Dutch saxophonist/beatmaker, who lives in Barcelona, is back with his signature type of raw headnod punk-jazz. We've got the honour to present you a full album premiere today!
Reinier Thijs, also known as Thijsenterprise, is a mysterious Dutchman who moved to Barcelona, Spain about five years ago. He's definitely an artist who constantly creates. In the past 3 years alone he has released 8 beat-tapes/albums, some containing more than 30 different experimentations one on project! The man is prolific as hell, pretty much lives in the (bedroom) studio and loves to explore the combination of sampled records and live instrumentation. His first few beat-tapes were mainly built around soul & jazz samples, but the latest are definitely more on the live tip. Originally hailing from Friesland, a province in the northern part of The Netherlands, he uses that heritage for most of his project titles. 'Snits' is local slang for the city of 'Sneek', 'Lahringen' is an anagram of the city 'Harlingen' and his brand-new one Three Houses is an English translation of 'Driehuizen'.
On the forthcoming Three Houses album Thijs continues the sound of his predecessor Lahringen, perhaps slightly darker and more expressive with his soloing on the saxophone, plus there's a newly added clarinet to his arsenal. High-pitched screaming sax-phrases that resemble 60's/70s spiritual jazz by Pharoah Sanders (so don't expect any Kenny G-slickness) and dirty drum samples someone like Madlib would be more than happy to chop up as well. A notable inspiration for some of the elements in his tracks comes from NxWorries, the duo consisting of vocalist/MC Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge. On 'Trix' Thijs interpolated a bass line from 'Khadijah' which evolved into a new piece and on 'Sunglasses For Summertime In The Zoo' he recorded himself saying:"I left home at seventeen, had to lighten the load / I was young but I was keen to survive on my own", a line that came from 'Get Bigger'. These examples perfectly portray the beauty of inspiration and how everything is connected in music, depending on how deeply you zoom in or out.
All tracks on the album are composed and produced by Thijsenterprise, with the captivating 'Koyaanisqatsi' as an exception. It was originally composed by minimalist master Philip Glass for the 1983 documentary of the same name. The film and the tune both represent disconnection from nature, life of chaos and imbalance. Thijs' sax teacher introduced him to the soundtrack back in 2005 and both the movie and the music, had a huge impact on him ever since. I remember seeing the British band GoGo Penguin play their rendition of this soundtrack live while the film was shown at a huge screen behind them. It was a hypnotising and mind-bending performance that I won't forget anytime soon.
In my opinion 'Y Y Y' is one of the stand-out tracks on the album, due to the strong solid drums sampled from an obscure soul vocalist Darondo's previously unreleased 'Get Up Off Your Butt', a driving upright bass line that keeps the engine running, a frequently returning frantic scream and of course, Thijs' heartfelt sax-playing. All of this adds up in the mix that is his personal raw style and is presented in its strongest on this album.
The Three Houses (Driehuizen) album will be released on all digital platforms and a limited vinyl run this Wednesday, June 16th via Rucksack Records. Get your first listen of the full album below!
Steppin' Into Tomorrow stands with artists & labels and encourages listeners to support by buying their music directly from bandcamp.
Comments