★Stroom
Spoki
**2020 repress** Spoki (Ghosts) is the sound of an artist putting their private world to tape. Of exploring and pushing the limits of themselves and technology to realise the music in their head. As Ingus Baušķenieks himself explains: “My own world differs a little from my friends tastes. And - as my father said - the collective art is not art at all.” Arranged and produced by Ingus Baušķenieks. Female vocals on A2, A3 & B3: Edīte Baušķeniece. All instruments and male vocals: Ingus Baušķenieks.
Towers of Silence
Stroom hold a light to the delicious Belgy dirge “pop” of Adult Fantasies, sifting Nico-meets-Coil and Jonnine-esque gems from their run of late ‘80s/early ‘90s LPs for Antler and Sub Rosa. This label is all nostalgia for shit we never knew existed but which we feel like we’ve known intimately before - same thing we always say - a kind of unheimlich fuckry that's pretty much a genre all of its own by this point. If that’s too vague, give this a listen if you’ve ever found yourself bawling to Mar…
Eigen Boezem
Tucked away in the Dutch underground of the early 80’s a young Hessel Veldman created his own music world in the small industrial sea town of IJmuiden. It was a world recorded on tapes and reels. A world where things happened according to personal logic based on sonic exploration, electronic sounds and improvisation. The approach was intimate, at times light-hearted, but often following deep inner contemplation and total immersion in the creative process. Above all, music was made according to t…
Manes
"There is an endless abundance of variations that the clarinet can use in changing the colour of a single note. As a privileged listener - and - experiencer, Ben Bertrand through his favourite instrument shared the musical blueprints with me, which resulted in this album. His music has become a vivid part of my almost daily thoughts - allowing what I hear to clash and sing with the patterns and rhythms already established in my mind. A voluntary trip, an absorbing experience in our Brussels vibr…
19 Years Before the Beginning
**600 copies** “Sometimes our own creations surprised us,” says Inguna Rubene, flute player, guitarist, bassoonist and songwriter for 19 Gadi Pirms Sākuma (19 Years Before the Beginning). Created with the idea of lasting for a single performance, 19 Gadi Pirms Sākuma developed into one of the most delicate, intriguing groups in Latvia’s 1980s and early 1990s music scene. Formed in 1988, the band arrived at a time when the Soviet Union was showing the first signs of unravelling. Latvia remained a…
KSUN Encounter
**300 copies** As far as we can knowl, TRjj stems from TRIIMusik, “a loose group based in Germany since 1998”. It is practiced collectively with interchanging names and roles, so the full control about disguised authorship would be guaranteed. Everyone involved was set to meet half way. TRjj is a filter for the kinship of many. It's the freedom attained, once you have gotten rid of yourself. This heteronomic practice would be ideal to advocate against reasons which are claimed, biographies that …
Verboden Dromen
Shakti , a three-man formation around “Praga Khan”. With this first mini-lp Praga once more proves his capability to drill into new rhythmic territories. Demonic Forces is a dance record. Western discotheque rhythmics mixed with Eastern influences. A unique creation that certainly can be called astonishing. The use of original Eastern instruments gives the whole an extra mystik dimension. With the help of some friends amongst whom a.o. Naburak Pran, Shakti succeeds in attaining an unparalleled a…
Music Compilation: 12 Dances
As Stroom approaches 30 releases, a number of distinct strands have emerged from its impeccable tastes, and TRJJ’s Music Compilation: 12 Dances slots neatly into their most precious vein of slow, zoned, and loner obscurities somewhere between the minimal, rhythm-driven slink of Pablo’s Eye, the bedsit blues of Vanderschrick, and the other-place ambience of their Cybe collection. Far as we can tell, TRjj stems from TRIIMusik, “a loose group based in Germany since 1998”. It is practiced collective…
Le Personnage Principal est un Peuple Isolé
Benjamin Lew was an enlightened amateur, in the noble and almost Renaissance-like sense of the word: he dabbled with equal grace in photography, writing, visual arts ... and worked part-time as a cocktail mixer in a tropical bar which was one of the favourite watering holes of Brussels’ thriving artistic community of the early ‘80s. Tuxedomoon had just moved to Brussels, and Steven Brown was among the many musicians, designers & artists who patronized the bar. Benjamin had a secret passion: he w…
A Place of Solace
Cinematically-scoped synth music with an intimate personality; the debut from Jachym Vandenbeele aka Aponogeton for Stroom. RIYL Heldon, Klaus Schulze, Eduard Artemiev scores for Tarkovsky. This album is the result of some musings on what drives us in life and how we come to terms with our place in the world. I wrote it around the time I was finishing my philosophy degree. I had also come to a point where I wanted to make music that was more personal, emotional and conceptual than before.We are …
Happiness Is Within Sight
A spellbinding ode to love lost, and possibly to be gained, from Belgium’s Annelies Monseré, one of the few contemporary artists to release new recordings amid Stroom’s classic reissue schedule - although you’d hardly tell from the timeless, ghostly quality of her signing and gothic backdrops. Described by Ziggy Devriendt’s (a.k.a. DJ Nosedrip) label as “…a record about a parting of ways. It is dedicated to the one who has been left behind and the one who left” the latest LP from Annelies is unm…
Chosen Songs
Limited edition of 800 Yet another dreamy peach from STROOM 〰, ‘Chosen Songs’ collects an unmissable introduction to the shadowy poetry and music of 48 Cameras; a long-running, mutable ensemble helmed by Belgium’s Jean-Marie Mathoul (✝ 04/07/2018)Spanning 8 pieces, each recorded in one take between 2002-2013, ‘Chosen Songs’ notably features guest input from Michael Gira (Swans) and Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) among many others. However, the centre of attention is Jean-Marie Mathoul (1952-2018), who…
Jan Zonder Vrees
The firstborn baby is the soundtrack to the 1984 Flemish cult classic movie 'Jan Zonder Vrees', by infamous composer Alain Pierre. ‘Jan Zonder Vrees' was the first animated feature film, directed by Jef Cassiers and commissioned by the public broadcasting company BRT. It tells the tale of Jan, a simple yet extremely strong farmer boy who has to battle evil whilst fleeing from his native town of Antwerp. Although Cassiers was on a very small budget, his movie is full of references to Old Masters …