BIT BACK, BIT AHEAD

2012 was an eventful year for the Kleefstra Bros. Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra's second full length Griis was released through Low Point, followed up by a nice tour with Celer and Machinefabriek and a live tape with two concerts of this tour, released through Northern Twilights.
Time Released Sound published Sinneplakken by Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kuitwaard|Kleefstra as part of the gorgeous chocolate box series. With The Alvaret Ensemble we went to Iceland to meet up with some great Icelandic musicians and get ready for the artist in residence project Skeylja on the Oerol Festival. Eight sold out and completely improvised shows in a row made a highly awesome experience of Skeylja for every artist involved. And last but not least The Alvaret Ensemble’s double debut album was released and the group will hit the road.

Actually that’s not all we’ve done. We’ve been working on stuff that you’ll hear and see in 2013. So here’s a little preview of what is coming up.

First of all, concerning releases, expect postponed Piiptsjilling albums! And for those rocking to Piiptsjilling, three-quarter of the band’s been recording with Celer’s Will Long. We made a darn fine album out of these recordings. It is set for spring, on a very tasty Polish label. And also Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra’s been recording. Again the trio made music for film, also to be released in the coming months and we're already thrilled by the results of that. In 2013 we might actually work a bit more on film, but more about all of this at a later date.

Live we will be performing quite a bit with The Alvaret Ensemble. Check the live dates on this blog. More Alvaret-dates will be added soon-ish. Also for our other collabs we’ve got plans for gigs, but that is still too premature to mention. And off course we would like to get the Skeylja-team on stage again… Well, so far, for the time being. More soon. Have an awesome 2013. Keep your glory, gold and glitter.

OUT NOW: THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE

The double debut album of The Alvaret Ensemble is out! Recorded in the late summer of 2011 in the Grunewald church in Berlin with Nils Frahm and Martyn Heyne, and featuring additional musicians Peter Broderick (violin), Martyn Heyne (church organ), Hilary Jeffery (trombone) and Strië's Iden Reinhart (violin). The album comes as a double LP and and as a double CD, released by Denovali. More details about the album on the band's page on the Denovali website. Go to our release page to find out where it is available, which stands underneath each release.

To celebrate the release The Alvaret Ensemble will be hitting the stage. Here are the first dates. In January the band will be joined by Iden Reinhart. Hilary Jeffery joins us on the Cross Linx festival dates in March. Also Hauschka, Nils Frahm, Rachel Grimes and quite a few others will play Cross Linx.

14-01-13: Prague (CZ) - Palac Akropolis
15-01-13: Budapest (H) - Akvarium
18-01-13: Essen (D) - Weststadthalle Café
20-01-13: Köln (D) - Ambientfestival
01-03-13: Eindhoven (NL), Muziekgebouw - Cross Linx Festival
02-03-13: Amsterdam (NL), Paradiso - Cross Linx Festival
03-03-13: Rotterdam (NL), De Doelen - Cross Linx Festival
04-03-13: Groningen (NL), De Oosterpoort - Cross Linx Festival
06-04-13: Berlin (D) - Denovali Swingfest at Passionskirche

SHORT SKEYLJA FILM

On last summer's Oerol festival on the Dutch Wadden Sea island of Terschelling The Alvaret Ensemble was artist in residence with the Icelandic musicians Borgar Magnason, Ingi Garðar Erlendsson, Kira Kira, Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson and the video-collective 33 ⅓. The Alvaret Ensemble and 33 ⅓ went to Iceland to meet up, play and film with the Icelandic musicians in March and performed together on the Oerol fest in June for eight days in a row, two shows a day. Name of this project: Skeylja.

The 33 ⅓-collective launched a short film of Skeylja. It is a compilation of the live shows on the festival and our stay in Iceland, edited to two pieces of music recorded live during the Oerol shows. Wonderful. Skál!

For more info about Skeylja go here. For more on the 33 ⅓-collective go here. And for The Alvaret Ensemble check the band page on Denovali's site.

PRE-ORDER HAS STARTED FOR THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE

Denovali Records launched the pre-order for The Alvaret Ensemble's debut album. It is available as a double CD, double LP and as a download. The CD has got a nice digipak packaging. For the vinyl lovers we're talking about thick deluxe gatefold sleeves with special 3D print, two 180 gram records, also available in two different vinyl colours, inlcuding a free download code. Go to the Alvaret-page on the Denovali website!

THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE ON CROSS-LINX FESTIVAL (NL)

The Alvaret Ensemble is playing the Cross-Linx Festival in The Netherlands. This festival travels round the country in five days with a great line up (check the poster). Keep an eye on the live dates on this blog, as The Alvaret Ensemble will be doing quite a few more shows in Europe!

PREVIEW OF THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE'S DOUBLE DEBUT

December will see the double debut of The Alvaret Ensemble. Denovali Records already put the artwork of the album, some snippets of the tracks and the story about the album online. Check it here. Greg Haines put the album taster also on Soundcloud. The album comes as a double cd and as a double lp. The cd-version will be in a nice digipak packaging. The vinyl-version contains thick deluxe gatefold sleeves with special 3d print, 2x 180g vinyl in two different vinyl colors, including a free download code. Soon we will announce (release) gigs, so keep an eye on this blog, that blog and their site!

THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE

NEW PIIPTSJILLING TRACK

As mentioned on this blog, a new track of Piiptsjilling was published on the compilation cd 'A Coven Of Witches' that comes with the Wooks Zine. You can now listen to it through Soundcloud. The song 'Mûle Fol Snie' was taken from the unreleased album Molkedrippen. Enjoy.

A COVEN OF WITCHES

The new Irish magazine Wooks is out and it contains the compilation cd A Coven Of Witches. Besides tracks by Waxy Tombs, Inez Lightfoot, Samantha Glass, Calypso Borealis, Andagainandagain, Lace Bows and Celer, you can find a so far unreleased track by Piiptsjilling on it. Almost a song, called 'Mûle Fol Snie'. For more information about Wooks Magazine visit the blog of Northern Twilights or send them an e-mail.

THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE #2

The [r] blog already informed you a bit about The Alvaret Ensemble. There is a little more to tell. First of all the band is playing the Freeze Festival in the city of Leeuwarden on September 22nd. Then the release for the debut album is now set for December and The Alvaret Ensemble is very pleased to announce that the album will be released by Denovali Records. More about that soon. One last thing, you can already find The Alvaret Ensemble on Facebook. No kidding. Like?

LISTEN TO KLEEFSTRA|BAKKER|KLEEFSTRA LIVE

Two months ago the Irish label Northern Twilights published a cassette by Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra, containing two live gigs. One of these gigs is now streamed online on Soundcloud. It's the one recorded in the town of Drachten, featuring Sytse Jansma (vocals) and Sanne van Hek (trumpet, also on the picture above with Anne Chris Bakker). Speaking of Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra, Anne Chris Bakker just released his first solo album. Great stuff which you can read more about over at Somehow Records.

Kleefstra Bakker Kleefstra Live 2012 by NorthernTwilightsWooks

PIIPTSJILLING ON WOOKS ZINE CD

The first issue of the new magazine Wooks comes with a compilation cd-r with an unreleased track by Piiptsjilling, which is called 'Mûle Fol Snie'. There are other tracks on this cd by Celer, Waxy Tombs, Lace Bows and more. The zine contains interviews with Brad Rose (Digitalis), Britt Browne (Not Not Fun) and Alice Dourlen (Chicaloyoh). For more information on Wooks Zine and the first issue go here!

TEMPORARILY BACK IN STOCK!

While cleaning the attic a small box was found containing a few releases we ran out of. Rarities! These are now available through the [r] blog, while the stock lasts. So, temporarily back in stock are:

• Wink, 1st album by Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra [cd-r | € 8,-]
• That It Stays Winter Forever, Japan tour-cd feat. Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra, Machinefabriek, Liondialer [cd | € 10,-]
• Mort Aux Vaches, by Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek with Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra and Nils Frahm [cd | € 12,-]
• Sieleslyk, by Gareth Davis, Jan Kleefstra and Romke Kleefstra [3" cd-r | € 6,-]

All prices listed include postage and packaging within Europe. Go to the [r] shop to see how to order.

NEW: [r] MAILORDER

Well, not entirely new off course, just slightly more prominent on the [r] blog. You can order releases straight from [r]. Go to shop | releases. First you'll see which releases are available, how to order and when you scroll down a bit, you can check each release. For each release it is also mentioned where in the world it is available. Even for those that are sold out, because these you can download somewhere. Now in the shop: the brand new cassette by the masters of darkness Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. Two live gigs. Hot stuff...

OUT NOW: LIVE CASSETTE BY KLEEFSTRA|BAKKER|KLEEFSTRA

In March of this year Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra (KBK) went on tour in The Netherlands and Belgium and brought Celer and Machinefabriek along. The last two published all their recorded gigs online, including a set of postcards. Two of the seven gigs by KBK are now available on cassette, through the new cassette label Northern Twilights from Ireland. Northern Twilights is run by Ben and Anna, who came all the way from Ireland to the city of The Hague to see the whole gang play live at Studio Loos.

The first live performance on the cassette was recorded at the venue Havenkwartier in the town of Deventer. A typical KBK impro, for those familiar with the pieces released on the compilation cd That It Stays Winter Forever and KBK's second full length Griis. The second recording was made in the theatre De Lawei in the town of Drachten. The piece opens with a poem by the Frisian poet Sytze Jansma. Here KBK is also joined by Sanne van Hek on trumpet, and a killer that is!

The cassette, simply called 'Live March 2012', is available through Nothern Twilights on Discogs. Some photos of the tour are available on my facebookpage.

SKEYLJA REVISITED

The artist in residence project Skeylja for the Oerol festival on the isle of Terschelling (NL) was really, really good. All performances in the isle's oldest church were sold out and reviews and reactions were very positive. The comibination of improvised music, with eich night another musician curating the evening, and the awesome visuals worked very well. Besides the performances in the church from June 15th till June 23rd, the Skeylja team also performed each day in a changing line up in a pavilion in the woods on the isle. Check for instance the video of the solo performance by Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson.



All Skeylja performances were recorded. The Skeylja collective will now pick out the best parts of quite a few hours of music to compose an album. So, there will be more Skeylja!

Skeylja: Borgar Magnason (upright bass), Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson (trumpet/bugle), Ingi Garðar Erlendsson (tuba/trombone), Kira Kira (vocals/electronica), The Alvaret Ensemble (Sytze Pruiksma: percussion, Jan Kleefstra: vocals, Romke Kleefstra: guitar, Greg Haines: piano) and videocollective 33 ⅓ (Douwe Dijkstra, Jules van Hulst, Coen Huisman). Skeylja is a co-production of Popfabryk and Oerol.

MORE SKEYLJA

Now that the artist in residence project Skeylja is fully on its way, there's a bit more to find about it. First of all there's a blog on the project website. There's a Dutch newspaper article to read here (part 1) and here (part 2). Cutting Edge posted some pics and on Facebook you can check footage on my page, the one of Skeylja and the one of the video collective 33 1/3. Much more soonish or sometime later.

SKEYLJA <<>> OEROL

Skeylja, 15-24 June, Oerol Terschelling, feat. The Alvaret Ensemble with Kira Kira, Eirikur Orri Ólafsson, Ingi Gardar Erlendsson, Borgar Magnason and the video-collective 33one3rd. Go to the Skeylja website and / or check the info on [r]

VIDEO: PIIPTSJILLING - SKOBBETREDEN

With last year's artist in residence project Seeljocht, some cool footage was made to the Piiptsjilling track Skobbetreden by 33one3rd. This track was published on the Seeljocht cd. The footage was shown during the Seeljocht performances of Piiptsjilling on the festivals Into The Great Wide Open, Explore The North and Le Guess Who? I uploaded it on Vimeo for everyone to see. Piip!


Piiptsjilling - Skobbetreden from K.I.L. on Vimeo.

OUT NOW: SINNEPLAKKEN

When the Kleefstra Bros jumped into the Landscape Studio with Sytze Pruiksma for one afternoon of instant composing, which lead to Deislieper, it was so much fun that they jumped into the studio again the very next day. Along with them jumped Christiaan Kuitwaard on guitar and another productive afternoon of improvisation it was. From the various pieces recorded the quartet selected five to put together an album. This album is out now. A special limited release called Sinneplakken.

Sinneplakken is released as a double 3-inch cd in a chocolate brown box by Time Released Sound. In the box are also two bags of East Frisian Tea. There's even some soil from the Wadden Sea inside! The chocolate box series is already sold out, but it's also available to order in the 5 inch replicated picture sleeve version through the label, so get it while you can.
It's pretty hard to discribe Sinneplakken. It is shurely different from Deislieper and our other recordings. It varies very much from a kind of rhythmic, krautrock-ish instrumental to a more familiar dark ambient to a minimal track with not much more than an Indian organ to harsh feedback drones.

SKEYLJA

Skeylja is the name of an artist in residence project The Alvaret Ensemble is involved in. From March 27th until April 2nd the ensemble (Greg Haines, Sytze Pruiksma and The Kleefstra Bros) stayed in Iceland, travelled around and made quite some instant music with the wonderful Icelandic musician friends Kira Kira, Eirikur Orri Ólafsson, Ingi Gardar Erlendsson and Borgar Magnason. Meanwhile the video collective 33one3rd documented the trip and made a lot of great footage.

From June 16th until June 23rd Skeylja will be performed on the Oerol festival on the Dutch Wadden Sea island Terschelling. Eight nights in a row we will play in the old church of the village of Hoorn and every show will be different as for every night another one of the musicians is curator. A musical and audiovisual experience, based on our time in Iceland. More news on the project website and here you can watch a teaser.

VPRO-SESSION GARETH DAVIS AND THE KLEEFSTRA BROS

In March 2011 Davis|Kleefstra|Kleefstra did a small tour through the Netherlands, accompanied by Bela Emerson. It also included a session for the VPRO radioprogram Dwars. This live recorded impro by the trio is now online. Check it out here.

KLEEFSTRA|PRUIKSMA|KLEEFSTRA LIVE IN AMSTERDAM

May 26th Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra plays De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam on a Narrominded label night. Narrominded is a very fine Dutch record label. The label night starts at 21h sharp! Hope to see you there.

PRE-ORDER SINNEPLAKKEN

The set of six, very limited releases in the 'chocolate box' series by Time Released Sound is now up for pre-order. This series includes Sinneplakken, a release by Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kuitwaard|Kleefstra. In advance the series is available as a complete set only and at a reduced price compared to what they will be sold for individually, or as a set later. At Time Released Sound some pictures and sound samples of the first five boxes are up, so check it out.

Sinneplakken is set for release on June 15th. The album consists of two 3" cd's in an awesome package (see picture). The five tracks on Sinneplakken were recorded the day after Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra's 'Deislieper-session'. Guitarist Christiaan Kuitwaard was invited to join the three and this lead to a productive afternoon of some cool improvisation. More on Sinneplakken later. First get that pre-order while you can!

ELSEWHERE

Now I will shurely not encourage anyone to join the so-called social networks, but if you're on it you can actually find me there. On Twitter and mainly Facebook I put little updates about reviews, gigs, musician friends and somtimes pictures. Like I just did on Facebook, making a small photo album of the tour of Celer, Machinefabriek and Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. You can find it here. The main news is off course here on the [r] and in the spam I send around through e-mail once in a while. And more news soon on Piiptsjilling, our collab with Sytze Pruiksma and The Alvaret Ensemble! Hold on.

NACHT EN DEI SCREENED IN AUSTRALIA

Our film 'Nacht en Dei' will be screened at Australian International Experimental Film Festival 2012. 'Nacht en Dei' was made by Shinkan Tamaki (visuals) and Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra (music). The short film will be screening as part of the Texting the Image programme due to screen 3:30pm, Saturday, 5th May at LOOP. Details regarding where and how to find the scheduled screening venue LOOP can be found on A.I.E.F.F.'s website, www.aieff.org/find.html, or by visiting LOOP's website www.looponline.com.au

You can listen to the music of 'Nacht en Dei' on Soundcloud. And if you're into it, you can even download it there.

THE ALVARET ENSEMBLE

Let's introduce The Alvaret Ensemble! Last year Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra and Greg Haines shared stages frequently. Collaborating on festivals such as CTM (Berlin), Approximation (Düsseldorf), Into The Great Wide Open (Vlieland, NL) and Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL) was working out so well that the four decided to hook up more often. The quartet got together and recorded for three nights in a row in the Grunewald church in Berlin with several musician friends and decided to form The Alvaret Ensemble. The debut album is scheduled for late November, featuring Iden Reinhart (Strië), Hilary Jeffery, Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm and Martyn Heyne. More about that soon-ish.

The Alvaret Ensemble is also involved in a kind of artist in residence project in the slipstream of last year's Seeljocht. We are moving temporary to Iceland and will make music there with some wonderful Icelandic musicians such as Kira Kira, Eirikur Orri Ólafsson, Ingi Gardar Erlendsson and Borgar Magnason. We aim for a release of these recordings off course and will perform several nights in a row on the Dutch festival Oerol on the Frisian island Terschelling. Also our video brothers of 33one3rd are part of the gang. There's more to the project, but first... hey ho Iceland. Heilsa!

picture by martyn heyne

EXCLUSIVE TRACK KLEEFSTRA|BAKKER|KLEEFSTRA ONLINE

When we played Tokyo in November 2010, we made some live music to a short film by Shinkan Tamaki at the Uplink Factory. A few months later we recorded that impro as a soundtrack to the film. Listening back to the track, titled 'Nacht en Dei', we decided to put it public as a download on Soundcloud. 'Nacht en Dei' is probably the most minimal track we made so far. The sound of Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra stripped down to the bone. Dark, mysterious, slow, barefoot, just like the film. Some serious headphone music. Enjoy!

OUT NOW: GRIIS

Three years ago already Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra (KBK) released it's first album Wink on Apollolaan Recordings. After that the trio played live frequently in Europe and Japan. For the Japan tour a special tour cd was released by White Box, containing a dark and harsh piece by KBK. A radio session together with Peter Broderick and Machinefabriek lead to a fine Mort Aux Vaches release last year. Last but not least music of KBK was used in the short, experimental film 'Nacht en Dei' by Shinkan Tamaki (Jap) and the short movie 'Bohai Bay' by Sytze Pruiksma and Elmar Kuiper (NL).

But now it's time for a new full length. It is called 'Griis', which is Frisian for grey, but also for something completely awful, dreadful and terrible. Griis is a slow moving, softly flowing, dark triptych. An ominous soundscape, created by bowed, finger picked, feedbacking, layered and squeaking guitars. It was recorded live in the Landscape Studio in the spring of 2010 and it was mixed and mastered by Martyn Heyne in Berlin last autumn. Griis is released as a 12" LP by Low Point, although you can also get yourself a digital download. Get it through Low Point or all these distributors in the USA, Europe and Asia. Or get it through the [r] blog. Check the releases page.

Check the tourdates for KBK, Celer and Machinefabriek here!

KLEEFSTRA|PRUIKSMA|KLEEFSTRA PRESENTS ... !

Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra (KPK) will be playing the Willibrordus Chrurch in the small town of Holwerd, on the Wadden Sea coast, during the Atelierroute Lauwersland, on Sunday the 11th of March (16:00 h). A special gig, because the trio has some announcements to make.

First of all KPK presents Deislieper, because since the release of the cd the trio never played its homeland. But there's more. KPK will form a new ensemble with a great piano player. This new ensemble will leave for Iceland, to be joined by some Icelandic musicians, and to make and record new music for a special festival in The Netherlands. This will all be filmed and it will be performed live on the fest at a later date.

The new ensemble also made some exciting recordings last summer at the Grunewald Church in Berlin, with several friends. The first album with a part of these recordings will be released in fall. But before this is all going to happen, KPK will first release an album (as a quartet) in spring, that was recorded the day after Deislieper was recorded. More about it soon and on March 11th, when KPK is presenting all this and more. Come round, you're welcome!

CELER, MACHINEFABRIEK & KLEEFSTRA|BAKKER|KLEEFSTRA ON TOUR

Halfway March Celer, Machinefabriek and Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra will do a short tour together. Most gigs are in The Netherlands, one is in Belgium.

15-03-12: Den Haag (NL), Studio Loos
16-03-12: Brussels (B), La Compilotheque
17-03-12: Maastricht (NL), Intro In Situ
18-03-12: Deventer (NL), Willie/Havenkwartier
20-03-12: Utrecht (NL), Muziekhuis
23-03-12: Leiden (NL), Meet&Greet
25-03-12: Drachten (NL), De Lawei

All of us once shared a stage before. That was in November 2010, when we played the Super Deluxe in Tokyo. A very fine eve that was. Meanwhile we seem to have a lot in common. We kind of stir the same music pot, share labels like Low Point and we are all a little productive.

Celer and Machinefabriek will hook up for this occasion. That is no coincidence, because they just released the 7-inch 'Maastunnel/Mt. Mitake'. Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra is about to release it's second full length 'Griis' on Low Point. Plenty of reasons to hit the stage.

NEW TRACK BY KLEEFSTRA|BAKKER|KLEEFSTRA

Late February Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra's second album 'Griis' will be released through Low Point! Just before the trio will do a couple of gigs with Celer and Machinefabriek in The Netherlands and Belgium. More info on the album and the short tour later. First the track 'Stille Mûle Fan De See', from Griis!

Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra - Stille Mûle Fan De See by Romke Kleefstra

ÛNKRÛD

The Inflatable Human on YouTube made a video to Piiptsjilling's Ûnkrûd, the opening track of the album Wurdskrieme. The edited footage is from the British television drama The Unloved. Like it.