Lip Service

After have played sold out theatre halls with their idiosyncratic drum music the artistic leaders Mies Wilbrink and Willem van Kruijsdijk decided it was about time for a side project. They wrote wind instrument music to go with the drums and so a new show called “Beats ’N Brass” came into being. The response was so enthusiastic and overwhelming that they decided to release an album of it. In the beginning years of the band there had also been a tour with “De Vier Winden”, also wind musicians and of course there was the collaboration with Adrian Belew, the guitar celebrity and with ‘Last Poet’ Umar Bin Hassan, but now it is a matter of a newly written work. The result got the significant title “Lip Service”, an eclectic whole with all sorts of influences from deep within the African continent to New Orleans and from Latin to Raï, a journey between the dessert, the jungle and the club in the big city. Yet it’s still typically Van Kampen, an always quirky approach of what rhythm is and does. complemented now in the same quirky way with catching wind music: a bit strange, but very nice….

The tireless percussionists Johan Boere, Olaf Fase, Boudine van Slobbe and Emile Cleuver ( who replaces the pregnant Clara de Mik here) of course supported marvelously by the keyboards, drums, loops and bass of Robin van Vliet, are being complemented here in a superb way with three young Flemish players of wind instruments: Stien Carlier (sax) Daniël Vanderhoydonks (trumpet and flugelhorn) and Alex Loiacono (trombone) who also wrote the wind score. The enthusiasm radiates from the record, the atmosphere blows you over, in brief a wonderful album for if you were there and for the real Slagerij Van Kampen fan, but surely also for anyone who really loves a nice piece of music!

Differbag

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of van Kampen ‘Differbag’ became the first Slagerij van Kampen dvd. It is a concert registration of the ENERGIGANTICA Tour and an extra chapter in which you are taken into the history of Slagerij Van Kampen, told by the founders Willen van Kruijsdijk and Mies Wilbrink. The concert is also on CD.

[I.D.]

The first album since the start of the new crew. The compositions that have matured on the live tours vary greatly and show different styles: sometimes complex rock beats and at other times you think: ‘wild tribe meets jazz band’ or you imagine yourself to be at a meeting of Arab tribal leaders. But all this evidently within the identity [I.D.] that Slagerij Van Kampen has had for years.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

The phenomenon Slagerij Van Kampen has existed for 20 years! A party is in order and that is observed with this magnificent double CD: Live, as you prefer to hear Slagerij Van Kampen, complemented with some extraordinary projects of this unique company. A recommendation for everyone and a must have for every fan!

ADD UP TO THE ACTUAL SIZE

This album of Van Kampen heritage is one with guts and resists any comparison to current developments in contemporary pop-music. It ranges from dance to film, from Trance to Punk, a feast of ‘technorganic drumscapes’. Ladies and gentlemen DJ’s: very much recommended!

KICK OFF

As a sort of countdown for the World championships football Sony Music releases the official World Cup album titled: ‘AllezOlaOlé’. This album encompasses the spirit of the tournament translated into music with brand-new work by well-known artists from the qualified countries in this last stage of the World Cup that started in France in June 1998. ‘AllezOlaOlé’was released first in France on April 22 and followed later by the worldwide release in April and May. The album comprised a CD, cassette and mini-disc version and even contains 20 songs! The Van Kampen track is called “Kick off” and was also released as a CD-single.

DOOR

And then there was “Door”… This CD is one to really take your time for! A great adventure passes you by, exciting, acoustic drums, larded with great, drawn-out sounds in whirling compositions; dreamjourneys, emotional meetings and forces that blow you over are the ingredients of a vivid and stirring journey with the captivating phenomenon Van Kampen. A beautifully designed and pioneering booklet completes the very successful studio recordings.