Disc 1
1. Oi Polloi
2. Uiterwaarde
3. Chinese Unpopular Song
4. Color Rosa
5. Hieperdepiep
6. Voor het meisje met mijn dooie mus
7. Onweer
8. Stotterpiano
9. Roes 9
10. Wintervacht

Disc 2
1. Schrijven
2. Donderwolk
3. Bye bye boat, bye bye building
4. Kale bomen langs de weg
5. Gruis uit het plafond
6. Lief
7. Roes 4
8. Carps (Soccer Committee Remix)
9. Maris
10. Ryan
11. Fluister
12. Monster

2cd on Lampse Audiovisual Recordings, May 2007

A giant double-cd compilation of tracks from Rutger Zuydervelt, 'Weleer' collects the finest tracks from his regular 3" cdr releases (of which there are now over 30!) and re-contextualises them for yourlistening pleasure. Noise, droning ambience and naive electroacoustic experimentation has never sounded this intense!

This cd costs 14 euro including worldwide postage

Or buy in digital format, on Bandcamp


Reviews

The Wire
'Weleer' is the kind of release which is only going to become more common in the post CD-R musical era. With artists firing firing out material so frequently that the listener has to regard them more as bulletins or snapshots than attempts of defenitive statement, 'official' releases of retrospective samplers like 'Weleer' are used by labels as a way of surveying the various spaces explored elsewhere. In the case of Machinefabriek, the alias of Dutch producer Rutger Zudyervelt, the Lampse label has compiled 22 tracks from a daunting oeuvre of over 30 3" CDs created over the last few years for this double disc release.
It runs together beautifully, with a coherence that belies the numerous sources and approaches that Zuydervelt empoys. Machinefabriek pieces can home in on any part of the noise-to-signal spectrum: 'Hieperdepiep' grinds and gargles its way into power electronics territory, but tracks like 'Color Rosa', 'Oi Polloi' or 'Schrijven' sculpt out of careful studies of harmonic stillness with acoustic guitar or piano. Other tracks fall in between, with 'Gruis uit het plafond' expanding upon a bed of gnarled psych guitar drones, and 'Donderwolk' toying with fragments of sound until their edges blur in to an ambient haze.
What threads 'Weleer' together is Machinefabriek's obsessive return to drone. This is a collection of tracks happy to suspend rhythm and get lost in sheer surface, and it does so to powerful effect. Zuydervelt has a gift for designing epic sheets of sound, which, as they grow more distant and impersonal, become ever more loaded with emotion.

Allmusic
Dutch musician Rutger Zuydervelt works on music under the Machinefabriek moniker, an evocative name suited to his often detailed blends of found sound, industrial-derived sonic textures and general mood-setting work. Having released many mini-CDs on his own, Weleer finds him drawing together tracks from a number of these releases to create a lengthy and quite cohesive overview of his approach. In its own way, this is his Louder Than Bombs, a compilation that serves to deftly illustrate his abilities in one solid effort. Given the continuing nature of his work it is easier to focus in on the individual tracks, but Weleer is very well sequenced and rapidly sets and maintains a strong core atmosphere.
There are some massive doomy drones at various points, with two of the highlights being 'Chinese Unpopular Song' and especially 'Lief', which is downright majestic with its crumbling, overwhelming sonics. Elsewhere there's more of a contrast set up: on the lengthy 'Hieperdepiep', initial tape clicks and musiqu concrète touches shade into a battle between screeching white noise and a choral sample of sorts, with the former winning out by the end of the piece. There's just as much given over to calmer, almost sweeter simplicity. Two strong examples include the simple but affecting piano part on 'Ryan' and the elegant 'Wintervacht', which in its collage of sound arcs and implied rhythms suggests Robert Hampson's work in Main but without the looming sense of angst-ridden doom. Meanwhile, though Machinefabriek's reference points generally feel like they belong to more recent times, 'Bye Bye Boat Bye Bye Building' steps back more towards an alternate '70s, with roughly treated vocoder-style work feeling like a lost broadcast drop-kicked into more modern times.

Groovesmag

Machinefabriek is the nom de guerre of Dutch soundscapist Rutger Zuydervelt, who is one of the most prolific artists in the ambient noise scene. Last year brought brought Marijn, the first proper Machinefabriek full-length, but Zuydervelt has been busy releasing numerous singles and EPs under that guise (mostly as self-released CD-Rs), many of which can be painfully difficult to track down. Weleer compiles 22 of these tracks on a nicely packaged two-disc set designed to showcase the high points of Zuydervelt's output.

The two discs were sequenced to play like two homogeneous long-players rather than a hodgepodge of random tracks with no unifying theme. The sheer diversity of Machinefabriek's material makes this effort a difficult and not entirely effective one in its execution, as Zuydervelt's style is simply all over the placeâ,running the gamut from squalling electronic noise a la Merzbow and Kevin Drumm to quieter, more reflective experimental turntablism in the vein of Otomo Yoshihide and Philip Jeck. The first disc is indeed the more cohesive of the two, as Zuydervelt chooses to narrow his dynamic range a bit, but each disc features a number of intriguing pieces that resonate with great beauty, some of which are under two minutes in length while others approach the 20-minute mark.

Tracks like 'Stotterpiano' take organic sounds (in this case, prepared piano) and reconstruct them as something altogether otherworldly. Some tracks, such as the lovely 'Chinese (Un)Popular Song', use vinyl as their source material, while others, namely the haunting and gorgeous 'Wintervacht', are based around live instrumentation that has been digitally manipulated and reconstituted as a undulating series of drones. There are still other the pieces on Weleer, notably the oddly compelling 'Bye Bye Boat, Bye Bye Building', that are completely electronic in origin, although they still course with the same melancholic strains that recur across the set.

Each disc is centered around a lengthy piece that dwarfs the others in duration and scope. On the first disc, the shape-shifting 'Hieperdepiep' finds acoustic instrumentation decaying into pure noise, while the second disc contains 'Lief', a piece of relentless emotional intensity that demonstrates how a melodic figure can be repeated at intervals over a span of 20 minutes or so without losing any of its urgency.

While Weleer is less coherent in theme than its predecessor, it could actually serve as a more appropriate introduction to the work of Machinefabriek. Zuytervelt again proves himself to be an artist capable of works of great passion and invention, as Weleer is an impressive assemblage from an enigmatic and highly imaginative force in the contemporary European noise scene.

Oor

Hij bracht meer dan dertig EP's uit sinds hij in 2003 met dit krankzinnige project begon. Een handvol nummers per uitgave, zelf ontworpen en gestencild hoesje, de hele oplage thuis op de computer gebrand en in eigen beheer verspreid, compleet met grappige sticker of persoonlijke brief. En steeds zo'n schattig 3-inch cdr'tje, een formaat dat ooit geïntroduceerd werd als digitale opvolger van de vinylsingle, die tenslotte ook kleiner was dan de lp.

Grafisch ontwerper Rutger Zuydervelt uit Arnhem laat niks aan het toeval over. Ja, zijn muziek: een ogenschijnlijk geïmproviseerde kakofonie van feedback, distortion, computergepruttel, statische knetters en af en toe een gitaar, piano of ander akoestisch instrument als contrapunt. Op de dubbel-cd Weleer, na Marijn van vorig jaar zijn tweede album voor een 'echt' label, staan 22 van die miniatuurtjes en epische klankspelen verzameld. Soms lieflijk en intiem, soms woest en dreigend. Van Fluister tot Donderwolk zeg maar. Mooie titels. Nog een paar: Kale Bomen Langs De Weg, Voor Het Meisje Met Mijn Dooie Mus, Wintervacht, Uiterwaarde, Onweer, Stotterpiano. Het zijn instrumentale stukken vol dissonante tonen. Sfeertekeningen. Opklaringen en noodweer, ouderwetse Hollandse luchten. Stapelwolken boven door het polderlandschap slingerende dijken. Maar ook het industriële wasteland achter die dijken. Stil en verlaten. Hier Werkt Machinefabriek. Carps is een remix van een liedje van Soccer Committee en bewijst dat Zuydervelt zo Fennesz achterna kan, als hij zou willen. Dat besef lijkt ook langzaam tot hemzelf door te dringen. De atonale geluidsterreur waarop bij ons in het verleden nog wel eens vergastte, blijft achterwege. Weleer ademt leven. De mooie momenten van vroeger. En dat is precies wat deze bloemlezing is.

Subjectivisten

Bij het verschijnen van zijn vorige twee 3"-es, het medium waar Rutger Zuydervelt's Machinefabriek vermaard om is en in grossiert, heb ik al aangekondigd dat er een dubbel-cd zal verschijnen met een overzicht of beter een greep uit al die vele releases. De compilatie is er nu en heet Weleer. Zoals ook in een fabriek gebeurt worden de machines soms stilgezet om de producten eens te testen. Nu lijkt het mij een hel om een selectie te maken uit de ruim 30 mini's van Machinefabriek, omdat er gewoonweg geen zwak materiaal tussenzit. Op deze compilatie lijkt ook eerder gekozen voor een overzicht van de variatie binnen zijn werk dan een "best of". Twee cd's met in totaal 22 nummers is het resultaat. Veel van het gekozen materiaal komt van niet meer verkrijgbare 3" cd's, waaronder het sterke Chinese Unpopular Song. De invloeden lijken uiteen te lopen van Seefeel en Talk Talk tot Xela, Fennesz, Deaf Center, Tim Hecker en Sunn 0))). Hiermee is deze compilatie qua geluid een stuk breder dan zijn volledige debuut Marijn. Toch is er door de zorgvuldige selectie een consistent album ontstaan. Hierop kan je genieten van zijn verbluffende creaties, die glitch, drones, ambient, noise, elektro-akoestische en experimentele muziek omvatten. Op geen enkel moment worden de elektronica kil. Rutger weet als geen ander elektronica als het ware een ziel mee te geven en er bloedstollende en tegelijkertijd dromerige creaties van te maken. Soms kunnen ze behoorlijk onheilspellend zijn, maar dat deert niet naast zoveel schoonheid. Luister alleen al naar het overweldigende "Lief" van 20 minuten en je bent verkocht. Machinefabriek is een voorbeeld voor velen geworden, wat met deze verzameling maar eens te meer prachtig onderstreept wordt.

WMFU Blog

There's such an avalanche of music to overwhelm the senses these days, especially all the artists who have been making epic, album long journeys into drone, ambience and doom. For every Sunn o))) record (and there are sure enough), there's your William Basinskis, Nadjas, Slomos, hourlong Utech CDs and Boredoms Super Roots reissues, all very enjoyable, but I tellya, if I want to sit down and have a 75 minute long headphone experience, there's just so many hours in the day, you know? I think I still have to answer the door or attend to a burning dinner everytime I throw that Gavin Bryars record on I've been trying to listen to since 1996. And more Terry Riley reissues picking up where Cortical left off? Forget it. Who are these people with 7,000 drone albums in their Soulseek folders, and when do they get anything done?? It's my job to listen to stuff and I still have a giant Santa/reindeer combo up on the roof that's begging for me to pay attention and deal with it five months later. Yet it continues. It still keeps coming, especially now that CDRs have grown into such a commodity. I know that I'm going to spend an hour with that new single-track Abruptum CD (and probably kill yet another little corner of my soul when its over). Maybe I will just get rid of everything and only keep that Jud Jud 7". I will, however, also keep this Machinefabriek double CD, which I was so into that it warrented a full listen in one swoop, twice in one week.

This is a great collection of recordings culled from older 3" CD releases from Dutch musician Rutger Zuydervelt, yet arranged and sequenced in a way that makes it a perfectly flowing listening experience. The warm ambience definitely harks back to some groundlevel krautworks, but almost every instrument blurs into placid soundscapes that are constantly shifting and evolving, electronic crackles rise out of dark lakes of guitar drone; the sounds are very intimate, immediate, not overwhelmingly dark but definitely indicating Zuydervelt's past as a guitarist in a doom band. With both live instruments and assorted programming, the sheer human emotion injected into a machinated music form is stunning, and the variety of places these tracks go to (even within the course of a piano-based 20 minute composition) are timed perfectly to hold the listeners' attention and reveal a seemingly limitless bank of ideas that I can't recall being utilized since the golden days of Seefeel's Polyfusia record. Very grand.

Musique Machine

Weeler is Machinefabriek second non cdr/ ltd release, growing on the promise of last year debut album Marijn, also on Lampse lable. This double disk set shows more depth ,variation and understanding of his growing sound universe which touches down in: electronica, classical air, noise and droning soundtrack elements.

This collects together selected tracks from over 30 ltd 3" Cdr's, but instead of just dumping random tracks on the two disks their seems to be really thought in creating a coercive and flowing double album. Machinefabriek litterly drags you into his strange electro/classical crossbred world, which finds him adding in new sound textures such as; acoustic juddering folk guitar work, a large use of varied classical string textures and more use of sourced environmental/ found sounds to build in more atmospheric depth to tracks.

A few of my favourite moments appear in the form of disk ones; Hieperdepiep which start with lonesome moonlit guitar work that slowly engulfed by growing noise and textured sound storm. It's like hearing an enchanted melody play off over through a building sand storm as you struggle like a lost adventurer to find the guitars source. Latter on choir like voices are added suggesting you now lay exhausted on the desert floor hallucinating angels, before he really lets the noise and electro sand storm take hold, dipping in power ever so often before roaring back up once more. Also on disk one is the elegant dawn sunrise string drone work of Wintervacht, which slowly engulfs you in it's rich melodic, slight sad and awe inspiring grace, it's truly beautful. I think really these two tracks show Machinefabriek talent at been able on one level make one hell of a convincing and seething noise structures, but also able to carve such heart pulling melodic wonder out of his rich sonic structures.

A very rewarding and consistent double set that takes the listener through myriad of textures and emotions, with a real understand of how to affect one on an deep and moving level .

Boomkat

'Weleer' is Dutch for 'at a previous time' (at least it is according to a very helpful online dictionary I found) and this gigantic double disc set is exactly that. Most of you are probably aware by now of Rutger Zutdervelt - the prolific producer came to light last year with the release of the frankly awesome 'Marijn' album (also on Lampse), and before long we twigged that he wasn't a one-album kinda guy, far from it - he was writing practically an album a month! Across over forty 3 cds which he has released over the last three years he has amassed hour upon hour of music, and what's more he's managed to keep a consistent level of quality which makes us all wonder how the hell he does it . But let's be honest now, with that many super-limited releases there's very little chance that any of us are going to be able to collect all of them, so Lampse in their infinite kindness have painstakingly put together this informed retrospective of the mans work, a sort of potted history of the very best of Machinefabriek. Where 'Marijn' was almost a continuous work from beginning to end, realised very carefully and constructed in a very short time, 'Weleer' takes tracks spanning right across two years of production, and while for most artists that might not be a long time, for Zuydervelt it might as well be four decades. What amazes me about this collection is how perfectly constructed it is, it moves haphazardly between styles and forms, but it feels like these tracks were always supposed to fit together in this sequence, and rather than appearing like there are missing segments it feels like you are gaining an understanding of Zuyderwelt's work by listening to the music in this way. The scope is obviously a great deal wider than 'Marijn'; here we see the work of Machinefabriek on a truly wide playing field - he experiments with blissful ambience, field recording, grinding Merzbow-esque analogue noise, gorgeous guitar drone and simple, playful melodic motifs - yet at no point does it ever feel like he is out of his depth. This is one of those rare albums where you can truly hear the hand of a master at work, and while we are still basically at the beginning of a young producer's career, 'Weleer' stands as proof that he is almost guaranteed a place in electronic and experimental music history. The knowledge he has of 'where things go', his sense of timing and placement just astounds me, nothing seems misplaced, nothing seems overdone or for that matter underdone, each track bubbles, and effervesces beauty, tension and life. Simply put, 'Weleer' is both an incredible starting point for those of you as yet unfamiliar with the work of Machinefabriek, and an indispensable collection for signed up fans - there's just so much to sink your teeth into here it is almost impossible to go into any more detail. Highly Recommended.

Ear/rational

This is Dutchman Rutger Zuydervelt's second release for the Lampse Audiovisual Recordings label. His Machinefabriek project has captivated many listeners with his stunning and regular supply of home-made 3" CD-Rs, a project which Zuydervelt had been working on since 2003 and is still working on today. After a long period of deliberation, Lampse boss-lady Monika Herodotou and Zuydervelt came up with the perfect selection - two full CDs of audio which play like "proper" albums rather than simple, haphazard collections of tracks, yet still contain enough audio insanity to confirm the rumor that Machinefabriek is a true musical enigma. It strikes us as quite horrifying how a man can actually produce this volume of music while keeping such an obvious level of quality control but somehow he does it - there's not a dull moment on Weleer's 22 varied tracks.