Behind the scenes, we’ve been working on a new set-up for the label. One that is more communal, where artists can do more themselves (or, Do It Together) while learning the basics of music promotion. This way, we hope to distribute more awesome, beautiful and special recorded music into the world, while maintaining our own sanity and workload. In the near future, there will be new releases by Todd Tobias, The World of Dust, Boeije, Jake Nicoll and Coaster. Yeah!
Tomorrow, we are present at the Sound of Young Holland, the annual showcase of the Dutch independent scene in O’Ceallaigh and Kult. Very cool to be hosting the upper floor in O’Ceallaigh on this fest, organized together with Subroutine, Lepel and Zeevonk. You can see wh^rl (photo) and Immen in our tiny room.
The coming months, we’ll continue to host shows as Combo Qazam in our rehearsal space / indie venue Studio Patrick in Utrecht. We have cool stuff coming up like Kenmujo next Monday, Zea and Môgô in February and wh^rl and Tonsils in March. For now, the Tiny Adventures in De Groeverij have been put on hold for a while, but who knows what the future has in stock! Stay tuned for LIVE MUSIC 😀
When it comes to releasing new albums, 2023 was a bit quieter than usual. We had a small hiatus in the first half of the year, and then came back in the fall with two amazing albums. Microwolf’s Changelings is a postfolktrip, where you can keep expanding your horizon while discovering new layers of sound. The self-titled double album by wh^rl followed shortly after, 15 tracks from the other side of the lo-fi indie spectrum. We are very proud to have these two albums in our catalogue!
Last year we booked 42 concerts. A pretty good year for DIY live music, we’d say! Combo Qazam played 10 shows, The World of Dust 8 shows – all of them in The Netherlands, except one in Belgium. Very cool were the series in De Groeverij. First two ‘Tiny Room presents’ with Ilsha and Boo Hoo, later under the Tiny Adventures name (Garciaphone, Dusty Stray, Geri van Essen and more great shows than we can highlight here). Very special was wh^rl in De Groeverij, the perfect consolatory music after a very sad personal event.
With Combo Qazam, we started hosting special CQ presents nights in Studio Patrick, with The Burning Hell, MOAN, Jellephant & The Phantoms, Kristóf Hajós and a lot more. Of course we also participated again during U? / Le Guess Who?, with a cool showcase featuring Hister, Ease Anais and Microwolf (with Combo Qazam as the backing band).
We’re happy to say 2024 will bring us more concerts. Live music is the food for the soul. See for a list of Tiny Room concerts: https://www.tinyroom.nl/upcoming-concerts/.
Watch the new video by Tiny Wine for their song Archer, from the Archer EP (Tiny Wine’s 7″ & cassette release from 2020). Lo-fi goodness and a Hi8 camera, you can always wake us up for that!
In Vertro Ubretl’s own words: “To celebrate Archer’s 3rd anniversary I wanted to make a video of an idea I’ve had stuck in my head for the last year. This song and video are about feeling lost in comfortable places. I hope you enjoy this story of 2 friends becoming unrecognizable to conquer their fears by stumbling upon unfamiliar masks in a familiar forest.”
Hi everybody,
I’d like to notify you of this experiment! My new album as The World of Dust, 13 Holy Nights, is supplemented with a new song on Bandcamp every day. Starting today! So you can hear Wild Boars now, the first song of the 13 Holy Nights. Tomorrow I’ll make Amputation public, the day after Christmas Eve, etc. I hope you like this experiment.
There will be an LP and CD version of the album, which you can preorder now. That helps me a lot continuing this music endeavor! I’ll take this digital album offline after January 6th, and a proper release is set for later this spring.
The songs are also released on my Instagram page with accompanying AI art made by Joost M. de Jong Jr. It’s cool stuff, see it here.
Thanks for your ongoing support and have a good few weeks coming up!
Peace and love,
Stefan
Do you remember that Teaser Album by wh^rl, filled with demos, outtakes, alternate mixes and covers? Well, we finally finished uploading the last few songs on it. It’s on the Shaky Maracas Bandcamp and it’s a fun and entertaining additional listen to the amazing debut album that came out last month! 🎄 Go and listen, have a good Friday!
Yesterday was the perfect ending to this year’s Tiny Adventures series. Great to finally see The Puddle Parade again (after 15 years!), creating loops with kalimba, singing saw and other cool little instruments. This time with saxophone, that blended so well with the melodica! Beautiful & charming lo-fi stuff.
Garciaphone came all the way from France for this show, and – although the trip was long – totally delivered with his old and new songs, melodies and harmonies that warm your soul. No big stories to tell, no epic show elements, no branded marketing needed. Just beautiful Songs (with a capital S). Always a delight to see him play live, and this was no exception.
And this all in a sold out Groeverij – the most cozy, pleasant and welcoming store in and around Houten. Thank you all!
Today we’ll release this new record by wh^rl. Double LP, CD and digital versions, all looking pretty sharp. Woohoo!
wh^rl is the solo debut of 59-year old Groninger Jurgen Veenstra (Avery Plains, MOAN, Moonlizards, Meindert Talma), who is not hiding behind walls of noise anymore, but who is making a big emotional impact with his bare & beautiful lo-fi songs.
On his self-titled debut, Veenstra delivers 15 songs that – for the untrained listener – fall into the ‘singer-songwriter’ idiom, but are much broader and deeper, filled with decades of life experience and listening to all kinds of music. Each song enhabits its own lo-fi universe, here and there hinting at indie rock, folk, blues, noise, americana and ambient.
Bandcamp: https://shorturl.at/ehis9
Spotify: https://shorturl.at/ckKLT
Apple Music: https://shorturl.at/oqzU8
Pre-order the sprawling lo-fi double LP by wh^rl now (on vinyl or cd) on our Bandcamp page! It’s Bandcamp Friday today, so all proceeds go to the artist. It’s a good day to order. Listen to two of the tracks, see the artwork and pre-order this beautiful thing via this link: