Thursday, December 22, 2011

SEELJOCHT IN PICTURE AND SOUND

The video collective 33one3rd made a nice short movie about the Seeljocht project. A kind of 'making of'. What you see are short pieces of how we all roamed the island, recorded music there and how 33one3rd shot their images to the music. The film is set up in the same order as Seeljocht live on stage as well on the cd. Starting with Greg Haines and friends, then Piiptsjilling, then Heather Woods Broderick and Nils Frahm. There's live footage of Seeljocht on the stage in the wood during the Into The Great Wide Open festival on the island, containing live recordings of Piiptsjilling. A nice souvenir of a very special event. Definitely a highlight of 2011 for all of us musicians.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

LAST YEAR & NEXT

2011 wasn't all that bad! Piiptsjilling's Wurdskrieme was released in Europe in January. One month later Staalplaat released the Mort Aux Vaches feat. Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. In April the Sieleslyk ep by Gareth Davis and the Kleefstra Bros was part of a lovely Rural Colours package, followed up by the first full-length (Tongerswel) by the trio on Home Normal at the end of the summer. And then there was Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kleefstra with the Deislieper-album in November, on Hibernate Recordings.
With Sytze Pruiksma we did some incredible gigs, partly accompanied by Greg Haines and Nils Frahm. Meanwhile we rocked some stages with Gareth Davis (and Bela Emerson). And let's not forget Piiptsjilling and all the other artists making Seeljocht a totally awesome happening.


But enough of that! A new year, new plans, quite some special releases. First of all the return of Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra. In 2009 we published KBK's first full length 'Wink'. It's follow-up 'Griis' will come out in February on 12" vinyl only. A Low Point release! Then a bit later there will be an album by the quartet Kleefstra|Pruiksma|Kuitwaard|Kleefstra, a very special release in an edition of less than a hundred. Then somewhat in spring we expect the fourth Piiptsjilling album in the format of a limited double 10" vinyl release on an exciting label. So beware! We also still expect Piiptsjilling's third album 'Molkedrippen' to be released on Spekk Records. It's already over a year late, so let's hope for the best...

Then a new ensemble the Kleefstra Bros are in is working on two albums at the same time. For something completely different that will be. One is already scheduled for the fall on one of our favorite record labels. This ensemble might also do a special live project. So keep an eye on the [r] for all this and more.

Last but not least we're planning to do some gigs with Celer, Machinefabriek and Kleefstra|Bakker|Kleefstra in March. There are already a few dates planned in The Netherlands. More opportunities are definitely welcome.

There is actually more, but let's not overdo it, or did I already?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

SEELJOCHT (SLIGHT RETURN)

The last weekend of November was great. Seeljocht on two exciting Dutch festivals, both times in packed church-buildings with lovely crowds.Greg Haines performing 'You Know How' with Piiptsjilling's Mariska Baars, Sytze Pruiksma and Peter Broderick. Piiptsjilling playing nice dark impro's and Nils Frahm turning his piece into human beat box with Peter Broderick. Nice reviews, the finest you can find on Fluid Radio, VPRO 3voor12 and KindaMuzik (both last ones are in Dutch).



The video above was made by Knynk, while we were setting up the stage on the Explore The North festival. There will be more footage, because the video-guys of 33one3rd will produce a kind of 'making of' with loads of material they shot during the residency on the isle of Vlieland and on all the three Dutch festivals Seeljocht was performed (Into The Great Wide Open, Explore The North, Le Guess Who).

For those interested in the Seeljocht cd, it is available again through this blog. It's € 12,- incl. worldwide postage. Mail me for an order. For those living in The Netherlands, you can also get the cd at the record stores Plato and King Kong.

Soon more news on some of the plans for the near future... 2012 that is, isn't it?