Drone Records

MODELBAU - Muster

Format: CD

Label & Cat.Number: Drone Records - SYM:11

Release Year: 2026

Note: MODELBAU is FRANS DE WAARDs main project these days, the legendary dutch composer and label-manager produced two long tracks of somehow nostalgic, elementary low fi ambience, full of micro noise details and with a rich conceptual background...

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €13.00

More Info

"Whenever I perform a concert, which is usually a one-off, I like to try something new that I have prepared and rehearsed. It's very rare to return to the music afterwards and record a studio version. On 25 November 2023, I played a concert in Münster, Germany, and I was very pleased with how it turned out. However, because I was given 30 minutes, I felt it was a bit rushed, and I recorded a new version at home shortly afterwards. The inclusion of shortwave radio sounds fascinated me at the time. The main work before 'Muster' was the LP 'Blackout', which featured this quite extensively. That LP was dedicated to the war terror in Ukraine and imagining being cut off from the outside world, searching for snippets of information on the radio. 'Disabuse Transmissions' was an additional piece, recorded at the same time, also using sounds from the communication world. The title refers to a short-lived cassette by Kapotte Muziek's first member, Christian Nijs, who died in 2002. Now that I am older, I tend to think more about people and events from the past and how I use equipment from those days (reel-to-reel recorders, cassettes, Dictaphones) that I didn't have at the time, or not to the extent I have them now. Finally, I am able to work easily with this old apparatus until the day they break down. Whatever comes after that is probably silence." [Frans de Waard]

"Modelbau is the long-established solo project of Dutch experimental musician Frans de Waard (1965), active under this name since 2012 and focused on lo-fi noise, tape-based electronics, and intimate, improvised soundscapes. Working with small electronics, shortwave radios, cassette walkmans, effects, and modest digital tools, he uses Modelbau to explore fragile textures and slowly evolving atmospheres that extend his decades-long engagement with underground electronic and electroacoustic music. One of de Waard’s most prolific outlets, Modelbau sits alongside his many other projects (including Kapotte Muziek, Beequeen, Goem, Freiband, and Shifts) yet retains a distinct, hands-on aesthetic that privileges spontaneity, physical media, and the productive limitations of “cheap stuff.” [artis info]