- Machinefabriek is often compared to Fennesz. In terms of method and process, it’s not a totally misguided comparison, but the correspondence is only valid in passing moments. Machinefabriek, aka Dutchman Rutger Zuydervelt, has a very different range, with less density of sound – or rather, a much more variable density of sound – that unfolds narratively. Like the best improv artists, he uses the tension between silence and sound, texture and timbre masterfully. (And, mercifully, without the dogmatism that shadows the improv scene)
Zuydervelt has released fifteen or so limited 3” mini CDs over the last few years, each a twenty-minute installment of music that demonstrates a singularly eclectic approach. Zuydervel managed to stay well under the radar until his debut album Marijn (mastered by Andreas Tilliander) was released earlier this year by Manchester experimental label Lampse. The album combined degraded electronics, piano and elements of musique concrete into a sensual and menacing whole.
This new album Bijeen (‘Together’) is on Swedish label Kning Disks, a rather obscure imprint that also has Wolf Eyes and Jazkamer’s Lasse Marhaug on its roster. The album is a collection of remixes and original compositions (noted in the subtitle ‘Gathered Eccentrics’ 2005-2007) that Zuydervelt has put together with obvious care.
While Marijn is perhaps a more accessible album (many comparisons with Basinski etc), Bijeen has a full breadth of emotion despite being more of a challenge in some ways. ‘The Borghesia Remix’, for example, could be seen as a brutal opener. Beginning with a silence that makes you start checking the settings on your amp, it swells into a wall of noise that builds into a threat of collapse before disappearing suddenly, dropping back into silence. But it clears the decks and functions as an ear-cleaning for the subtle, deep textures that follow in ‘Piano_wav’.
A highlight is ‘Weightless Remix’, where the acoustic melodies slowly disintegrate into unstructured static. Across the album, the cycles are perfectly paced and surprisingly dynamic – it’s the perfect antidote to the relentless beats that implanted themselves in your brain the night before.
Bijeen may not be the easiest or most logical point of entry into the Machinefabriek world, but it’s an engaging excursion across the beatless borders into noise, drone, static and circuit-breaking electronics.
Tracklist1 Romatische Punks - Borghesia Remix (Machinefabriek Remix)
2 Machinefabriek - Piano.wav
3 Machinefabriek - Havelaar
4 Tom Carter - Reglyph (Machinefabriek Remix)
5 Machinefabriek - Dahl
6 Machinefabriek - Verdrinkwater
7 Mist - Weightless Remix (Machinefabriek Remix)
8 Machinefabriek - Licht