THU20 - Tilburg
Korm Plastics KP 3032
LP only - Limited edition of 250 copies

A live recording made in Paradox in Tilburg in October 2007. Over the past twenty years one of the bigger enigma's of 'industrial' music or 'modern musique concrete' has been THU20. They seldom record or play live, yet when they do, a lot of attention is placed on the detail. In the studio this leads to perfectly shaped sonic constructions, and in a live concert a detailled balance between the various interests of the five players involved. The computer work of Jos Smolders and Roel Meelkop, the acoustic sound objects of Peter Duimelinks and Frans de Waard and the analogue electronics of Jacques van Bussel. A small selection of live recordings by THU20 has been made avialable before, such as a split LP with Merzbow, and live recordings from Nancy. 'Tilburg' fits that particular line of THU20 work. Various recordings were made, from the P.A. aswell as by the individual players, which were slightly edited by THU20. Cover by Meeuw.

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reviews:

THU20
Tilburg
Korm Plastics LP
The first release in six years by this Dutch quintet, comprising Jos Smolders and Roel Meelkop on laptops, Peter Duimelinks and Frans de Waard on 'acoustic objects' and the analogue electronics of Jacques van Bussel. This is a long-running if irregularly convening group, whose discography stretches back to the mid-80s and whose line-up has evolved over time. With the exception of van Bussel, all involved in its present formation have worked together in a number of different groupings and collaborations.
Tilburg is a live recording, which is probably not the best way to hear THU20, given the number of sounds they're generating and the complexity of the process by which they're layered. Its first side takes a bell curve form. As the activity level rises and the density of the playing increases, much of the detail gets smothered by electronic fuzz, through which discrete sounds struggle to penetrate. The second is better ? clearer and more volatile. There's less going on, individual sounds shift to the fore, and each of the contributors' individual sounds are more clearly discernible.
Both the two tracks can be loosely thought of as electroacoustic improvisations (though there's no way you'd classify them as electroacoustic Improv), with individual members' vocabularies alluding to Industrial music, electronics and musique concrète. There's a pronounced feel of collage throughout, though my hunch is that's as much down to the disparate nature of the sounds they're dealing with and the rather haphazard flow of their improvising as much as structural or stylistic intent. (The Wire January 2009)

THU20 - TILBURG (LP by Korm plastics)
Practicing priests . for once information is to hand - (A rare live work from THU20- Jos Smolders and Roel Meelkop (computer) Peter Duimelinks and Frans de Waard, acoustic objects and the analogue electronics of Jacques van Bussel.) and if not then this multilayered work might suggest some studio piece - which would account for its un-noise structuring of abstract "shapes" of sound, more sound collage, sectioned to short to evolve into something which once called itself industrial, with almost nostalgic references to the Abstract of the previous century, charming rather than American brashness or lost in translation Japanese renderings, I'm reminded of that strange and interesting Abstract Expressionist movement in Northern Europe of Wols et al. - an intellectualism which was overwhelmed by first the size and then the brash confrontationality of US Nimitz sized and culture art. Which was a pity, no longer the intellectuals smoke in street cafes Gauloises, but if at all Malbro lites, indicative of the refusal to live and denial of the truth, SMOKING KILLS, and here in Tilburg some smoking clearly takes place, a careful and thought out improvisation that is just like the eddy of Gauloises smoke and thickened with the taste of real, not instant coffee and real not instant improvisations of sound - not noise then- something that might speak from the past and say here is something to talk about. (jliat)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl


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