Machinefabriek & Leo Fabriek
1. Het waait over
2. Polderlicht
3. Wolken boven Cronesteyn
4. Pluimen
5. Karrewiel
cd, November 2007
A collaboration with Leo Fabriek (of The Julie Mittens). It was the first time we ever played together, but it was just right. It was recorded and edited and released. Within two weeks or so. As simple as that.
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Reviews
Vital Weekly
As far as I understand Leo Fabriek (might not be his real name) is one of the members of The JulieMittens, which are the Dutch answer to Krautrock, or so I am lead to believe based on what I could find on the internet. This Leo Fabriek plays here piano on a recording he made on September 16th with Rutger Zuydervelt, also known to mankind as Machinefabriek. Two times fabriek, but this is far away from factory sounds. The piano, the hot instrument of 2007, is here in duet, rather than the source of all things processed (and unlike so many others we encountered this year). Leo Fabriek plays slow chords, while Zuydervelt adds guitar, banjo, effects and povtronic (whatever that may be).
Unlike a lot of his previous self-produced releases, this is a long release, almost forty minutes. Divided into six lengthy pieces things move here with great care and pace, while in the background, Zuydervelt erects walls of sound, through his extensive use of effects. Sometimes going to the foreground, sometimes staying in the back, such as in 'Polderlicht' (highlight of this release), this is another strong release of someone who seems to have found his way: Machinefabriek's output is vast, but since about a year or so, he has been, more or less in one position of carefully treated strings and sound effects, exploring the possibilities thereof, and this new release is no different. Another fine work.
Boomkat
This is without any shadow of a doubt the loveliest transmission from Machinefabriek this year - and by far his most introspective, beautiful work to date. This time round its a full-length album housed in some of the loveliest packaging we've seen and is a collaborative venture, this with namesake and Julie Mittens drummer Leo Fabriek (presumably no relation). This latest work recalls the gorgeous Huis 3"CD in that the music occupies a more organic, cinematic grounding than his more customary drone abstractions. While Zuydervelt himself takes up guitar, banjo, effects and a primordial analog synth that goes by the name 'Povtronic', Leo Fabriek takes centrestage at the piano. The album announces itself with the crackle and gradual bowed guitar of 'Het Waait Over' before settling down into the atmospherically charged 'Polderlicht', a conjugation of lighter-than-air piano and filtered ambience. Taking up a greater bandwidth is 'Wolken Boven Cronesteyn' which features electronic eruptions that sound like a cross between Pan Sonic-style primitive synthesis and an ocean liner firing up its fog horn. 'Pluimen' is the shortest (and typically) the most beautiful of all the pieces here, setting Leo's meditative piano figures against what sounds like backwards banjo phrases and a backdrop of rainy field recordings. It's all exceedingly pretty, but never in a trivial, purely superficial way. Instead it makes for a passage of calm before the gradually rising storm of 'Karrewiel', whose engine room drone threatens to devour Leo's previously dominant keystrokes. In its boisterous coda, the piece is wrought with the howling of noise oscillations and detuning synth tones. After the stately, elegiac sounds of earlier movements it all comes across as a destructive final dirge, purposely shredding up the ominous serenity of the preceding tracks. Still churning out releases at a rate that simply shouldn't be conducive to music of this calibre, Machinefabriek actually seems to be on an upwards gradient at the moment, and Fabriek & Fabriek must rate as being one of the very finest releases in this preposterously ample catalogue. Exceedingly beautiful in all possible departments, snap this up while you can as we have 50 copies only in stock...
Subjectivisten
Dan is er ook nog de bijna hele cd Fabriek + Fabriek, namelijk 40 minuten, die hij samen met Leo Fabriek (drummer bij The Julie Mittens) heeft gemaakt. Leo speelt hier piano, terwijl Rutger de gitaar, banjo, effecten en wederom povtronic voor zijn rekening neemt. Samen maken ze breed uitgesponnen, filmische en uiterst sfeervolle nummers. Op serene wijze marcheren ze door industriële en klassiek ingekleurde ambient straatjes, waarbij elektronica en akoestische muziek harmonieus hand in hand gaan. De tot de verbeelding sprekende muziek houdt het midden tussen Pan Sonic, Library Tapes, Nest en BJ Nilsen. Het zijn zorgvuldig opgebouwde mini soundtracks, impressies of schetsen, hoe je het maar wilt noemen. De intieme sfeer versterkt het toch al mysterieuze geluid. Het is een wonderschoon, aangrijpend en tot de verbeelding sprekend werk.Dan is er ook nog de bijna hele cd Fabriek + Fabriek, namelijk 40 minuten, die hij samen met Leo Fabriek (drummer bij The Julie Mittens) heeft gemaakt. Leo speelt hier piano, terwijl Rutger de gitaar, banjo, effecten en wederom povtronic voor zijn rekening neemt. Samen maken ze breed uitgesponnen, filmische en uiterst sfeervolle nummers. Op serene wijze marcheren ze door industriële en klassiek ingekleurde ambient straatjes, waarbij elektronica en akoestische muziek harmonieus hand in hand gaan. De tot de verbeelding sprekende muziek houdt het midden tussen Pan Sonic, Library Tapes, Nest en BJ Nilsen. Het zijn zorgvuldig opgebouwde mini soundtracks, impressies of schetsen, hoe je het maar wilt noemen. De intieme sfeer versterkt het toch al mysterieuze geluid. Het is een wonderschoon, aangrijpend en tot de verbeelding sprekend werk.
