Psychedelic trip from Japan to Mali

Here’s a Spotify playlist that takes you on a 4 hour chill musical trip from Asia to Africa and beyond. It features a lot of Japanese ambient by some of my favorite artists such as Susumu Yokota, Yusuke Tsutsumi, Haruka Nakamura and of course Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Further along you’ll find more Indian and Middle-Eastern vibes which will keep you pondering about travels through vast landscapes to eventually drop you right into the African continent with lovely minimal tunes.

Enjoy the trip! Follow and play the playlist.

You can also submit tracks for this playlist by using the contact form.

The Remnant - making sense in a post-apocalyptic world

An abstract dance in a post-apocalyptic empty landscape. The remnant is the only person left in this world. He is struggling and trying to find his way.

The soundtrack of this video is an electronic instrumental synthwave-like tune built around the unique vintage sound of the 1979 Farfisa Soundmaker synthesizer. Quirky arpeggiators evolve around wobbly sounds and distant field recordings in an atmospheric trip.

Credits

Robin Leo: Dance

Quinten Prinsen: Camera and post production

Kasper Jordaens: Additional Video FX

Suntapes: Music & Concept

125 BPM

125 BPM is the tempo at which the Cyr wheel turns when manipulated. With this modern dance performance with the Cyr wheel the Belgian/French duo André-Leo leave spectators in awe and full of emotion. The music composition started early in the creation phase of the performance. The music adds to the dreamy part of their world and at the same time it reinforces the energy at a tempo of 125 BPM. During the tour in 2019, 2020 in Belgium, France and Italy, the music was performed live on stage.

Watch the trailer:

CREDITS

Production: Robin Leo & Jean Baptiste André

Composition & live music: Suntapes

Technician: Liam Van Tornhout

Trailer: Jakob Rosseel

Instruments & new tunes

Back in 2004, I found myself in a dusty garage shop full of musical instruments somewhere in Calcutta. I bought an Indian harmonium because I just loved that sound. It felt good and it felt like more. After many more travels, I ended up with an arsenal of quirky acoustic instruments each with their own story. Today, they have become a crucial part of the Suntapes sound and appear on a lot of tunes of my new album that will be released on June 7th. 

One of my early tunes "Alone" combines the Phin (a three stringed lute from Thailand), Moroccan bass (Sintir) and lap steel guitar I found in Vietnam. The last one has a Fender sticker on it, so it's definitely good stuff :-). Here's how that sounds: 

The tune "Guzheng" evolves around the Chinese harp called Guzheng (no kidding) as well as the Chinese ruan (like a big wooden banjo), the Indian harmonium and many more sounds. Check it out: 

I tried all kinds of combinations of instruments and experimented with different effects and field recordings I have made. Of course I kept composing on the grand piano and synthesizers, so you'll be hearing a lot of that too. 

More and more I have come to realize that the instrumental music I make are soundtracks for the places I travelled to. Tunes that remind me of vast foreign landscapes or people in traditional clothes chatting in dusty roads. Feels like some kind of sweet spot where music & traveling come together. 

On June 7th 2018 I'm releasing the album "Hunting for hills" on all streaming platforms, online stores and also on CD and LP. Release show will be in Theater Tinnenpot.  

Suntapes live moods

It's always nice to have talented photographers around when playing live. Here's a selection of moods of some Suntapes shows in 2017 at Kapow, ENTR and Cab Art Centre. 

Check out these talented photographers: Maxime Fauconnier and Jules August 

Circus in Flanders

Circus these days has become something totally different than most people think. Circus acts in Belgium are very disperse, modern and always a bit surreal. No wonder most of these  companies play shows all over the world. In coöperation with Circuscentrum Vlaanderen we're creating videos to show what circus in Flanders is all about.

Together with cameraman Jakob Rosseel we created 20 one-minute films that show each circus company in an outside setting somewhere in Flanders. Location hunting was an interesting part. We used deserted harbor areas, roundabouts, train tunnels, graveyards, strange houses, rooftops.  

For every film I composed a custom soundtrack to go along with the vibe of the act.  

Check out some of the films below and all the films on the website of Circuscentrum

One man soundtrack orchestra

I'm currently working on the live performance of different Suntapes tunes. Over the last year I've done different one-offs and improvisation sessions each time with different acoustic and analogue instruments. My ideal is to have all my instruments on stage and use them all to create a complete concert with soundscapes and melodies. Since it's hard to handle so many instruments on stage, I have to make a selection. So I'm going for piano, harmonium, Chinese lute, Thai pin, slide guitar, mellotron sounds, Hofner bass, Korg minilogue and possibly the Chinese guhzeng (harp). This should be quite enough to perform 10 to 12 songs. More or less the instruments on this picture:

Another crucial part of the performance from now on will be the visuals. I've done a few try-outs the last few months without visuals, but it's not the same. VJ Kasper Jordaens will use the imagery I've shot on different travels and process it live. The result should be a compelling audio-visual trip through different places in the world. After all a "one-man soundtrack orchestra" is nothing without the films the music is meant for. 

Chrysalis

Chrysalis is an anatomical reconfiguration with latex on a live dancer as a performance. Leeroy New is a renowned contemporary artist from Manilla in the Philippines. During the performance, he attaches latex and paint to dancer Ea Torrado after which she breaks out of the latex. A video impression of the experience: 

Carefully selected acoustic sounds and analogue synth sounds emulating the stretching of latex develop into an organic composition in interaction with the dance performance. A quirky experimental dance vibe that Ea moves to freeing herself from the latex.

Credits

Concept, costume & lights: Leeroy New  (leeroynew.com)

Dancer: Ea Torrado (eatorrado.com)

Music: Suntapes

Production: Kapow Movement

Year: 2016

A few days at John’s long ranch in Nevada

It seems some people have figured out life better than others. John struck me as somebody who found his perfect place in the world and his own way of living.  

The sun was starting to set when me and my family took the long drive to John's ranch on the border of Nevada and California. We stopped in the small town of Cedarville to stock up on groceries for a few days. From there we drove through the rough landscape of Surprise valley. Nothing more than sand, stones and startled jack rabbits sprinting away. John’s long ranch is so remote, you have to be kind of a loner to live there. And so it seems.

The ranch is a collection of old houses, barns and cabins scattered over what can only be described as a green oasis in the middle of a desert. Surprise valley is surrounded by rather dry mountain ranges, but the climate is not as hot as the area around in Redding. The best thing is that the ranch sits on top of a natural spring. John makes great use of this spring water and even built a lovely swimming pool. Swimming in a oasis with view on the mountains. Just great! The fresh water was also the reason the native Indians used it in the early days. All kinds of plants and trees are growing which in turn attracts a large range of birds I had never seen before. 

Somewhere in the nineteenth century a wealthy American family has bought the land and built the ranch for a whole family. All the different buildings had their own use, there even was a small school cabin were the children received education. John has re-arranged this wooden cabin for guests to stay over. That’s were we stayed. Our kids loved to sleep in the mezzanine area on top. We loved to wake up with endless views on surprise valley. 

John has bought the run down ranch twenty years ago and has been refurbishing it on his own ever since. There's a lot of work to be done and it’s hard work. I have nothing but respect for the choice John has made. He managed to find a unique place and make it his own. When a local friend of him introduced him to Airbnb he opened up the ranch for Airbnb guests. It will probably not become a huge touristic success, actually I hope not because it would spoil the quirky character it has. Wefound our stay nothing less than amazing. 

While I was there I did some filming and afterwards put a soundtrack on the film. I hope this shows the atmosphere. 

Live performance on BYOB Gent with @Kaosbeat visuals

I hooked up with Kasper from Kaosbeat to bring this video performance on #byob Ghent. The soundtracks to the images was played live with keyboard, slide guitar and my looping set up with Ableton. The live visual effects are done by Kasper. It was our first collaboration but definitely not our last. The whole evening was great fun for us. The public seemed to dig it since we won the public crowdfunding price that evening. 

Check out one of the takes we recorded: 

My view on the visuals: 

Mini cinema with Live soundtrack

During the exposition "Rauw" I played the live soundtrack for a short film. An experience for 2 people at a time. It's all very direct and raw, without any effects. I build up and break down different loops straight from the microphone into the headphones of the people watching. For this set I used my Thai Pin for different melodies, the Morrocan Gnawa with lovely bass sound and the slide guitar for the opening sound. 

I probably played it about 80 times over the course of the 2 weekends. I recorded the last take and made a youtube film about it.  Check it out: 

Sagittarius

SAGITTARIUS (2011)

SUNTAPES ON TAPE WITH UMOR REX LABEL

Available on cassette (Limited edition) and digital on Bandcamp

Exposition "Rauw", September 2015

"Rauw" is an exposition by Suntapes, sculptor Christoph Annys and photographer Kris Goubert.

Suntapes will set up a video installation. During the exposition, several videos will bring visitors to different places in the world. I want people to really get immersed in these places. Enjoy places with your eyes and ears. I have composed a soundtrack to go with each video. 

As usual, I used exotic music instruments to record the compositions. Not too much editing, mixing and mastering. "Raw" is how we like it.

Join the event on facebook 

A soundtrack for WUMU, Yunnan, China

Wumu is a tiny mountain village on a steep hillside in Yunnan, China. I've spent 3 weeks there so I had some time to film in the rugged area and the town.  I edited this small film around a soundtrack tune I had already recorded before.