VARIOUS ARTISTS – Live At PlusEtage Volume 1 (3xcd, A New Wave Of Jazz)
For almost two years now, after the covid saga lifted, A NEW WAVE OF JAZZlanded frequently at the lovely PlusEtage venue in Baarle-Nassau (The Netherlands) for label-dedicated live events. This first volume 1 selects three performances, each distinctively different, which reflects nicely the relentless aim of the label of introducing, sharing and promoting this side of the free improvisation that hardly gets opportunity to play on European soil. Uniting Belgian, German, Portugese and UK musicians together to bring you a prime example of the current free improvisation scene.
Officially out on June 10th 2023 to coincide with the label event of MARTINA VERHOEVEN & TEUN VERBRUGGEN.
Now in pre-order for only 20 EUR (instead of the regular pricing of 26 EUR) + shipping. Go here to order. Valid through June 10th, 2023.
A New Wave Of Jazz & PlusEtage presents MARTINA VERHOEVEN & TEUN VERBRUGGEN June 10th, 2023
Next concert in our ongoing label events in conjunction with jazz venue PlusEtageis the premiere of this duo: excentric and wilful pianist MARTINA VERHOEVENteams up with one of the most versatile drummers-on-demand in Belgium TEUN VERBRUGGEN. This Belgian duo will definitely push boundaries while it can equally be delicate and melancholic. Everything is possible, nothing is obligated. Definitely a must for lovers of free jazz and the fully improvised. Tickets and all info go here.
Chile’s LOOP MAGAZINE just published a brand-new interview with DIRK SERRIES about his recent solo album FLUCTUATION OF BEING on MIDIRA RECORDS.
In the early 80s the Belgian composer Dirk Serries began to work in the industrial scene with the alias of Vidna Obmana with whom he released more than 140 solo albums and in collaboration with other artists such as Steve Roach, San Rosenthal, David Lee Myers, Asmus Tietchens, Steven R. Smith, Aidan Baker, Celer, Scatterwound to name a few.
In 2005, Serries decided to finish with Vidna Obmana, while he had other projects like The Fear Falls Burning and Microphonics, the latter is still active. In addition to playing with several bands. Meanwhile he founded several labels such as Mechanical Orchestration Music in which he released the music of Vidna Obmana. In recent years he has developed a great interest in free-jazz and improvisational music, founding the A New Wave Of Jazz label.
Serries is a multifaceted musician who works both with metal and post-metal, as well as free improvisation, avant-garde jazz and ambient music under his name, with which he has just released the album “Fluctuation Of Being” (Midira Records, 2023), an album that features long guitar drones that float in a sea of uplifting tonalities. On the occasion of this new album, this interview is carried out.
Thanks go to Ed Benndorf, from the Berlin distributor Dense, for arranging this interview and to Dirk Serries for sharing his experience.
You work in a wide spectrum of music. Can you tell us what you find and appreciate in ambient music and free-jazz/improvisation?
“Almost from day one when I started to experiment with sound in the early eighties my goal was to look forward, to learn and grow as a musician and a human being. So, I never shied away from pushing myself and trying different combinations, genres and even instruments. Apart from a brief industrial phase in my early existence as a musician, I got extremely fascinated by ambient music and I still am. Over those past 3 decades I was able to fine-tune my own style in this genre, over the course working with synths and computers till purifying my sound to work solely with an electric guitar and a few pedals. Although I’m not that intensely active any more, the focus lies way more on the free improvisation nowadays, ambient music is what I breath and it’s actually thanks to being involved in the free improv scene I managed to apply a working method for my ambient music that is equally on the spot and surprising than any of the improvised music I do. It still is course a different music style so naturally it requires different playing techniques but both sides of the spectrum I just love to be in.”
What do you mean when you say “vintage ambient music”?
“The term is a wink to the old-school ambient scene in which I was active in the late eighties till the late nineties. Much changed over time, going from outboard hardware instruments like synths, sequencers, mutli-track recording on tape, analog mixing desks to the younger generation that works solely on a laptop computer. I am happy that I was able to perform a technique for myself that still resembles the style of ambient music I created with Vidna Obmana while trimming down the set-up to just one Carefully selected electric guitar and a handful of pedals. The way of playing, layering the tonalities and having them shift slowly over time is just that what I did with Vidna Obmana on synths and all the tools in my studio. Therefore, the reference to the vintage style of playing the ambience”
What do you like to explore with your side-projects Fear Falls Burning and Microphonics?
“Microphonics is definitely a closed book but with Fear Falls Burning ideas are forming to do another record and it surely will be the ‘band’ approach again. Hopefully I’ll be able to record some material over the course of this Summer.”
Which bands/labels/music magazines would you highlight from the early 80s?
“There are plenty as the eighties were just such an inspiring and creative period. To highlight a few musicians and bands: Giancarlo Toniutti, Joy Division, Test Department, early The Cure, Maurizio Bianchi, Chris & Cosey and even early Simple Minds. Labels like Factory, Broken Flag, RRRecords, Sub Rosa, Staalplaat and Projekt.”
Which were the sources of inspiration for the making of your latest “Fluctuation Of Being” album?
“Being here and now. I mean, despite still a lot of people will probably deny or refuse to accept it, we are living in an intense period and already for a long time. Absolutely don’t want to go politically here but the pressure ‘On us, all the impulses we’ve to digest is just sometimes too much to handle and makes you shift your life almost constantly. This album is just about that, the constant twists of the mind under impulse of daily life.’”
On Fear Falls Burning’s Bandcamp page you pointed out “a musical meditation on purity and subdued power” What does it mean?
“Wow, that’s a long time since I read that definition but back then after completing the Vidna Obmana story I really wanted to pursue something different. Fear Falls Burning still has connotations to what I did previously but the approach was different, less studio-oriented but real-time guitar manipulations through a vast array of pedal effects. The focus was on playing simple motives on the guitar while the effects brought everything into play and constructed the full guitar soundscape. Fear Falls Burning was way more powerful than Vidna Obmana ever was, louder and more intense but at the same time it was about the detailed research in what the electric guitar could produce, from the tiniest sounds to the full-on wash of tones. That said, Fear Falls Burning slowly over time, due to My ongoing urge to experiment, turned into a band project that features several key players from the metal, post-metal and free improv. scene. More to come for sure.”
What would you highlight the most from these 30 years dedicated to music?
“It’s difficult to pick one but generally seen I’m most proud of how I have been able to create my own identity while maintaining my independency. Nothing is original but in this all you can still work and make the efforts to realize your own voice and this is what I’ve done from day one. Of course, I always have been ambitious to share my music with as many listeners possible, this is something you decide upon when you start releasing your work but never, I wanted to follow the straight path and rely on a particular success. The number surely dropped when the highly successful cd retail collapsed in the late nineties, due to the arrival of streaming, but luckily there’s still a dedicated audience adventurous enough to follow me on this journey of constant exploration. And the fact that I’ve been able to work together with such talented international musicians, through various genres, while others seem to follow that and be inspired by, confirms that I probably am doing some interesting stuff. From my solo work, the free improv band KODIAN TRIO (with Colin Webster and Andrew Lisle) to the culmination of all YODOK III (with Tomas Järmyr and Kristoffer Lo).”
Guillermo Escudero
May 2023
Buy FLUCTUATION OF BEING here. Visit the MIDIRA RECORDS website here.
Already for 24 years Fred Kellogg hosts his fantastic FREE JAZZ WITH FRED radio show (out of of the Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA on KAOS 89.3 FM) and to celebrate this anniversary he focused on our label for the entire show. You’ll hear as well an interview with DIRK SERRIES, curator of the label, on everything what the label is about. Enjoy.
Ken Waxman of JAZZ WORD (Canada) enlightens us with a fine review of HUGO COSTA & PHILIPP ERNSTING’ THE ART OF CRASHING, which we released last year on our label. The album is of course available through our bandcamp store.
“The Netherlands’ long-time reputation for promoting freedom of expression has certainly been confirmed in the field of free music. Not only have local improvisers established themselves internationally, but exploratory musicians from elsewhere have gravitated there as well. The Art of Crashing was artfully created in Rotterdam by two city residents who are actually German (drummer Philipp Ernsting) or Portuguese (alto saxophonist Hugo Costa).
More aggressive and abstract in their interactions, the Rotterdam-based duo coordinates convulsive reed shrieks with minimal but powerful anchoring percussion coloring, Costa and Ernsting construct and then extend many of the tracks, but with enough cohesion so that the linear thread remains. “Blind Spot” for instance is taken prestissimo, with cymbal patterns, paradiddle pops, and subtle metal clunks cushioning the reed work. Costa’s strained clarion squeaks and bites present a logic of their own as he appears to examine every single note and its extensions, sometimes in Aylerain altisssimo until wooden drum pops signal the finale. Although near-toneless breaths and percussion rattles make up the sonic landscape elsewhere, the most distinct impression comes when the duo is in free form. There are even some quick changes involved. The introduction to “Nowhere Fast” for instance, suggests that it will become a standard Bebop melody, that’s quickly shattered as the drummer subdues his backing to hushed nerve beats and bass drum resonations. Concurrently the saxophone toughens his story-telling beeps and blips to repeated honks mixed with split tones and soon bulks up his output to continuous multiphonics. As doits, flattement sand sopranissimo screams are exhibited in turn the piece climaxes as exploratory as it was traditional at the top.
Stripped to essentials of wood, metal, skin, and cork, it’s easy to see why so many questing musicians take up this minimalist challenge. Additionally, this disc shows exactly what sort of quality sounds can be created in this configuration.”
DIRK SERRIES, in promotion of the LOUD AS GIANTS’ EMPTY HOMES album, has been doing several interviews as well these (video) podcasts. Some of them brief, another lengthy and very detailed on lots that has been part of Dirk Serries’ 3 decades plus repetoire.
Last Thursday LOUD AS GIANTS (JUSTIN K BROADRICK and DIRK SERRIES) premiered their debut album EMPTY HOMES (Consouling Sounds) live at the annual Belgian DUNK! Festival. It was a blast. Check out a few photos…
Next concert in our ongoing label events in conjunction with jazz venue PlusEtage is the premiere of this duo: excentric and wilful pianist MARTINA VERHOEVEN teams up with one of the most versatile drummers-on-demand in Belgium TEUN VERBRUGGEN. This Belgian duo will definitely push boundaries while it can equally be delicate and melancholic. Everything is possible, nothing is obligated. Definitely a must for the lovers of free jazz and the fully improvised. Tickets and all info go here.
Loud As Giants: “It has taken a long time to release this project but, when we hit this sound, we both knew this was it.”
Justin K. Broadrick and Dirk Serries talk to us about how their experimental musical minds came together for their crushing new project, Loud As Giants.
If you’re a fan of really experimental, niche extreme music, then the names Justin K. Broadrick and Dirk Serries should be very familiar. The former has a musical CV which includes industrial heavyweights Godflesh along with Jesu and Final, while Serries can be heard on Fear Falls Burning and Vidna Obmana.
It was inevitable that these two musical minds would cross paths at some point throughout their careers. Finally, after multiple delays, scheduling and COVID, the pair have dropped the crushing Empty Homes EP (out via Consouling Sounds) under the moniker Loud As Giants.
In our latest Cover Story, we speak with both Justin and Dirk to find out about the project, the inspiration behind the music and what their future plans are for the heavy beast that is, Loud As Giants.
Thanks for your time; let’s get talking about Loud As Giants, then. Justin said now is the right time for the project. Can you expand on why you think that is?
Dirk Serries: “If you look at both our busy work schedules, it’s never the right time, but for us both, it was though the best moment in our extensive careers to work on this one. Like I said many times before, we both are musical chameleons with several different projects under our wings, so most essential was to finally come up with a consensus in which direction we would focus. From there on, it went fast and smooth.”
Justin K. Broadrick: “It was really the right time to finally release it. It has taken a long time to release this project, and it went through a number of different concepts over the years, but when we hit this sound, we both knew this was it.”
“It has taken a long time to release this project, and it went through a number of different concepts over the years, but when we hit this sound we both knew this was it.”
Loud As Giants has been on the backburner for a while. How much did COVID and the lockdown affect the timelines you had for releasing Empty Homes?
Dirk: “Absolutely. Despite Justin and I still had quite a lot of work on our hands during the two years COVID took over, but it definitely gave us both some extra space to finally start working on our duo collaboration.”
Justin: “Yes, the lockdowns actually made this happen. Fortunately for us; I personally was able to focus on the beat and bass aspect, which we agreed could centre the project, so to speak, without having to perform this gave me the time to work this without the draining performance aspect obstructing me. Of course, the pandemic was entirely destructive, so there wasn’t much to be gleaned that was positive from that whole experience.”
Musically, the EP fits with the isolation of the past few years. Did your feelings and experiences of the past few years inspire the four tracks?
Dirk: “I think every bit that happens in your life triggers the music you want to make or are creating. While it definitely refers as well to the era of music in the early eighties we both like so much, somehow the current predicament the world is in is quite similar and strangely inspires. It’s like Winter vs Summer.”
Justin: “I agree, and I feel like this album will remind me of the emptiness and sadness of that universal isolation, but regardless of that of that being enforced, I was happy to not engage with the outside world nor travel it suited the fact that I am autistic perfectly.”
You both obviously have a very strong creative connection but has Dirk shared similar feelings of isolation with Justin during the pandemic?
Dirk: “Oh yes, like I said before, I think both are very passionate musicians who get influenced, inspired and motivated by the circumstances around us. Not per sé that our music is politically or socially motivated, but surely it all gets in there, and that level, we both are quite alike. And also, we walked almost the same trajectory, so that makes us more alike than with most collaborators.”
Justin: “Yeah, we are both very much aware of our environments and reflect and express this through our art; we create environments for people to inhabit.”
Justin talked about his love of the night, empty streets, the quiet. What is that puts you at your happiest in those settings, and do you share those feelings, Dirk?
Dirk: “Oh absolutely, maybe strange to write here, but I like the secluded and abandoned, less people, the better J and nights trigger that even more while it also changes your senses too. Everything gets accentuated.”
Justin: “It has been a thing for me since I was a child, but it also is common among many autistic people, which I found out once diagnosed; being so attuned to our immediate environments mostly means overload, and being constantly overwhelmed on the day time, the night affords me this space – I am very aware of the streets being empty and people being in their homes asleep, I love this feeling and feel more undisturbed – I am completely aware of this emptiness and revel in it.”
“For Empty Homes we really wanted to pay tribute to the old school industrial and electronic albums with blurred black & white pictures and a sort of vintage character in the printing.”
Do you feel those are the best settings for someone to fully appreciate the experience of listening to Loud As Giants?
Dirk: “Loud (laughs).”
Justin: “(laughs) Yes! I agree with Dirk, but a dark, dimly lit space, very little distractions, would be best, I feel for total immersion…”
Going back to the start of the project, how did those initial conversations between you both come about, and what was the early vision for Loud As Giants?
Dirk: “Of course, we worked together before so no surprises there, but I think the complexity of starting with a brand-new project is to decide whether this is a genre-based project or just a collaboration that can go into multiple directions. We first talked about an industrial project, and while I still think you can hear a bit of that still in our first outing, Empty Homes is a culmination of many impulses. And in the end, we didn’t talk about the style after all and just recorded the music.”
Justin: “Yes, as Dirk says, we discussed many options instead of working through them; eventually, Dirk sent me such beautiful guitar work that it inspired a whole ’other’ direction, so to speak; setting this to rhythm and bass was a not-so-obvious route we felt, usually guitar drones of this calibre will exist in an beatless and bassless state, we wanted to turn that stereotype on its head.”
You say that Loud As Giants doesn’t want to reinvent music but is more like a trip down memory lane. What memories did working on this project conjure up for you both?
Dirk: “For me, definitely the philosophy and character of the eighties and the cassette network Justin and I played an active part in. The no-nonsense character, everything goes, and the pure DIY style of releasing music. It was just a very inspirational period, and I think our duo just somehow reminds me of that. I mean the respect between us is a vital part of what our collaboration is about. Just passion to share sounds and create something together we both can be proud of. Exactly like it was back then. The rest was and is all incidental.”
Justin: “Yes, we’re tapping into all our resources, but it naturally moved into a timeless area of the 80s somehow, when music felt really creative and moved in many ways without the conventional trappings; less formulated and conservative, free.”
Do you remember the albums and bands that brought you both together creatively?
Dirk: “On a personal level, Justin’s FINAL has been the first project I got introduced to back then and through what he released on Post Mortem. It was only later on I found out that Justin was behind Godflesh, etc.”
Justin: “I purchased an album that I’ve loved ever since by Dirk, in 1992 – Vidna Obmana, revealed by composed nature – I was thrilled to meet him and work with him many years later! We share many of the same tastes – Industrial music of the ’80s, free jazz, ambient, and so on…”
Throughout your career, your music has always carried an equally harsh visual element – is this something that you will bring into Loud As Giants?
Dirk: “Also, here, I think this can really vary from album to album. For Empty Homes, we really wanted to pay tribute to the old-school industrial and electronic albums with blurred black & white pictures and a sort of vintage character in the printing. Who knows what the next one will be about?”
Justin: “Somewhat, whereas the beautiful visuals that Dirk’s partner supplied for this debut album are far from harsh and more representative of the neighbourhoods we inhabit, but without us/humans.”
What about a live show? Do you see Loud As Giants touring, and if so, how do you visualise that live show?
Dirk: “Personally I don’t see Loud As Giants as a touring band. I think it’s vital for us both to keep the music fresh and something that sits and breathes next to our other projects, without any kind of pressure. However, we’re playing DUNK! Festival (in Gent, Belgium) next month, so pretty excited about that, and we’ll see how that one goes.”
Justin: “We will play one-off performances; I particularly cannot tour; it doesn’t work for me, I can do small strings of dates but never a full tour, thankfully those days are gone for me due to it causing me such huge personal problems associated with my autism, but we will perform if the offer and setting is right for us, selectively.”
As two people who have many musical projects on the go, have you talked about future LAG releases?
Dirk: “No, absolutely not. Let us first enjoy this one, but I’m sure we’ll grab the chance of a follow-up when we’ve free time. There’s a lot of musical ground to cover.”
Justin: “For sure, as Dirk says, this took so long. I think we’re surprised we even got this out in the end! But we have no immediate plans, but we both love this trajectory and feel we can explore it much further.”
Thanks for your time; I appreciate you talking to us and want to leave it up to you to wrap up this conversation…
Dirk: “Thank you for the opportunity and for sharing Loud As Giants.”
VIDNA OBMANA’s latest reissue on the lovely Polish ZOHARUM label is receiving nice reviews. Here’s the latest in Gonzo Circus (printed magazine from Belgium/The Netherlands).
The album itself is still available from bandcamp :
“Slechts een handvol Belgen wisten zichzelf binnen te krijgen bij het gereputeerde Amerikaanse metal-label Relapse en/of sub-label Release Entertainment, maar Dirk Serries is het gelukt. Tussen 2001 en 2004 slaagde hij er namelijk in om er niet minder dan drie albums – deel van een trilogie gebaseerd op ‘La Divina Commedia’ van Dante Alighieri – uit te brengen : Tremor, Spore en Legacy. Serries toenmalige project kende in die periode duidelijk zijn hoogtepunt. Dat valt niet alleen vast te stellen door de muziek op zich – een geperfectioneerde mix van mysterieuze en hypnotiserende soundscapes en subtiele tribale ritmes – maar ook door de aanwezigheid van een aantal tot de verbeelding sprekende gasten zoals Steve Von Till (Neurosis), Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) en oude kompaan Marc Verhaeghen (The Klinik). Serries bedient zich op die trilogie, naast E-bow, elektronische effecten en allerhande percussie-instrumenten, ook van flink wat exotische fluiten, zoals de fujara. Vanaf 2009 zou Serries als Fear Falls Burning zijn focus verschuiven naar de exploratie van de mogelijkheden van heavy gitaardrones. Tegenwoordig is hij een graag geziene gast in het internationale milieu van zogenaamde vrije muziekvormen, waaronder freejazz en improv. Het Poolse Zoharum is al een tijdje bezig met het heruitbrengen van de indrukwekkende discografie van Vidna Obmana. Zo ook deze trilogie. Volledig gemastered in een driedubbel overzicht, inclusief mooie foto’s van Martina Verhoeven. (swat)”
