"The waves of novelty and rejuvenation never come from people trying to use 'the formula' or fit in, but from the malcontents trying to do it their way." - James Holden A songwriter / musician since the early 90s, HARLEM NIGHTS is nowadays a private home studio, cooperating with various artists. I’ve gone anywhere from classical music composition to speedrock; my music is a mixture of styles, not trying to fit in anywhere, but EXPRESSING what I feel or what I want to say, at any moment. Freestyle recording and improvisation are important, to capture it lively with the imperfections that make things perfect. The better tracks seem to write themselves.
Dance and funk are my roots; I grew up with the disco of 70s and 80s, still love it. I rediscovered the works of artists like Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and Beatles later. I started playing along by ear with their tracks on my 1880 Kuyper piano, and focused on compositional techniques and tricks, learned a lot from that. I have also been a restless percussionist since childhood, and learned to play drums by renowned Hans Cleuver from Focus .
Discomixing, and remastering classic 12 inches, have been other activities; in 2001 my “slowdance disco soup†made the start of the DJ World Wide Megamix, still online at www.discomusic.nl . Some of my disco remasters and re-edits found their way to DJ’s around the world, still playing them in clubs and retro radio stations. Doing this taught me a lot on the subtle arts of mastering and producing.
Right now I'm involved in multiple projects with musicians and producers. When possible, new tracks will appear on FOEM and CORE producer forums as well as here.
I am Public Relations Manager in the Netherlands for the FOEM music agency, talent pool and electronic musician community, now ascending 10,000 members.
CURRENT RELEASES:
- Cicolano's Ride: official soundtrack for Cicolano Adventures Quad Club , Italy
- Acid Potion: on Acid Allstars Volume One Compact Disc
- more releases planned.