Greetje Bijma & Oceanic - Swallow A Party LP

Tracklist

A1. Swallow A Party
A2. Step Snakes
A3. Never Done
B1. Technicolour Memories
B2. Mist In Tide
B3. A Window Drifting
________________

yeyeh founder Pieter Jansen has now conjured up another unlikely but inspired joint album, this time featuring award-winning free-jazz vocalist https://soundcloud.com/greetjebijmakwintet and leftfield house, techno and ambient producer https://soundcloud.com/oceanicocean.

The project has its roots in a chance meeting between Jansen and Bijma, a legendary figure on the Dutch jazz scene who in 1990 became the first woman to win the country’s top jazz accolade, the VPRO/Boy Edgar award. Apart from having previously worked with the likes of Anna Homler (aka Breadwoman), Jasper van ’t Hof, Han Bennink, Louis Andriessen, Willem Breuker and her own solo projects, she’s in a league of her own.

Jansen is a big fan of Bijma’s 1996 heavily electronic collaboration with Jasper van’t Hof and Pierre Favre, Freezing Screens, and was with the friend who first introduced him to it when he bumped into Bijma. 
Excited to meet someone who had made one of his favourite records, Jansen took the opportunity to ask Bijma if she would be interested in working with young electronic music producers. To Jansen’s delight, Bijma quickly agreed.

Weeks later, Bijma stepped into the studio with Oceanic, a rising star of the Dutch electronic underground whose releases as Oceanic for Nous’klaer Audio and BAKK Plafond revolve around mechanical rhythms, opaque ambient textures, minimalist melodic movements and effervescent electronics. The pair quickly connected on an emotional and musical level, with Bijma taking her cues from Oceanic’s electronic sounds and rhythms, and Oceanic drawing inspiration from Bijma’s dexterous, mind-bending and otherworldly vocalizations.

After two hugely productive days, the cross-generational duo had completed a couple of mesmerizing songs – breathlessly haunting album opener “Swallow a Party” and chilly ambient closer “A Window Drifting” – and recorded several hours or improvisations that Oceanic later edited, layered-up and re-modelled.

The results are little less than spellbinding. The range and versatility of Bijma’s vocalizations is breathtaking, while Oceanic’s music – which cleverly incorporates the free-jazz singer’s vocal notes, tones and proclamations – swings between becalmed beauty and breathless intensity. 

Some of the set’s most striking moments are those where Oceanic re-contextualizes Bijma’s varied vocal sounds with the dancefloor in mind. On the pulsating “Technicolour Memories”, up-tempo “Step Snakes” and hypnotic “Never Done”, Bijma’s scat outbursts not only ride Oceanic’s rhythms, but also form part of the densely layered percussion tracks beneath. 

Like the release’s more downtempo and ethereal moments, these hybrid organic-synthetic compositions defy easy categorization, offering a unique brand of alien electronic/acoustic musical fusion that lingers long in the memory.

Artwork & Design:
Nol.one & Wimswim

Greetje Bijma & Oceanic - Swallow A Party LP [yeyeh003 snippets]

░▒▓█ ᴀʟᴛᴀʀ ʙᴏɪ @ʙʀᴏᴛ&ᴡᴇɪɴ █▓▒░
ᴀʟᴛᴇʀ ᴇɢᴏz
 ᴊ.ᴇx[ᴏᴛɪǫᴜᴇ]// iɴsainᴛ.ᴍʀʏ// 

https://www.instagram.com/brot_undwein

upcoming events

31 aug '25: lowpass x futurepast x acid reflux open air (berlin)
26 sep '25: lowpass invites xdb b2b don williams (berlin)
6 nov '25: lowpass ambient, hybrid set w/ jakojako (live), philippe cam (live), tancrède (live electric harp), APRS (live) @genezarethkirche (berlin)
22 nov '25: lowpass co-founders - serenus & aprs all night long


past events

6 jul '25: RAISE festival @ der hintergarten (amsterdam)
21 jun '25: solstice open air serenus X am nil (techno & ravey set) w/ am nil (berlin)
21 jun '25: upstairs basement meets lowpass - afterparty (berlin)
6 jun '25: lowpass invites emmanuel, benabou (berlin)
20 dec '24: lowpass invites ben reymann [live], erik jabari @secret venue (berlin)
24 jan '25: lowpass goes modular w/ halosaur, jessica kert, menion, am nil @secret venue (berlin)
26 oct '24: sonic forest tunnel rave @tba (berlin)
11 oct '24: lowpass invites artefakt, illousion, am nil @secret venue (berlin)
16 aug '24: lowpass x coppi w/ kia, emily jeanne, loif @secret venue (berlin)
11 jul '24: la tartine @repeat bar (berlin)
2 aug '24: lowpass black floor takeover with dina, nadine talakovics @renate (berlin)
14 jun '24: lowpass invites tobias. [live], am nil [live] & selessa t @secret venue (berlin)
24 may '24: recess @fitzroy (berlin)
16 may '24: coppi @coppi (berlin)
15 may '24: hör berlin
4 may '24: kollektiv moabeat @secret venue (berlin)
15 feb '24: collect radio lisbon (livestream)
1 mar '24: lowpass x coppi @secret venue (berlin) dj set and harp jam
15 dec '23: lowpass invites denise rabe, breza, aprs, serenus @secret venue (berlin)
28 oct '23: (fun)raiser @secret venue (berlin)
14 sep '23: la tartine, house set w/ maiore @repeat (berlin)
2 sep '23: lowpass goes open air #3 @gaswerksiedlung (berlin)
19 aug '23: @pipeland open air (berlin)
20 aug '23: lowpass invites nthng, phonatic, hypnotic black magic, tempestfeather @suicide circus (berlin)
30 jul '23 berlin art days curated by serenus @gaswerksiedlung (berlin)
14 jul '23: Selectors Club meets Lowpass w/ Eric Cloutier, Anna Z, Yamour and Am Nil @m01 (berlin) https://ra.co/events/1726365
29 apr '23: lowpass with Irakli, V:Sonntag, Hypnotic Black Magic, serenus b2b APRS @ atelier (berlin)
30 mar '23: art bei ton x lowpass @ about blank (berlin)
10 feb '23: lowpass @ secret venue (berlin)
16 dec '22: seawatch christmas party(berlin)
19 nov '22: serenus (house set) @ promenaden eck (berlin)
26 nov '22: serenus ambient live/DJ hybrid for THERAPIE (foto expo) @ Café Morena
11 nov '22: lowpass presents Reka Zalan, Stojche, Rough Rider, serenus & APRS @ secret venue (berlin)
1 oct '22: lowpass goes open air #2 @ secret garden (berlin)
13 aug '22: nuits sauvages (ardèche, FR)
9 jul '22: lowpass goes open air (berlin)
4 jun '22: lowpass w/ nthng, LDS, APRS @secret venue (berlin) ra.co/events/1536032

record label run by soundcloud.com/pejiej
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pieterjansen_yeyehninih/
email: pieter@yeyeh.nl
distributed by One Eye Witness

(Inaccurate description, he's just a furry!)

Greetje Bijma & Oceanic - Swallow A Party LP [yeyeh003 snippets]

yeyeh • ninih