Everyday is Record Store Day

NN_special_finishedIt might be no surprise I am against Record Store Day… this as I see it only as another exponent of the vinyl hype… and it is just another example of the (cultural and economical) decay of our world… with this I mean that everything in our world gets commercialised and this takes away meaning, value and relevance of the product or activity that gets this commercial treatment… and as I love vinyl records and specialised and independent and local record stores so much it matters a lot to me…

So do not get me wrong… I am a big supporter of records stores and of music and vinyl culture… but Record Store Day is not about that… it is about making money… selling people so called limited editions or special releases for way too much money… and in the process it harms independent music culture by claiming all man and machine power of vinyl pressing plants around the world… so this is nothing more as old industry ways or working and doing… and a globalisation format as well…

To me a special and limited edition is something really special… not something available in 1000 copies which must be sold that one specific day… so for the Neugeborene Nachtmusik LP I did this special edition of 20 copies which is not for sale, not today, never…

Tobias Bernstrup and Neugeborene Nachtmusik LP’s update

NN_finishedBoth the Tobias Bernstrup LP “Romanticism” and the debut LP by Neugeborene Nachtmusik are ready and I will start shipping on monday the 20th of April… here are pictures of how they look…

Tobias_Romanticism_finished

For the local people there is an option to get these records already this sunday at Radio Resistencia… just another reason to drop by at Kapitaal in Utrecht for Diamantneer Oberhof live on stage… if you decide to join us and want a copy please drop me note so I can secure a copy for you…

 

My first little Riso project

NN_insert_risoprintFor the upcoming Neugeborene Nachtmusik album the inserts were planned to be just printed by a copy machine… but as I am doing more and more with older printing techniques and enjoying that a lot I changed this at the last minute…

When at Kapitaal where I print a lot of the artwork pieces  now the printing chief  thought it would be nice to use the Riso (or Risograph) machine for these inserts…

A Riso machine is a bit like a lo-tech contemporary copy machine with a technique based on silk screen printing… so in a way it is like automated silk screen printing…

The end result thus also has a silk screen printing touch but you can see it is done in a different way… it look also a bit like what came out of a stencil machine… it looks quite raw… or like DDR propaganda prints… sort of…

This time I just did one colour but you can do several colours… in layers just like with silk screen printing… you need to change the colour cartridge in that case and  feed the paper to print on again to the machine… there is a project coming up for a 7″ single where I will do a multi colour Riso print for…  but it was nice to have a first go with the machine for an easy one colour project…

Lazy sundays?

goodcop_rr_2015Since January our Radio Resistencia show is recorded in Utrecht at Kapitaal and it also has become a free mini event… it is an afternoon radio session with dj’ed music and almost always a live performance… there are cheap drinks and a relax setting… perfect for a lazy sunday afternoon…

Last sunday Good Cop / Naughty Cop did their performance with bicycle, guitar and electronics… not easy listening but very interesting to listen to and watch… the photo above was taken by Hans D. during the performance…

Next mini event is on sunday 19th of April with Diamantener Oberhof from Germany… their debut was released of course on Vrystaete recently and the artwork was printed at Kapitaal… so this will be sort of delayed release party…

NN_printsAlso during these sessions I often print some artwork for upcoming releases… last sunday I printed (silk screen printing) the artwork for the ultra limited edition of the Neugeborene Nachtmusik LP… which is not for sale… sorry… but I promise that the regular version is equally nice when it comes to artwork and it is also still very limited…

This LP is expected soon… here is (another) full track preview…

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/197416572″]

Neugeborene Nachtmusik

nn-logo_ISO_12X12Neugeborene Nachtmusik is the brainchild of Soldat Maurizio… he first joined the Enfant Terrible family with his project Milligram Retreat… after that project was destroyed by the other band member involved he continued under this new alias…

Residing in Berlin he continued to shape his music more and more into an unique style of this own… some results of this were displayed already on the various artists releases “Exploitation“, “I Am Enfant Terrible” and “Post-everything“…

Now the time is almost there that his debut album will be poured out over you… this album simple entitled “Neugeborene Nachtmusik” is something highly awaited by me… and I am happy it is in production now…

When it comes to the music it displays the talents of the musician very well… you get served six long tracks with effective minimalism and trance indulging sounds… influences from elektro, industrial, noise and (black) metal can be traced… the album is diverse but coherent in displaying the specific personal style of Neugeborene Nachtmusik…

This album is a pitch black experience… a shamanistic ritual and a dark trip which takes you by the hand and leads you beyond and back…

Here is a full track preview of one of the album tracks with a fan art video… enjoy!

Test pressings

testpressingLunch time so a few words on what has kept me busy at Enfant Terrible HQ these last days… I have been silent as I am sending new records to the pressing plant for production and planning and imagining  some future releases…

One of the things I like best about running a label are the moments only I and the musician have the music… nobody else has the music yet… this is an absolute great idea to me… of course at some points in the process more people have the music… like Rude66 who is doing my mastering for vinyl… and the people at the pressing plant to make the records…

Before you get the actual records you always get test pressings (also known as white labels) to check if it all sounds like it was meant to be… on the one hand this is a great moment as only I have the music on vinyl right then… the exclusivity is what I like about this… and also what made me do the super limited give away edition of the last Europ Europ album…

On the other hand it is always a bit stressful… is the record good? Does all sound as it should sound? I am always nervous about faults made in the process… Once you say to the pressing plant the record is okay there is no turning back… but the point is test pressings never really sound 100% the same as the final product… there are some reasons for this… like the machine it is made on (often different from the one used for the final product), the vinyl used for test is not always the same as for final product and due to the small numbers pressed for test pressings the machine might not be on the ideal temperature (yet)… it all depends on how a pressing plant deals with it basically… and you never really know…

Anyway… these days I am enjoying the test pressings of the Diamantener Oberhof and Brunnen albums coming next month… and right now during my normal job I am enjoying yet unreleased tracks by Neugeborene Nachtmusik… just to make you jealous!