Off - Record label

Sunday, 8 May 2011

ORT002-OUI023 : Giovanni Di Domenico - Arve Henriksen - Tatsuhisa Yamamoto / Clinamen

Cover art by Kiekebiche

ORT002-OUI023 : Giovanni Di Domenico - Arve Henriksen - Tatsuhisa Yamamoto / Clinamen

Arve Henriksen : Trumpet, Voice

Giovanni Di Domenico : Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electronics

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto : Drums, Percussions

Pianist/composer Giovanni Di Domenico formed this trio because of the extremely special quality of the sound he wanted to achieve within a musical group, and the choice of the musicians involved in it is extremely related to that special quality.

Clinamen, in ancient roman philosopher Lucretius’s ‘De Rerum Natura’, is the magic force that makes an atom to change direction during it’s fall and thus be able to hit other atoms and ‘create’ Energy and Life.It’s not a law, it happens by ‘chance’…

This new exploratory musical unit takes inspiration from Lucretius’s theory to create melodies and sound scapes, to play with the inner and most special matter of the “sound” of each and all of the 3 members. Di Domenico’s open compositions will be integrated by Henriksen’s and Yamamoto’s extreme transparent approach to their instrument, making them breath and have an extra special quality.

Giovanni Di Domenico :

Giovanni Di Domenico was born in Rome and since his birth has been

traveling and playing music.

This brought him to perform all over the world in very different contextes

and musical genres, from modern jazz to free improvisation and

experimental pop, collaborating with very many different musicians. Among

them are: Arve Henriksen, Akira Sakata, Jim O'Rourke, Fred Lomberg-

Holm, Tatsuya Nakamura, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Alexandra Grimal, Joao

Lobo, Toshimaru Nakamura.....just to name few.

He has released many albums under his name and in collaborations with

others.

His travels and music are not going to stop.....

Arve Henriksen :

Born in 1968 in Norway, he has since worked and played with all kind of musicians all over the world, from the typical Jazz scene and sound of ECM to synth pop of David Sylvian to rock band like Motorpsycho. He is most well know for his solo and Supersilent albums on Rune Grammofon.

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto:

Born on Oct 25, 1982, in Yamaguchi, Japan. Tatsuhisa is a pure acoustic drummer who plays primarily improvised music.

He has also collaborated with artists such as Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O'Rourke, Sachiko M, Seiichi Yamamoto (ex Boredoms), Keiji Haino, Makoto Kawabata(AcidMotherTemple)…

Recently he has been performing regularly with Jim O'Rourke, who started to play music again after seeing Tatsuhisa playing live.

Track listing :

1) Hyrje

2) Aide

3) Silence is Twice as Fast BackwardS

4) Nakizuni

5) Mask That Eats Water

6) Vatos

7) Idiot Glee

8) Aether Talk (for Joao)

9) Fanno il Deserto e lo chiamano Pace

10) Clinamen

Arve Henriksen

Giovanni Di Domenico

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

https://bfan.link/clinamen

And on Bandcamp:

OBX001 : The CK Theory

OBX001 : P.V.Presents / The CK Theory

As Pierre is producing, discovering or playing with so many bands and as he was coming every two weeks with something new for Off label boss Alain to listen to, he suggested him to direct an exclusive serie where he could share all this music with the rest of the world, and not only him.
This time, he came with 4 different projects almost at the same time.
It seemed then quite logical to issue a box with those releases as they had the signature, the producing, the composing or the love of the mentor of the series !

Pierre Vervloesem is born in 1964 and has never stopped playing bass or guitar since he is 17.
His masters are Zappa, Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp, and you can definitively hear their influences here and there on all the albums that he has recorded.He is always saying that he doesn’t like jazz though there is evidently touches of it everywhere. He is a huge fan of John Barry (he did an entire album of improbable covers : ‘Plays John Barry’) Stravinsky, PIL, Godley&Creme, XTC, This heat, Fantomas and Perez Prado.

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ORT001 : Caca /Sketches of Pain ( in OBX001 or available separately)

Caca is the new band of Pierre Vervloesem.
This new megalo delirious adventure is based on second degree, starting by the name of the band which, quoting Pierre, has nothing to do with scatology.
Here, he renews his taste for big formations like he did with X-Legged Saly or still does with Flat Earth Society.
With Caca, he signs a very interesting parody of Jazz working with two noisy quartets.
The first one being guitar, bass, drums and keyboard while the second being alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxes.
The composing is without concession, like a rock, sometime out of tune, but ultimately ultra melodic and reaching at times some of the best John Barry ambiances.
Most of the musicians on the album (and live) are coming from the Jazz scene, which is also kind of fun for Pierre.
The music is an heritage from the New-york scene from the 70-80ties but has an instant modern echo which makes you want to move your frets on it!

Track listing :

1 : Twist

2 : Brajil

3 : Abracadabra

4 : Sweet

5 : Wobbling

6 : Exposé

7 : Nancy

8 : Strav

9 : Zgrol

10 : Jelly

11 : Koyaanisqaqatsi

Bonus tracks Bandcamp release only:
12: Dick Dogs

And in Bandcamp:

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OPV003 : Codswallop / Grotesque ( in OBX001 or available separately)

Codswallop is the new concept of Pierre Vervloesem.

He wanted to record an album of songs for a change.

He spended a week composing the music and the basic trame of the voices, then

recorded the album with the help of faithful friends: Gilles Mortiaux on guitar, bass and

vocals, Didier Fontaine on drums and Joris Caluwaerts (Zita Swoon) on keyboards.

He then asked Richard Belgium to write the words and to sing on the album.

Richard is a singer and stage performer living in Belgium with Belgian and British

nationalities. He sings in French or English with equal sensuality and has been

performing since 1979 in many musical projects.

The music is a mixture of power pop, heavy rock and fun!

A bit like the Monty Pythons were singing on the Red Hot Chili Peppers 's music!

A review (in Dutch) from Holland:

"Het tweede album in de box is van Codswallop, wat iets als “onzin” in een Engels dialect betekent. Pierre Vervloesem bevindt zich hier in goed gezelschap van drummer Didier Fontaine (A Group), gitarist/bassist Gilles Mortiaux, toetsenist Joris Caluwaerts (Zita Swoon) en zanger Richard Belgium. Richard is al sinds eind jaren 70 actief en heeft ontzettend veel verschillende muziek gemaakt. Pierre wil met dit nieuwe project meer songgerichte muziek maken. Op hun cd Grotesque maken ze een uiterst interessante dwarsdoorsnede van de wave uit de jaren tachtig, jazz muziek, avant-garde, noise en pop. De donkere stem van Richard roept associaties op met Nick Cave, Front 242, Mike Patton en zelfs Joy Division. De energieke en alsmaar variërende muziek er omheen laveert tussen de genoemde genres en doet denken aan zowel de Talking Heads, PIL, This Heat, Tuxedomoon en The Birthday Party als Uz Jsme Doma, Red Hot Chili Peppers en dEUS (luister maar eens naar “Dread Deus Rictus”). Ook hier getuigt een sample van schreeuwende apen al van een hoop humor. De muziek is in de basis best duister, maar wordt door de heerlijk opzwepende percussie en levendige muziek nooit echt somber. De groep brengt een geweldige en bovenal eigenzinnige mix van uiteenlopende energieke muziekstukken. Het beklijvende geheel kruipt al snel diep onder je huid om niet snel meer los te laten. Wederom een voltreffer!"

Track listing :

1 : Brain la la losers

2 : Chapeau bas

3 : Codswallop

4 : Diehard Dummies

5 : Dread deus rictus

6 : French Paradox

7 : Get laid in Tubize tonight

8 : Swine cellar

9 : Gospel grievance guidance

10 : Fat Freddy
Bonus track Bandcamp only release:
11: Tendance 2014 (bonus track)

And in Bandcamp:

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OPV004 : The Claude Zac Ensemble / SSSHHHTTTTT ( in OBX001 or available separately)

Everything started as a joke when Claude Zac mailed some demos to Pierre Vervloesem.

Pierre loved what he heard instantly and proposed to Claude to record his music properly

in his Fiasco studio.

Claude then left Belgium for Chili where he worked for a year and had time to think over

to theses recorded songs.

Back to Brussels, he definitively wanted to perform live and hired Didier Fontaine on

drums. The later introduced him to the talented Eric Dory (guitars), Laurent Stelleman

(guitars) and Gilles Mortiaux (bass).

The dream of Claude to have an instrumental band with three guitars, a bass and a drum

became then a reality.

They started playing amazing live shows with a mixture of rockabilly/punk/rock frenzy:

four boys in a line fronting a 'muppet show' like drummer!

Being a proper band now, they went to re record all the songs.

The result is a 17 tracks album of Michel Magne meets The Residents meet some of the

best surf music and film music!

The album was recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Pierre Vervloesem who's

happily presenting them in his P.V.Presents series.

Track listing :

1 : Subtract

2 : Casamance

3 : Cloques

4 : Bronze

5 : Hell of a night

6 : Fortuitous Hymn

7 : Rubella beach

8 : Italian bikers

9 : Ironmogerie

10 : Save me from Aldi

11 : Lovely life

12 : Les vacances de Mr. Ribot

13 : Dano the dum

14 : The taxi drive

15 : Shoelace

16 : Unauspicious Move

17 : Volkswagner

And on Bandcamp:

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OPV005 : John Koenig / John Koenig ( in OBX001 or available separately)

John Koenig (born April 13, 1950 in Budapest Hungary), is a composer and conductor

from a family of musicians. His father, Teodor Koenig was a pianist and a conductor while

his mother was a writer and composer.

After having been awarded first prizes for violin and composition at the National

Conservatory of Budapest, he arrived in Brussels in 1969 and continued his studies at

the Conservatoire de Bruxelles. From 1974, he made a number of international tours as

a concert violinist and began to devote himself more to composing.

In 1978, he received his first commission to write the soundtrack of Julien Landeau's film

" Voyage sidéral". John Koenig has since composed more than one hundred scores for

feature films and TV series, most of them never ever showed as they were all

unsuccessful or directly became cult movies.

As he signed a contract with a Hungarian label which made bankrupt in the mid 90ties,

most of his music is now impossible to find.

Since the mid 70ties, Pierre Vervloesem became a huge fan of his work and succeeded

in February 2010 to find a copy of one of his most famous score that was composed in

1999.

It was commissioned by the NASA for a feature documentary, but ultimately and like

most of his other scores, was replaced by the music of another composer.

It is a privilege for the label to finally give the place that John Koenig deserves and to

give people all over the world the chance to discover his fantastic music.

Pierre Vervloesem is happily presenting him in his P.V. Presents series.

Track listing

1: Walkathon

2: Africans on the moon

3: To drive a carrot

4: Gallbladder

5: Zinc wheels

6: Simple rites

7: War games

8: Funambulism

9: Rubber life

And in Bandcamp:

OPV002 : Kings of Belgium / Unchained Melodies

P.V. Presents stands for Pierre Vervloesem presents as he is the director of choices for this series.

Second release in the P.V. Presents Series: The Kings Of Belgium, a powerful trio of atomic jazz-punk-disco-reaggae pop-trash core music.

The "Kings of Belgium" includes Pierre Vervloesem (X-legged Sally, dEUS,

Flat Earth Society, a Group, Wim Vandekeybus, etc...),

Gil Mortio (Attica, Bruno Vansina, etc...) and Didier Fontaine (a Group,

Salvatore Adamo, dEUS, BJ Scott, etc...).

The project is based on a free spirited musical approach.

There is no compositions as such, the music is therefore totally spontaneous

which makes it heavy, light, rageous...

depending on the moods explored by the band.

You can compare their way of working with the sound & method of

John Zorn, Mike Patton, the Residents and Frank Zappa.

The album has been recorded in 2 crazy days in august 07.

Every live performance is unique and the result is a new and innovative experience every time...

Track listing :

1. AllAbout Boys Music

2. All About Incompetenz

3. All About Hippopotamtam

4. All About Pompeuze part 1

5. All About Pompeuze part 2

6. All About 1982

7. All About Caravans

8. All About Birds

And on Bandcamp:

KINGS of BELGIUM Live@Ateliers Claus 5 from Gil Mortio on Vimeo.

KINGS of BELGIUM Live@Ateliers Claus from Gil Mortio on Vimeo.

OPV001 : Pierre Vervloesem / Not Even Close

Covert art by Kiekebiche

OPV001 : Pierre Vervloesem / Not Even Close

First solo album since 2005 and where he does absolutely everything but some vocals by his wife.

Pierre Vervloesem was born in 1964 and has never stopped playing bass or guitar since he was 17.

His masters were Zappa, Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp, and you can definitively hear their influences here and there on all the albums that he has recorded. He is always saying that he doesn’t like jazz though there is evidently touches of it everywhere. He is a huge fan of John Barry (he did an entire album of improbable covers : ‘Plays John Barry’) Stravinsky, PIL, Godley&Creme, XTC, This heat, Fantomas and Perez Prado.

All those musicians are part of the music of ‘NOT EVEN CLOSE’ even though what he plays is really unique!

This was supposed to be his ‘kewboard’ album, the one where he would not play a single note of guitar or bass…

Really ?

Discography:

7 cd with X-Legged Sally. 2 cd with A Group. Participate to the music of 5 shows for Wim Vandekeybus. 6 solos cd either alone or sometimes with musicians as various as Guy Segers (univers zero pointe) or Charles Hayward (This Heat).

Mixed and/ or produced too many bands to be cited here ( around 100), among others : Deus and Flat earth Society.

Has played also with David Byrne, Bill Laswell or Marc Ribot and so many others.

With Teun Verbruggen, he has another release on Off (seeOCD002).

Pierre Vervloesem: knobs twiddling, vocals
Michèle Van Kalck: vocals
Claude Zac: 400 personnes lyrics

Recorded, mixed and mastered at studio Fiasco.

Digital and physical released on the 1st of October 2008

Track listing :

1 : Burba Bubba

2 : Das mädchen in jeans

3 : Roaccutane

4 : Nishi guchi no Chugoku no Yadayajin tachi

5 : Compulsory dance

6 : Pas mal pour une éléphante défunte

7 : Evenly dead in Brazil

8 : Luis Luis

9 : Martino

10 : Abitur

11 : Imparate a guidare, massa di teste di cazzo

12 : The Bach formula

13 : 400 personnes

14 : I was a teenage Z

PIERRE VERVLOESEM - 400 personnes CLIP from Gil Mortio on Vimeo.