De Affaire pt. 4 - Machinefabriek

It seems every single night of the week there is something worth seeing downtown Nijmegen at De Affaire... Two nights ago I went to see an electronic artist whose songs I had heard on the internet. I had only heard a couple, mind you, and thought they were interesting, but it wasn't enough to really capture my fancy. Then I saw he would be performing here and I read his description on the flier, and two comparisons jumped out at me: Fennesz and Stars of the Lid. I must have heard the wrong songs on the internet...

Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 22:00 - Machinefabriek
Machinefabriek is Rutger Zuyderfeldt from Arnhem, here in the Netherlands. He is an electronic artist whose music ranges from ambient to harsh noise, drones, and everything in between. I was blown away by his live performance at the chapel ruins Tuesday night. He was joined by Robert Deters and the vocal assistance of a young lady known as Soccer Committee. Two tables full of electronic equipment, pedals, sound boards, wires, etc... manned by Rutger and Robert started the show off with some nice mounting pulses, which were joined by lovely vocal emanations from Soccer Committee. The vocals were blended into the mix so wonderfully that it took a second to recognize that what you were hearing was a female voice. A beautiful wall of sound was produced with much knob twiddling, so that the many layered textures could be slightly altered in turn. The sound was never still... Towards the end things began to get noisier, and by the very end Rutger had completely phased out everything but noise which he skillfully twisted and mangled a la Merzbow. It was excellent. The beautifully lit setting of the Ruin added the perfect atmosphere. Comparisons to Fennesz were not off the mark, but this particular session was not as ambient oriented as Stars of the Lid. The beginning could have been thought of as ambient music, except that it was LOUD. I'd say the whole thing was like Fennesz and Tim Hecker at their most abstract running into Merzbow. Except that Machinefabriek doesn't use a laptop! Anyway, it was an incredible performance and I'm now a fan. I only wish it had gone on longer... It was rather a short show. You can hear mp3s and check out more about Machinefabriek HERE. Here are my photos and video clips from my favorite performance so far in this week of free open-air concerts: