Lukas Simonis

WHERE’S THE REST OF ME? by; AA Kismet

AA Kismet is a direct descendant of Dull Schicksal and later ‘The Rosebuds’ and much of the material on this, their first, CD had been recorded by those bands already or at least performed live. The problem was that these songs were a bit to ‘poppy’ to be included in the Dull Schicksal repertoire. The main idea by this CD was to make an un-ashamedly pop-album and get some respect from the ‘indierock’ scene. We succeeded on the first count and the reactions and reviews by those few who have heard the CD agree with us completely.
And although this is much more commercial then anything made by Dull Schicksal, we might understand (on second hearing) why it’s not nominated for any MTV-award or even its equivalent in Sexbierum, Friesland (pop. 1500) The opening song did inspire and served as the music for two short movies; ‘Nee’ By Segher Van Wijk and ‘Questions and answers’ By Marieke vd Lippe.

AA Kismet did one tour in 1999 with the crew that played on the first CD (Bob Drake,Luka Simonis, Eveline Ketterings and Cor Hogerdijk). The problem with playing live was that Bob & Lukas didn’t live exactly next door (Rotterdam-South of France) and the second album, AA Kismet was more or less only a studio project. Later,  AA Kismet incarnated in VRIL.

Cover Design by Daniel vd Velden

 

ADM records
There are still a few copies for sale, please send us an email if interested

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Ivan Palacky & Lukas Simonis:
Smet Het Bew Erf Left

The two long pieces on this CD consist of improvisations on knitting machine Dopleta 180 and guitar. On one hand the music is rough, edgy and uses a broad field of sounds that do not necessarily go into music-related atmospheres but border on concrete and field noises. On the other hand, the music can be listened to in an ambient context, as for some mysterious reason the musical landscape that unfolds seems to be located somewhere in between quite abstract free improv music and some sort of experimental ambient…
In October 2018, Ivan Palacký and Lukas Simonis met again as a duo after about 10 years for doing a little tour in Austria and Czech Republic. This was also the occasion that produced this CD, recorded in the wild village of Libusin, near Prague. Audiences & players were quite happy with the results so expect some more stuff coming up…
As for the title of the CD; Both performers have a rich experience with intuitive speeches during the performance and therefore usage of some random words into the abstract sonic structure is not excluded in the happening, although it will be hard to decipher them from this record.

(Lukas; it has also to do with the english of non-native speakers. They might be saying a whole of things but you don’t always understand what they are saying… stuff like Smet Het Bew Er Left?  and you just nod…)

Ivan Palacky & Lukas Simonis:
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A Sure Sign Of Something by; Peter Stampfel & the Worm All-Stars

title of album; A Sure Sign Of Something

title of act; Peter Stampfel & The Worm All-Stars

label; Acid Soxx (This label doesnt exist Anymore)
distribution for Europe; Clearspot.nl, Korm Plastics
promotion for Europe; Z6records.nl

As for the story how this CD came to be; check the booklet in the beautifully designed (Red Bol) CD…well as far as the point of view by Stampfel himself is concerned.

‘We’ (call us ‘the Worm All-Stars’) have a little to say about this CD too. First of all, we always loved the weirdo Holy Modal Rounders stuff, especially the early albums and the two ‘psychedelic’ ones on ESP and Elektra. And when we saw Peter playing somewhere round the turn of the century (as a duo with Gary Lucas) we couldn’t help noticing that he’s in totally good shape and a delicious musician to watch as well (and also, as turned out later , to play with). So when the opportunity came we didn’t hesitate to play with him, and do some recordings. The only thing we can say about that is we choosed to do the recordings as ‘live’ as possible and we were looking for an improvised, rough but tempting atmosphere. The listener can decide for himself if that happened.

 

SOLD OUT

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Cantos Deus:
Interweaving

On first hearing this is a record that sounds lof-fi, rough, noisy, weird and does something with religion. You might even call it ‘the first reli-no wave’ record ever…Deus Cantos is a cooperation between theologist/performer Jacco Weener and Rotterdam underground musicians Bruno Ferro Xavier Da Silva and Lukas Simonis.The idea of the band (and the record) is not pro or anti religion, but it tries to make a statement about the language and musical expression of religion, and to be more specific, about the language and music of christian cults that exist in the USA but are winning grounds in Europe as well. And confront it/them with another form of aesthetics…Of course the record is not only about making statements, trying to be funny, or trying to save some souls… It is a work that was fun to make, fun to play live and that covers ground that hasn’t been touched before -as far as we know…

 

“Their skill, particularly Da Silva’s ridiculously fluid bass runs and Simonis’s clever pop flourishes, give Weener’s ecstatic visions a solid platform to perform on […] And perform he does, from the wobbling declamations on Get Yourself Ready to the pop dirge of Put Your Fingers On My Body a prospect which, given Weener’s impassioned address, is not as appealing as it first sounds. The funny He Didn’t Have To Do It could be a Sunday School take on PiL’s Fodderstompf. Weener enjoys himself a lot on Follow, which is a great slice of queasy funk with a vocal line that reminds this fried reviewer of Reginald Bosanquet’s Dance With Me whereas Interweaving With The Spirits could be an Al Bowlly vocal played on 17rpm. […] There are things that remind me of early Pere Ubu (not just the shrieks, gargles and groans in Weener’s vocals) but some of the way things are set up; namely brutal contrasts, the favouring of minor chords and abrupt silences. It’s got something of The Residents, too, especially the Mole Trilogy. Hellfire is a singalong of sorts that could be from an Armand Schaubroek record…”
(Richard Foster on Louder Than War)

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Misha Feigin & Lukas Simonis:
The Squat

Guitarists Lukas Simonis and Misha Feigin are seasoned improvisers coming together across the punk-hippie generational divide.
Lukas has his musical and cultural roots in punk rock. His playing incorporates high energy noise, uncompromising directness, and refreshing ingenuity. Using electric guitar with numerous pedals and effects, Lucas skillfully creates a multiplicity of textural and harmonic possibilities. His phrasing is exact, minimal and expressive.
Feigin spent his formative years on the fringe of the Moscow hippie scene practicing the art of annoying authorities. Coming from a classical background, Feigin does not use electronics, instead exploring the sonic potential of his instrument – a classical guitar. He is constantly searching for unorthodox ways to create fresh sounds, new harmonics and overtones. At the same time, his playing tends to be melodic and meditative.
Feigin is also a poet and writer. Metaphysics and wry humor coexist in his texts, which are integral to the Simonis/Feigin performance.
Both Simonis and Feigin have produced and released numerous albums and were involved in a variety of cross-media projects with dancers, visual artists and writers.
Simonis and Feigin explore a musical space that cannot be rigidly defined and includes a multiplicity of styles. Their musical interaction is based on sensitivity and the support of ideas offered for improvisation. Dark humor – both musical and textual – is also is an important part of their collaboration. The sounds they make together are unique to their duo.

released December 2017

Listen on Bandcamp >

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Vril – Films

VRIL / Surf For The Unsporty

Special introduction offer !! Vril is the band with the fetish for surf & rock instrumentals, with Lukas Simonis. Chris Cutler, Bob Drake and Pierre Omer. Twanging guitars abound. This DVD features 17 short films by various filmmakers especially made to accompany a Vril music piece.

Vril was originally a studio project, instigated by Bob Drake, Lukas Simonis & Chris Cutler. After making their first album of instrumental guitar rock (inspired by 60ties surf/instrumental bands like the Shadows & the Ventures, but not with the vintage touch to it that a lot of ‘surf’ bands have nowadays) they asked english surrealist writer Frank Key to come up with the meaning for all that. And Frank did. He invented a story ( see the sleevenotes) & the names of the songs. Then VRIL made another album, two years later. And Frank did it again. Both albums were recorded & mixed at Bob’s studio in the south of France. For the second album they were helped by the swiss musician Pierre Omer (ao. The Dead Brothers) on guitar. So now there were two albums but until now no public performances whatsoever. Then -after reading the sleevenotes about the Ulm award- Lukas thought it might be a good idea to really ask people to make films to the music (NOT in a videoclip kinda way and NOT the other way round). So now we’ve asked 15 filmmakers to come up with a film that belongs to a vril song, the idea being that there will be a VRIL DVD with films & music. And there is.

Filmmakers we asked; Pieter Jan Smit, Nino Purtskhvanidze, Florian Kramer, Daniel Zimmer, Sander Blom, Stella van Voorst van Beest, Esther Urlus, Marit Shalem, Lenno Verhoog, Christine Bruckmeier, Chuck o’Meara, Annette Carle, Joost van Veen, Sandra Salter.

 

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BEBE ET LULU: UN HYDROLAT LACRYMAL

“…Tinctures of your darkest hour, your shining one I’ve hidden between your butt cheeks, now sour.

Sensuality of that one long hair you rescue from your anus, winter loving toes or any hole, in which i shall have my habitat as a motherfucking dustbowl.

”What about my milk?” asked the whoresome.

”Oh what will ever come out of my sad little titties? Not that i don’t like cheese!”

”Many moons ago…” followed Rudi Indian her back home, along with ‘ain’t grey skies’, a coward’s throne, 2 scarabees and an alien conversation piece.

Black booty under a japanese silk kimono, lotus feet of the giant dutchman, an american with no shoulders, your motherhood folding my pants, your tight dress.

Your hairless side in the palm of my hands , my easy beastieness blasting your arse. Taste of it still under my pinky nail, crying with class.

Save me my sudden misery from the miserable, the ugly ones, my little lovers…

Robber of my heart that neighbour’s libertine dog , yes, please thank you if in the hereafter there’s no blog and i’ll still be alive and hard. If only your 8 year old didn’t break my heart…”

 

 

As far as the sounds are concerned; here’s some tentative blues from a person that can only count to 11… Bad luck for you, but he has this machine that repeats all his beautiful (well, that’s what he says) mistakes and there’s something in human nature that admires people that buy the right gear. So we got that one covered. Then there is this singer, a bit like a melodramatic Brigitte Fontaine, or a more sophisticated Anton Betschart (as far as the yodeling is concerned)… Part of it is salvation, bedlam, ferocity…. But as a consumer guideline we would recommend to just sit back and suffer.

Bebe and Lulu are a truly magnetic musical partnership which has been seducing audiences since their debut release, much loved artistes Bebe Beliz– ‘Bebe’ and Lukas Simonis – ‘Lulu’ have recorded a selection of classic and contemporary improvised noiseblues chansons.

Perhaps best of all – for both audience and duo – Bebe et Lulu allows Bebe and Lukas the exhilaration of stepping into two sassy and playful characters in a veritable celebration of la vie Noisoise. A heady combination of feminine couture – from elegant to va va voom, seductive and witty banter, romantic noises sung exquisitely inTurkish and English, and the extraordinary musicianship of the guitar, leaves them and their audiences, enraptured. It is no surprise then, that Baby et Lulu continue to attract new devotees at their festival appearances and sold-out club shows across Australia. Uhm… i mean the Benelux.

Very limited edition pink cassette ( C45) with special puffer package.

Also included; digital version.

For people that want digital only; GO TO BANDCAMP

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