Rutger Zuydervelt/Machinefabriek

7/19/2018

Maybe there is something in the water, but I think a lot of great music comes from Holland! Last time, I also talked about some Dutch artists and this time I am going to do it again. Most of you probably heard about Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek, the least I can say is that he's prolific!

Every once in a while, I discover something 'music-wise', that completely blows me away and getting to know Machinefabriek is one those times that left me speechless. On one of my Bandcamp-search sessions, I typed in 'fieldrecording' and the first album that popped up was 'Macrocosms' by Banabila and Machinefabriek. I liked the cover, so I bought the album and that was the beginning of my MF-addiction and my Banabila-addiction (more about him later).

Macrocosms

Reading some more about both artists, I decided to buy 'Live at IKLECTIK' from MF. It is not one of my favorite MF albums and as a first purchase, it almost scared me away... but it didn't and I wanted to hear more from Mr.Zuydervelt! After that purchase, I guess I bought around 30 more of his albums, in a very short period of time and I still continue to do so(though less fanatic). I think Mr.Zuydervelt was impressed to, because he send me a thank you mail (same like you Hal).

Live at IKLECTIK

One of the things I like about MF, is that sometimes he brings out pieces of music, that he made before he was famous and so, you can hear where he's coming from. I know that a lot of artists would not put such things on the internet, but MF is not ashamed to do so. For that(amongst other things), he deserves respect! Talking about every album that MF made is impossible, that would be a very long resume! But, it might be interesting for people who never heard about him, to give some album titles, so they can go explore...

Also, all (or most) of the artwork on his albums are made by Rutger himself. If I am correct, he is a graphic-designer and it shows.

As I said, he's very prolific and he worked together with many great artists... Celer, Jaap Blonk, Minus Pilots, Stephen Vitiello, Steve Roden, Peter Broderick, Gareth Davis, Andrea Belfi, Dag Rosenqvist, ... to just name a few! He's also a member of Piiptsjilling... a band that mostly does improvisations while Jan Kleefstra recites poems in Frisian dialect (a Dutch dialect)... a must have in any collection!

Rutger Zuydervelt website
Machinefabriek at Bandcamp

That's it for now, I do hope that anybody who is not familiar with Rutger's work, gives him a listen! I think he makes some of the most original music! Drones, micronoises, dance, theatre, television, ... he's done it all and I am positive that he will keep on surprising me in the future!

Minuten

7 Comments

C. Goff III link

7/20/2018 12:04:09

Quite a large output indeed, thanks for the introduction. What I notice from my initial peruse -- he has only been publicly releasing stuff since the early 2000s (am I right about this?) It's also interesting to hear that several of these Bandcamp posts are made directly from vinyl records (complete with groove surface noises), rather than from the recordings that the vinyl records were cut from. The music is generally quite introspective, thought provoking, calming, but edgy in many ways too. Something about all this makes me think it would be fun to share a meal and a conversation with Mr. Zuydervelt.

30 albums is a big investment, but seems like a good one, Frank.

Frank

7/20/2018 21:10:26

You could be correct with MF, starting releasing since the early 2000's. Before his career got of, he distributed cassettes and cdr's. I believe, that I read somewhere, that he got 400 cassettes filled with music, before he got famous.
(But that could be a big lie, I am telling)
I hope that one day, he will do a show in Singapore, so I can finally see him live.

Rafael González

7/25/2018 04:04:44

Thank you very much Frank! I didn’t know him. Beautiful music!

Adam J Naworal

7/27/2018 22:30:14

Excellent piece, Frank! I really need to hear some Machinefabriek now!

Penny

7/30/2018 05:12:25

Thank u for such an informative article.. I decided to see it their works are on Spotify..yes indeed..i will be giving them a listen today..

7/31/2018 21:34:18

Hi..
Wow!!! I spent my break and lunch listening to this band.
I am starting with the first album on spotify they have listed.
A few of the pieces almost made cry..like when one is moved at an Opera.
Thank you for turning me on to something so beautiful.

7/31/2018 22:03:15

I am glad you like him, Penny!
Btw, it's not a group, it's just 1 guy(most of the times). He gives me chills... such beautiful noise(?)

Rutger Zuydervelt/Machinefabriek

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Frank

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