Something's coming, right?

 Slowly revealing....

It's almost working...

Update: just submitted my new songs for the distribution process. I have to wait for approval so fingers, legs crossed!

(next: show us your new work!)

This not THE promo!

Well, curiousity killed the cat. Went out for a lunch after mixing and mastering the latest tracks. Someone (me), sneaked into my studio, sniffed around and touched my jewels! All captured (me) on tape. (me) Hit some forbidden bar and some song (from me) starts playing...at the wrong speed. Better not watch. Yet. Don't-do-it. Don't! Wait for the real one.

I've warned you, didn't I? It's gonna be allright. Soon...soon!

(next: Show us your new work!)

Hula Hoops in the desert

Found a very smooth and short video today. How did she do that?
Nice flow of dizziness in the desert!
















Music: Slipping Into A Silhouette 
                                                           
album: JoosTVD- For Your Pleasure Vol.2 [2015]

                                                        

Collecting Music, My Golden Years: 1974-1977

                                                                                    Vinyl anno 1987, Concerto A'dam

It's time for my confession. To talk to you about my chronic addiction. Everyone's got one: well, mine is a my ongoing music collecting habit. These days I'm inclined to go back to my old favourites, so the urge to stay ahead of any new, hip trend is minimilized to a few listens of easy googling. The reason for this sudden come out, is the "sudden" deaths of idols, like David Bowie, Allen Toussaint, Maurice White and Dan Hicks that triggered me to go back to my Golden Years of that addiction. It's far from complete when I talk about specific albums though. They just represent a few precious and personal moments.
Feel free to respond. Why not leave your own anecdote? 

How did that start? It was the Summer of Love, this kid was about 4 years old and very curious. My first obsession with music was with my daddy's  turntable, (spinning all kind of records that could play different tempos, 33, 45, 78 rpm), by watching the grooves going round. My first auditory learning. My father had an enormous amount of different records, like classical, jazz, blues, pop, rock that kept my ears wide open. This curious kid was also fascinated by that needle...what did that do? And where did that sound come from? As I was forbidden to touch that thing in any way, I could not help myself thinking about it and doing what daddy was doing just by breaking that golden rule. Wrong. I wanted to be the DJ in da house! Wrong. So one night I sneaked downstairs. Wrong! In the darkness I nervously picked out a random record-wrong- and laid it down on the turntable. So wrong! It all went dramatically downhill when I tried to put the needle on the edge of the record. My not so steady fingers pushed it all the way to the center of the plate. Gggrriiiiechhh!! Oeps, did I offend someone? Maybe I was the first scratcher in the dark, before it became hip. Yeah, right. All you see now, is a scratch going right through the grooves where the once powerful voice of Maria Callas stopped in its tracks and instead turned into this upset and hurt witch, as my father would show me many years later. Shame on sneaky me.

I HAD to have one for myself! When I was about 11 years old, a turntable in a suitcase with one speaker (mono!) became my companion for the next few years. O my god, how many records did I spoil on that thing. The cheap needles did the destroying work. Fustrating when it was skipping or when it was repeating the same groove over and over. Almost made me hate the song! I still have those crippled records by the way. My first ambitious buy was a greatest hits double album of the Rolling Stones (Rolled Gold) with all of their sixties hits, like Satisfaction, Ruby Tuesday, Jumping Jack Flash and all their famous rest......excitement! I got lost track of this one somewhere, somehow though. Hey, it was a cheap pressing anyway. During these times I discovered the record stores. My mother took me along for an initiation to the obvious expensive ones, where you couldn't find anything special. But no tears, there were alternatives.       Ah yes, the secondhand stores.

Not a lot of money in my pocket restricted me to the "unknown" names of artists/ bands that didn't sell at the time. If a cover was appealing enough I would buy it. One time I thought I had bought the first solo album of John Lennon (Plastic Ono Band 1970) for a bargain. I found out why.... It was Yoko Ono's version. O no.
Sometimes I got lucky: I didn't know them well then, but arty, experimental albums of  Can (Soon of Babaluma 1975) and Roxy Music (For Your Pleasure 1973) were eyeopeners and I'm still glad I've encountered them. They helped the exploration further. An urge to find any rare item of my favourite artists/ bands become a growing obsession. My collection grew and grew the more I broadened my musical palette, searching certain byways. At the start of the seventies I was basically a Pop music fan. Especially appealing were the harmony vocals, singalong melodies, but I could not avoid those anyway as my parents kept the volume way up high. So many radio hits of the sixties had become part of my consciousness already as there was so much to explore. I saw a snowball and went after it.  
                                                                   "Stamp"           

The influences I'm obviously talking about here, are the Beatles, Kinks stamp or the energetic side of pop in powerpop, the Who/ Stones stamp. All unmistakenly english, but basically influenced by americana. Sort of the heir to the Beatles and the answer for the seventies to my young ears were the infectious melodies of the first arty period (1973-1976) of 10cc. I still go back to these first three very fun and clever albums if I'm in need of some fresh inspiration. I bought them later on though, when I had more holes (=money in my hand). I liked Prog-Rock, but it tried to top the Fabfour in too may scales, often in vain as it would turn out. All and all, I'm more of an art-rock (ironic, sarcastic, sardonic) than a prog-rock (too serious) fan, if you ask me.


 "a fixated mindset on the snowball that kept on rolling"

No city was safe. You could find me searching for any secondhand recordstore. I often consulted the dutch pop-encyclopedies, studied them to prepare myself more thoroughly. Listened to the radio. Made lists of "wanna have" items. Read magazines. Followed hitparades. Exchanged news with other nerds. Went to concerts. Got lost at music fairs. A fixated mindset on the snowball that kept on rolling. I Searched for all the-so so- recommended albums and often got them for a nice price. Collector items? Too expensive. Zappa? Not available, only import. Too expensive. Later on, I had my digital revenge. Still I could find a few underrated albums as well before they were collector's items years later.
I was often so, so lucky.

Books to read and the place to be

As my turntables got better, so did the needles and so my records were safe from harm. One of my favourite recordstores at the end of the seventies up until the millennium, was "Concerto" in Amsterdam. The concept of four different stores (secondhand, new popular, jazz and classical) next to eachother under the same banner, was a pretty sight to see. The balance of the old and the new. With the smell of secondhand vinyl in my nose in the morning, I eagerlessly walked the long walk from central station right through the crowded centre to that long street near Rembrandsplein, just to get me some of those rare stuff. That was my only drug then. Didn't need a coffeshop man!

      

                                                                                     Sometimes I hesitated though
                                                                                                                                                                                                 
I remember watching David Bowie's "Golden Years" on television around 1976. I found it all too strange. A white man singing "Soul"? I was already familiar with his androgyne look witnessing "Jean Genie" and his haunting "Space Odessey". I even purchased his early work, (a compilation "Changes One"), but this was different altogether. Black music was spreading like oil in influence, as witnessed by his funky track "Fame" from 1975, which James Brown (!) ironically stole its guitar lick from (played by his ex-guitarist Carlos Alomar, then Bowie's) for his 1976 "Hot"song.

I was intrigued by this, rhythmically hypnotic, repeating wah-wah sound and its heavenly sung melody. It hit me in the gut. I didn't really know about funk or soul then. It was the time of high-heeled platform shoes, just after the Hustle dance craze as disco glitter balls and coloured floorlights were changing the view of the ballrooms. Well and here was that Thin White Duke crooning all over an infectious groove, slowly, slipping underneath my skin. I had to find out about it. Which album it was on. I had to have it! I soon found that B&W cover with the red title and artist letters looking like one word in the nearest recordshop, staring at it for a long time. I couldn't afford the full price yet. I almost wanted to steal it. No downloads possible then. In 1977 I had a few bucks more, by saving birthday gifts from generous uncles and aunts. There it was, just waiting for me to grab it. I clearly remember it was christmas and the albums had a special low-price sticker on them. Still.... I didn't buy it! What the F...?

Tastes develop and so was mine, restless and always evolving. Sort of. I couldn't help myself. For example, I had a soft spot for the softpop-progrock of  Supertramp ("Just A Little Bit" was their 1977 hit) and the very melodic album "Even In The Quietest Moments" had the right price.


Yes, I bought that one instead. O my.

                 
                                                                Fate.                         
I can't recall how, but eventually I even got my hands on "Station To Station" as well. My mother loved his version of "Wild Is The Wind", as she loved Nina Simone's, so I think she bought it and I usually had to hear her favourite song over and over and then again. Very loud. Maybe we eventually swapped albums. Wathever happened, when I finally listened to the whole record I was hOOked on David Bowie and the snowball rolled on to R&B, Soul and Funk. "Staaaaayyyyy....". When Bowie died, I had to go back to that album. Sure, this one is a favourite, but "Low" and "Heroes" are too. That whole period 1976-1978 was a magical one for me. Soon I was checking out other white guys that "did" black music, even more when I saw this on TV (Vid.): Boz Scaggs. The unavoidable hits "What Can I Say and "Lowdown". That smooth, slick and sophisticated sound and rhythm patterns got me hooked. The word was "crossover", before it became AOR. Melody and rhythm combined, that was the key! Blue-eyed soul it was called.
His old bandmate Steve Miller's "Fly Like An Eagle" crossovered me too. What Could I Say?
I was already aware of the irresistable, hypnotic rhythms though. Of course James Brown's "Sexmachine" comes to mind. It got a lot of spins on seventies radio, so one could not avoid it. No way. I still had to feel it in my gut.

It was the overdone and outragous image of black music that put me off at first. I couldn't take it all too seriously. Found out it was me who was too serious.


It was 1977
when I first heard     
                   "Brickhouse"      
                                       
                                                      Goddamn!      

         Outragous, hardhitting, intense, sultry, uplifting, hypnotic, chantfunk.  

It hit me like a rhythm stick, I loved it!
I couldn't find the studio version right away, but then
I saw this double live album by the Commodores.
Wow, why not  try out the "live" version, maybe there's more excitement! Got that right brother. And one of the reasons I wanted to play the drums I guess. Still I had to discover Sly and P-Funk. But this gave me some fresh, positive vibes. I was funked and ready for more.
Thanks to that one hell of a smart Mr. Bowie.


Speaking of live albums in 1976: it became a trend when Peter Frampton's "Comes Alive" came out and found its way in every household on any block of the world. Yes, the sensation of the big stadium tours.
 

Another successful double-well, half live- album was Santana's "Moonflower" that turned me on to the more adventurous and unexpected syncopated side of rhythm: Latin music (salsa, samba, bosa nova, jazz). 
             
                

And then BAM, "Punk" washed the bubbling and overblown progrockhipfest thing away.

And what do you think was my reaction....??

I moved on, still bought more, went digital, but kept my collection. I also save them on hardisks.

                                                                                   Here's my current situation:

                                                                                        Posing as the proud vinyl collector                                                   
                                                                           
                                                                  

                                                                                       The great wall of digital plastic                                            


                                                                                         
       








                   

Open Up Your Parachute

Hey folks, let's begin with some fresh eye-openers. My musical parachute will open up in the near future, if my mind will let it. Guess Frank's wise words have triggered me and inspired me. 2016 will open up a few more sensible parachutes I hope.

The new album will have 12 songs on it. Just finished the artwork, but I'm still busy working on the mixes. Just let those songs breath a little more. It's gonna be great!
Have a nice (2016) everyone.

Food For Thought

High five to inspiration!
Creating that appetizing magazine, searching for the right song to fit within a certain mood on a page.
Sometimes I'm really surprised about how instances like this food platform have found my music. They've used my song for their flashy magazine, supporting twitter: Tweet 
It has been featured twice in 2012.

Example (MUZIEK CREDITS
Food Inspiration Magazine – editie 60 jaargang 4

edition 60

1Daft Punk
Technologic
4Goldmund
In a notebook
5Boy
Little numbers
6Jack Johnson
You and your heart
7Goldmund
In a notebook
8JoosTVD
Tweet
9Avant la lettre
Magic
10Goldmund
In a notebook
11Jamie Lidell
Multiply
12Red Hot Chili Peppers
Snow
13Jason Mraz
Make it mine
15The Kooks
Shine o

edition 61

 On soundcloud:

Blame It On The Fun

Yes, 2016 is already on my mind, as is my new album, which will problably, predictably come out that spring. Who knows? I can't help myself. It's the time of the year. What really blows my mind now is that I'm not even aware of the looseness of the whole writing and production process. Nothing seems to get in my way. If my mind doesn't open up, nobody is trying to force me into writing songs. When it's open, it's wide open, like a parachute. It works most of the time.

Blame it on the cats....?

Not the frontcover of a JoosTVD album, or....?

Well, don't underestimate the presence of a pet. I've got those two gangsters pictured since they were very small. Great. playfull companions of mine. They make, a sometimes moody guy like me, laugh a many more times a day than without them. Aah yes the little things in life. Blame it on the fun. CU!

2 Thousand + 5teen

The last blog, before I go.
So what did I do to make my life a little more bearable and more complete in 2015? I've listened. My ears seem to filter out the junk more quicker than before and that's a lot! That saved me a lot of time to focus on the writings, recording and releasing of a bunch of new songs. Thanks world.

As with 2014, the death celebrities of our time, become more frequent as age always proves to be the ultimate killer. Here are a "few" that have more or less influenced my state of being (source http://goo.gl/8871CK):

P.F.Sloan (Eve Of Destruction), Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor (Moterhead's drummer of Ace Of Spades), Andy White (Beatles "Love Me Do" drummer), Daevid Allen (Gong frontman, The Magick Brother), Chris Rainbow (Vocalist, Alan Parsons), Allen Toussaint (composer, producer, arranger, pianist, talentscout, inspirator, what a loss of talent!), Joost Zwagerman (schrijver), Drs P. (dutch singer, poet of humoristic absurdism), Gunnar Hansen (remember the original Leatherface?), Maureen O'Hara (John Wayne's favorite company on screen), Phil Woods (played alto sax on so many of my favorite albums of the seventies, like Billy Joel and Paul Simon), Oliver Sacks (the one who really used his brains), Rico Rodriquez (ska trombonist of the Specials), Wes Craven (horror director), Bob Johnston (sixties producer of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel), Cilla Black (her rendition of bacharach's "Alfie" especially), Omar Sharif (screen legend), Patrick Macnee (remember when tv was " John Steed" cool), Chris Squire (Yes bassist-extraordinaire), Ornette Coleman (free jazz sax blower), Ron Moody (Oliver's Fagin), Christopher Lee (the best Dracula actor next to Bela Lugosi), BB King (subtle "Lucille" bluesplayer), Errol Brown (Hot Chocolate's "Every1's a Winner"), Andy Fraser (Free bassist, composer of Robert Palmer's "Every Kinda People"), Percy Sledge (voice of "When a Man Loves a Woman"), Ben E King (voice of "Stand By Me"), Günter Grass ("The Tin Drum" writer), Clark Terry (Fluegelhorn/ Trompet player), Lew Soloff (trumpet player of Blood, Sweat & Tears, loved those horn arrangements), Leonard Nimoy (logical Spock versus emotional Kirk), John Renbourn (british folk finger-picking guitarist), Rod McKuen (composer, poet), Anita Ekberg (Fellini's "La Dolce Vita"), Rod Taylor (actor of "The Time Machine"), Armand (60s protestsinger), Thé Lau (singer/songwriter), Hirth Martinez (singer/songwriter).

What did I work on in 2015? I've been having my own fun, writing, playing, recording and releasing two albums:  
                                                                  Lightning Dutchman

A few song hit the radio waves, like: Unscrew yourself, Don't Do It Again, Paranoiac With A Gun, Guru In A Lovetown, Limo, Rock'n Roll Me In Or Out

                                 
                                                and an instrumental For Your Pleasure vol.2

(more and more people seem to be interested in using my music for their viseo projects)

So what about the music of 2015?
The word "emo" fits the description. But is it emotion?
Only a few new albums made it, because as I grow older and greyer (bored? Nope!), the more I seem to dwell back to the sounds I used to listen when I was this green innocent seventies lad. Except for the much younger generations like Mercury Rev, Tame Impala and Steven Wilson maybe, but nothing else seem to linger.....  aaah, I'm such a romantic fool. It's just that a lot of the old guys keep coming back with a more fresher sound... Well not all the "older" ones though. I was very dissapointed by the releases of Prince (I mean HITnRUN Phase One, P. how do you sleep? but...his Phase 2 is just classic P.!). Ben Folds (pretentious, but vague chamber noodlings), Jeff Lynne's ELO (=Jeff Lynne...) or Seal (Trevor Horn is back, but...without any surprises).  All too predictable and safe.
It's the fault of these retro times. Now, every "new" production can reproduce qualities from the thirties up to the sixties, uuuhm, seventies and ....mmm...the eighties to my bemefit, because my mind seems to wander off easily to what I've already heard. It's just like these newbies are saying "Joost, I know you've got that somewhere on vinyl, but who really cares?". It says a lot of these smug, arrogant, narcistic times. Who will rise to the occasion to do the unexpected?

In the meantime, here are my faves of 2015:
                                                              
                                                                              J.D.Souther - Tenderness

Veteran songwriter surprises with less is more. Subtle arrangements, production, subtle songwriting, title says it all.


                                                                    Steve Martin & Edie Brickell - So Familiar

Bluegrass? BanJoost? No, this is just a very comforting listen, very Up, very welcome in these times.


                                                                                       Boz Scaggs - A Fool To Care

The only Boss for me, age can do good. Eclectic and very soulful. That voice never bores me. Less is so much more...


                                                                                     Joe Jackson - Fast Forward

Welcome back Joe the composer, arranger of wide, colourful canvases. Musicians from Berlin, New York, Amsterdam and New Orleans keep this album fresh.

                                                                         David Gilmour- Rattle That Lock

I just love his tone in voice and guitar. The surpringly jazzy "The Girl In The Yellow Dress (Orchestral Version)". The instrumentals don't add anything specific, but overall there's still a comfortable Floyd in the air.

                                                                         Tom Robinson - Only The Now

 
Welcome back Tom! You're still angry and I feel it. Wild, edgy, actual and in your face, the subtle arrangements in quieter moments (title song) though especially, draw me in.

                                                                     James Taylor - Before This World

A new JT album? I've kept playing it a few times more than I'd expect. Songcrafting they call it. Just James Taylor. Nothing less.

                                                                         Prince - HITnRUN Phase Two

I have a love/hate relation with the purple one. But I think this is his most matured collection (with a few exceptions like Screwdriver) since.......fill me in! A more colourful production, especially the organic feel in the arrangements do the trick, if you like horns and slapping basses.

Books.
What usually happens when I read a biography, is the documenting part of it. I obsessively dig up everything I have in my possession (music to listen to, I listen to it again or movies I've watched, I watch again) or try to find it on www.
For example, The Grateful Dead, all the albums I once  indifferently listened to, I can appreciate and understand them better now, especially after reading a biography. The same happened with Alex Harvey, quite a lad! Another band that I've admired since 1977, Talking heads, I appreciate even more now (Remain In Light is my personal fave) than ever. So I read!

Quoting former post 2014:"And for the sensational background information, here's a few books I've read this year. As usual, mostly sleezy (auto)biographies. Recommended:"

Bobby Whitlock - A Rock'n Roll Biography (a lot of misfortunes, Eric Clapton, Derek & The Dominoes singer/keyboardsman)

David Byrne - How Music Works (this works a lot)

Dennis Mcnally - A Long Strange Trip Grateful Dead (the music man, LSD anyone?)

Donald L Barlett - Howard Hughes, his life & madness (exentric guy, strange times)

Gene Wilder - Kiss Me Like A Stranger My Search for Love and Art (talented guy)

John Neil Munro - The Sensational Alex Harvey (what a life!)

Jonathan Lethem - Talking Heads' Fear of Music (the first album I bought of TH in 1979 that made me an obsessive fan)

Martin Kielty - SAHB Story (the versatile band behind Alex Harvey)

Pamela De Barres - I'm With The Band (narcistic tale of obsessive groupie)

Rod Stewart - The Autobio (Rod does Rod)

David Bowman- Talking Heads This Must Be The Place (one of the best bands in the period 1977-1983 that made the eighties bearable)







 

Yes, use my song!

Once in a while I come across "JoosTVD" songs supporting videos on youtube that really take me by surprise. Some of these songs are 10 years old! I've got nothing to do with these promo videos, but it's nice to see what other people add to to what once was an idea popping out of your head and pooring out of your fingers...so a few here to illustrate that.

 Another one on a spanish documentary site: WALK BY THE EXHIBITION 'EXCRETA. AN EXPOSITION

Songs used in the video's are: Bomber Drone, Shark In The Disco, Circus Monkey, Sow Motion Dream, Stupid Song(s), Tweet.

Ps. (alert! commercial intermisssssssion) Need some of my music? I've got two instrumental albums "For Your Pleasure 1 & 2" on Jamendo readymade, waiting to inspire you!

In The Works

Hai there, Joost has an update. Nothing shocking or to scare you or embarrass myself of I hope... I'm working on it...work to make it work. Ideas pile up every day. It says so on my Twitteraccount. Excitement occures ocassionally. Which ones will end up on the new album? I've already got 9 songs in the pipeline, but far more sketchy ideas, all helping me to focus I guess. As I want this to be a compact one, there'll be no more than 12 of them. More quality, less quantity then? Well if you chew out a full album (say double album) of say about 18 songs, that's a lot to process. It worked more or less with the last one. But especially in the finishing stage, you have to have fresh ears. Less is more! The most fun part for me is to write, record and arrange the songs, but the finishing part (mixing and mastering) is easier to do with less. I'm in the middle of  this mixing process with 9 songs, working more and more on the details than before. Let them breath in an experimental journey.
Is this all neccessairy? Well, I've been around the block writing songs a few times now and I just want to get better you know. Yes I know and you know. Get ready!
In the meantime if you just can't wait, did you know I've come up with another instrumental album on Jamendo? 

Cats don't like to hear about details......