WHAT WAS (IN 2022) AND WILL BE (IN 2023)

2022 was a pretty good year for us musicwise. Since 2.5 years we finally released an album again. It was the IT DEEL I lp with Jacaszek. We're really proud of this one, full of instant composed tracks. We also did some great shows together of which the one on the Into The Great Wide Open on the Dutch Wadden Sea island of Vlieland will be unforgettable to us. It was a kind of Seeljocht déjà vu... In February 2023 we will do some final shows in Poland.

2022 was also the year of IT DEEL II with Eivind Lønning and Espen Reinertsen of Streifenjunko. We recorded an album in the St. Thomas Church of Katlijk in the Netherlands and also did a sold out performance there. In spring 2023 the IT DEEL II lp will be released. Keep an eye on Moving Furniture Records for the release.

Then Piiptsjilling went on stage again at the Welcome To The Village Festival in the Netherlands and also resided in the St. Thomas Church for some recordings. We hope to finish these recordings in 2023 and have it all published.

There were more great things, like a nice interview in the Flamish/Dutch magazine Gonzo. Meanwhile Jan released a track with Norwegian instrumentalist Lasse Marhaug on the 100th release of Moving Furniture, while Romke made a track with Sylvain Chaveau on Sylvain's new album L'Effet Rebond. And there was one more FEAN-track released on the 100th release of Esc.Rec.

Besides the release of IT DEEL II, Transtilla's third album should finally be released on lp in 2023. Hopefully the sixth Piiptsjilling studio-album will also see the light of day. And there will be more. Romke recorded something for a new Machinefabriek album, Jan is working on a new book with visual artist Christiaan Kuitwaard called 'BOSWERK' and we will do IT DEEL III, early July, with...

Thanks to loads of people, that came to see our shows, that helped us realizing shows and projects! It means a lot and keeps us to carry on. So, February Poland and more after that!

L'EFFET REBOND UP FOR PRE-ORDER

L'Effet Rebond is the new 2CD album by Sylvain Chaveau and Pierre-Yves Macé. Romke Kleefstra contributed to this album, by recording some guitar loops for Sylvain, after working together in the FEAN-project. The album will be released October 14 on Sub Rosa and is now up for pre-order on Sub Rosa's Bandcamp.

UNRELEASED FEAN-TRACK ON ESC.REC. COMPILATION

 

A new and so far unreleased track of FEAN is publiashed on Esc.rec.'s compilation Matter Affect. The track is called 'Oare tiden' and was recorded during the recording sessions that led up to both FEAN-albums.

Matter Affect is a copious compilation with work by all artists, performers and collaboration partners who have been confronted with COVID restrictions in the program of De Perifeer in recent years; shows that have been cancelled, moved (several times), took place in an adapted form or could not even be booked anymore.

All submitted material is collected in an A4 box in an edition of 250. Matter Affect consists of substantively different entries from almost every conceivable art discipline. The whole thing is accompanied by a contextual booklet; basically a concise overview of events. And t’s the 100th release on the Esc.rec. label. You can order Matter Affect on Esc.rec.'s Bandcamp page. 

LAST YEAR AND NEXT

 

Here's an update with some of last year, some of next year!

 

IT DEEL I

Kleefstra Bros started a 4-year artist-in-residence project for Oranjewoud Festival. We named it IT DEEL, referring to the place where we spend our youth and still come to enjoy flocks of ten thousands of geese in winter. For the first edition of IT DEEL we invited Michał Jacaszek from Poland, recorded for a week in a small church near the festival site in June, and performed live on the festival in August. The lp with the recordings will be released next year on Moving Furniture Records. On YouTube you’ll find a nice 10 minute documentary about IT DEEL. The DEEL-concert on December 19^th in Gdanks is postponed until further notice, due to “covid-restrictions”.

 

FEAN

In September FEAN played live for (probably) the very last time. The plan was to make just one album with FEAN, but that turned into two albums and FEAN isn't quite done yet. In some time an unreleased song called 'Oare tiden' will appear on a beautiful compilation album. More about that soonish. The second FEAN album is still available at Laaps.

 

GONZO INTERVIEW

In the new number of Gonzo (Circus) there’s an interview with the Kleefstra Bros, about a lot of our projects and the role of and attention for nature and ecology in it. Go to the Gozo-site to read moreabout it!

 

TELEFRICK FEAT. JAN KLEEFSTRA

The Belgian artist Teleferick released the online mini-album 'Dijkjutter' last year, that includes the track 'Guilini' feat. Jan Kleefstra on vocals. You can buy and/or listen to the album on Teleferick's bandcamp page.

 

DYN LJOCHT IS MYN SKAAD | DYN SKAAD IS MYN LJOCHT

‘Dyn ljocht is myn skaad | dyn skaad is myn ljocht’ is a photo work by Romke, which is part of an art-route through his place of birth Akkrum. The art-route is there until May 2022 and the image is placed in the town’s harbour. It might also be the start of more photo works by Romke, of which some you can see on Instagram.

 

GODWITS

Early October we performed a few times with GODWITS, the half Portuguese, half Frisian poetry and music project. This time it was partly made possible by the Explore The North festival. We hope to give GODWITS a sequel next year with performances in Portugal. In the meantime, the bundle GODWITS is still available in our webshop.

 

IT DEEL II

Next year the second edition of IT DEEL will take place. We have invited the Norwegian duo Streifenjunko for it and they are coming over to play and record with us in June. Streifenjunko made a few stunning albums on SOFA Music and are high on our list of favorites!

 

TRANSTILLA

Last but not least: Transtilla. Beware people. Next year Transtilla III and Transtilla IV will be published. Albums influenced by love and death, and death and love, that might surprise you and are made to be played as loud as possible. Chris and I will toll some bells when Transtilla III arrives.

 

AND MORE…

So, that is quite something, but not all. More plans and small projects in the near future.  Jan is working on a book called ‘Boswerk’ with painter Christiaan Kuitwaard. Romke is doing some new music here and there. To keep up with all of it, there is this blog with everything, there is Fakebook, there is Instagram, there is Bandcamp…

 

All the best! Stay healthy, sharp and down to earth!

FEAN LIVE, ONE LAST TIME

In spring 2018 Piiptsjilling got involved in the artist-in-residence project FEAN, together with the Belgian musicians Sylvain Chauveau, Annelies Monseré and Joachim Badenhorst. Theme of the project was peat (fean in Frisian) and mainly how peat soil is rapidly dissapearing under influance of the expanding, intensive agriculture. The project resulted in two albums (FEAN, cd on Moving Furniture, and FEAN II, lp and cd on Laaps) and a documentary on Dutch tv. FEAN played live a few times, of which recordings of the concert in Deventer are still online at Alienocene.

Now FEAN will play Artphy, centre of modern art in Westerwolde, in the Dutch province of Groningen, September 10th. The concert is part of the Noorderlicht International Photo Festival 2021. It will be the very last live performance of FEAN, so be there if you can. Check all info about the show here on Artphy's site.

Still, it wont be the very very last thing FEAN does, as there will be an unreleased track on an Esc.rec-release in the near future.

FEW COPIES OF FEAN I STILL AVAILABLE

 

The FEAN I cd was already sold out for quite a while at our and Moving Furniture's bandcamp, but Popfabryk still has some. Go to the Popfabryk webshop to get a copy. FEAN will play live for one last time at the Noorderlicht Festival in September, and there might be a new and final FEAN track coming up in the near future...

UPDATE: WELCOME TO THE VILLAGE CANCELLED

Piiptsjilling was about to play the Welcome To The Village Festival on Friday the 15th of July. Sadfully the festival was cancelled, so no Piiptsjilling live... Upcoming shows of IT DEEL (Kleefstra Bros + Jacaszek), FEAN (Piiptsjilling + Annelies Monseré, Sylvain Chauveau and Joachim Badenhorst) and Godwits (Jan Kleefstra, Raquel Lima, Nuno Piteira, Elmar Kuiper, Joanna Guerra & Romke Kleefstra) are still go!

FEAN - DEVENTER

FEAN started as a musical artist-in-residence project in a little church in the Frisian village Katlyk. The group consists of Piiptsjilling (Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra, Mariska Baars and Rutger Zuydervelt). For FEAN they are accompanied by Belgian guests Annelies Monseré, Sylvain Chauveau and Joachim Badenhorst.

The Piiptsjilling members are used to perform and record together, and adding the three Belgian guests (who didn’t play together before) added an extra dimension to the group’s dynamics, resulting in a concentrated yet playful series of improvisations, that were later mixed and edited to two FEAN albums.

The FEAN project gets its inspiration from the ecological decay of peatland in the Dutch province Friesland and in other parts of Europe. Agriculture and peat extraction are threatening the landscape severely and with long term consequences. This forms the underlying thought for the improvised performances.

On September 6 2019, the group (minus Sylvain Chauveau) played at the big Lebuinus Church in the city of Deventer (the Netherlands), organized by De Perifeer and Vondst. With its reverberant acoustics, this was a perfect space for a FEAN concert. The concert was recorded, slightly edited and published on the site of Alienocene. And although this 20+ minute recording doesn’t come close to the live experience, it might convey at least some of its magic… Check the live recording here .

FEAN II IS OUT!

The second album by FEAN is out! FEAN II is the following of the first opus released on Moving Furniture Records in 2018, from some materials of the improvisatory collective FEAN based around Jan Kleefstra (voice, poems), Romke Kleefstra (guitar, bass and effects), Mariska Baars (vocals) and Rutger Zuydervelt (electronics) from Netherlands, joined by the Belgian musicians Annelies Monseré (church organ, keyboard), Sylvain Chauveau (tuned percussion, radio) and Joachim Badenhorst (acoustic and amplified clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone).

The FEAN project gets its inspiration from the ecological decay of peatland in the Dutch province Friesland and in other parts of Europe. Agriculture and peat extraction are threatening the landscape severely and with long term consequences. This forms the underlying thought for the improvised recording sessions, which were overseen by Jan Switters. Although the Piiptsjilling members are obviously used to perform and record together, adding the three Belgian guests (who didn’t play together before) added an extra dimension to the group’s dynamics, resulting in a concentrated yet playful series of improvisations, that were later mixed and edited for the project.

FEAN II is available on LP (white vinyl), CD and digital through Laaps. It is also available as download on the Kleefstra Bros Bandcamp.

FEAN II UP FOR PRE-ORDER

The second and final FEAN album is up for pre-order at Laaps records, that previously also released the third Alvaret Ensemble album 'Ea'. FEAN was meant to be a one off project, consisting out of an album (on Moving Furniture Records), a documentary on Dutch tv and a few gigs. But because of the success of the album, which was sold out pretty quickly, we were asked to compile another album and so we did. Same lin-up as on the first, feat. Piiptsjilling.
FEAN II is released on lp (white vinyl) and cd. Official release is set for March 13^th.

FEAN LIVE

FEAN will perform live two times in the Netherlands. On 31 August FEAN plays the Savelbergklooster in Heerlen as part of the Cultura Nova Festival and organised by (h)ear and Intro in Situ.

A week later, on September 6th, FEAN plays the Lubuiniskerk in Deventer, organised by Vondst and De Perifeer. The gigs will probably differ very much, because FEAN performs in different settings.

The FEAN-project also included a documentary about the loss of peat soil (fean in Frisian). You can watch it on the Dutch NPO-site in two parts (part 1 and part 2). The FEAN cd is almost sold out. Over at Moving Furniture Records there are only a few copies left. Check the Bandcamp page.

Keep an eye on the 'live dates' on this blog, as we are also adding some first live performances by Transtilla.