Last update: November 2023
Machinefabriek is the alias of Rutger Zuydervelt, based in Schiedam, the Netherlands. His music combines elements of ambient, noise, minimalism, drone, field recordings and electro-acoustic experiments. The music can be heard as an attempt to create sonic environments for the listener to dwell in. It can be minimalistic at first glance, but reveals its depth upon closer listening.
Zuydervelt was born in 1978 in Apeldoorn (The Netherlands) and now resides in Schiedam (close to Rotterdam). He started recording as Machinefabriek in 2004. After a series of self released cd-rs, his official debut Marijn was issued in 2006, with great critical acclaim. Since then, a solid stream of music was released on labels such as Western Vinyl, Type, Important, 12K, Entr'acte, Miasmah, Consouling Sounds, Eilean and Edition Wandelweiser. He performed all over the globe, from Canada to Israel and from Russia to Japan.
Zuydervelt collaborated (on record and/or live) with numerous artists, such as Marissa Nadler, Jaap Blonk, Aaron Martin, Peter Broderick, Frans de Waard, Richard youngs, Steve Roden, Gareth Davis, Stephen Vitiello, Michel Banabila, Dirk Serries and Dead Neanderthals, amongst many others.
Experimental film makers like Makino Takashi, Mike Hoolboom, and the late Paul Clipson had films scored by Rutger Zuydervelt. He composed soundtracks for various documentaries, such as Sol LeWitt (by Chris Teerink, 2014), The Red Soul (Jessica Gorter, 2017), HetVoorval: Armando en de Mythe (Roelof Jan Minneboo, Sjors Swierstra, 2018), BERG (Joke Olthaar, 2021), the VPRO series Sahara and Frontlinie (Bram Vermeulen), and various films by Lex Reitsma. Rutger also scored the Dutch/Italian drama Porcelain (Jenneke Boeijink), which premièred at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2020.
Besides films, Zuydervelt also composes music for dance pieces, like Alix Eynaudi & Kris Verdonck (EXIT), Alexander Whitley (The Measures Taken and Beheld), Marta Alstadsæter & Kim-Jomi Fischer (As Much As It Is Worth,Engel, Our Arms Grew Together, Another Moment Ago) and Yin Yue (A Measured Existence, A Brief Visit II). He also worked on multiple pieces by Spanish/Dutch choreographer Iván Pérez, like Becoming, which featured Zuydervelt performing the music live on stage in the Netherlands, Taipei and Heidelberg (DE). In 2021 Roshanak Morrowarian's performances Sister and Kites premiered, followed by House of Strength in 2023.
Then there's Zuydervelt's installation work, in which the dialogue with the environment plays an important role. He did projects for Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NAi (Dutch Architecture Institute), the new Armando Museum MOA, Sounds Like Audio Art in Saskatoon (Canada), the Into the Great Wide Open Festival, Netwerk in Aalst (Belgium) and children's museum Villa Zebra in Rotterdam.
In 2016 Zuydervelt started working on his first video game score, for the hugely succesful American sci-fi adventure Astroneer, launched at in December that year.
He also created the soundtrack for VPRO podcasts Een Soort God (with Michel Banabila) and Dat Kan Geen Toeval Zijn in 2022.
