Zondag by HS, Roel Meelkop, Giuseppe Ielasi, Frans de Waard

In January 2005, Frans de Waard invited me and Giuseppe to record an album in Nijmegen as part of the Brombron residency series he co-ran with the Extrapool arts organization. If you aren't familiar with Extrapool, it's a real impressive place... performance space, art gallery, live/work space for several artists, a print shop, all in one big building that a few people began as a squat until they got official permission and then funding from the city to continue. Cool. While Giuseppe and I worked hard making what would become "Night Life", we took several necessary breaks. Frans would often bike down from his home to say hello and have lunch. My friend Roel traveled over from Rotterdam to see us and hang out for a couple of days as well. Naturally, when four musicians get together with a recording studio nearby, "hanging out" usually means recording music. So as a break from the intense "Night Life" sessions, Giuseppe and I made more music. We're simple guys, with simple pleasures after all.

It was a lazy, comfortable, chilly Sunday afternoon down in the underground Geluidwerksplatts studio. The four of us had no particular goal in mind... just making music and enjoying the mellow day. Both Roel and Frans played synthesizers... if I recall correctly, they each processed sounds from one of us. I believe we played for quite awhile. My memory fails me at this point, but I can reasonably assume that the session segued directly into lunch, coffee, and then shopping for records.

Once Giuseppe and I finished our residency and went home to Milan and Boston, the Dutch half of the quartet listened back to the noises we made and determined that some of it was worthwhile. A year or so of mixing, editing, and whittling commenced until "Zondag" emerged. To my ears, this is damn enjoyable music. That perception might be colored by the experience of making it... in fact, I'm certain it is... but I do believe that the casual attitude we all had, the lack of expectations other than experimenting and improvising, resulted in audibly good-natured music. You might hear only spiky electronic abrasion, but I assure you: "Zondag" is the sound of four friends doing what we enjoy most, and having a good time.

The Japanese label Port published "Zondag" as a CD, but also added something. Label boss Evala appended a track in which he took our album as source material and came up with a new piece... essentially, a coda. I protested at first (never even spoke with the guy!), but over time I've come around. It's a nice piece. Why not.

Oh, and the title... "Zondag" is Dutch for Sunday.

Stelzer's music is assembled out of cassette tapes, tape machines, and a stubborn refusal to admit defeat. He & his family live on a small farm in rural MA. At night, he hunches over piles of plastic, wires & little boxes and makes this stuff. No one knows why.

"I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares." - Saul Bass

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