind of, demanded some Future Mode of Operations projects. Coach stayed polite and gave in to some of the wishes. Since the band was still checking sound, Bertels had a peek in the Multiplex backyard, also known as the desert. It was serene and completely white with snow, covering the trash and grouped chairs. Some sort of abandoned expedition base camp in the Artic Circle. Out there it was cold, so Coach quickly went back inside and up to the toilets where the cold followed and never left, just to make you breath your own piss. Finally the sound check was done and the first act about to begin: coen oscar polack, co founder of the Narrominded label, presented noise from a struggling Ipod, sufficiently managed through a Mackintosh application on an old Macbook. It was the sound of applause multiplied a thousand fold and slowly shifting into a pop concert cheer and ending like some stadium crowd screaming over an entirely useless Olympic achievement. To make things better, Coen took a real time saxophone and combined the noisy cheers with the warm sounds of a loungy jazz brass, real good combination! After that the air was filled with an ambient beat that carried dreamy lyrics sung live by and immediately bended sculptured by the artist. The Macgear glitched some more and just in time Coen quit. Very inspiring on how to use sounds in different ways. Short break, beers and chats. Next was the band, four young guys playing drums, guitars, keyboard and bass: Katadreuffe. This was a real surprise for Bertels, after a five minute maintenance delay in which Paul had to fix a bug, the band started playing in a fashion that Coach had not heard live for a long time; strong music, loud by nature but not deafening at all. Very good rhythm structures from the drummer and lots of melody switches combined with the harsh noise of two electronic guitars and a bass guitar. Lyrics were sung/spoken in a Henry Rollins kind of way, like the weasel song by Biohazard from the State of the World Adress Album, just a great combination! Short break, and ready to take over is the guy who let Coach in! The dude who sold tickets and beers! Amazingly he now unfolded an array of switches, stomp boxes, looping stations, keyboard, chaos pad and a whole lot of energy. All this and some randomly planned action creates super vibes. SPOELSTRA was like an old school gabber baptised into electronic noise, still using beats and old soundtracks made out of experimental electronic devices, right there, live on stage! A whole lot of energy burst into the crowd and as an effect of that, some folks in the back of the little room decided to talk loudly, as if they saw each other for the first time in decades. Back home Bertels looked up katadreuffe and downloaded the free EP from the Narrominded website. Coen Oscar Polack’s photo stream on Flickr was also scrutinized; brilliant and scary, India, Bathroom horrors and all artists attending this night! Check it out!

Yet another great evening at The Black Tower! Coach had a swell evening!

original article