Quarta-feira 8 Out 2008, 14h:00

New Release: "Home" by Steinbrüchel

Hooray! There's finally a new slaapwel record! Awesome!! I mean: "Calm down, no need to get all excited. It's time to sleep".

I got in touch with Ralph Steinbrüchel when he asked me about the first slaapwel release, probably little over a year ago. As things usually go, one e-mail led to another and eventually steinbrüchel seemed the perfect artist to compose a piece that would be excellent at inviting sleep. He accepted my invitation and confirmed my assumption by sending me the excellent "Home" a few months after the invitation. Home by SteinbrüchelAs with all releases I have to "test" it before I can release it as a proper slaapwel record. For this one I remember receiving the disc, deciding not to wait until it was bedtime, but rather play it on my home stereo, while lying in that big comfy sofa in my apartment. The sun was just right at that spot where its warmth spreads all over the sofa and was shining through my eyelids. That natural warmth - electrical heating cannot be compared to the generous warmth of the sun, no doubt - combined with the hissy guitarswirls of steinbrüchel turned out to be a perfect match. It sounds like a guitar that wanders through the forest without any goal or destination. Just floating, aimlessly. It's melodic yet there's no actual melody to be found. As far as comparisons go I would say Fennesz during his Venice days, or maybe like Mountains or other 12k artists. Also; "Pup" by Fenton might be a good comparision. But of course, the best thing you should do is simply put this record on, maybe on a winter day when the sun is able to break through the clouds. And just drift off..

"Home" was composed by steinbrüchel, winter 2008. The composition was based on guitar recordings by Daisuke Miyatani. If you're interested in obtaining one of the 150 available copies, please e-mail me or head over to http://www.wixel.be/slaapwel where you'll find a paypal button and other necessary information. The cd is 10 euro postpaid.

Wixel - Release Show @ Stuk, Leuven - 26.11.08

Here we go.. it has been long in the works, but now I can finally announce it fo' real! There will be a new Wixel record in november. Full length - no covers or sleepy music or any other strange experiments. Just the official follow-up to "Heart". I'm quite excited about it as I've spent ages perfecting it. I hope I'll never spend so much time on one record again. I'll hold out on announcing the artwork, details and official mp3 samples etc.. until I have everything back from the pressing plant. ….But let me just invite you to the official release party which will take place at one of my favourite venues in Belgium: Stuk. Stuk is a lovely contemporary art / music / dance centre in Leuven with a great soundsystem.

The show will take place on wednesday the 26th of november. I'd be more than very extreme very maxium very so much very happy if you could make it to that show.. even if you only want to see wixel once in your lifetime: let it be this one. The Bear That Wasn't (lovely Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens - music) and Yuko will be playing too. It promises to be a wonderful night. I don't know yet what it will be, but you can expect something really special for that night.

Details:
http://www.stuk.be/nl/muziek/detail/56797
http://www.last.fm/event/788114

Other wixel newsbits. Live we're a four piece now. Karen Smedts is now with us to play drums / guitars / bass guitar / stuff. We had an excellent time at the Ancienne Belgique where we could open for Matthew Herbert and maybe an even more fun evening opening for Yuko at their releaseshow! Both lovely evenings, but once again everyone forgot to take pictures.. if you have some: drop me a line!

Future Wixel Concerts:

28/10/2008 - GENT - Kinky Star.
12/11/2008 - ASSE - bronneke/smiske. w/ at the close of everyday
26/11/2008 - LEUVEN - Stuk. WIXEL RELEASE SHOW w/ yuko, bear that wasn't
04/12/2008 - KORTRIJK - Budascoop. w/ valgeir sigurdsson
05/12/2008 - ANTWERPEN - Petrol. w/ tim exile, micachu & the shapes

Yuko, for times when ears are sore.

You may or may not have noticed that there's a new promising band on the horizon. Yuko makes awesome indiepop in the style of Grizzly Bear or Efterklang. They have a beautiful sound of their own which makes them possibly the best belgian band of the moment. Really! I was very lucky they invited me to produce and mix their debut album which got released this week. There's nothing more fun than mixing a record which has nothing but awesome and inspiring songs. Head over to their myspace for some sounds if this all tickles your ickle. Feel free to ask me some information if you're inclined to buy their record, it's 10 euros + shipping.

JJ Records

It's been almost a year now since I'm working for JJ Records. One of the last few independent music stores where people get treated like people and not like money-spitting-machines. If you're in the neighborhood of Leuven, you should really come in and say hi! It's always fun haning out in the store. All Slaapwel Releases and wixel-related stuff will be available there at very cheap prices, too. We also have a very handy mailing list announcing all the new releases in Belgium + quick yet honest reviews. If you want to know what's new and good (at least according to our humble taste and knowledge) you should definitly subscribe. You can do so on the homepage of JJ Records, or you can simply reply to this mail asking for a subscription. In the next JJ Records newsletter we'll be handing out some gifts, so let that be worth the little effort of subscribing! So let me know if it's ok to subscribe you, ok?

That will be all. Many thanks for reading!

Wim

http://www.wixel.be
http://www.wixel.be/slaapwel
http://www.jjrecords.com