Machinefabriek — Stroomtoon II CD

Band: Machinefabriek
Title: Stroomtoon II
Label: Herbal International
Format: Album, CD, Digisleeve
Release Date: 2013
Country: Netherlands
Genre / Style: Experimental, Avant-Garde, Abstract, Electronic, Ambient, Drone
Streaming Link: Bandcamp

* Price excludes postage and handling fee.

Remarks: 
Artwork (Paintings) – Rebecca Norton
Music By – Rutger Zuydervelt
Packaged in a 6-panel digisleeve.

Machinefabriek is the musical nom de plume (pseudonym) of Dutch musician/sound artist and graphic designer Rutger Zuydervelt. Rutger Zuydervelt was born on 28 July 1978 in Apeldoorn (The Netherlands), but now resides in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He started working as Machinefabriek in 2004. The name (meaning ‘machine factory’) was on the façade of a building Rutger passed every time he went shopping for groceries. Except for a few piano and guitar lessons when he was young, Rutger didn’t study music. Instead, he graduated as a graphic designer. The sleeves of his releases are practically always designed by Rutger himself, being a crucial part of the music. Machinefabriek’s music combines elements of ambient, modern classical, minimalism, drone and field recordings. His pieces unfold as ‘films without image’, with a sharp ear for detail.

Review Vital Weekly —  Frans De Waard

Late 2011 Rutger Zuydervelt recorded his album 'Stroomtoon', partly as a way to test his new live set up of an old Philips analogue tone generator and effect units. 'Stroomtoon' was a series of improvisations and released about a year ago (see Vital Weekly 838). He still uses that set-up and in the slipstream of his album, he also recorded a bunch of pieces which found their way on three lathe cut 7" records for such labels as Fake Jazz, Superior Standards and Champion Version. But you know, lathe doesn't equal high quality but it does equal very limited, so these pieces are now collected on this CD, along with two more pieces from another lathe cut and a compilation track. The dedicated fan has of course all of these, but the average fan now can hear them too. These nine pieces are all considerably short, somewhere between four and five-some minutes, which works quite well for what Machinefabriek wants. He wants to explore a few sounds, while being locked inside a system of sound effects, and create a small number of variations with these manipulations. The objective is as always to create abstract, atmospheric music, which is something Machinefabriek happens to be very good at. Occasionally there is an over-use of reverb, such as in 'Toendra', which is then relies too heavily on the use of it and becomes a gimmick, but in the majority of the other pieces it works quite well. 'Stroomtoon II' is an excellent companion to the 'Stroomtoon' album, and it's fine to see this updated version compared to the lathe cut versions. If you were looking for something radically new, then you won't find it here.