passing phases, survival tactics, tasteful scratching, singing breaks, efteling aesthetics

w/ @bkowusu + @valclipp

initially aired via https://offcenter.online

Community Podcast #19 w/ BK Owusu

Out now on C39 Cassette and digital

009 / 39 mins runtime

Faint memories of dances are beating themselves into existence.

An empty floor.

Rough rhythmic textures fall apart, unveiling fragile structures.

SON CARPARK is telling a fragmented story, the voice is
singing hauntingly romantic mantras and sweet lullabies.
Try to locate its source. I can't.

Words are resonating in a mental room.

[transparent]

Vocalising thoughts about a journey in the middle of
this endless night. Isolate them. Let it fade. Walk away.

«SPATIAL ANTIQUITIES traverses a harsh spectrum of noise and
attempts to harvest beauty from it, each track has a nostalgic quality 
which embodies an Antiquity from the mind. Pertinent to one time,
but distant the next. When listening please think about walking
through a museum and remember all music is history.»

Recorded between March 2019 & May 2020 in Auckland City NZ

Dubbed to cassette March 2021 in Den Haag NL

All tracks written and produced by SON CARPARK (@aklnz)

Design by Luca van Grinsven

SPATIAL ANTIQUITIES

SON CARPARK - SPATIAL ANTIQUITIES [excerpts]

Off «Another Point»
out now on C20 Cassette and digital

via https://offcenter.online

010 / 20 mins runtime

Gliding over glistening landscapes, edges of sharp leaves,
a soft patch of moss, high tree tops.

Green metallic ripples open up into a stream.

Sand torn from the silent grounds beneath.

[upwards, clashing, seamlessly blending]

The earth is bubbling up, smearing across your vision,
bordering on illusions.

Then a crunch, clear image, feeling aroused.

Lena Tsibizova, Piper Spray and Sergey Podluzhny interconnect.
The energy that forms within and gushes out is undeniable.

Recorded in 2019 & 2020 between Vietnam,
Kudrovo RU, Moscow RU & Tbilisi GE

Dubbed to cassette March 2021 in Den Haag NL

All tracks written and produced by @kabinw

Photography by AIR Krew
Design by Luca van Grinsven

Another Point

AIR Krew - Spaces for discussions but ...

Out now on C36 Cassette and digital

011 / 36 mins runtime

Overtime at the office. Smile. Co-workers talk behind your back.

Lixer and Splash Soldier Splendid mumble, scream and narrate the 9-5 routine.

Tales of class issues and discrimination are being force-fed through arcade- and cotton candy machines. Kermis.

Their voices glide and sink into oversaturated soundscapes of daily news, empty words, and bland, oily meals.

Violently sweet, sonic patchworks of life in the matrix emerge.

The government watches.

[Circling the Monopoly Board]

A rollercoaster rides through your friendly neighbourhood. All is well. > Barrel roll onto the flipside of trimmed front yards, picket fences and social niceties. Beware of the dog.

£​$​₿ navigate through toxic environments. Camouflaged with masculinity, blending into the shadows, secretly scanning their allies through the checkout. Surveilled. Before they disappear into the feed we catch a glimpse of their sensitive selves.

Recorded between November 2019
& March 2021 in Utrecht & Limburg NL

Dubbed to cassette July 2021 in Den Haag NL

All tracks written and produced by
Lixer Manski (@farfetchd-2) & Splash Soldier Splendid (@wimwimwimwim)

Design by Luca van Grinsven

£​$​₿ MONOPOLY Shadow Edition

Lunetten Shadow Banking - £​$​₿ MONOPOLY Shadow Edition [excerpts]

Off «Never As Safe As When In Cars»
out now on C55 Cassette and digital

via https://offcenter.online

Written and produced by SOUTH
Design by Luca van Grinsven

https://sssouthsssound.bandcamp.com/

Never As Safe As When In Cars

Farthing Downs Ridearound

SOUTH - Farthing Downs Ridearound

Out now on C55 Cassette and digital

012 / 55 mins runtime

«I don’t feel safe most of the time.

I am on constant alert.

Cars have always been where I felt safest throughout my life.

In the past, cars have been a home when my body has not, a refuge when my bedroom was not, a party when the club was not; an escape, shelter, security.

Cars can injure or kill, cars pollute, a symbol of insatiable and transmogrifying capitalism, the enemy of our natural environment. Cars have the potential to be dangerous, but they rarely are for me.

I have not felt protected for a long time.

Memories can cut and draw blood; the memories attached to my experiences in cars are indelible, painful, vivid, imagined.

Sometimes when the doors lock, it seals my memories.

Shielded from rain with friends.

Feeling lust’s cool thrill in summer heat with the air con on.

Looking out as if from a space shuttle at a foreign world blanketed by snow.

Lip-bitten desire. Daft Punk spilling out the speakers. Getting lost. Laughing.

Long road trips; taking the scenic route to Manchester and back again.

Sudden arousal; sudden sadness. Talking shit in a rented vehicle.

Highways and meadows. Windows down and speeding thru Brixton.

It can be like a home, a nomad’s home, endlessly travelling and unrooted. I feel unrooted 88% of the time anyway. It can feel like the car was meant for me.

Sometimes it feels like cars are meant for memories.» «I don’t feel safe most of the time.

I am on constant alert.

Cars have always been where I felt safest throughout my life.

In the past, cars have been a home when my body has not, a refuge when my bedroom was not, a party when the club was not; an escape, shelter, security.

Cars can injure or kill, cars pollute, a symbol of insatiable and transmogrifying capitalism, the enemy of our natural environment. Cars have the potential to be dangerous, but they rarely are for me.

I have not felt protected for a long time.

Memories can cut and draw blood; the memories attached to my experiences in cars are indelible, painful, vivid, imagined.

Sometimes when the doors lock, it seals my memories.

Shielded from rain with friends.

Feeling lust’s cool thrill in summer heat with the air con on.

Looking out as if from a space shuttle at a foreign world blanketed by snow.

Lip-bitten desire. Daft Punk spilling out the speakers. Getting lost. Laughing.

Long road trips; taking the scenic route to Manchester and back again.

Sudden arousal; sudden sadness. Talking shit in a rented vehicle.

Highways and meadows. Windows down and speeding thru Brixton.

It can be like a home, a nomad’s home, endlessly travelling and unrooted. I feel unrooted 88% of the time anyway. It can feel like the car was meant for me.

Sometimes it feels like cars are meant for memories.»

Recorded between October 2020 & January 2021
in Croydon, South- & Greater London GB

Dubbed to cassette October 2021 in Den Haag NL

All tracks written and produced by SOUTH

Design by Luca van Grinsven

https://sssouthsssound.bandcamp.com

SOUTH - Never As Safe As When In Cars [excerpts]

Off «Pave Review»
out now on CD and digital

via https://offcenter.online

Written and produced by @valclipp
Lyrics and vocals by @user-voice-actor
Mastered by Kamilė Rimkutė
Design by Luca van Grinsven

Pave Review

Val Clipp - hand gestures ft. VOICE ACTOR

Out now on CD and digital

012 / 49 mins runtime

Recorded between June & December 2021 in Den Haag NL
All tracks written and produced by @valclipp

Mastered by Kamilė Rimkutė

Lyrics and vocals
on 'again' by @spaceking416
on 'hand gestures' by @yes-noa

'chase sequence' contains a sample of 'Centro Gris' by @nueen

Cover photos, Screenshots & Design by Luca van Grinsven

Thank you Noa, Levi, Lucie, Hilde, Vinzenz, to my friends
& collaborators for their critical ears and sincerity,
& to everybody listening, sharing and supporting

Val Clipp - Pave Review [excerpts]

w/ @free-version + @valclipp

https://offcenter.online

spotify; https://open.spotify.com/show/76t9iH990xeX8dKIuZe7DP
apple podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/community-podcast/id1645132964

Community Podcast #20 w/ Scene 1997 + Val Clipp

"as much time as i spend looking, i keep coming back to you."

a mix by @valclipp

thank you; lee bannon, florence sinclair, the cinematic orchestra, pretty v, brannten schnüre, evian christ, the hers, laurin huber, chushi, coby sey, romance & dean hurley, ahnnu, space afrika, retch, sha hef, ernst reijseger, manny noir & psychedelic ensemble.

Val Clipp; keep shining, september 2022

w/ @weirdesthetic
host; @valclipp

https://offcenter.online

spotify; https://open.spotify.com/show/76t9iH990xeX8dKIuZe7DP
apple podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/community-podcast/id1645132964

Community Podcast #21 w/ c00

w/ @postgeography
hosts; @valclipp + @free-version

https://offcenter.online

spotify; https://open.spotify.com/show/76t9iH990xeX8dKIuZe7DP
apple podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/community-podcast/id1645132964

Community Podcast #22 w/ Post-Geography

w/ @farfetchd-2 + @wimwimwimwim
hosts; @valclipp + @free-version

https://offcenter.online

spotify; https://open.spotify.com/show/76t9iH990xeX8dKIuZe7DP
apple podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/community-podcast/id1645132964

Community Podcast #23 w/ Lunetten Shadow Banking

w/ @tristanbeutter
hosts; @valclipp + @free-version

https://offcenter.online

spotify; https://open.spotify.com/show/76t9iH990xeX8dKIuZe7DP
apple podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/community-podcast/id1645132964

Community Podcast #24 w/ Tristan

recorded live on https://refugeworldwide.com in berlin

w/ @lukatoyboy
hosts; @valclipp + @free-version

https://offcenter.online

spotify; https://open.spotify.com/show/76t9iH990xeX8dKIuZe7DP
apple podcasts; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/community-podcast/id1645132964

Community Podcast #25 w/ Lukatoyboy

Out now on C26 cassette & digital

001 / 26 mins runtime

«Word on the Street» marks the first publication on Off Center in September 2018. This 8-track mini album is a collection of pieces produced by Den Haag based artist Val Clipp. A soundtrack for car rides through murky places, sleepless nights and short moments stuck in an endless loop. Slow rhythms pierced by sourceless interviews, rap improvisations and haunted chants.

Recorded and dubbed to cassette August 2018 in Den Haag NL

All tracks written and produced by Val Clipp (@valclipp)
Photography and Design by Luca van Grinsven

Word on the Street

Val Clipp - Word on the Street [excerpts]

Out now on C16 Cassette & digital

DEMOLITION 1 / 16 mins runtime

In the DEMOLITION series, local artists and friends of Off Center publish recently produced material, first versions and raw cuts in a small edition of demo cassettes.

Starting off is a collection of bits produced by Den Haag based artist Val Clipp.

Contrary to “Word on the Street”, this short and diverse approach on rhythm based music finds it’s way through four tracks influenced by footwork, dub and grime.

Recorded and dubbed to cassette January 2019

All tracks written and produced by Val Clipp (@valclipp)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

DEMOLITION 1

Val Clipp - Untitled [excerpts]

Out now on C30 cassette & digital

002 / 28 mins runtime

Haunted fragments slowly loop their way forward through a late night sitting by the stereo.

Reversed scraps of voices and songs spark up and vanish.

An imaginary room, a made up person shuffles, lives in the silent spaces inbetween.

Plumes of smoke keep changing the atmosphere. Transcendence.

A dark curtain is fading, the moon shines a light inside.

Muddy frequencies and imperfections make it difficult to believe that these pieces were recorded at a certain time, in a physical place.

While finding ways to connect from locations in Burundi, a temporary home, GHXST! sends material recorded in Kingston, Canada.

«from tha hills of tha moon» is a collection of one takes, sketches, intuitive creations.

Recorded in Kingston CAN

Dubbed to cassette March 2019 in Voorburg NL

All tracks written and produced by GHXST! (@ghxst1one)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

from tha hills of tha moon

GHXST! - from tha hills of tha moon [excerpts]

Out now on C33 Cassette & digital

003 / 31 mins runtime

Rhythms hovering miles under the surface of the sea, bubbling up infrequently, speaking and singing in otherworldly tongues.

While floating down a continuous stream, we’re catching a glimpse of emotions and key moments in James King’s past. An echo between a local ice cream bar in Voorburg and a living room table in Bandar Sri Damansara.

The waves go way beyond the fade out.

Two hearts, two different speakers and a jasmine scented candle burning through the night.

Recorded and dubbed to cassette March & April 2019 in Voorburg NL

All tracks written and produced by James King (@jaimki)
Title Typeface and Design by Luca van Grinsven

rinsed : installed

James King - rinsed : installed [excerpts]

Off «You Really Shouldn't Have»
out now on C46 Cassette & digital

via https://offcenter.online

Written and produced by Thaniil Alexandros (@rbchmbrs)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

You Really Shouldn't Have

rbchmbrs - Big Pari

Out now on C46 cassette & digital

004 / 46 mins runtime

Brick and concrete are towering high above, the sun shines bright through the smog, melting brain cells. The burns are leaving empty spaces, placed silence. Sounds seem like hallucinations. Yet the body is moving by itself, finding rhythms to dance to in the glitches and cracks hammering through the system.

New York based Thaniil Alexandros creates a soundtrack for the rising summer heat, as rbchmbrs. An alias appearing on the Washington label 1432 R, on credits of artists like Sir E.U, Theravada or MIKE.

What sounds like long lost dubplate productions played with skips, dust and warps gathered through years of concealment, turns out to be a selection of recently created pieces leaving room for a number of unexpected turns.

Loud and abrasive drum patterns changing speed, variating throughout eleven tracks. Voices are chiming in, distorted breaks are opening up to a jazz variation, a pleasant melody, a song.

Recorded between April 2016 & August 2018 in New York City, Washington DC & Piraeus GR

Dubbed to cassette June 2019 in Voorburg NL

All tracks written and produced by Thaniil Alexandros (@rbchmbrs)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

rbchmbrs - You Really Shouldn't Have [excerpts]

Off «used to be»
out now on C28 Cassette & digital

via https://offcenter.online

Written and produced by Val Clipp (@valclipp)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

used to be

Val Clipp - Hold me close

Out now on C28 cassette & digital

005 / 27 mins runtime

I just reflect. I just reflect. I just reflect. I just reflect.

Phrases and vocal snippets repeat their way through 'used to be‘ like familiar mantras. Aaliyah, SWV and Whitney Houston sing their melancholic love songs over and over again on ghostly remains of once shiny and lush instrumentals. Blurred memories of late night phone calls, intimate moments, glances and conversations, are scattered over the pieces on Val Clipp’s second album on Off Center.

While we slowly wade through and pass out at the end, we ask ourselves;

What used to be?

You tell me. You tell me.

Recorded April 2019, except 'Rain reflects', originally recorded December 2017

Dubbed to cassette September 2019 in Voorburg NL

All tracks written and produced by Val Clipp (@valclipp)
Japanese transcription by Yuki Ito
Design by Luca van Grinsven

Val Clipp - used to be [excerpts]

new/not new uk rap, youtube tab transitions, rolling cables, mind gaps, solitude

w/ @valclipp

initially aired via https://offcenter.online

Community Podcast #2 w/ Val Clipp

synth wizardry, magnetic bonding, burned treasures, natural taste, no world music

w/ @rjmvanderheyden + @dimgarden (@hungertapes])+ @valclipp

initially aired via https://offcenter.online

https://hunger.bandcamp.com/

Community Podcast #9 w/ RJM Vanderheyden + Dim Garden (Hunger!)

Off «PHONE PHREAKER$ PHREAK BACK»
out now on C61 Cassette and digital

via https://offcenter.online

Written and produced by Bryant Canelo  (@bryantcanelo / @lorettaaberdeen)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/loretta-aberdeen-extra-new-song-listen/

PHONE PHREAKER$ PHREAK BACK

LORETTA ABERDEEN - extra

far east transmissions, abstracting language, hyper surroundings, mentoring noise, friends in the dark

w/ @yara-said-4 + @valclipp

initially aired via https://offcenter.online

Community Podcast #16 w/ Noise Diva

Out now on C61 Cassette and digital

006 / 61 mins runtime

Bryant Canelo unlocks Loretta Aberdeen’s studio. A long peek inside.

PHONE PHREAKER$ PHREAK BACK is spiked with documents of a time locked up in West Columbia.
Love stories in overdrive, broken memories, obsessive thought patterns and fever dreams that keep you up at night. A moist layer.

Canelo’s rhyme abstractions remind of the LAMPGOD releases exclusively available to his own ears, recorded and boxed on a shelf you can’t reach.

The words make sure to be heard, over and oversharing the poetry of mundane daily routines and activities, the obnoxious phone calls. Aggressively sensual songs, extended cuts, indulging.

Loretta Aberdeen is living the healthy 2020 waking life style, the organic soul food.

Machines are being juiced and whipped up during hyper focused latenight jams, scratching on hidden specks of gold. Hazy frequencies are being mangled, oversaturated, a screech, a trap.

Stuck in a synthesized spiral of zapping data transmissions, stabbing, tickling and hammering to stay embedded in your subconscious.

Hacked.

Looking for a mental retreat in the corner of a dancefloor, where your only friend is slipping molly into sweat drenched hands and happy faces. The drug anthem, the never ending trance that keeps you riding the edge between extasy and nausea.

Check it out now. Check it out NOW.

Recorded between July 2019 & March 2020 in West Columbia SC
except 'deybow', originally recorded December 2017

Dubbed to cassette August 2020 in Den Haag NL

All tracks written and produced by Bryant Canelo (@bryantcanelo / @lorettaaberdeen)
Artworks by Bryant Canelo (@bryantcanelo)
Photography by Matt Voor at Triest Gallery (https://triest.es)
Design by Luca van Grinsven

LORETTA ABERDEEN - PHONE PHREAKER$ PHREAK BACK [excerpts]

Out now on C29 Cassette and digital

007 / 28 mins runtime

«I’ve always struggled to feel whole.

My dad is an Iranian in America, born and raised in a
polarized Tehran. My mom belongs to a conservative
family, and grew up in a small, Southern town.
Trapped in a cycle of contradictions and self-negations,
and also free from the trap of a seamless worldview.
There’s tension in the cards I’ve been dealt, and Biaban
is one of the ways I’ve been dealing with it this year.

I’ve been doing a lot of negotiating with myself lately.
New Silk Harp Strings is a set of memories, orchestrated
from samples, loops, beatpacks and pre-revolutionary
45s buried in my basement at home, mixtapes scrawled
in handwritings of long lost friends, myths, fables,
diaspora letters and parables.»

Recorded between December 2019 & August 2020
outside Washington DC and inside St. Paul MN

Dubbed to cassette October 2020 in Den Haag NL

All tracks orchestrated and performed by آرام کاوسی
Photography and Design by Luca van Grinsven

New Silk Harp Strings

Biaban - New Silk Harp Strings [excerpts]

Out now on C32 Cassette and digital

008 (∞) / 32 mins runtime

After a conversation and exchange of ideas orbiting his album
'Unfinished Portrait Of Youth Today' (2013, The Tapeworm),
german sound artist Hanno Leichtmann contributes a beautiful 
collection of Loop Music to the Off Center catalogue.

Sitting, immersed in a silent film noir played slightly too fast.
The movements uncanny. Trying to follow a storyline by lip
reading and listening to the tonality of the score.

Here. Rewatching this scene over and over. Again.

Suspenseful progressions throughout. (Parts 1-18)

Often times we're left with a strangely familiar feeling.
The warming, fuzzy frequencies constantly bordering
on melancholia. Collaged, vivid memories and emotions.

It's dark again.

The lonely detective on a corner with his hands burried.
Waiting, watching, observing, following a suspect unnoticed.

The case unravels in his head. Then it's being chased through a
dusty mechanical room. Not a soul. Gears and wheels are whirring
at a volume, faint shifting, the material slowly disintegrates.
Rapid rotations and steady beeping overlayed (hypnotic hum)
A distant siren. Try to focus. Try to find a way through the smog,
the oily, moist air. Hallucinations.

Hanno Leichtmann is based and working in Berlin, has published
works on Entr'acte, Karlrecords, his own label Picture/Disk, 
and collaborated with Faitiche's Jan Jelinek and Andrew Pekler
among a variety of artists.

More info via https://hannoleichtmann.com
@hannoleichtmann

Recorded between February & March 2020
at Static Music in Berlin DE

Dubbed to cassette October 2020 in Den Haag NL

Design by Luca van Grinsven

Loop Music

Hanno Leichtmann - Loop Music [excerpts]

https://offcenter.online

community, sound publications

initiated by
https://lucavangrinsven.com (@valclipp)

Events:

—2022

04.11, Open Office w/ Max Frimout, c00 & BART, Den Haag NL

23.09, Open Office w/ Wilf Amis, Karl Wille & Lunetten Shadow Banking, Den Haag NL

09.07, Off Center @ k-mess, Kochareal, Zürich CH

22.06, Spectral Heat (hosted by Off Center, Big Fish Factory & RASK Collective) w/ EIGEN RISICO, BART, final boss type zero & Off Center DJs, The Grey Space, Den Haag NL

28.05, Off Center 013 Release w/ Val Clipp, grittygun, Berton, ola999 & Ezra V, Den Haag NL

—2021

18.09, Open Office w/ Fascia Lata, onedaylola, Val Clipp, Mary & K.O., Den Haag NL

—2020

27.02, Kantarion Sound x Off Center w/ acte bonté, Mayb3 bab3 (Noise Diva) & Pau, The Grey Space, Den Haag NL

—2019

09.10, Off Center 005 Release w/ Val Clipp, Yon Eta, Fascia Lata & scrtom505, The Grey Space, Den Haag NL

12.04, Off Center 003 Release w/ James King, Val Clipp & Ni Urban, The Grey Space, Den Haag NL

—2018

07.09, Off Center 001 Release w/ Val Clipp, A.V & Svartvit, The Grey Space, Den Haag NL

Popular tracks by Off Center