Hey!
I do ring a bell once in a while... 12 times!
I didn't expect to do an album like this again, as I've put out a lot of those I guess, but.... I couldn't help myself. I'm writing "all of the time". Some sort of positive energy creeps in.
I had a lot of fun writing again in a more traditional way (on guitar or on piano). Tried to keep things upbeat, melodic, groovy. You can hear that in the first 6 songs. Then it gets a bit serious, deep, slow, but not that you fall asleep. Did ya? Noooo..
01.The Heavy Donut Discount Blues
Well this started the whole process all over again! I thought I lost my muze, but the melodies and the upbeat, bluesy chord progression took me by surprise, it's all very infectious. A lot happening here. I was inspired to challenge myself here. A bit classical (intro), latinesque and poppy. A quick write on guitar then! About donuts...
02.Flower Power Festival
I was on a roll as this song continued the melodic side I seem the pursue. Fun to do. Just some chords on guitar and melody (written on piano).
03.When U Go Rong
Still in the upbeat mode, this latinesque number had me by the balls, as I had to push the energy factor up high. All fun to do. Can't go rong...
04.Do It Without Love
A simple, easy to the ears, melody, sometimes does the trick. I am proud of this one, because it only took a symbolic 5 minutes to write. Well... the arrangements, that's a whole different story...!
10cc's "I'm not in Love" comes to mind i guess, hence the title: anti-love song.
05.Smart
This is one of the finest, compact grooves I've made thus far. I've worked hard all of these years to get to this. It all began to float when I had the melody to the chorus: "Do you wipe your ass before You Shit?" across that slapping bass.
I had an enormous kick doing this. Without a wipe!
06.And Again
Bossa nova spirit. Something I've grown up with, basically written on guitar. Melodicwise I like this a lot.
07.Midnight Cowgirl
Instrumental, started off on piano. Relaxing mood used as a contrast for the first energetic songs. Title? One of my favourite scores is "Midnight Cowboy".
08.Cold
Introspective acoustic song. Only guitar and voice, a few piano motives. The less instruments I use, the more difficult I seem to have with the vocal performance. The subtilities, details are getting noticed. A challenge for the next record?
09.Get Your Facts Straight
Jazzy, funky, sophisticated stuff always comes my way. I still listen a lot to the seventies groove I guess. Steely Dan, Ned Doheny comes to mind. Today a band like Young Gun Silver Fox seems to draw from the same inspiration, all retro blue-eyed soul, but very infectious.
10.U Save Lives
Slow shuffle, a bit darker than the rest. I had this melody creeping around the groove. I saved my life.
11.To An Inchworm
Instrumental, melodic tribute to Danny Kaye, dreamlike like the song "Inchworm" from his movie Hans Christian Andersen".
12.Over My Very Dead Like
Ragtime, slapstick? Just an antidote to all the heavy stuffWell in a funny way, I've use that phrase a few times on ocasion. And Yes, I don't need or like Facebooks likes!
Well, this a pleasant surprise to my eyes. A lovely review from Bluestown Music!
Joos TVD – Doesn’t Ring A Bell Format: CD – Digital / Label: Eigen Beheer Releasedatum: 2020 Tekst: Peter Marinus
English: It is an annual ritual. Joos TVD delivers another album. This time for the sixteenth time! And still Joos TVD is not an established name in Dutch pop music. However, I keep insisting to bring it to your attention.
This concerns singer-songwriter Joost van Dinther, also known as the Vanished Dutchman.
At least he has a fan in the British artist Tom Robinson (known from 2-4-6-8 Motorway) because Robinson played a number of Joos song in his radio program on BBC6.
A characteristic of Joos's music is the adventure that resonates in his music in which all kinds of musical examples of Joos crop up.
On his new album Joos clearly has the summer in his head because in almost all songs there is a languid, sunny sound in which I often encountered the sound of Kevin Ayers.
Right in the opening track The Heavy Donut Discount Blues you are already in the Caribbean, rocking your hip with a cocktail in your hand, musing about a heavy donut. Joos sounds like our own Kid Creole here. The cocktail atmosphere lingers in Flower Power Festival, a sultry heaving song with a great Kevin Ayers content, which is not surprising since Ayers also liked a “Caribbean Moon”. In When U Go Rong, Joos moves to an intimate Spanish village, where a la Kevin Ayers / J.J. Cale release a loom number on us. A song that is so good that it makes you spin. The warming Do It Without Love reminds us of the early work of Todd Rundgren and Fay Lovsky with frolicking keyboard work. Smart then has a funky 80's wave sound a la Orange Juice with a wonderfully grooving funky bass and a suddenly emerging tear guitar. Then Joos goes on a sultry cradle tour with the almost bossa nova-like And Again. With Midnight Cowgirl it's time for a grinder. An instrumental song that sounds like a lazy mix of nightclub jazz and “Don't Cry For Me Argentina”. It remains romantic in the fragile romantic ballad Cold with a beautifully strumming acoustic guitar, which evokes a true After Eight atmosphere. And Joos keeps it cold. The funkbas returns in Get Your Facts Straight. Funky as Heaven 17 or Talking Heads. U Save Lies also functions more in a sparkling angular way. After the gracefully floating instrumental ballad To An Inchworm with his melancholy crying synthesizer, Joos closes the album with the absurd ragtime of Over My Very Dead Like. And I have the word on it, Joos. Over my dead body….
Joos TVD again manages to come up with an album that is full of all kinds of musical adventures.
Once again I call on everyone to give this album a try!
The critics are never kind, they say. They have been to me through the years. Some critics know me better, so the bar is set high. Yes, I've been piling up songs man! I've got a lot of albums done.
To my surprise, this time the reviews are not all that favorable. Not that bad, but not that great either. That can be a good thing if they are constructive. It can help me further in the end, it can and will challenge me! So tickle me! Next time....
To my surprise, because to me this album is my best and the most accessible album I've made so far, but that's maybe the point: too predictable, too close to comfort for some who know me already.
The most important thing about staying creative, is to challenge yourself. I've worked very hard on all the aspects around creating these songs.
These songs came from the heart, I didn't force them.
Ok I've done the songs and new music need new covers. And a title. What did I come up with?
Inspiration
At first I had this trendy phrase: "Over My Dead Like", which I often say these days among friends and family ("Like" as in facebook likes of course), if they go too far. A picture from a holiday in Sicily, Italy fitted right in, with a rebel guy (like me) throwing stones into the sea:
Throwing stones, dare me!
Just to keep an open mind, I tried a different approach. I took some items outside in my backgarden
floorboard, like a mirror, a classical Perez guitar (my latest), and a vinyl album with a picture of
...me.
I photographed away. All very brownish, autumn, rootsy, so I took that further, when I put a few of these into some online photo editors and let my creativity have its way:
Mirror effect 2
Mirror effect 1
Mirror effect 3
Floorboard backgarden
Frontcover: the first brownish ones
Front and back cover examples
About the title:
"Doesn't Ring A Bell"
There's a lot I want to be, but not "famous" in the "media personality" way. A status. I'm a musician, not an artist, I always say. So JoosTVD doesn't ring a bell and if he does, you won't hear it.....coming!
Design with effect
Best effect in my opinion.
Just
happened to hit upon the title while writing a lyric. Maybe I read it
somewhere or heard someone's remarks. I always love the double sided meaning of these
sentences, in this case "JoosTVD doesn't ring a bell" .....really? Sometimes I knock. Who is this guy? Is he someone famous?
The end results:
Front cover with nickname
Front cover for online distribution
Back cover
Inside cover
Next: let me hear a new song, wait... you say you've got a video?
Hai there folks, hope you're all healthy and keeping your safe distances! It's all relative of course, the flat world, the world wide network called the internet gives and takes. I guess, as we all have to adjust to this new behaviour, we all get to our senses together, maybe for once! All of a sudden the health of common people is at stake. How fragile we are. Maybe in my own humble way I've done that since I started writing, playing, recording like a hermit on that desert island. Totally the opposite from my (nightly) work environment though! It's in my toy garden, this kitchensink of sounds, I've been concentrating on the last finishing touches of a brand new baby album. Yes, it's finished I say! So what now? Is it important to let you all know? Yes and no.... it's the music that mostly survives through all the sickness, bad feelings, wrong doings, like a constant healer in the background, just to keep the much needed hopes up. To comfort us. The little things, like that old fat sun on your face. Songs for the shut-ins.
So I will do as "little" promotion as I can: I will let the music speak for itself. I will let you know when of course (spoiler alert! Unashamed promo: somewhere in May 2020), along with a nifty, comfortable video. I'm happy to share these songs, as I did my best.
Hai Folks, have yourself a happy 2020! Time surely flies.
A little update about the music, I've got:
12 songs, one song needs some lyrics and then I'll mix them until I'm satisfied. I'm really surprised by the quality of the songs and arrangements, can't wait to let you inside my.....!
At the same time I've been busy choosing the right pictures for the covers. All designed and ready! I guess I couldn't help myself, but there are 3 videos in the can. All lyric based videos with a lot of colourful effects to stir the juices.
So, hum, I'm excited.
