Inspired by the Indian Summer Soul in the amazing image of Photographer Sofie Vosk, Suntapes recorded a gloomy soundtrack for the imaginary story behind it. The album catches summertime melancholy in 8 neoclassical piano pieces with gloomy arrangements. All tracks are recorded on a 1881 Bechstein Grand piano with close miking techniques, including it’s wooden creaking sounds and felt sounds.
Four tranquil compositional ambient pieces created around inspirational field recordings and the warm sound and lush resonance of the Bechstein grand piano.
Sonic Landscapes are dark and slow evolving ambient drone tracks. All of the compositions are recorded in one take with several analogue synthesizers and piano manipulation. The album has a psychedelic, meditative, minimal and filmic feel to it.
This audiovisual art installation is the first in a series of installations built around detuned and degraded piano’s. Although this piano is not playable in a traditional way, it still has an amazing sonic character that is reinforced by artificial interventions. The piano is prepared to produce sustained tones and rhythmic convolutions by itself and when touching the piano. The soundscape that emerges from the piano represents a state of suspended animation. What will happen to this piano? Will it be refurbished? Will it be destroyed? Or will it be ignored forever?
CREDITS
Concept, piano preparation, sound, image & installation: Suntapes
Year: 2021
Video shot at exposition “Buiten spoor” in Chinastraat Gent.
9 compositional ambient tracks: meditative melodies, stunning resonances, filmic harmonies & sound effects.
After many months of no shows, it was a real pleasure to play an acoustic set with a lot of unreleased Suntapes piano compositions. These new neo-classical piano tracks will be released somewhere in 2022, after I released all the ambient electronic and piano music I recorded the last year.
The set list also included my favorite neo-classical piano pieces by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Philip Glass, Yann Tiersen and Jóhann Jóhannsson.
The 2 sessions took place in the stunning atelier of photographer Jules August.
Check out the Spotify playlist Latenight Piano that starts of with the setlist of the show (my unreleased work will be added later)
This immersive experience is an audiovisual artwork impression of the sea. Colorful painted artwork elements are projected on the floor as you walk through the space. Analogue sound vibes slowly evolve in a mesmerizing minimal composition. As you create a visual and sonic symphony with the movement of your feet you are urged into a psychedelic dreamworld. And so you are immersed in this unique sea!
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To give an impression of the #immersea experience we had a dancer move around in the space:
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FRAGMENTS of land and other scapes: 30/10/2021 - 07/11/2021
LUCA Ghent: 08/06/2021 - 17/06/2021
KAPOW Ghent: 24/04/2021 - 25/04/2021
Get in touch if you’re interested to host this installation.
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Artwork: Deogracias Kihalu
Animation & interactive magic: Kasper Jordaens
Music & sounddesign: Suntapes
Concept: Tomas Vanderplaetse, Kasper Jordaens, Deogracias Kihalu
An organic abstract audiovisual story by videographer Wim Piqueur and Suntapes. It was a live stream performance in March 2021 where live visuals and live music are interacting in a subtle manner. For this session Wim Piqueur selected relaxing Speeltijd images in combination with minimalist Suntapes ambient flow audio. The result is tranquil, haunting at times and always with an immersive soul. Enjoy the audiovisual story Speeltijd story on the Schijnwerk website of Wim Piqueur :
This studio session evolves around the warm character of my 1881 Bechstein grand piano. The piano is prepared with felt under the strings to create an even warmer and closer sound. The placing of the ribbon microphones is so that you can hear all sounds coming from the piano, including squeaks and the rubbing of the felt. Just like I hear it when I’m playing the piano. Big thanks to Jesse De Roo who recorded and mixed this session.
To start, I manipulate different sound sources inside the piano to extract dark filmic soundscapes. After that, I perform some new neoclassic compositions to let you dream away.
Director Jakob Rosseel created the visual atmosphere in my studio and captured the session on film. The result is a melancholic plunge inside the Bechstein with me. Since we can’t do real shows at the moment, we thought this augmented visual experience brings something you couldn’t experience in a real concert. I actually created the compositions around the idea of how to film it.
With support of the flemish government. This show was originally streamed on the Suntapes Facebook page. Now it’s available on Youtube.
MYSTERIOUS MINIMAL NEOCLASSIC AMBIENT: not exactly a catchy name for a new music genre, but it’s a fitting description of this Suntapes album.
Ecoprins is an organization that tells moving stories about ecology worldwide. For their documentary “Bestia del Clima” the team spent several months in Central America to capture stories of people affected by climate change. The film follows 3 people as they struggle in their own way.
Bestia del clima was in avant premiere on Dec 7th 2019 and is shown on several festivals. Read the article in Mo.
Watch the trailer of the documentary:
Suntapes was commissioned to compose music for the documentary. The sounds and music were chosen to reinforce the tension and hopelessness of the protagonists in their search for a better future.
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.
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
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.
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 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
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.
Watch this video on Soothing Places
Evening atmosphere in the small town of Chandeloa in Rajasthan, India.
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
