-> The 2009 Second Edition Store
There’s a very web 2.0 (check the natural mirror effect on my black shelf!) store for the second edition of the monthly 2009 releases. All releases are still available freely but for those who just love to have physical things, I think it’s a good alternative. The design is quite simple, but it all feels rather pretty. Also, by buying them instead of downloading, you’ll have my eternal gratitude for your support.
Byeee
I’ve been thinking about making the monthly releases available again as simple physical cd-rs. I received only positive comments and e-mails about it (except one correct critical remark), and more friends are asking for them too. I never expected the monthly cds to sell out in less than a day, which is just plain silly. So, the monthly cd’s are available again. They won’t contain any of the handmade artwork, nor the inserts or any other special thing that comes with the original ones. The new ones are straight forward cardboard sleeves with a small image + titles printed on them. Nothing too big. They’re useful if you insist on having a physical cd collection or if you like to support my musical trips. You can see some examples of the reissues below.
See? They’re pretty, but not too fancy.
Each cd-r costs 10 euro which includes shipping to any part of the world. But don’t forget, you can download everything for free at http://2009.bandcamp.com - so don’t feel obliged to buy these. For now there are no discounts / packages available, because I don’t want the orignal buyers to feel ripped off.
If you’re interested, send an e-mail with the “months” you’d like to wimmaesschalck@gmail.com or just paypal the correct amount + titles to the same address. Orders will be shipped in at most 3 working days.
Various Friends - Soup
This is something I’ve been trying to get going for a while. It’s what I call “Musical Soup”. The basic idea is that several people send me a tender & quiet 2-to-3 minute recording of a couple of their favorite instruments, using the notes c#, d#, e, f#, g#, a and b. They’re the ingredients. I throw them all into a giant bowl of tracks in which I play those samples as randomly as possible, but always 8 samples at a time. …And that, will become the musical soup. :-)
I am convinced it will result in a magical piece that will be excellent to fall asleep to, or to read a book to, or any other gentle quiet evening “action”. Even if it is just getting lost in all those sounds. For those wondering; the people playing in this little snippet here are: Pieter Van Dessel, Boris Snauwaert, Ellen Evers, Ralph Steinbrüchel and Peter Broderick.
The goal is to reach at least one hour of this slowly evolving music. If you want to get involved, send me an e-mail.
Silly update: don’t e-mail for Slaapliedjes anymore, i can’t fulfill all the orders that i received up until now. Those who haven’t got an e-mail back, will get one on tomorrow or tuesday. First e-mailers always get served first. I’m sorry these things sell out so quickly. If I could make them as fast as I sell them, I would do another batch.. but it’s simply too time consuming. And obviously I refuse to make them more expensive to make it go slower. I’m still thinking of way to re-issue them in some form that would be convenient and honest to all. In the meanwhile feel free to grab a copy over at bandcamp and burn a cd yourself. Thanks a lot!
I can already say that May will be a recording of the songs wixel plays live at the moment, but that never have been properly recorded before. So it will probably be a little louder, a little more rocky, a little more postrock. At least i’m going to try and do that. :)
Here we are, the third edition of the 12 months, 12 records thing. I guess most of you already know what it is about. It’s a project in which I force myself to record and release a record within each month of the year 2009. After two instrumental months, I thought it was a good moment to experiment with vocals. I adore singer songwriters like Smog, Phil Elvrum, Adrian Orange etc.. but I always had trouble singing. It’s not easy singing in tune, and I honestly don’t know why it is so easy to some and so difficult to others. A few years ago I decided to not care about my vocal skills and just sing. First attempts were terrible, but after a while you get to know what your voice can do and what it can’t. I’m not saying it is good now, but it is ok for me. Maybe in a few decades I can sing like Justin Timberlake. That would be it.
So, these songs are basically a temporary glimpse into the process. I glued all those songs together with some more typical wixel sounds; decaying guitar strums, looped melodica, a whole lot of glockenspiel and slowness. Everything was written and recorded during this month except “Across the Sea” and “Homeless Hearts”. I recorded them this month, but wrote them much earlier. 3 and 2 years ago respectively. The whole sounds pretty mellow and laid back, sometimes a bit darker, but always melancholic. It’s about 33 minutes long.
You can have a listen here in the player below:
If you want to purchase a physical copy:
There are 31 copies, they are 10 euro each and shipping is 3 euro. E-mail me first for availability! The address is wimmaesschalck@gmail.com. We’ll work it out from there. At time of this writing, there are only 8 copies available, so if you want it, you probably need to be “quick”.
Finally, some more details on the music/credits/etc:
Thanks for reading up!
Hello,
The second edition - February - of my awesome and/or stupid 2009 project is ready. For those unaware of the project: It’s a challenge in which I force myself to record and release a record within each month of the year 2009.
Unlike the “Winter” album there were no constraints for this record, but I quickly felt like I wanted to continue with an idea for music I already touched in “The Aesthetics of Clouds” which you can find on “Winter”. Dense yet soft sounds, slowly moving and progressing, a bit like … clouds. Most of the songs rely heavily on a sort of tape delay plugin I have, which I fed any sound I felt was appropriate for coloring the cloud. Some compositions are more electronic, others more acoustic, but always cloudy. As you guessed by know, the record is titled “Clouds”. Comparing it to other artists is not so easy, but I would guess a mellow Tim Hecker drone might come close, or maybe you can sense a little bit of similarity to a Stars of the Lid or Mountains composition. I tried to make it drone out, lots of fuzzy/blurry sounds with an undercurrent of melancholic melodies. Slow movements, but moving. You can listen below if this sounds a bit vague.
Besides a cd, a little insert explaining things, the cardboard box also contains actual clouds. No kidding. See for yourself in the picture. The whole package costs 8 euro, shipping will probably be 3 or 4 euro depending on where you live. Contact me at wimmaesschalck@gmail.com if you want one. The cd is limited to 28 copies, because that’s how many days there are in February, making this the most limited cd of them all. Ofcourse there’s an unlimited digital download pay whatever free forever version over at http://2009.bandcamp.com.
In all honesty, if you’d ask my opinion; I think it’s slighty less succesful than “Winter”, but I am still happy with it. It works excellent as headphone music, especially when you can see night clouds floating by. Try it.
Hello there,
As some of you might recall, I had a project this year where I’d be releasing a new record each month. Well.. January comes to an end.. and so I’m happy to say the first record is ready. It’s called “Winter”. Before that: I’ve changed the 2009 project rules a bit. 1) “Record in one month, release in the same”. I thought that would be faster and easier. 2) It’s a limited affair after all, other wise I would get stuck in making extra copies, not having all the materials, worry about that stuff, etc… The limitedness is special though. Each month is limited to the amount of days it has in it. So, that means that for the January record, there are only 31 copies available. At the end of ‘o9, I should have 365 cd’s. :) - I thought that was fitting.
Anyways, without further blabla. You can listen to/download the record in its entirety (and freely) here. There’s the option to pay a little for the high quality download, up to you! Just know that I’m saving every penny I got for a decent pair of speakers. :) - If you want the physical copy, you’re in for a treat. It’s a cd-r in a cardboard box, all hand stamped + an insert + an eight page handmade and numbered booklet with pictures from a snowy belgium during the early days of January. It is really fancy, almost like a coffee table photo book, only a lot smaller. I’m selling them 10 euros a piece (+3 euro shipping). Just e-mail me at wimmaesschalck@gmail.com and we’ll get it sorted. Depending on free time, I’ll make a special page about it etc..
Anyways; below are some pictures of the physical thing + my preferred pieces. Get in touch!
Hi Yall,
2009 has begun. Olé! Hopefully it will be even better than 2008. Aaahh Humans, always trying to upgrade their happiness. Me too. Anywizzy, I’m starting with another awesome stupid project. While I was eating with 6 lovely friends during new year’s eve, I suggested we all should do something new in 2009, something we hadn’t done since we were born. Anything was accepted. Unfortunately not many responded, someone told me she was going to travel by herself and I said I was going to release 12 records in the year 2009. I don’t know how I came to think that it was logical to say something like that. It’s not daring (aka lame), nor funny, nor useful in any way. It’s time consuming and it doesn’t really add up to the giant pile of significant creations humanity is creating.
However! “Lame”, “Not Funny”, “Not useful in any way”, “Time Consuming”, “Not Really Adding Up To The Giant Pile Of Significant Human Creations” sounds exactly like the conditions for my Awesome Stupid Projects™. Awesome! So, I will make sure to release 12 records this year. I haven’t set out the rules yet. Rules must be set in Awesome Stupid Projects™. Otherwise it just isn’t an awesome….
…Eh, Hang on, procastination sucks big time! Now is the time. Without further ado, the rules, as I make them up.
#1: make 12 records in 2009.
#2: since there will be 12 months in 2009, record one each month, release in the next.
#3: their length must exceed 20 minutes. records, not singles.
#4: they may be limited, but kept in print for at least 1 month after its initial release.
#5: they should be in all possible ways similar to real releases. (a minimum of promo is required, I have to defend them like I do with other releases. It would be too easy to record an improvisation and then not tell anyone about it existence)
#6: they don’t have to be actual cd’s, but they can’t be digital/virtual only. they have to be physical.
..and that should be sufficient. i guess it will be difficult enough holding on to those rules.. after all, my musical integrity is at stake here.
Consequences
WOOOOHOOW! News just got in!! A new wixel record will be out in february 2009! Further details are unavailable at the time. Title, artwork, music remain to be revealed.
Haha, this is gonna be fun for me / but not really for the world.
So, what are the consequences of all this? There will be a lot of music. I have to be creative rather than, just being myself and record stuff accidently. Because I’m forced to record 12 records in a year, I might also become a genre-hopping no face. I don’t know! Maybe I’ll be all death metal during March and a folk loving hippie in June accumulating in a romanticist opera in December ‘o9 just because I get really bored with that “same old wixel sound”. How exciting this is! Maybe I will perfect my music to silence by December. Maybe I even get to release it as my very first Deluxe Box Set in 2010! Maybe that year will even see my first “Best Of”. Maybe it will be titled “Wixel - Best of the years 2009 - … ermm just 2009 I’m afraid”. I’m thrilled! The only downside is that my artistique integrité is at stake. Because truth be told, who has made 12 records in a year and got away with it? (ok, there’s the awesome machinefabriek, but he’s the sole exception that confirms the rule.).
So. Exciting Times! We’ll see how it goes, if there ever appear guest musicians, will my voice make its debut? Will I use a distortion pedal? Or a beat faster than 90bpm? Or will it just sound like 12 bad wixel records?
Anywizzy! Better start recording and find out!
xxxxx
ps: I have not given up on Awesome Stupid Project #01. I’m currently at the song “(Another Song) All Over Again” by Justin Timberlake. This song sucks really bad, I mean really really bad. I like some of justin’s songs, but this one is a smelly stinker! Can you believe I got that record on vinyl? I still have several “anothers” to go. I’m looking forward to hearing “Another Trauma” by Sophia, it’s been ages since I heard that song. More news when i reach the letter “b”.
I like music. But sometimes I don’t know how to choose what to listen to. 
So I make plans and evil schemes to avoid difficult decisionmaking. I once ordered my cd collection by color, which looked awesome, and listened to it in that order. Sadly, i never got past the white spined ones. (Those were first.. Then roygbiv and black!)It looked like the image on the right. But I had not so much cd’s at the time.
I tried to listen chronologically, both in order of date of purchase or release. Obviously I also listened alphabetically. The human mind is very creative when you are frustrated with options (or choosing). Unfortunately, not one attempt succeeded. I would always come across a cd I reeeeaaaallly didn’t like. So I said, fuck it, I’m listening to something else.. that way fucking up the whole thing. And giving up.
HOWEVER! A glorious solution dawned upon me. (sorry if this is bad english, i try to get past the school-type-of-english-i-learned-at-sch… ). Rule #1. Listen to songs alphabetically! Not artists nor albums, but songs. They’re shorter and easier to endure. Rule #2. You can make exceptions, if you wanna hear a complete album, or something different, or…: you can. Just make sure, you pick up where you left the Alphabetically Ordered Songs Playlist.
Et voila. Another one of my awesome (to me) stupid (to everyone except me) projects has born! Oh Glory!
As we speak (I mean “as I write”) I am listening to “Acid Love” by Marc Romboy featuring Mr. K-Alexi. I am so not in the mood to listen to this techno right now. But I persevere. I am tougher than tough. I will survive every and any song that lies in my way in listening to “————————-“ by Volcano!. I already made quite a journey, I must say. I started out with “Á Bakvi› Tvær Hæ›ir„„Sundlaug” by Mùm. (I am guessing there’s something wrong with the tags. In any case, iTunes chose it to be the number one alphabetical song of my collection. (First a to z, then numbers to symbols). It’s the icelandic version of a song on their green record I love so much. I need the vinyl to replace my cd someday. Anyone know if the icelandic sung version is available on vinyl?
I had many lowlights since, with an absolute lowness touchdown with “Ace Of Spades” by Motorhead. I mean, I knew I didn’t like the song.. but I didn’t realized that it’s probably the most terrible song that starts with an ‘A’. (Since i’m only at ‘AC…’ for the moment, I still have plenty of ‘A’ songs to hear/to fear.)
Fortunately, I (re)discovered some goodness. “Abandoned Ship Bells” by Mùm (YouTube clip = this song). It sounds like beautiful dusty bells/chimes on an abandoned ship. I must listen to “Summer Make Good” again. I remember really liking it. The ghostness/abandonedness of it. There was this awesome “Aavehuminaa” song by Es which sounded larger than life, according to others it sounds like Pink Floyd. And finally, another highlight was a song I never paid attention to before: “Abstracting Electricity” by Hood. Instrumental LoFi Bliss.
Anyways. I’ll stop talking, cause it’s silly. Right now I’m at “Acknowledgement (Alternate Take)” by John Coltrane. A Love Supreme was the first jazz record I loved, and still do, fortunately so, cause there’s 3 damn takes of that same song! Don’t know what I’ll do when I come across 10 (live/casio/instrumental/acoustic/black wooden) different versions of the same Phil Elverum song, I’ll go banana’s.
Anyways. If any major developments occur, I’ll be sure to inform you. For now i’m gonna read “Dawn”, an excellent journal by that very same Phil.
