Happy to announce that our new project ‘Tearing
The BlackBox’ is now officially online. We would really appreciate it if you
would like our facebook page so we can keep you informed about our upcoming
releases.
TEARING THE BLACKBOX is a collaboration between Canadian
musician/producer Kelly Cook (ex-Moev) and Dutch musician/producer Frank Weyzig
(Born For Bliss, Vaselyne, ex-Clan of Xymox).
The beauty
of making music and being involved in different musical projects is that one
doesn’t need to stick to a particular style or format. Some of you may have
followed my different musical directions from the days I was part of early
‘Clan of Xymox’, via psychedelic wave band ‘Born for Bliss’ to my most recent
band ‘Vaselyne’ for which me and Yvette Winkler are writing a new album to be
released later in 2019. As for now, me and my longtime friend Rob Keyzer have
just released music for the art project ‘Going to Catalunya’.
‘Going to
Catalunya’ is an art project by Dutch painter Rob Keyzer and comprises
paintings, photos, stories and music. For the audio part of the project, me and Rob, composed
and recorded a collection of tracks that reflect the general mood of the
project. ‘Going to Catalunya’ is a metaphor for love, friendship and being on
the lookout for beauty and the meaning of life. All music is written with no
particular musical style or format in mind. Simply written and recorded as true
and sincere as possible.
‘Going to Catalunya’ is an art project that initially was focused around Rob Keyzer’s life journey to Spain, including the people and events involved during this particular period of time. The project comprises paintings, photos, stories and music. For the audio part, Rob and his Friend Frank Weyzig, who has his own special connection with Spain, composed and recorded a collection of tracks that reflect the general mood of the project.
‘Going to Catalunya’ can be seen as a metaphor for love, friendship and being on the lookout for beauty and the meaning of life. In that perspective the passing away of Marnix de Haas, one of Rob’s closest friends, has become a substantial part of the project. Both in vision and sound, Marnix is shimmering through as the wonderful person that he was and always will be…
First and foremost the music on this album is an integrated part of the special edition of the corresponding art-book by Lisa Keyzer. However, Rob and Frank concluded that the music by itself deserves a standalone release on CD and Vinyl as well. Each track corresponds with one or more paintings that Rob painted between end 2015 and early 2018.
Perhaps one of these days you will experience the authenticity of the complete project by visiting one of the installations / exhibitions or by capturing a copy of the special art- book.
released; December 16, 2018
Album Credits: produced by Frank Weyzig and Rob Keyzer
recorded, arranged and mixed by Frank Weyzig at Les Sureres, Santa Cristina d’Aro, Spain and at B4B studio, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, between autumn 2016 and summer 2018
words and music by Rob Keyzer and Frank Weyzig except lyrics for ‘Infinito Extraño’ by Susana Arias mastered at ‘Mastering Amsterdam’ by Darius van Helfteren
Going to Catalunya: Rob Keyzer: acoustic guitars, vocals Frank Weyzig: electric guitars, bass, keys, drum programming, vocals
LP Album Side A: 01 Sing King <6:56> a - on board a ship b - back to me c - I don’t belong here d - sing king 02
The Savior & the Cure <4:23 03
Polaroids <4:27> 04
Yellow Synergy <3:17> 05
Sticks & Stones <2:54>
Side B: 06
Going to Catalunya <4:00> 07
Brother <1:20> 08
Easy <4:23>0 9
The Search <4:30> 10
Never Again <2:20> 11
Infinito Estraño <5:27>
This song refers to the album title ’Falling back to Never’ and it’s my
personal favorite track. I worked on a demo for this song for a long time and
it never seemed to come alive. Until I decided to add a second section to it.
Together with Remco’s eerie feedback sounds and his stumping bass and the
driving drum groove of Willem’s drum arrangement, the track finally got the
energy that I was looking for. The lyrics basically describe this dream I used
to have many years ago about a shadow figure following me…
The production for the video started 3 months ago when Remco started to
construct an Adobe Flash animation to be used as a projection during the video-shoot
of the band while performing “Better Than Me”. This animation was
also later used and combined with appropriate stills and footage during the
final stages of the edit of the video.
About the song itself… One evening I
had a phone call with Remco, discussing the fact that we needed another
up-tempo track to complete our album. Within ten minutes after I hung up, Remco
sent me an audio track with the basic guitar riff that actually structures the
song. Almost instantly I came up with the words for the verse and chorus and
“Better Than Me” was born. An ominous track about a lover who drowns
into narcissism. Lori Sloan’s mysterious, laid back vocal in the second verse
and the added whispering sounds at the beginning and end of the song give the
track an even more eerie feel. I only needed the next couple of days to
arrange, record and finish the song. So yes, it’s probably safe to say that
this is the fastest written track in the B4B history.“
(An article I wrote for Peek A Boo magazine) “How does an artist work when he’s recording an album. Does he sleep? Does he eat? We really wanted to know this and we asked Frank Weyzig of Born For Bliss (B4B) if he was willing to write a sort of diary”.
The
tracks
Innocent: After the release
of our second album “Between Living and Dreaming” ( you can read our
full Biograpphy on http://www.born4bliss.com ), I actually didn’t think of working on a new
B4B album. Without any link to B4B, me and Remco Helbers became inspired to
work on some new ideas together. Nevertheless, one of those ideas evolved into
what later became a blueprint for the sound of the new B4B album. That first
new track started with some riffs, grooves and a trigger sequence which Remco
put together. I added
some guitars, keys, and a vocal melody with some key words to it, just as a
guide. For weeks not much happened with the track until I had the idea to add
female backing vocals (sung by Lori Sloan, who did all the female backing
vocals on the new album as well) and edited and reversed these backing vocals
for the chorus part and subsequently used this as a sort of a chant at the
beginning of the song. This created a mysterious and psychedelic touch to the
track. I did not think that this would become a new B4B track until I sent a
demo to Willem Van Antwerpen our drummer and good friend. One week later he
returned it with a completely new drum arrangement. After editing and mixing
the track the blueprint for the new B4B sound became a reality.
This Narrow Place: Now with Willem back
on board we liked the idea to finish three more tracks that we were working on
and release these tracks together as a new B4B EP release. The next track was built
around a guitar riff by Remco and a peculiar drum groove by Willem. On top of
this I added different layers of guitars, keys and vocals to try out different
melodies and sounds and before I realized what I was doing I got stuck with
more than 64 tracks in Protools, but I liked what I heard. I realized that this
layered structure of sounds could very well be the new brand mark for our new
B4B sound. I also realized that this was not going to be music for everyone,
but heck, that’s the beauty of creating independent music. We just do what we
like ;-)
Underground:
The third track of the album was something I initially had written for another
project of mine, “Vaselyne” ( http://www.vaselyne.com ), but
Yvette (Yvette Winkler, vocalist for Vaselyne) wasn’t really comfortable with the music and
didn’t want to use it, so I decided to write my own lyrics and do the vocals
myself. Later Remco added a steaming trigger sequence and a powerful bass line to
it and Willem added a new drum arrangement. Together with another track that I
recorded a couple of months earlier (”Forever”),
we now had our EP ready (“Innocent”
EP, released at German label Echozone) and released it as a warming up for the
new full album.
Greed:
A track that I wrote and recorded without thinking that it would be a B4B
track. A song with a chorus with lots of layered vocals and built around a different
chord structure from what I usually like to play. But Later when I was doing
the song order for the finished album it somehow fit into place and gave an
extra mood to the album…
Falling Back:
This song refers to the album title and it’s my personal favorite track. I
worked on a demo for this song for a long time and it never seemed to come
alive. Until I decided to add a second section to it. Together with Remco’s
eerie feedback sounds and his stumping bass and the driving drum groove of
Willem’s drum arrangement, the track finally got the energy that I was looking
for. The lyrics basically describe this dream I used to have many years
ago about a shadow figure following me…
Hours: This song is a track that me and Remco produced years ago for another project
of ours; “Stargazing Project”. ( http://stargazingproject.bandcamp.com ). I would have liked
to have a more powerful ending for this track and that’s why I did a new B4B
version of the song. With Willem’s powerful drums added to the second section
and with extra guitars and layered vocals, “Hours”, finally got that extra
drive that I was looking for and it fits well between the rest of the new
material on the album.
Better than me:
This is probably the fastest written track in the B4B history. We already had a
substantial track list ready for the upcoming album but I felt that we could
use another up-tempo track to make the album sound more balanced. So one
evening I had a phone call with Remco about this. Only ten minutes after I hung
up, Remco sent me a file with the basic
guitar riff that actually structures the song. Almost instantly I came up with
the words for the verse and chorus and “Better than me” was born. Lori Sloan’s
mysterious, laid back vocal in the second verse and the added whispering sounds
at the beginning and end of the song give the track an even more eerie feel. I
only needed the next couple ofdays to arrange, record and finish the song.
Wrong:
Another one of Remco’s bass lines and guitar riffs that I used to build a song
structure around. This track builds up to a climax towards the end with a lot
of feedback guitars and sweeping drums. After the middle section you might even hear some kind of shoegaze influences
shimmering through…
Walk on by:
Other than “Better than me”, this track probably took the longest time for us to
finish. I already recorded the basic idea for this track back when Remco and me
worked on our Stargazing project. But for some reason I could never seem to
give it the right feel and atmosphere, so I didn’t touch it for a long time and
almost totally forgot about it. Until I recently stumbled upon the file on my
hard drive and decided to give it a shot again. Now, with a new chorus and completed
with Willem’s driving drum arrangement, the track finally got the extra element
that I missed before and added it to the track list for the album.
Four Horsemen:
This track is based around Willem’s high energy drums and one of Remco’s crazy sequences.
It’s the last song I worked on before closing the final track list for the
album. One remarkable thing about this track is the fact that I made a mistake
while tracking my vocals. In the chorus there’s the part where I should sing;
“a fiery red one”, but instead you hear me sing “fearie” red one. Not sure if
that has any meaning, but I kind of liked the way it sounded anyway and I left
it like this ;-)
Thorns:
This track is a sort of slow ballad with a simple chord structure and a more
melodic vocal approach. It was intended to be used as a short intermezzo in
between two more up tempo tracks but eventually I liked this longer version
with the layering of the different vocal parts towards the end.
Anxiety: The final track on
the album. A sort of epilogue and referring to the overall state of mind that I
was in during the writing of this album and in particular my lyrics. I don’t
think this needs further explaining…
By the
way; writing an album like this is a purifying experience. I feel much better
now. Thank you ;-)
The
finishing touch
Mastering: After mixing the
album I asked Tom O’Connell (Umbra Et Imago,
House Of Usher, All Hallows Eve, Traumtanzer) to do the mastering and I must
say that Tom did a wonderful job. It took me some effort to explain to Tom what
kind of sound I was looking for but when he understood what I wanted and after doing
a couple of test masters he came up with the most powerful mastering and
production!
Presenting the album: It appears that
nowadays the music industry doesn’t have a very friendly approach towards
independent music and todays music audience is not interested in buying CD’s
anymore. They prefer downloading from iTunes or stream music with their Spotify
accounts. So does it even make sense to release a physical CD? Well, speaking
for myself. I am afraid I am one of the last of the breed. I love to
experience, the feel and atmosphere of the music not only by listening but also
by the tangible visual concept of the album sleeve. Call me old-fashioned but
this is the reason I’m presenting our newest album in CD format covered in an
artistic and cool looking digipak design…
Born
For Bliss: Frank Weyzig - vocals,
guitars, keys, bass, programming
Remco Helbers - bass, keys, guitars, programming
Willem van Antwerpen - drums, percussion
01 Innocent <5:50> 02 This Narrow
place <6:56> 03 Underground
<5:27> 04 Greed <4:13> 05 Falling
Back <7:02> 06 Hours <4:24> 07 Better than
Me <5:54> 08 Wrong <6:08> 09 Walk on By <5:20> 10 Four
Horsemen <6:06> 11 Thorns <6:10> 12 Anxiety <9:03>
Total time 72:33
CREDITS
Produced, recorded, arranged and mixed by Frank Weyzig
at B4B studio, Amsterdam, 2015.
Mastered by Tom O'Connell.
Rare Vaselyne outtakes, demo’s and remixes. Eight great tracks with one new never before released track, a remix of ‘August’ by Kikai and a cool cover version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Home”
Echozone / Turmoil Music Release date: October 02 – 2015
Founded in 2011, TURMOIL MUSIC, first based on a network platform for indie and alternative music, has now evolved into an independent music label, from artists for artists. Music is our language of communication and what binds everything together is our devotion to excellent, alternative and original indie music.
TURMOIL MUSIC is not about profit or commercial production. TURMOIL MUSIC is where professional, independent artists and musicians with similar views connect over creative ideas. It’s alternative music with high standards of quality and originality. Although we have had quite a long experience in the alternative music scene, it feels like a new exciting journey has just started. A modern quest for the grail of alternative music with lots of breathtaking releases on the way…
Four years ago we first started TURMOIL MUSIC as a network platform to help promote independent alternative music. Since then the music industry even got worse for indie music and with the coming of ‘streaming music’ giants, like Spotify, who don’t really seem to care about the independent musicians but mostly have eye for the mega artists, we have come to the point that it’s almost an impossible task for us indie musicians to earn money for our hard work.
So here we are, armed with the latest recording technology and an overwhelming passion for innovation. A group of musically talented pioneers. We call to our fellow music lovers to follow us to a place of uncharted sounds and ask that you keep your heart and minds open to talented artists and give them the opportunity to rise and reach out to their audiences…