De Fabriek

Played by: Juno Recommends Experimental

Review: Platform 23 again explores the dense voids, this time with a touch of the funk with a reissue of Dutch experimentalists De Fabriek and two tracks from their Music For cassette series, this time calling all Hippies. Featuring both original and reinterpretations from modern-day heads Dunkeltier and Khidja, this EP is something of an oddity, showcasing the bands' expansive range, moving away from the noise, drone and industrial soundscape releases they had become known for and crafting here, free flowing, groovy longform jams. Active since the late 70s to today, De Fabriek (The Factory) have never considered themselves a real band, also being a label too, with an evolving and irregular line up centred around Richard van Dellen, they present their music and output as a kind of work-union. With literally four decades and dozens of releases across all formats, 1988's cassette release Music For Hippies has become something of a cult curio, with the long improvisational tracks, Lullabye and Coming Down eschewing the rougher, industrial experience for something completely different. In opener Lullabye, we go full leftfield P-Funk meets Motorik undertones. An incessant beat is laid from the start and doesn't cease for over 10 minutes, while spoken vocals call closer to the Krautrock realms of Can and hark to Liebezeit's stylised grooving best. Analog, echo washed, with touches of glam and wrapped in simple effects pedal work, the secrets are passed to Dresden / Berlin inhabitant Dunkeltier aka Sneaker DJ aka Thomas Smorek. His darker moniker, appearing on obscure edits for Macadam Mambo and the much-missed Bahnsteig 23, his Hey Robot mix adds bass, percussion, strings and synth to remold Lullabye into a late night, red light, basement denzien. This is followed by an additional, bonus reimagining, creating an all-new time piece, an ear worm of the best kind with Tik Tok Goes The Clock. Come Down is a more resembling De Fabriek werk, edited to fit, the darkness is entered as snapshot vocal quips, oscillations and synthesised mutations are laid over a lazy, relentless ostinato rhythm where cymbals crash on the bar. Inviting, calling, De Fabriek's aptly titled downer is in fact, a joyous journey. To complete, label affiliates, Khidja take a break from finalising their debut album to unfold their Psychebabble Mix, a dozen plus minutes of warped, twisted, cassette machinations that suck the listener further along the trip. Added bass propels their edit suddenly to a new direction, a hook for mind and for the open willed, the body.

Review: Oh yes, baby, this is our vibe right here. The whole dam thing. Mark van der Maat's Knekelhuis imprint returns with a monster release and, in all honesty, we're also just psyched to see a new release from this catalogue pop up on our charts. Check it all if you haven't. This week we have the second instalment of the Kale Plankieren series, a corner of the label dedicated to unearthing long lost tape experiments from the late 70s onwards; the first chapter was pretty lit, so go check back on that too. There's yet more dystopian vibes on this one, of course, but the fact is that each and every one of these tunes offers something different and special from one another - from the percussive chanting of the opening "Slightly Damp In a Misty Street" by RTC to itinerant Eastern punk-boogie of "Ibrahim" from the Hi Tones, and the loopy, dubwise industrial sway of Another's "Paris Tribe", there is so much gold on this thing that we've gone loopy ourselves. No doubt, it'll go underrated and overlooked. Place no blame.

Played by: Jamie Paton

Review: Knekelhuis will release Kale Plankieren's first volume of a collection of Dutch rarities that were released on cassette tape in the '80s, with this stuff, in particular, being recorded between 1981 and 1985. Compiled by compiled by Mark van de Maat, it features a wide range of artists, from the Amsterdam Fetish scene and cities such as Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, and Zwolle. It gives "a glimpse into the artistic DIY music movement that was growing extensively outside of mainstream circles.' Acclaimed Detroit duo ADULT. could well of taken their cues from the likes of Y Create or Rotterdans: take a listen. The legendary Das Ding has get a mention in: their track "Meteor Sinkhole" features their unmistakeable sound.The neon-lit pop-funk of De Fabriek's "Het Terrein"probably was around long before Kajagoogoo! It includes liner notes (in English and Dutch) that paint a great picture of the context where these bands and artists lived and breathed.