KRAAK : artist

Artist overview

France

Girlseeker

U.S. GIRLS

U.S. Girls is the moniker used by Megan Remy

Gerard Herman

Born Gent 1989 - lives and works.

Bad Statistics were formed in Wellington (New Zealand) in late 2005 as a much-needed noise-band jam outlet for its constituents. There had been several collaborations between the players previously, but this constellation was quite unique. The vocal explosions/explorations of Thebis Mutante fitted in perfectly with the band’s motoric rock stylings, and the debut album was recorded in a flurry of concerts and private jams. So far, the group has gleefully been exploring the unpredictabilities that come out of its stylistic and instrumental framework - and it’s been refreshingly unpolemic at that. Artistic integrity is not a measure but a byproduct of Bad Statistics. The band exists out of Thebis Mutante (singer, and in New Zealand not an unimportant improv sax player), Mark Williams (guitarist in several underground groups like The Idle Suite (Last Visible Dog)), Johannes Contag (drummer en assembled Static, played previously with Cloudboy),Justin Barr (bass and more known as a drummer in the garage-fuzz-rock scene) and Torben Tilly (organ player, mr tone generator and member of Minit (Staubgold))

Greg Malcolm

Rhythm Section Fred Van Hove

Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat

Azusa Plane / Tin Foil Star

Köhn

Jürgen De Blonde (Born in Eeklo, 1975) is a self-taught musician and composer. He’s been an active musician since the age of 12 when he started playing around with a small casio keyboard. From that time onward he’s been fascinated by electronic music and creating his own sounds and music. Not having an academic background, De Blonde’s interest in music has always been eclectic, allowing influences from a wide range of styles and sounds. Early influences were Jean Michel Jarre, Jan Hammer, Klaus Schulze, Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden and mainstream pop music. Around the age of 16 De Blonde changed schools and became a pupil at SASK in Brugge where he was exposed to the world and practices of art and got to know a wide range of alternative music through fellow students and the music show 120 Minutes on MTV. There he got exposed to many new influences like Sonic Youth, Robert Wyatt, Spaceman 3, the whole wave of Shoegazing bands (My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, Boo Radleys ...) and all in all more guitar music, but also Aphex Twin, Autechre ... Meanwhile De Blonde played in a number of bands ranging from jazz to noise rock.

De Blonde expanded his instrumentarium with electric and acoustic guitars, samplers, beat boxes, four track recorder and whatever he got his hands on that could produce sound. He started making songs and sound experiments which he compiled onto tapes. Eventually this resulted in a number of modest releases on small tape labels.

By the mid-nineties he rediscovered the love for electronic music through experimental acts such as Oval, Germ, Microstoria and post-rock acts like Tortoise and Trans Am. He started making his own electronic compositions and this resulted in his first cd album in 1998 on KRAAK under the name “Köhn”. A second album followed in 1999, with a growing number of live shows across Europe and also in being asked by Sonic Youth to open their show at the Ancienne Belgique as a result. Meanwhile De Blonde had also joined de portables releasing a number of albums with that band and playing numerous live shows.

His music has since then been used for shortfilms, compilation albums and installations. He has also frequently been asked to compose new music for film projects.

In 2001 he released his eponymous double album “Koen” on Kraak, regarded by many as a masterpiece in independent electronic music. It was this album that also introduced him to André Gingras for whom he became a regular collaborator, making scores for a.o. The Lindenmeyer System, Hypertopia, Anatomica 1, Idoru,... and thus becoming a regular composer for contemporary dance. Other choreographers he has worked for are Sylain Emard and Arno Schuitemaker.

Currently, De Blonde is working part-time for an educational arts organisation, called Aifoon. Their work focuses on the world of sound, exploring the communicative and poetic possibilities of everyday sounds. Through workshops, events, collaborations and installations they research the many aspects of sound and how these can be used in educational and pedagogical contexts. Besides that, he’s maintaining his musical activities as a musician, composer and sound designer. In 2009 KRAAK released his Köhn comeback lp “We need more space in the cosmos”, on which he grasped back to his early synthesizer heroes.

Razen / Sheldon Siegel

The Afternoon Saints

Hellvete

Bear Bones, Lay Low

Ernesto Gonzalez is a heavy stoner from Venezuela. While working his way through his studies of communication sciences he is also recording heavy psych in his bedroom. His debut lp, which was released through Gipsy Sphinx Records, focussed on thick and smokey drone work. ‘Vallée de Dith’, the follow-up for KRAAK, shows a broader pattern with influences ranging from old krautrock masters to contemporary sound experimentation. These days Gonzalez is mainly composing synth fusion melting together early electronics, library music, hip hop, psychedelia and Suicideism.

Dolphins into the Future

Dolphins Into the Future is the deep relaxation music project of Lieven Moana. He also runs the labels Taped Sounds (formerly known as Dreamtime Taped Sounds, or Dreamtime Tapes) and Cetacean Nation Cassettes, and works as an ambassador for the Cetacean Nation.

Bridget Hayden

Various Artists

Ignatz

George Herriman created Ignatz in 1910. It was a vicious mouse in the comic Krazy Kat. Ignatz’ favourite occupation was throwing bricks at Krazy Kats head, who thought it was a love declaration from the mouse. The Brussels based artist Bram Devens uses Ignatz as his alter-ego for his own pile of bricks. Mind frying songs wrapped with effects and driven by improvisation and spontaneousness. Ignatz released his first three full albums on KRAAK, followed by a best of compilation of his cassette releases (on labels such as Scumbag Relations, Taped Sounds, Imvated, Goaty tapes etc). Other work was released on Staalplaat and Conspiracy.