London Calling, Beirut and more!

Did a great concert recording of Beirut for VPRO 3voor12 together with (engineer & friend) Hans Bunt. I think we managed to capture this unique band and it's very personal energy. It sure is not music everybody will enjoy, but i encourage you to check out some songs on their MySpace page. The band gave a thrilling performance and we were glad that we were pressing RECORD!

Also did some sessions with singer/songwriter Bertolf Lentink. You might remember Bertolf as the frontman of The Junes. Although I have to say 'former' since The Junes split up. Bertolf still plays a lot of instruments in Ilse De Lange her band (basicly everything with strings on it, except for snare). He also writes songs for others, but this time we went into the studio to record some stuff for himself.
You can check out the 3 songs we did on his MySpace page. The first 3 songs on his profile are from the session we did. Bertolf played all instruments himself, except drums. Bauke Bakker (of Cool Genius) came in with his drumkit and did a wonderfull job. (he also did a couple of nice backing vocals)

Some pics:

Wow, and let's not forget London Calling! The second edition of 2007, and this time spreaded over 3 days! So we had to record 27 bands in 3 days!!!! If that isn't inhumane?! Well it's a hell of a job in both the good and the bad way, I tell you that.

I am not gonna write about all acts, but I will tell you my favorites:

-Reverent and the Makers
-Dragons (the press will say they are not original and they are old. But it's a great liveband and they have good songs!)
-The Dykeenies (super tight live band with an original sound)
-Video Nasties
-The Displacements (a promise! They have to grow and become much tighter than they are at the moment, but they already have the songs and performance to become really big!)
-Blood Red Shoes (young reversed White Stripes duo. Super energy)
-The Runners

also good (but not as good as last time): The Wombats

BTW: the first reviews of the debut cd from Cool Genius (wich I mixed, and did some recordings on) are in. And they are ranging from great to outstanding!

Hits, TMF awards and other news...

Jeremy's single Saturday is in the charts for the 3rd week now!!!!
Also don't forget to continue voting for them @ TMF awards. All you have to do is go to www.tmfawards.nl and vote. (click on 'STEMMEN' in the upper menu)

Last saturday Wilsum released their self-titled debut album with a nice party & gig at the Hedon venue.

Wilsum is retro; their songs sometimes remind you of the good old days when The Who / Grand Funk Railroad / Led Zeppelin / Black Sabbath (and more) were still going strong. These guys are really into vintage equipment, that's why we also used a lot of old techniques, equipment and microphones to capture their sound. So don't expect a smashed-to-death-modern-rock-sound, because that's NOT what you are going to get. What DO you get? Groovy guitar, ramblin'bass, angular drums and screaming vocals combined for a high energy, kick a$$, dynamic, rock&roll overdrive!

And of course it's not only released on CD, but also on vinyl. Check their MySpace page and listen to some songs.

More release party's:

Both Cool Genius and Heavens Devils are releasing stuff on the 19th of october.

Cool Genius will present their debut album ('Maybe you should do that too') in Hedon Zwolle. Heavens Devils are throwing a big party for the release of their EP ('Kings and Killers') in Diana, Assen.

So pick your poison...

Lot's of projects

I told you earlier about an album I made with Jeremy's guitarist Fokko. It is a side-project with Dutch songs. (Well... I mean that he sings in Dutch... allright).

Untill recently the band was simply called Fokko, but they changed their name to WantWant.

WantWant also has a brand new MySpace page wich features some of the songs we did.

My personal favorite is a song called "Heleen" wich has a great guitar-solo-melody. This song is also on their MySpace page, so you can check it out.

I also promised to put some of my Thailand pics online. Well... I did ;-)
Click here to see a slideshow with some of my pics.

The first Cool Genius single is probably gonne be "My Friend". Check this song (and others) on their MySpace page.

The new Nou En single called "Roos" is ready (after recording & mixing, I still had to do the mastering) I told you about this song in my last news-update. It's a great-super-catchy-slick-rockin'-tune that won't let go.
You can listen to it on their MySpace.

They also shot a video for the single wich will be uploaded somewhere soon; I will keep you posted.

As you might know (or not); I also do my share of budget-mastering. Normally I don't mention any of that in this news-section, but I want to make an exception this time.
There are 2 mastering jobs I have to tell you about.

First; Next Waste Dimension. Blending heavy guitars with modern dance. Only few bands dare to do it, even fewer are able to make it work. With REWIRE REALITY Next Waste Dimension (NWD) prove they can pull it off. And how! On this debut NWD shows how to perfectly blend metal, dance and industrial in a way it sounds both natural and refreshing. They got some great reviews, so check out their site.

Second; Parkside. Dutch music magazine OOR wrote about them: "Parkside evokes exiting atmospheres through delightful sounds that are prominently placed without disturbing the songs. Extremely well-done! Think of Radioheads Kid a, but with a little more song to hold on to."

They've recorded and mixed alle those atmospheric songs themselves. You can check out songs on their MySpace!

Cool Genius, Nou En, Jeremy's

Wow I've had some crazy weeks of hard labour. After our vacation to Thailand (I might post some pics later) I went straight back into my rollercoaster-life. I've been working my ass of, but it was very satisfying!

I just finished working on the debut album of a f@ckin' freakin' band with the illustrating name: Cool Genius. These crazy sons of bitches have been recording more songs than healthy. To make it even worse they thought that their crappy 16bit game-soundcards would be fine. ;-)
Do you get the picture? Crazy a$ hell if you ask me. And then these stupid morons asked me to retrack some vocals, guitars, basses, drums and other amazing shit for serious. And what makes things even worse; they thought it would be a good ID if I would try and mix their shit$ into hit$. (Or should I say hit€ ?). Wow, what have they been smokin' lately?

So that's basicly what we did for two weeks; recording and mixing some music created by cool geniuses. Anyone who likes acts like: Soulwax, Soul Coughin, dEUS, Gomez, Zita Swoon, Lenny Kravitz and Presidents of the USA should have a listen to their album once it's being released. Untill then; some songs we did can be found on their MySpace

Mothers get a hold on your daughters once Cool Genius is released! Don't say I did not warn you...

From their bio: Cool Genius signed up with Goomah Music, who will release the debut album "Maybe You Should Do That Too" on October 19 at Hedon Zwolle.
Their talent- status has been ratified by elections like ‘Talent of the Week’ and ‘3FM Serious Talent’, as well as ‘Demo of the Year’ of the Dutch Pop Institute. Their energetic liveshows have brought them to several stages like Melkweg Amsterdam, 013 Tilburg and Effenaar Eindhoven, with a highlight at the Liberation Festival in Amsterdam in May 2007. Cool Genius consist of Erik Neimeijer (vocals, guitar), Bauke Bakker (vocals, drums)and Sebastiaan van Olst (bas/contrabas, vocals). The band has been based on their mutual broad minds, creativity and skills, which enables them to elaborate on each other’s songs. With 3 strong vocalists and continuous delivering composers, you can call your band ‘Cool Genius’, without being arrogant or presumptuous. Being cool and ingenious, this is a very remarkable band in the Dutch scene. This band doesn’t match a major label with sales targets and restrictions.

boithuh!

Last time I told you about the fact that I started recording with Nou En again. Remember them? Those catchy punkrockers with a hit about a Gothic Girl ;-)
We have been working on some new songs. I already mixed two of the new songs, and one of them is gonna be the next single. It's a great-super-catchy-slick-rockin'-tune that won't let go. Damn this thing is catchy!

Before it can be released, a videoclip has to be made. So you all have to wait a little longer before you can hear it. Maybe it will be on their MySpace page soon. If that is the case, I will mention it on my site.

The Jeremy's story continues:

Their first single 'Saturday' is finally released. There's also a funny videoclip wich entered high-rotation on clip-station TMF. (Wich basicly means that they play it a lot!). Hollands biggest newspaper (De Telegraaf) also picked up on the hype and wrote: "World hit from Kampen". haha, finally some Dutch paper who's going for the (traditional) English hype-style ;-)
Almost to funny!

The clip has been viewed by almost 30.000 people on YouTube. Click here to see a 'making of' and the clip itself

Besides that, they signed with THE biggest booking agency in this country, and they are going to sign a record deal with a major record company! (And Vans and Converse will make sure they wear cool shoes and clothes).

Their tour-schedule is pretty full, so enough opportuniy's to check em out live.

...and the snowball is still rolling and growing ;-)
[I know I keep repeating myself with that last sentence, but it still aplies]

I also went to the studio to work (guerrilla-style) on an album with Jeremy's guitarist Fokko. He has a side-project with Dutch songs. (Well... I mean that he sings in Dutch... allright). Untill now the band was also called Fokko, but they are going to change that name to avoid confusion.
Like I said, it was guerrilla-style just like we did with the Jeremy's album.
That's going into the studio with a small group of people for a very quick recording session, and getting out before you even realise it. Same for the mixing: very quick in and out and the thing is ready and will hit you right in the face ;-)

As soon as Fokko has decided on the bandname, I will post a link to his MySpace page wich will feature some of that songs. I guarantee you!