
A fierce live collision of Jaap Blonk's phonetic vocal and electronic inventions and Jasper Stadhouders' raw guitar improvisation, forging a surreal language of sputtered syllables, scraped strings, and disruptive humor, where meaning dissolves into texture and every gesture feels simultaneously unhinged and meticulously alive.
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Jasper Stadhouders-guitar
Jaap Blonk-electronics, voice
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UPC: 5902693148746
Label: Kontrans
Catalog ID: Kontrans 272
Squidco Product Code: 36817
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: Netherlands
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Zaal 100, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on May 7th, 2025, by Jasper Stadhouders.
aJaa! Ð Improvisers captures an unpredictable and diverse set of encounters between guitarist Jasper Stadhouders and legendary vocal improviser Jaap Blonk, recorded live at Zaal 100 in Amsterdam. Across unusual phonetic inventions, electronics, and jagged guitar assaults, the duo dismantles any stable sense of narrative, replacing it with instant composition in its most feral state. BlonkÕs invented lexicon — spat, gasped, croaked, and howled — meets StadhoudersÕ raw circuitry of scraped strings, amplifier growl, and sudden harmonic eruptions. At times the two collide on the electronic plane, where BlonkÕs devices trigger volatile reactions against StadhoudersÕ fractured strings.
Titles like Horplokta and Drarap Ondok are not words to be Òunderstood,Ó but portals into a sound-poetic language where syntax mutates into pure sound. The performance teeters between absurdity and intensity, balancing dada humor with an almost ritual violence. No explanation is offered, and none is needed — this is improvised music that demands listening with the body as much as the ear.
On the Track TitlesThe six titles — Horplokta, Ederkonjou, Ruhonkreloj, Ajaaspook Sujes, Drarap Ondok, and Jajadelots — are invented phonetic constructs typical of Jaap BlonkÕs sound-poetic vocabulary, not taken from any real language. Rather than literal meaning, they suggest sonic character: Horplokta evokes something cloaked or lumbering; Ederkonjou hints at incantation or conjuring; Ruhonkreloj, echoing reloj (ÒclockÓ in Spanish), feels like warped or broken time; Ajaaspook Sujes conjures spectral presence; Drarap Ondok lands with percussive dread; and Jajadelots loops like a playful or ritual chant. These titles function as vocal gestures — open invitations to imagine sound before hearing it.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Jasper Stadhouders "Jasper Stadhouders (Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1989) is a guitarist and bassist based in Amsterdam. He's performed music on stage since the age of 8. He is an active member of the international improvised music circuit. He is a co-founder of the bands Cactus Truck (with John Dikeman and Onno Govaert), Stadhouders/Govaert/De Joode Trio and two duos with percussionists Dag Erik Knedal Andersen and Nicolas Field. He is also part of such diverse bands as Spinifex and Lily's Déjà Vu, next to playing countless of ad hoc improv shows. Jasper also occasionally works in the fields of dance, theatre and contemporary composed music. He has played with Han Bennink, Ab Baars, Paal Nilssen-Love, Marshall Allen, Wolter Wierbos, Noel Redding, Ken Vandermark, Jim Black, Andrew D'Angelo, Terrie Ex, Andy Moor, Peter Evans, Frank Rosaly, Dave Rempis, Roy Campbell, Michael Moore, Jeb Bishop, Peter Jacquemyn, Wally Shoup, Ingrid Laubrock, Mars Williams, Michael Vatcher, Alan Wilkinson and many more. Jasper has performed extensively in Europe and the USA, as well as in India." ^ Hide Bio for Jasper Stadhouders • Show Bio for Jaap Blonk "Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Holland) is a self-taught composer, performer and poet.He went to university for mathematics and musicology but did not finish those studies.In the late 1970s he took up saxophone and started to compose music.A few years later he discovered his potential as a vocal performer, at first in reciting poetry and later on in improvisations and his own compositions. For almost two decades the voice was his main means for the discovery and development of new sounds.From around the year 2000 on Blonk started work with electronics, at first using samples of his own voice, then extending the field to include pure sound synthesis as well.He took a year off of performing in 2006. As a result, his renewed interest in mathematics made him start a research of the possibilities of algorithmic composition for the creation of music, visual work and poetry. As a vocalist, Jaap Blonk is unique for his powerful stage presence and almost childlike freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. He has performed around the world, on all continents. With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension. Besides working as a soloist, he collaborated with many musicians and ensembles in the field of contemporary and improvised music, like Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Joan La Barbara, The Ex, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He premiered several compositions by the German composer Carola Bauckholt, including a piece for voice and orchestra. A solo voice piece was commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage. On several occasions he collaborated with visual computer artist Golan Levin, for the Ars Electronica Festival. Blonk's work for radio and television includes several commissioned radio plays.He also makes larger-scale drawings of his scores, as well as visual poetry, which is being exhibited. He has his own record label, Kontrans, featuring a total of 25 releases so far. Other Blonk recordings appeared on various labels, such as Staalplaat, Basta, VICTO, Ecstatic Peace, Monotype Records, Terp and Elegua Records.His book/CD 'Traces of Speech' was published in 2012 by Hybriden-Verlag, Berlin. Forthcoming is a sequel with the title "Traces of Cookery".A comprehensive collection of his sound poetry came out as a book with 2 CDs in 2013, entitled "KLINKT"." ^ Hide Bio for Jaap Blonk
10/20/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
10/20/2025
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Horplokta 10:47
2. Ederkonjou 4:45
3. Ruhonkreloj 5:45
4. Ajaaspook Sujes 11:06
5. Drarap Ondok 9:09
6. Jajadelots 6:58
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Improvised Rock
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