maandag 17 november 2014

OFF Rotterdam Project

I published seven articles for OFF Rotterdam, a photobook/documentary by Marcel Kollen that covers local musicians in and around Rotterdam. The book was officially launched a week ago at Rotown during the Rotterdam Pop Week. The seven participating bands include:  Rats On Rafts, Mark Lotterman, Half Way Station, Ming's Pretty Heroes, YOKOCOLA, La Boutique Fantastique and Wolf In Loveland.

http://www.rotown.nl/13-11-2014/boekpresentatie_off_rotterdam_/rotterdamse_popweek

Interview/Le Guess Who? promo piece St. Vincent

I did a piece on St. Vincent for Kicking The Habit, a brief interview prior to her Doornroosje gig last October.


Some live reviews

Some live reviews I did recently:

The Hold Steady @ Melkweg for OOR

Strand Of Oaks @ Bitterzoet for Kicking The Habit

St. Vincent @ Doornroosje for Kicking The Habit

Bob Mould @ Paradiso Noord for OOR 

Interview Woman's Hour

I did an interview with London synth pop collective Woman's Hour awhile back.

zondag 2 november 2014

Six reasons why Hallo Venray are The San Antonio Spurs of contemporary Dutch rock

Those who avidly follow me on social media, know I'm just as much a dogmatist to hoops as I am to music. Sometimes the two of them even intertwine. One of the more entertaining interviews I've had this year was with Strand of Oaks' Tim Showalter. Showalter hails from the realm of Hoosiers, Indiana and once had hoop dreams of his own before ultimately writing music and buying casio's with his friend, unwrapping an old tapemachine…and this kind of magic began. Anyway, I digress yet again… a vice I will continuously find difficult to shake.

Anyway, I've been a firm exponent of Hallo Venray's latest LP Show. Okay, so maybe I took it to Skip Bayless-esque levels of vehemence in this OOR Review, much to the dismay of one commenter. But it's kind of remarkable for a band to be around for three decades to still be this scary good, managing to sound so fresh. Kind of reminds me of a certain…

FIVE TIME NBA CHAMPION SAN ANTONIO SPURS MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!11!111 COMIN' FOR THE SIXTH, BABY!1!1! WOOHOOO!11!!1!




WOOHOO!!!11!


My apologies. That didn't quite come out as intended. Watching Hallo Venray rippin' up EKKO last night, gave me an epiphany however. They are, in fact The San Antonio Spurs of contemporary Dutch rock. It's so dead on, in fact , that I've devised six reasons why this is true.

1. Mostly purists appreciate their greatness
I love a Blake Griffin dunk or a Jamal Crawford four-point play as much as the next (casual) fan, just as I like a catchy pop ditty as much as the average radio listener. That new Taylor Swift-song (come on!), early Destiny's Child (fantastic tune this, PLUS Kobe Bryant cameo!), Aaliyah, Justin Timberlake. I really like that FKA Twigs record and I admire the way Lana Del Rey subverted the dichotomy of her celebrity profile into a clever, powerful sophomore effort.

People generally tend to misconstrue my musical proclivity for the notion that I'm some sort of elitist music snob. Those who know me better , realize I'm an absolute sucker for mainstream music. Thing is, I just don't see the reason to write about that stuff when basically everybody else does. Just like all American sports media basically cover 50% LeBron, 25% Kobe and The Lakers, 15% about The Knicks' perpetual hilarious inequity and 10% other NBA Stuff. The Spurs, even in the wake of a championship are widely ignored because there is no drama. They do everything right. They say the right things. Draft the right players. They run a tight, tight ship.

To appreciate them the fullest, you have to watch them on the floor. They execute perfectly. The players move perpetually, the unselfish passing. Their defensive scheme relies on positioning rather than steals or shot blocking. It's like watching a symphony. Hallo Venray are the same way when they play live. The chemistry between the three of 'em is simply unreal: Henk Koorn and Peter Konings forbearingly allow skinsman Henk Jonkers to frantically run amok with reckless abandon with his obtrusive breaks, putting in the trust that he will find them at some point, just like Manu Ginobili splitting a double team. They make it seem so effortless too.



Okay, okay, so maybe I AM a bit of a snob….


2. They both notoriously don't come out of the gates guns blazing
Like the Spurs, Hallo Venray don't look to blow you out of the water immediately like the Steve Nash-era Suns or that Jett Rebel-feller. In fact, they'll gladly have the listener slightly underwhelmed at first... Perhaps it's an age thing, the satisfaction of allowing a show to slowly unfurl and progress, making the impending zenith all the more sweet. I like that they start off with Airy, a simmering mid-tempo Wowee Zowee-era Pavement-ish tune that gives Hallo Venray ample opportunity and latitude to explore their lush, sonic aerobatics (aye, pun intended). The Spurs too play the wait-and-see game well, using the regular season more as a process to round into shape for the postseason, resting their stars whenever necessary, regardless of the situation. They know they're in it for the long haul.

3. They carry the load together.
The Spurs and Hallo Venray maintain an hierarchy where flashy stats and personal skills take a backseat. The individual isn't as important as the big picture. You'll never see Tim Duncan aiming to  get his statistical averages as a means to raise his market value, just like you'll never see Henk Koorn and Peter Konings busting each others chops like Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy. Henk Koorn is kind of an awkward guy too, but in due time you do learn to appreciate his offbeatness, much like Coach Pop.

4. They are old skool, fundamentally sound and don't rely on flash
A Tim Duncan bank-shot or Tony Parker floater isn't nearly as riveting as watching LeBron go coast to coast for a menacing slam after a chasedown block on the other end. But the subtle mechanics of these moves are much more difficult to replace than natural athletic ability. It's kind of amazing that Parker, as his explosiveness gradually declines, can still get to the rim at will using pacing, great footwork and touch. He can still hit that floater over any seven-footer. Hallo Venray rely on old tricks as well: their playful nods to Neil Young, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan on Show are well-documented. While they do manage to sound fresh with each record, they're not some groundbreaking new band. They rely on the subtle old tricks, fundamental things that a lot of Dutch bands fail to utilize in their repertoire. However, they package those things into something that's undeniably their culture. That's why they're ahead of the game.

5. Old as dirt, yet sustained excellence through reinvention
Like The Spurs,  Hallo Venray, even as they were perpetually ignored by the media, never stunk. Like this 3voor12 article  righteously points out, Vegetables And Fruit (2005), Leather On My Soul (2008) and The More I Laugh… (2012) are all fine records. Show is very much akin to The Spurs' fifth championship this year, with its freewheeling frame of mind.  Like The Spurs' dismantling of the Heatles, Hallo Venray essentially stripped down to the most elemental backbone of their craft. Whereas before they really imposed their penchant for busting out smashing pop songs more forcefully, much like the Twin Towers-era Spurs (with Duncan forming a formidable front line with David Robinson). You basically had to give in to their ubiquity, instead of allowing yourself to open up to them voluntarily.

6. They can completely boggle your mind on a whim
One of my favorite Hallo Venray moments these days is when they play "Drunken People". "It beats me how drunken people can ramble on and on", is a line that really resonated with me. Because whenever I attend a concert, I never do it as some sort of social get-together where the idea of "fun" eclipses a pursuit for understanding and emotional inquiry. Part of the reason why I prefer going to gigs by myself. I mean, I do consider myself a peoples person… But the correlation between musician and audience is far more important, because I know how special that can potentially be. I love reading  Richard Fosters stuff on Incendiary, or this particular review by 3voor12's Timo Pisart for that exact same reason. I reflects that yearning to witness something special unfolding.

So there's that duality to Drunken People there, questioning why people aren't as engaged emotionally or intellectually as the narrator of the song."What's on their mind/can't be much". And whether the consumption of alcohol actually dumbs things down, or whether it's him being condescending is never explicitly answered. But then suddenly, the song just takes off…and it SOARS. And live it not only soars, but it goes right into this unworldy cosmic stratosphere. It's such an amazing build-up. Akin to a 36-year old Manu Ginobili - on a fractured leg no less - soaring in with that vicious slam in the heart of the Heat D. The kind of thing that makes you go… For fuck's sake, where did THAT come from!? It's unbelievable.




It's so moving once Koorn sings "It's like being part of the family", his initial alienation gone, suddenly this feeling of unison emerges, that feeling I always crave for every time I go see live music. When they played it yesterday, my mind instantly raced back to Tim Duncan calling Manu Ginobili a "rockstar" during that 60-minute special, as they were suiting up for the all-star game. That's when I got the epiphany. "He's got the hair." In this snippet below, the Spurs nucleus of Manu, Pop, TD and Parker actually call The Spurs more of a family instead of a business where the money dictates everything. And that's a rare thing these days, especially in pro sports. But in music too, where stylistics and hollow accolades seem to upend personality and authenticity. And I'm glad Hallo Venray still have all of that good stuff in spades.