The artwork of our Handmade Record didn’t just fall out of the sky. It was created by the Brussels based tattoo artist Arjunah, based on a dream I had. 

Arjunah has been inking me up for about 11 years now and I know how lucky I am to have stumbled upon an artist as great as him by mere accident. Our cooperation dates back to my facedown days and most of my tattoos spring from the things that were active in that community from ‘97 to ‘99. The reputation of Arjunah’s work is now irrefutable and he is at last getting his long overdue credit and recognition. He has never been a loud, assertive player or networker, but highly committed to his work without getting sidetracked by false ambition. I can only say that his attitude gets my deepest respect and my unwavering support.

I have at first hand experienced the privilege of seeing his work grow ever more detailed and perfected. And I’m not lying when I say that even 11 years ago I was already highly impressed by his versatility and expertise. He can ink just about anything you want. Everything seems to be his specialty but more importantly, his artistic background brings something else to the game: composition. Arjunah has brought order to the chaos of ideas that I have laid on him, time and time again. He has been 10 steps ahead of me every single time. I am convinced that this is a quality that is not only the sum of his experience, but an innate talent for this trade. I am sure that he was ‘meant’ to be a tattoo artist.

If you are thinking about tattoos or you have been thinking about it for a long time but you never took the steps to actually have it done, here’s someone that I can recommend with complete conviction.

These are the paintings that Arjunah made for a school of QUIET.

To all you bands out there … throw away your hand-held recorders, a new toy is available – the Zoom R16. First of all, no I’m not sponsored by the Japanese to advertise this device. I just think it’s so great i wanted to share this with all you bands out there struggling to make some decent rehearsal recordings without bringing out the computers.

So what makes this device so great, well the price for one, but definitely the features are killer. With a price in the same range of those tiny, hard-to-handle-with-their-clumsy-navigation hand-held recorders, you get a device with A LOT MORE features.

The best things is that this device is very intuitive. Sure, there are a lot of menu’s, but after playing around with it for a couple of hours you are ready to go and surprise your band fellows.

After struggling for a couple of years with laptops and external sound card and connector cables or messing around with those tiny recorders I’m considering myself a happy camper with this mini studio.

Some of the features:

• 8 XLR/Line inputs (2 of them are phantom powered) – you can plug in just about everything with an output: guitars, microphones, bass amp line out, keyboards or piano.
• 2 build in microphones through which you can record – this feature comes in handy when your at home and in a lazy mood and you just want to capture some new idea quickly without loosing your inspiration by setting up some mic’s and connect cables … just power on, new project and go …
• Record up to 16 tracks (max 8 tracks at the time) – this is great for recording the whole band in one go and can be used perfectly for demo-making – after laying down the basic tracks you can still punch in overdubs or use the remaining (up to 16) free tracks to record or re-record certain parts or redo vocals and backings.
• Recorded music is stored on a SD card – easy for transfer of data or copying projects to your computer – this cards come in all different sizes nowadays, this device supports SD cards up to 32GB of data. Standard, this device comes with a 1GB SD card.
• There’s a setting where you can choose to record in 16bit or 24bit/44.1kHz and all files are stored as WAV, so no lame-ass mp3 support here.
• All recorded tracks are organized in a project folder (as separate tracks) with a possibility to do a quick mix down (1 stereo track) but you just as well copy the project to your computer and continue in your DAW to do some mixing or rearranging of the song.
• Metronome for click track recording – handy when you want to lay down a basic track during pre-production a move everything to the computer later on.
• Insert / send effects (guitars/basses/fx/mastering effects) – which you would probably not use when recording your band in the rehearsal room, but easy when composing on your own.
• USB connection for moving files between this device and your band members USB sticks or if you connect this device to your computer via USB, it functions as a card reader.
• Powered by batteries (up to 6 hours, not included), an adapter (included) or usb from a computer.

So, that’s it ? Well no, this device can also be used as a controller for your DAW and you can also use it as a sound card for direct recording music onto your computer.

So what else do you need after buying things (whenever you buy something there’s always this other thing you require to get going)? Well, in order to make some decent recordings i recommend you get a few XLR mic cables, 2 omni-directional microphones (Audio Technica AT-2020’s will do a great job) and a headphone.

I don’t go to a rehearsal without this device anymore …

Here we go again. Another 8 free songs in our download section. There’s one song we like best,  so if you ask for anything new on your favourite radio station, ask for ‘More Bootlegs‘.

This addition of 8 more free tracks (some old and new stuff blended together) gives you the full 14 song download of our ‘HANDMADErecord’ album. Check out the lyrics, and next time we meet you on stage, we’ll have an extra mic ready for your sing alongs.

It’s about time I wrote something extra great about this man on our site. Alain Indria from Lombardia. I think by now it’s safe to say that I can consider him a good friend. When times got rough, Alain helped me out with a job, working at this amazing place and when all fell apart around our previous band (.calibre), he was the guy that helped me get back on my feet and try to look at stuff from other angles. We don’t see enough of each other cause he’s busy and I’m busy and we never seem to get around to socializing anywhere else but at Lombardia, but still it feels like I can turn to him when I need some extra push. And I like that. I hope he knows he can count on me in the same way.

Anyhow. Veggie, vegan, raw, … it’s all possible. And more importantly it’s always organic and non industrial. Tailor made, if you require so. I just started hanging out here many years ago for the excellent variation in vegan foods and his new stuff still impresses the hell out of me. He truly is the food wizard, coming up with new, exciting stuff all the time. Sometimes, stuffing me full of foods as a guinae pig (as long as it’s free and veggie, I’ll down it) and I must say, I never tasted anything I didn’t like. So if you’re a veggie or a health freak or if you have any kind of food allergy, talk to Alain and his mom Odette, and they will show you ways to turn even the most restricted diet into a banquet.

Part of the production budget for our first asoQ recordings (the mastering to be exact) was provided by Alain because he could see we were in a jam. I still consider this a great gift which we really needed at the time to help us finish the recordings. To thank him we recorded this whack demo song for his most popular invention: gingerlove, a hot beverage based on herbs and fruit. (gingerlove.be).

Definitely something long overdue. Looking for the people that have been wearing our asoQ shirts I stumbled across this photo. Wim Wilms: indeed our Belgian version of John Peel, be it on another level, but just a honest. He’s working hard and more importantly, he has a non discriminating vision on what music and the culture of music should be like. He will not let himself be influenced by his personal taste when working with bands. I know he believes that anyone that is really putting in the effort and the hours, deserves a little break. And that is just fucking great, no?

Radio Benelux and its Durango Sessions offer a platform to anyone that wants it. We’ve played this venue twice up until now and I’ll keep knocking on that door about once a year because it’s just the best fun ever. The crowds are mostly very small (it is just a bar with some stools, and the rest is taken by the band set up and the audio equipment) but the ambiance is immense. I always feel like I’m stepping into Twin Peaks when I enter the room, the wooden walls, the same people, the black ‘n’ white tile floor pattern, the intensity of it all, the urinal outside, … I totally LOVE this place.

Check this shit out… it’s the best. If you have an act or a talent that is suited for radio, get in touch with the Durango Team. I loudly support this effort.

Every time we handed someone a shirt we asked them to provide us with a picture of them wearing it. The first pictures are coming in. (We still have to put some other shirts in the mail – a bit behind on that. Sorry Torben, my bad). We started a flickr set, so you can take a look at them here. We’ll be adding as they come in. Thanks to all of you.

Take, take, take …

We have been communicating ‘take this music’ for the past few weeks and I guess we mean business. This music is all free. Not because we don’t value it, we highly do, but because we like the idea of you playing it and sharing it.

You can easily help us out. All we need is for you to download the tracks and tell everyone and anyone about them. (Only if you like what you hear, of course.) – In the long run this will help us to provide you with more releases.

5 more free songs for your sharing pleasure: ‘varnish’, ‘single me out’, ‘insular’, ‘hoax’ and ‘freak’. A blend of old and new material. Along with the previously released ‘city of quartz’, these six songs are the first half of our ‘more bootlegs’ online free album compilation.

The math is quite simple:

	the music is free
	if you like this music, download the tracks
	share this with your friends to listen
	they can also download the tracks and hopefully tell others about it

.

We got some of these original asoQ printed shirts in stock . You can get your hands on one for free.

How can you get your free asoQ tshirt? 

• Get 10 (20 proved to be too much for you all) of your facebook friends to become a fan of our facebook fanpage (and while you’re at it, ask them to download the “city of Quartz mp3“).
• Mail us the list of your 10 selected friends once they have friended to the page + your home address, so we can send you the shirt.

We can mail you the shirt or you can collect it yourself at our resident food place ‘Lombardia‘ in Antwerp. (Try the Ginger Love drink while you’re at it, ask for the asoQ discount). Until we run out of tshirts that is.

If you want to wear the rags without the social drags: you can buy a shirt for 15€. Pop us a mail.

Here’s what @lapresidenta kindy threw together to help us spread the word at her workspace. Muchas gracias. [At least one agency that'll look a whole lot better.]

and the follow up mailing (like any good communication should have)