Fanatics use your magic!

Hai there world! Still here after all...making music is the main thing, but we musicians need feedback once in a while. So here's the deal. Soon I'll release a new album (and more) and here's a way you can come up with a few words of support. Maybe you're a musician as well and have a gift of a great chatterbox, show your magic tricks on this platform:

 
Reviews on Drooble

2018?!

What? Music?!

So this must be my last blog of 2018! A few last words then on what I've been doing those 12 months.
Guess you have witnessed the silence on this blog lately ("Vanished" remember?), but that will change once again in 2019 with the release of my new album, that's now "almost" finished. All the music has been recorded. I have just a few lyrics to complete that will take it to the final mixing and mastering stage. Excited times ahead......

Back to 2018 then.

I've enjoyed the weather. Both hot and cold....

What did I come up with?

My song libary is expanding constantly, I mean, I've got a lot of ideas and although sometimes they do not fit on the regular albums, they deserve a destination home too. So I decided to fill another 2 instrumental albums: For Your Pleasure Vol.4 and Vol.5, especially made for the public to use. These licenses, only available on Jamendo and Bandcamp, you can use for your video projects!

Of course, I've released that regular album too. My main thing to complete the year's cycle, it's another part of man's growing lifework.. Learnt a lot again. Still, I am a musicain, not a sound engineer. I try to do my best. Very proud of the work and the feedback it has got. I received more radioplays and reviews than ever!
                                                                    
                                                                     Just Say KNOW....

Back & Front

              
Grateful for the words:

       Bluesmagazine
                                          Muziekwereld
                                                                            Timpaanmuziek
                                                                                                                 KeysAndChords 
                                                                                                                                                    Drooble


My favourite albums of 2018

Close contenders: Chris Bowden - Unlikely Being, Kamasi Washington - Heaven & Earth, David Byrne - American Utopia, Paul Weller -True Meanings, Mark Knopfler - Down The Road Wherever, Thomas Dybdah -  All These Things, David Crosby - Here If You Listen.

Yes, I've been listening and these ones stayed longer on my playlist, in random order, check:


Chris Stills - Don't Be Afraid

The son of Stephen. You can hear it in his voice and intimacy of the songs. His typical seventies production and his songwriting skills caught my ears.


Curtis Harding- Face Your Fear

Retro isn't always that bad. Beautiful, deep (retro soul/ R&B) arrangements, soulful, brooding and intense atmosphere (hence the title "Face Your Fear" I guess).


Michael Franks - The Music In My Head

One of my songwriter heroes (74 years old!) still delivers unexpected subtility


Joan Armatrading - Not Too Far Away

I've got a weak spot for Joan for years (her seventies period especially). An example for all the upcoming (lady) singer-songwriters. She always lifts me up with her upbeat (optimistic) songs.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Look Now

Elvis is back. With the most colourful crafted songs in years. Eclectic to the core. What a surprise. Wow!

Field Music - Open Here

Tight-fit, fresh, genius artpop! Something that's been missing these days...

Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 1 

Out of this world harmonies, music as it suppose to be in 2018 (the young can deliver!) and this is only vol.1....!


In between, I have read these books in 2018:

John Einarson - Forever Changes Arthur Lee Story
Marc Eliot - Charlton Heston
Andy Summers - One Train Later A Memoir
Paul Woods - The Curious Life & Work Of Scott Walker
Eric Clapton - Clapton The Autobiography 2007
Fred Schruers - Billy Joel
Andy Partridge Todd Bernhardt - Complicated Game Inside the Songs of XTC
Stephen Davis - Stevie Nicks Gold Dust Woman
John Densmore - The Doors: Unhinged
Marcus Baram - Gil Scott-Heron Pieces Of A Man

A little history

Vinyl Dutchman

 Did you know?

JoosTVD (aka The Vanished Dutchman), born 1963(?), started out as a drummer, playing with in several bands (Natural Gas, Second Street Left, Pret In Pettoband). Became restless when he found out he could write songs. Sneaking in his brother's room to play guitar. Together with his enthousiastic buddy Wijnand Brant- formed a duo that recorded a lot of JoosTVD' songs. He assembled some fitting musicians to start a full band "Catch My Drift" around 1987. Untill 1995 they developed a grooovy eclectic show around JoosTVD' songs and toured the Netherlands. Differences about the commercial direction, Wijnand and Joost drifted apart. Since then JoosTVD concentrated on songwriting and recording his own material. After 33 (!) cassettes, he now uses the digital highway to spread his ever growing discography.

The last lyrics

Guess you can see the labour of love in this. Struggling a bit with words. Hence "f-word". Yes, sometimes it flipps right out of my mouth.
Just a few lyrics and vocal recording to finish and I've got a new album for ya! 2019, here I come again.

Writing Dutchman

PIcture this song

....and all that jazz!

All Mine

Posing with my friends

Ears open

Which song was that?

Inspiration

"Not Now" on the air at BBC6

Hai folks. Hot summer. I'm deep into creating again! Yes right, and although I'm officially vanished (because I want some privacy), sometimes some positive news comes up that I have to share. So I'm extremely proud to have been played again (after Bomb Won't Go Off) in Wales! Thank you Andrew Marston. Listen for 30 days only at 48.15.

And Now!

Digital charts "Not Now"

Sometimes you stumble on a page. Some BBC DJ (with a Soul/R&B Show) had "Not Now" on his rotation list of faves for a while. No. 43 (of 500) on June 30th was the highest rank haha!

Rank on July 12, 2018:
No. 166 in Top 500 BROKEN BEAT / NU JAZZ Tracks of 2018
Overall rank is based on track's best position in Top 100 sales charts on Beatport, JunoDownload or Traxsource and views / plays on YouTube + SoundCloud. This track entered the JunoDownload Top 100 on June 1, 2018 and reached its best position of No. 43 on June 30, 2018
Based on your interest in this track, we recommend our player for BROKEN BEAT / NU JAZZ. Each day we update it with new videos which correspond to tracks that DJs are downloading the most right now:
Best BROKEN BEAT / NU JAZZ Of The Past 31 Days

Review from Belgium!

What a nice suprise from the south. Belgium that is. Yes, Belgium is gonna win the WK of 2018 of course! Didn't expect this one either. I'm just humbled by these words. Another review will get me going! Thank you Lambert Smits and Marino Serdons from 'Keys and Chords', a belgian online music magazine. And no, I didn't bribe them! Namedropping? Zappa, Rundgren, Protheroe (yes what's in a name!)

Dutch:
"Surprise, surprise, funky music vanuit buurland Nederland. JoosTVD, Joos The vanished Dutchman, levert al sedert 2005 het ene unieke digitale album na het andere af. Chapeau voor deze einzelganger: schrijft, componeert en speelt alle muziek zelf. Arrangeert, mixed en mastered zijn eigen brouwsels tot een prachtig geheel. Zo ook met zijn nieuwste telg 'Just Say kNOw'. Het album spettert van de funky grooves en doet regelmatig denken aan wijlen Frank Zappa, een meester in complexe en toch begrijpbare structuren. Luister maar eens naar opener 'Not Now' of 'The Vanished Romeo': elektronica zoals Todd Rundgren, xylofoon nals Frank Zappa. Is hier een volledig orkest aan het werk? Nee hoor, dit is JoosTVD ten note uit. Als geen ander weet hij elke song een meeslepende groove te bezorgen. Door de complexiteit blijf je geboeid luisteren, opnieuw en opnieuw. Ook houdt hij van grappige intermezzo's zoals in het theatrale 'My Cat Is Stoned' (waarin ook Brian Protheroe een kei was). Luchtig! Wie nog mocht twijfelen: Tom Robinson pikt regelmatig songs op voor zijn BBC6 Shows. 'Just say kNOw' is een oerdegelijk tof album geworden dat roept om een fysieke drager zoals vinyl. Digitaal natuurlijk te beluisteren via de geijkte kanalen Spotify, Deezer, enz."

Beautiful album from The Vanished Dutchman Joost. Strong funky grooves with Zappa-tesque influences, but also melancholy and a lot of fun. A wonderful discovery.
Marino Serdons

Vanished in Belgium

English:
 Surprise, surprise, funky music from neighboring Netherlands. JoosTVD, Joos The vanished Dutchman, has been delivering one unique digital album after another since 2005. Chapeau for this einzelganger: writes, composes and plays all music itself. Arranges, mixed and mastered his own brews into a beautiful whole. This is also the case with his latest member 'Just Say kNOw'. The album splashes with funky grooves and regularly reminds of the late Frank Zappa, a master of complex yet understandable structures. Listen to opener 'Not Now' or 'The Vanished Romeo': electronics such as Todd Rundgren, xylophone and Frank Zappa. Is there a full orchestra at work here? No, this is JoosTVD on note. Like no other he knows how to deliver a compelling groove to a song. Due to the complexity, you will continue to listen fascinated, again and again. He also likes funny intermezzos such as in the theatrical 'My Cat Is Stoned' (in which Brian Protheroe was also a boulder). Airy! Who might doubt: Tom Robinson regularly picks up songs for his BBC6 Shows. 'Just say kNOw' has become an incredibly cool album that calls for a physical carrier such as vinyl. Digital to listen to naturally via the well-known channels Spotify, Deezer, etc. '

Beautiful album from The Vanished Dutchman Joost. Strong funky grooves with Zappa-tesque influences, but also melancholy and a lot of fun. A wonderful discovery.
Marino Serdons

And another dutch review!

I didn't see this coming....I hoped, but didn't pray. Some nice words caught my eyes. They arrived in Blues Magazine!
It's a loooong read, so...Thank you, TU, no you!

The Vanished Drunk

 Dutch:
Tekst: Peter Marinus
Bij dit album is wel het één en ander uit te leggen. Allereerst de artiestennaam JoostTVD. TVD staat hier voor “The Vanished Dutchman” en dat is weer een alias van de Nederlandse singer-songwriter Joost van Dinther. Hij omschrijft zijn muziek zelf als “zelfbevlekkende, narcistische, selfkickende, obsessieve en uitknijpende muziek”. Een hele mondvol dus.  Joost ontpopt zich op dit album als een muzikale doe-het-zelver, die met het grootste gemak allerlei muziekstijlen door elkaar heen gooit en daar weer één prachtig geheel van maakt.
Tom Robinson, de Engelse artiest die in de new wave periode hits scoorde met “2-4-6-8 Motorway” en “Listen To The Radio”, was dermate onder de indruk van Joost dat hij een aantal van zijn songs draaide in zijn radioprogramma op BBC 6.
Wat krijgen we hier te horen? Muziek, die beïnvloed is door artiesten als Todd Rundgren, Frank Zappa, The Tubes en nog veel meer artiesten/genres.
Het openingsnummer, Not Now, is bijvoorbeeld een funky rocknummer waarin invloeden rondzweven van Todd Rundgren, Gino Vannelli en Frank Zappa. Met name die dwarse xylofoon zou zo bij Zappa vandaan kunnen komen. Razendknap om van al die invloeden een aanstekelijk swingend funky nummer te maken. Er gebeurt echt van alles in dit nummer. Knetterende Tower Of Power-achtige blazers, een scheurende gitaarsolo en elektronische ritmes, die totaal niet storen. The Vanished Romeo begint met new age-achtige panfluit geluiden, die al snel weggevaagd worden door een schroeiende wah wah gitaar. Vervolgens wordt een luie, geile Zappa funker ingezet vol ingenieuze breaks. Joos heeft een perfect zwoel stemgeluid voor dit nummer. Ook de eigenzinnigheid van The Tubes en Todd Rundgren klinken door in dit nummer. Het luchtige funky Indie mengt Zappa, The Tubes en Toto tot een warm wiegend nummer. My Cat Is Stoned is een bizarre mix van vaudeville, funk en Zappiaanse waanzin. Er komt van alles voorbij in dit nummer: maffe stemmetjes, fluitjes, geboer, en dat alles over een kat die stoned is! Loaded is vervolgens een Tito Puente-achtig latin fusionnummer. Zwoel swingend met soulvolle zang en haast Philly soul-achtige strijkers. Gameface doet qua synthesizergeluid denken aan het spacey werk van Gary Wright, in zijn “Dream Weaver” periode. Maar Joos vermengt dit uiteraard met het geluid van The Tubes, de erotische zwijmelsoul van Barry White en Zappa.
Nerveus ratelende elektro ritmes ontwikkelen zich in Rottendance tot een loom groovend nummer vol zwevende synthesizers en retestrakke Zappa breaks. Probeer hier maar eens op te dansen! Ik garandeer je dat je binnen no time kramp in je kuiten hebt! In Crest Of A Wave gaan we op de softsoul toer met een hoog Gino Vannelli gehalte, compleet met een ruisende branding. In de felle, eigenzinnige funkrock van There’s No Sense In Making Sense lijkt Zappa een huwelijk aangegaan te zijn met Johnny Guitar Watson en de ritmesectie van Tower Of Power. All The Way is een zwoel nachtclub nummer dat doet denken aan Kevin Ayers en zijn “Falling In Love With You”.
Joos sluit dit zeer avontuurlijke album af met de sprookjesachtige instrumental Not Ever, die gedomineerd wordt door zijn warme romantische toetsenwerk.
Ik ben zeer onder de indruk van de veelzijdigheid van JoosTVD en ga het album nog maar eens opzetten. Eens kijken wat ik nu weer allemaal ga ontdekken!

english:
Text: Peter Marinus
With this album you can explain a few things. First the artist name JoostTVD. TVD stands for 'The Vanished Dutchman' and that is another alias of Dutch singer-songwriter Joost van Dinther. He describes his music as 'self-stinking, narcissistic, self-kicking, obsessive and squeezing music'. A whole mouthful.

Joost reveals himself on this album as a musical do-it-yourselfer, who throws all kinds of musical styles together with the greatest ease and makes one more beautiful whole.
Tom Robinson, the English artist who scored hits in the new wave period with '2-4-6-8 Motorway' and 'Listen To The Radio', was so impressed with Joost that he played some of his songs in his radio program on BBC 6.
What can we hear here? Music influenced by artists like Todd Rundgren, Frank Zappa, The Tubes and many more artists / genres.

The opening track, Not Now, is for example a funky rock song in which influences float around from Todd Rundgren, Gino Vannelli and Frank Zappa. Especially that transverse xylophone could come from Zappa. A frenzy to make all those influences an infectious swinging funky song. There really is everything happening in this issue. Crackling Tower Of Power-like horns, a ripping guitar solo and electronic rhythms, that do not disturb at all. The Vanished Romeo starts with new age-like panflute sounds, which are quickly wiped out by a scorching Wah Wah guitar. Then a lazy, horny Zappa funker is used full of ingenious breaks. Joos has a perfectly sultry voice for this song. Also the idiosyncrasy of The Tubes and Todd Rundgren resound in this song. The airy funky Indie mixes Zappa, The Tubes and Toto into a warm rocking song. My Cat Is Stoned is a bizarre mix of vaudeville, funk and Zappian madness. All kinds of things pass by in this song: wacky voices, whistles, bats, and everything about a cat that is stoned! Loaded is then a Tito Puente-like latin fusion number. Swinging with soulful singing and almost Philly soul-like strings. In terms of synthesizer sound, Gameface is reminiscent of the spacey work of Gary Wright in his 'Dream Weaver' period. But Joos mixes this with the sound of The Tubes, the erotic whisper of Barry White and Zappa.
Nervous rattling electro rhythms develop into a loom grooving song full of floating synthesizers and retro twist Zappa breaks in Rottendance. Try dancing here! I guarantee that you have cramp in your calves in no time! In Crest Of A Wave we go on the softsoul tour with a high Gino Vannelli level, complete with a rustling surf. In the fierce, quirky funk rock of There's No Sense In Making Sense, Zappa seems to have entered into a marriage with Johnny Guitar Watson and the rhythm section of Tower Of Power. All The Way is a sultry nightclub song reminiscent of Kevin Ayers and his 'Falling In Love With You'.
Joos closes this very adventurous album with the fairytale instrumental Not Ever, which is dominated by his warm romantic keyboard work.

I am very impressed by the versatility of JoosTVD and will put the album up again. Let's see what I'm going to discover again!

Just say yes to them Songs

Ok. Fine. Did the work. Did you listen? Of course.
Just say...YES! Thank you.

A whole year just writing songs- and there were a lot of them- always makes you wonder which ones will make it to the finish line. I'm tired, but fulfilled and I ain't gonna stop now..so much to do....I'll just vanish again.
Now, pay attention, let me tell you all about the tunes on "Just Say KNOW".

01.Not Now
A quick and fun one to write, so obviously the first one that motivated me to create a new album again. Upbeat and funky. Fun to dance to. No, not now! Always looking out for the right groove to get me going. A lot of dancing tunes inspired me (especially those from the seventies).

02.The Vanished Romeo
One of my favourite songs of the album. I like the smooth shuffle, jazzy arrangements in the verses and the latin groove of the refrain. Slowly building up a tension. That's a combination that does it for me. A lot of sweat involved here that almost turned into a bloody mess. O Romeo....

03.Indie
What does that mean "Indie" anyway these days. Independent? It's a DIY world already!
Strumming chords can be boring, but this pattern kept me busy, playing for hours.

04.My Cat Is Stoned
A normal cats and dogs day... Cat wants to be a dog and vica versa. I simply wrote this on guitar.
I always try to come up with a fun song that keeps the balance between sad/glad/serious/fun.

05.Loaded
The latin infection. Latin stuff keeps creeping into my songs. Why? I love rhythm.
As long there's a melody/hook it's allright I guess. I'm loaded with that. This is a song about friendship and the love involved.

06.Gameface
On edge all the time...
That's my songwriting spirit sometimes. A bit more darker/ angrier  than the rest of the album. Good for the balance. Maybe a bit Peter Gabriel (So, Us) influence. I've payed a lot of attention to the dynamics.

07.Rottendance
I like dancing. Rhythm. Hypnotic beats... If it falls flat it's just what "disco" did at the end of the seventies  and what "house" does today. To me, it's not human, it's too safe, superficial (they all sound the same!), generetically rotten.
Here, I even give you a pulsing beat that evolves into a reggae pattern in the chorus. But don't misunderstand: I just want to dance again.

08.Crest Of A Wave
Bossa style dutchman. I've always admired brazilian music for its subtle, passionate and smooth patterns. Exotic music oozes summer. I'm just an old fashioned melancholic guy here.

09.There's No Sense In Making Sense
Stop making sense! A terrific Talking Heads concert movie said it all. Restless song, but floating. A little experimenting with the rhythm breaking up did the trick.

10.All The Way
The vanished crooner. As we reach the final, an easy-on the ears ballad can do wonders to comfort your soul and mind. All the way.

11.Not Ever
Coda: a dreamy instrumental and a serious contrast to the first (upbeat) song "Not Now". Say NO. Do not give in. Not Now, not ever.