Baars-Jansen-Zuydervelt * protoU

MARISKA BAARS, NIKI JANSEN, RUTGER ZUYDERVELT – HARDANGER

You can trust Rutger ‘Machinefabriek’ Zuydervelt to always come up with surprises again and again – even with approximately 103 albums as Machinefabriek and another 43 under his own name.
This time, it’s a new collaboration with Mariska Baars – known for her work as soccer Committee but also for various other collaborations, Piiptsjilling and Fean among them. And with Niki Jansen, who plays the hardanger fiddle that gave this album its name.

On two 17-minute tracks, the trio presents a remarkable combination of Niki Jansen’s fiddle, Mariska Baars’ guitar and voice, and the additional sine waves of Rutger Zuydervelt, who also processed and edited the material to this result.

“The music on Hardanger started with improvisations by Niki Jansen, guided by Mariska Baars, who responded with vocal and guitar recordings. Rutger Zuydervelt used this material as the building blocks for the two long-form pieces found on the album.”

Hardanger is the 50th release in the ongoing Laaps series, which means this series is half-way now (it will end at #100). It is available on CD, vinyl and as a digital download.

PROTOU – THE VOICE OF SERENITY

The Cryo Chamber label is known for specializing in ‘dark’ (and ‘cold’) ambient. But, as its title suggests, the latest protoU album is a rather serene adventure – not necessarily ‘dark’ though it has some dark undertones at times.
The ‘dreamy sweeping voyage across light and dark’ is recommended for ‘fans of field recordings, harmonic pads, and tranquil soundscapes’.

This is protoU‘s 17th album for the label – the exception being her collaboration with Purl on Dronarivm in 2019. protoU (the capitalization is intended) is the alias of Oleksandra Puzan from Kyiv, Ukraine, sometimes also known as Robocat, Sasha Cats, and some other aliases. Her husband is Oleg Puzan, also known as Dronny Darko (another Cryo Chamber regular).
protoU often collaborates with other artists, but five of the seven tracks here are her solo work. The remaining two tracks feature Fractalyst (Dimitris Valasopolous) and Skrika (Monty Adkins), respectively.

The Voice Of Serenity will definitely appeal to Cryo Chamber aficionados. It’s also recommended if you’re not yet familiar with the label and want a taste of its music without diving too deep into its darker depths—at least for now.