RAYASTRE ~ PARA BRAHMA

LP (180 Gram)
Original Artwork by Rayastre
Numbered & signed edition of 5 ex.
d’or071
Date of Publication: August 1, 2023

Para Brahma the formless, the imageless, the soundless. I was dissolved into nothingness. My first awareness of self was that I was moving forward fast, being a small particle in a rushing all pervading energy, where each moment lasted an eternity…

Rayastre (1968, Netherlands) is a Dutch / Indonesian artist working in visual arts for 35 years. He is a collage and assemblage artist with experience in other media like drawing, painting, sculpture. As a musician (working under his name Raymond Dijkstra) he has published over 130 solo music titles, many of them in limited edition and coming with handmade original art. 

Para Brahma is a depiction of his experience with Bufo Alvarius, a strong entheogen which has permanently altered his perception and created a powerful spiritual connection.  

RAYASTRE.ORG

Artwork description: Red velvet hardcover box with collage of dried leaves, iron ornaments and debossed gold stamp.

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RAYASTRE ~ BRUIT DE TRIOLET…

Installation by Rayastre
Rayastre ~ Para Brahma
LP AND ARTWORK IN BOX
PUBLICATION OCTOBER 6
(Photo of Installation by Rayastre)

LP (180 Gram)
Original Artwork by Rayastre
Numbered & signed edition of 25 ex.
d’or061

  1. Claquement Bruit…
  2. Rhytme Sinusale…
  3. Extrasystole Sporadique…
  4. Bruit du Cœur…
  5. Éclat Variable…
  6. L’écume du Ciel…
  7. Dédoublement du deuxième bruit……
  8. Gallop Presystolique…
  9. Bruit de Triolet…
  10. Claquement d’ouverture Mitrale…
  11. Le souffle Systolique…
  12. Le souffle Discret…
  13. Souffle Proto Systolique…
  14. Le Souffle du Rêve…
  15. Souffle Gastolique…
  16. le souffle continue de la persistance du canal artériel rappelle de la locomotive…

All Music by Rayastre…
All Music made with Voice and Tape Manipulation Only.

The Music celebrates the different Forms and Deviations of Heart Murmur. Cardiac Auscultation in full Exclamation…” (Rayastre)

Rayastre ~ Claquement Bruit…
Rayastre ~ Rhytme Sinusale…
Rayastre ~ Extrasystole Sporadique…

Listen to full album here: https://astresdor.bandcamp.com/album/rayastre-para-brahma

Artwork Description
The following collages were made by Rayastre during the course of several years. The original collages are transparent collages on lightboxes. All etchings are direct transfers from original 19th century books. The transfer procédé is a unique technique developed by Rayastre and involves careful washing with water and transfer to adhesive tape. There is no computer or copymachine used in this process, but is fully done by hand.
These 5 prints are blow ups (30-30 cm) of the originals (10-10 cm) on a transparent plastic sheet. A unique series of 5 prints of five collages in first (and last) edition. Signed by the artist.
Hardcover box with black linen and wooden dowel.

Rayastre Website

Series 1. Edition of 5 Original Prints
Series 2. Edition of 5 Original Prints
Series 3. Edition of 5 Original Prints
Series 4. Edition of 5 Original Prints
Series 5. Edition of 5 Original Prints
Series 2 on hardcover box
Innercover
Innercover with 4 prints
Series 2 print on transparent plastic sheet
Series 2, transparent sheet

RAYASTRE ~ SHAMBHAVI MUDRA MALDOROR

LP (180 Gram)
Original Artwork by Rayastre
Numbered edition of 25 ex.
Signed by the Artist
d’or059

Rayastre is an artist from Indonesian / Dutch / Belgian / Portuguese / English descent, active since 1987 in music, sculpture, painting, photography, collage and drawing.

His solo-work involves mainly the use of acoustic instruments and non instruments like iron and glass objects, apart from a few electronic excursions. Since a few years his work increasingly includes the use of his voice. Music and other creative work are used by the artist as direct explorations of the mind. This has lead to a rather personal form of music. During the decades the music of Rayastre has changed organically along with the artist.

His solo music work can roughly be divided in the following time periods;
1987-1992 Experimental self research.
1992-2000 Electronic music.
2002-2010 Le Souffleur period / expressionistic acoustic music.
2011-2020 Exploratory projects.
2021-current Voicework / meditative work.

His discography withholds over 130 solo titles and a list of collaborative group projects, mostly published on vinyl.

Founding member of Asra, La Poupée Vivante (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Bart de Paepe), he has further collaborated with Frédérique Bruyas, Jon Mueller among others. Rayastre is an autodidact who believes strongly art should be derived from worldly experiences and can’t be learned at school. The basis of the art lies in non knowledge, from which roads are chosen and lessons learned. Teachings came from life, alienation, dreams… Rayastre’s discography shows a high degree of DIY in the sense that he has “taught myself music along the way while opening doors within myself”, meaning that the music follows the inner excursions of the artist. He’s a full autodidact without any music education or artistic education.

Since 2017 he publishes his work via Astres d’Or.

As a visual artist, Rayastre works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture and objects. He has chosen not to exhibit his visual work to the public, apart from when published together with his music. In the future this may change.

“A love for experiences which connect me to the stranger realms are at the basis of my work”

“I’m more and more interested in my ancestral background, especially my Indonesian heritage. All my spiritual connections are deeply rooted there, which is reflected on an increasing level in my work and personal life.”

rayastre.org

“All my work is closely related / connected to my journey into myself… It’s highly autobiographical in that sense, albeit in an abstract form. The music is a direct 1:1 result of the journey, not a depiction / reflection of the journey… The truth shines through a real experience, when the truth is touched. Although the materialisation of this psychic pathway, the music, is abstract, something of the initial experience will shine through…

The music for Shambhavi Mudra Maldoror is a direct result of my daily meditational practices. It is the meditation which was the centre. Not the music…
It carries at the same time all my experience as a human being and in particular a few life altering events. When one has touched the essence of being and has experienced how it is when there’s no self or even awareness… When one has experienced, yet has no memory of it because there was no Self… When one comes back slowly into the Self and finds oneself being just a tiny molecule in a wild cosmic stream of energy… The full immersion in the Para Brahma evaporates all boundaries between the Self and the Universe through it’s pure essence of bliss…” (Rayastre)

RAYASTRE ~ SHAMBHAVI MUDRA MALDOROR

Para Brahma I (20:25)
Para Brahma II (20:56)

All music Rayastre


Dedicated to Floris Sirag (* 5-4-1956 – † 25-9-2020) & Nynke Wesselius (* 9-9-1961 – † 18-10-2020)

OM RHAM HIRANYAGARBHAYA NAMAHA (Salute to the golden cosmic egg…)

_______________________________________________________________

Listen here to Rayastre ~ Shambhavi Mudra Maldoror, Para Brahma I (excerpt)


Listen here to Shambhavi Mudra Maldoror, Para Brahma II (excerpt)

____________________________________________________________

Artwork description:
Hardcover box with prints, LP and a nature’s memory…

  • Red velvet box (size 33-33 cm)
    -Front of box: print of photocollage “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I”, golden ribbon with bell, red cotton flowers, golden tassel (size 30-30 cm)
    – Inside of front box: print of collage “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) II” (size 30-30 cm)
    – Inside of backside box: print of collage “Para Brahma III” (size 20-20 cm)
  • Content of box:
    – print of collage “Para Brahma I” (size 30-30 cm)(300 grams paper)
    – print of photocollage “Para Brahma II” (size 30-30 cm)(300 grams paper)
    – a nature’s memory (dried leaves and flowers as found and preserved by the artist)
    – LP handcut by the artist. Hand etchings on vinyl.

All artwork by Rayastre

2/25 front “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I”
2/25 front “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I”
2/25 front “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I”
2/25 front “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I”
2/25 front “Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I”
2/25 inside front (“Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) II”) and backside first page
2/25 inside front (“Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) II”) and backside first page
2/25 first page (“Para Brahma I”) and a nature’s memory
2/25 first page (“Para Brahma I”) and a nature’s memory
2/25 a nature’s memory and second page (“Para Brahma II”)
2/25 second page (“Para Brahma II”) and inside backside (“Para Brahma III”)
2/25 inside backside (“Para Brahma III”)
2/25 second page (“Para Brahma II”)
2/25 backside second page. Handwritten text, signature, place, date
2/25 a nature’s memory
2/25 first page (“Para Brahma I”)
2/25 inside front (“Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) II”)
2/25 backside
Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) I
Vajrabhairava (path to samadhi) II
Para Brahma I
Para Brahma II
Para Brahma III
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RAYMOND DIJKSTRA ~ DE MEREL

LP
Original Artwork by Raymond Dijkstra
Numbered & signed edition of 2 ex.
d’or042
SOLD

De Merel. 14 Expressionist Music Pieces by Raymond Dijkstra

Raymond Dijkstra is an artist active since 1987 in music, sculpture, painting, photography, collage and drawing.
Founding member of Asra, La Poupée Vivante (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Bart de Paepe). He has collaborated with Frédérique Bruyas, Jon Mueller, The New Blockaders among others. RD is an autodidact who believes strongly art should be derived from worldly experiences and can’t be learned at school. The basis of the art lies in non knowledge, from which roads are chosen and lessons learned. Teachings came from life, alienation, dreams… Dijkstra has a discography of approximately 150 titles. His work shows a high degree of DIY in the sense that he has taught himself music ‘along the way’ while opening doors within himself. He has outed his music mostly through self-raised music and art publishing platforms like Le Souffleur (2003-current) and Astres d’Or (2017-current). The vinyl-records of this publication are hand-cut by RD himself.
As a visual artist, Dijkstra works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture and objects. He currently works under the name Rayastre for his visual work as well for some of his audiowork.

“A love for experiences which connect me to the stranger realms are at the basis of my work”
raymonddijkstra.com
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Artwork description: Black thread on Black Cardboard
Artwork on Covers by Raymond Dijkstra

RAYMOND DIJKSTRA & LOUISE LANDES LEVI ~ IN THE FACE OF FACELESS EYE

LP
Original Artwork by Raymond Dijkstra / Louise Landes Levi
Numbered edition of 25 ex.
d’or036
SOLD.

Photo LLL by Raymond Dijkstra. Credits should be given to Raymond Dijkstra when this photo is published elsewhere. This is copyrighted material.
Photo RD by Jolande des Bouvrie.

Henri Michaux (Namur 1899 – Paris 1984)
The French writer, painter and graphic artist Henri Michaux was born in the Belgian town of Namur in 1899 and spent his childhood in Brussels. He wanted to become a priest, but followed his father’s wish and began to study medicine in 1919, but soon abandoned this plan and signed on as a seaman.
After reading works by Lautréamont he began writing in 1922. His acquaintance with Paul Klee, Max Ernst and Giorgio de Chirico, whom he met in Paris in 1925, inspired him to first painting and drawing attempts. Between 1927 and 1937 he travelled through South America and Asia. Afterwards Michaux sketched and painted his Phantomisms.
He had his first exhibitions in Parisian galleries, followed by important shows abroad. In the mid 1950s Michaux began experimenting with hallucinatory drugs, particularly with mescaline, letting his experiences inspire his writing, painting and drawing. These works were first exhibited in 1956 at the Galerie La Hune in Paris. Then there was a large exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in December 1957 and a retrospective exhibition organised by Daniel Cordier in Frankfurt/Main in March 1959.
His ink drawings evoke scriptural elements and calligraphic symbols which are a seismographic reflection of the artist’s inner emotions. The two systems of word-language and sign-language pervade each other. Henri Michaux’s impressive oeuvre attracted much international recognition. He exhibited works at the “documenta” in Kassel in 1959 and 1964; he was awarded the Einaudi-Prize at the Biennale in Venice in 1960.
Henri Michaux’s paintings always remained figurative, in-spite of all tendency towards abstraction. The artist’s intention was not to flee from the world, but to expand the world by changing the awareness. The real world was to be enhanced by additional levels of perception.
Henri Michaux died in Paris in 1984 at the age of 85.

Louise Landes Levi is a poet/performer-translator/traveler and a founding member of Daniel Moore’s Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company, America’s first fusion orchestra.

Raymond Dijkstra is an artist active since 1987 in music, sculpture, painting, photography, collage and drawing.
Founding member of Asra, La Poupée Vivante (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Bart de Paepe). He has collaborated with Frédérique Bruyas, Jon Mueller, The New Blockaders among others. RD is an autodidact who believes strongly art should be derived from worldly experiences and can’t be learned at school. The basis of the art lies in non knowledge, from which roads are chosen and lessons learned. Teachings came from life, alienation, dreams… Dijkstra has a discography of approximately 150 titles. His work shows a high degree of DIY in the sense that he has taught himself music ‘along the way’ while opening doors within himself. He has outed his music mostly through self-raised music and art publishing platforms like Le Souffleur (2003-current) and Astres d’Or (2017-current). The vinyl-records of this publication are hand-cut by RD himself.
As a visual artist, Dijkstra works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture and objects. He currently works under the name Rayastre for his visual work as well for some of his audiowork.
“A love for experiences which connect me to the stranger realms are at the basis of my work”
rayastre.org

Spoken Word and Music by Raymond Dijkstra (Mellotron, Organ, Gong, Oscillator, Percussion, Mixage, Effects) and Louise Landes Levi (Voice, Sarangi), Somewhere in 2019, Somewhere. Text: Henri Michaux.

Listen to full album / Digital download

Raymond Dijkstra & Louise Landes Levi ~ In The Face Of Faceless Eye
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Artwork Description: Photo-collages by Raymond Dijkstra

Text by Henri Michaux

AN INTRODUCTION “La Terre n’est pas ronde, pas encore. Non, il faut la faire ronde” “The world is not yet round, No, not yet ,we must make it round.”

“Dans quelques cents ans, J’ai confiance, le monde sera large Enfin on communiquera avec lec animaux, on leur parlera.” In a hundred years, or so, I am sure, the world will be large. Finally, one will communicate with animals,
one will speak to them:
Épreuves. Exorcisme.

“Je lis surtoute ces textes archaiques,de peuple étrangères ou la poesie n’est pas mise a part, elle vient a l’improvise,
on ne sait comment.”
I read , above all, those archaic texts of foreign peoples
for whom poetry is not something isolated,
it comes spontaneously,
one doesn’t know how.

THE LETTER I am writing to you from a country that was formerly light. I write to you from a country of cloak and shadow. For years we live, we live in the tower of a flag broken by wind. Oh! Summer! Poisoned summer! And ever since it is always the same day, the day of encrusted memory.
The ensnared fish thinks as much as he can of water. As much as he can, isn’t it natural? At the top of a mountain slope one receives a pike-blow. It is then that a whole life changes. One instant breaks down the door to the temple.
We consult each other. We no longer know. Neither one nor the other knows anymore. That one is confused. All are distraught. Calm is no more. Wisdom does not outlast inspiration. Tell me, who having received three arrows in the cheek will present himself in a flippant way?
Death takes some. Prison, exile, famine, misery take the others. Great swords of cold crossed us, then the abject and the sly crossed us.
Who, on our soil, still receives the kiss of joy in the depth of his heart?
The union of myself and wine is a poem. The union of myself and a woman is a poem. The union of the sky and the earth is a poem. But the poem which we have heard has paralyzed our minds…
Our song in the great suffering could not be sung. Art has the mark of arrested jade. The clouds pass, clouds with the contours of rocks, clouds with the contours of sins, and we, like the clouds, we pass, padded with the vain powers of grief.
One no longer likes the day. It shrieks. One no longer likes the night, haunted with worry. A thousand voices in order to deceive. No voice on which to lean. Our skin is tired of our pale face.
The event is great. Night is also great, but what can it do? A thousand stars do not light a single bed. Those who knew no longer know. They leap with the train, the roll with the wheel.
“To live in one’s own skin”. Don’t even think of it. The solitary house does not exist on the island of Parrots. In the fall, the villainess revealed herself. Pure is not pure. It shows its abstinence, its spite. Some manifest in squeaks. Others manifest in escape. Dignity does not manifest.
Ardor in secret, farewell to truth. The silence of the pavement, the cry of the stabbed,
the harmony of frozen repose and feelings which burn was our harmony. The path of the perplexed dog, our path.
We have not recognized ourselves in the silence, we have not recognized ourselves in the screams, nor in our caves nor in the gestures of strangers. All around us the country is indifferent and the sky without purpose.

We have seen ourselves in the mirror of death. We have seen ourselves in the mirror of the outraged seal, of flowing blood, of decapitated rapture, in the charred mirror of insult.

We have returned to the gloucous streams.

*****************************************************

Louise Landes Levi and Henri Michaux were personal friends during the life of Michaux. LLL has translated his work into English with the personal appreciation of Michaux. The texts used on this LP are from these translations.

RAYMOND DIJKSTRA ~ MUSIQUE IRRITANTE (I)

LP
Leather and Paper Collage by Raymond Dijkstra.
Signed by Raymond Dijkstra
Numbered edition of 10 ex.
d’or035
SOLD

Raymond Dijkstra is an artist active since 1987 in music, sculpture, painting, photography, collage and drawing.
Founding member of Asra, La Poupée Vivante (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Bart de Paepe). He has collaborated with Frédérique Bruyas, Jon Mueller, The New Blockaders among others. RD is an autodidact who believes strongly art should be derived from worldly experiences and can’t be learned at school. The basis of the art lies in non knowledge, from which roads are chosen and lessons learned. Teachings came from life, alienation, dreams… Dijkstra has a discography of approximately 150 titles. His work shows a high degree of DIY in the sense that he has taught himself music ‘along the way’ while opening doors within himself. He has outed his music mostly through self-raised music and art publishing platforms like Le Souffleur (2003-current) and Astres d’Or (2017-current). The vinyl-records of this publication are hand-cut by RD himself.
As a visual artist, Dijkstra works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture and objects. He currently works under the name Rayastre for his visual work as well for some of his audiowork.
“A love for experiences which connect me to the stranger realms are at the basis of my work”
https://www.raymonddijkstra.com

Listen to full album / Digital download

“Between 2008 and 2016, I’ve worked on a Series called Catalogue du Bruit / Musique Irritante, which was published in the same period on 3″ and 5” vinyl records on my own imprint Le Souffleur.

The Music was an Attempt to break through certain Types of Self-Confinement, by repetitive Behavior.

As a Child I’ve suffered from Tics and compulsive Behavior, like blinking with my Eyes, making Sounds with Throat and Face Contortions. I also had to repeat certain Kind of Actions- when I had locked the Door, I had to repeat the same Action 3 or 4 Times. It was sometimes very tiring, because I couldn’t stop. I got a Kind of Satisfaction from doing it after a certain prolonged Period, at the same Time it was far from satisfying. Because my Parents and even my Schoolteacher acted as if I did something terribly wrong, I also felt guilty by doing it. This Behavior got less during Adolescence and almost completely left me when I was around 16, although a certain Level of Compulsion has always Kind of stayed with me.

Because of my History with Tourette, I found out that making Music in a repetitive Manner eased my Senses, by forgetting the Self. There was a certain Level of Compulsion in it as well, which was warmly familiar.

I see the Music as Expressionist Music. More than Musique Brut. I’ve made the Music to come to my Self and also always as a Way to connect with a different Level of / in Reality. In that Perspective it has been my personal Connection to Surrealism. The Sounds are not simply Sounds for the Sake of making Sounds. Or experimenting with Sound. Far from, even. I’ve never been interested in making experimental Music. The Sounds were solely a logical Outcome of my personal Preferences and Taste. Much more important is the emotional Load of the Sounds, transferred by the Movements of my Body. The Sounds were not created by my Head (Logic) or Feeling. It wasn’t a conscious Attempt to making Music / Sound before or during the Making of the Sound. In Fact it was made with an entirely empty Head and Mind, allowing my Body to move in the most possible free Way, without wanting to gain any Control over it, basically a Form of Automatic Writing, connecting a direct Link with my Subconsciousness. Body-Spasms as a Way to express. But always within the Confinement of a limited Time-Frame (1 to 2,5 minutes- with Clockalarm) and a relatively narrow Pallet of Sounds- my German Harmonium, A table of Glass and another frictional Object. These three Elements were always the Same, because these Elements allowed me to connect with my Self and lead to ease the Mind. The Music was made at once, spontaneously, without After-editing or any use of Electronics.

Between 2008 and 2016 a Series of 58 tiny Vinyl Records were produced on 3 Inch Format and 5 Inch Format. They were published together with my own handmade Collages on self-made hardcover Boxes in mostly black Linen. An Exception was the Work ‘De Slaap’ which was covered in dried Fishskin. All Titles were published in limited Editions between 1 and 10 Copies. This is the first Time these Noise Miniatures of 1 to 2,5 minutes will be published together on one LP. This LP contains the first Ten Titles from the entire Series with new original Artwork.”

“My music is made in an abstract process of self-detachment. While detaching myself from myself, I connect with my Self. My expressionistic music should be regarded more as a physical act, more than music. It’s a constant training in opening up my mind, removing obstacles with violence, and seeing a different reality through the debris.” “The final result is a pile of fragments, but I guess something of the initial light still shimmers through.” “The publication is simply a registration of a physical event, and should be left untouched. Any changing of the initial energy is a weakening.”

Links to the original Works on Le Souffleur:

De Zee (The Sea) (2008)(5 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Luis (The Louse) (2008) (5 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Droom (The Dream) (2008) (5 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Herinnering (The Memory) (2008) (5 inch record) (box)(Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Zon (The Sun) (2008) (5 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Wil (The Will) (2008) (5 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Tegel (The Tile) (2008) (5 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Slaap (The Sleep) (2008) (3 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Varen (The Fern) (2008) (3 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Vijl (The File Tool) (2008) (3 inch record)(box) (Le Souffleur)(NL)
More Information here
De Luis A Side
De Luis B Side Excerpt
De Droom A Side excerpt
De Droom B Side Excerpt
De Zon B Side Excerpt
De Herinnering A Side Excerpt
De Herinnering B Side Excerpt
De Slaap A Side
De Tegel A Side Excerpt
De Wil A Side
De Wil B Side Excerpt
De Zon A Side Excerpt

Raymond Dijkstra ~ Musique Irritante
LP Original Artwork Raymond DijkstraSOLD OUT

Artwork Description: Cut’ and glued Strips of Leather and Paper on Cardboard LP Cover

01/10 Front
01/10 Back

WENDINGEN 1918 ~ LA DÉCORPORISATION DE LA RÉALITÉ

LP
Original Photography by B de Paepe. Original Handwriting and Drawings by R Dijkstra
Numbered edition of 40 ex.
d’or031
SOLD

WENDINGEN 1918 IS BART DE PAEPE, RAYMOND DIJKSTRA, FRÉDÉRIQUE BRUYAS

Bart de Paepe De Paepe has released several solo albums of psychedelic soggy murkiness on Vohu Manah, Beyond Beyond Is Beyond and No Basement Is Deep Enough exploring the shifting relations between reality and perception. He plays in several bands such as Innercity (with Hans Dens), Ilta Hämärä (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Raymond Dijkstra), Bombay Lunatic Asylum (with Koen Vandenhoudt and Louise Landes Levi), Fort Bedmar (with Dave Colohan), Fuji (with Mik Quantius and Junzo Suzuki) etc.
For over 10 years, Bart De Paepe has sated the appetites of psychedelic searchers with his label Sloow Tapes. A peerless curator, De Paepe has unleashed crucial underground transmissions ranging from paint-peeling Japanese rock over bedroom poetry readings to laid-back cosmic Euro-prog in microscopic editions.
Websites: Slowtapes
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Raymond Dijkstra is an artist active since 1987 in music, sculpture, painting, photography, collage and drawing.
Founding member of Asra, La Poupée Vivante (with Timo van Luijk), Wendingen 1918 (with Bart de Paepe). He has collaborated with Frédérique Bruyas, Jon Mueller, The New Blockaders among others. RD is an autodidact who believes strongly art should be derived from worldly experiences and can’t be learned at school. The basis of the art lies in non knowledge, from which roads are chosen and lessons learned. Teachings came from life, alienation, dreams… Dijkstra has a discography of approximately 150 titles. His work shows a high degree of DIY in the sense that he has taught himself music ‘along the way’ while opening doors within himself. He has outed his music mostly through self-raised music and art publishing platforms like Le Souffleur (2003-current) and Astres d’Or (2017-current). The vinyl-records of this publication are hand-cut by RD himself.
As a visual artist, Dijkstra works in the field of painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture and objects. He currently works under the name Rayastre for his visual work as well for some of his audiowork.
“A love for experiences which connect me to the stranger realms are at the basis of my work”
https://www.raymonddijkstra.com
Listen

Frédérique Bruyas Public reader, Frédérique Bruyas conceives reading aloud as an art of written words, the subject of which is literature in its variety and vitality. Her strong taste for the connections that books weave with the voice and music is at the origin of her artistic commitment.
She presents her public readings at numerous bookstores, at spoken word events, and at national and international manifestations.
She shares the state of her research during training courses in spoken word with librarians, teachers and artists in France and abroad (Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Canada, Armenia … ).
She has collaborated with the Orchester National d’Ile-de-France, the companies voQue / Jacques Rebotier, La route des livres, Les Souffleur (s), the festivals Ritournelles, Textes en l’air, Rencontres d’été en Normandie , The Voice is Free, Out of Limits, etc.
She recorded in duo with musicians the texts of Victor Hugo, James Joyce, William Blake, Gertrude Stein, Emily Dickinson, Gustave Flaubert, Joyce Mansour, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman…
She is the author of the books
Le métier de lire à voix haute (The profession of reading aloud) (Éditions Magellan & Cie / 2014) in which she retraces her sensitive experience of fifteen years of public reading and La lecture à voix haute expliquée aux enfants (Reading aloud explained to children) (Éditions Magellan & Cie / 2018) conceived as the answer she would give to a child who asked her: “What is reading aloud?” “.
Frédérique Bruyas is director of the company
Escargot Ma Non Troppo in which she invites many artists to create together new complicities around literature, a subject of extraordinary plasticity.

Face A:
1 Part I
2 Part II

Face B:
1 Part III
2 Part IV

“I often wander in huge empty Buildings. I realize I once squatted this Building and lived in it for a while, but I completely forgot about it. Now I’m here, the Rooms are a bit filthy and covered with Dust. The same Dust there was when I first came here. There’s still the old Machines from the previous Factory and the Content of their Storage, abandoned. Months later, after having forgotten about my Home again, I return and realize it’s been evicted. I feel a bit sad I no longer have this House as my Home.

Another Day… I’m in my other House… Here also, there’s a Part which I’d forgotten about. I hadn’t been there for at least Months… I walk Downstairs and come in a kind of small, rectangular Hallway. It’s a very pleasant Place. But behind a Door, there’s a Neighbor who I despise.

Quite recently I was living with my Parents. I walked Upstairs and saw a Room which was vaguely familiar. It was full with beautiful Plants, which my Mother was taking Care off. I went further Upstairs and came to a very large Space. About as large as a huge Factory-hall and it even looked like one. It was clear the Factory-hall hadn’t been visited often by People for Ages. Dusty, flaked off Lime Plaster, Concrete Floors and almost entirely empty, apart from a very few Objects, among which was a strange but nice looking small red Couch from the 18th Century. The Couch had a Pluche Fabric and in the Middle of this Couch it had a Swivel-chair. Because of this, the Couch functioned more like a Table for the Swivel-chair. The Factory-hall was fully to my Liking and I took up the Plan to live here from now on, instead of living in my small Room at the Groundfloor… Walking through the Hall, it became more and more spacious… I saw new Parts, equally messy and abandoned. Above, there was a gigantic Attic, which I’d been visiting once, in a Dream. It was the Attic of my Grandmother. We (I was apparently in the Company of my Father and a Group of Acquaintances who I barely knew) were able to climb up a rickety Ladder and entered the Attic, where it was even more dusty and entirely empty. It had a wooden Floor, with Sections where one could easily crash through and other Parts where there wasn’t even a Floor at all. I remembered the spooky Atmosphere from the previous Time I’d been here and felt also now, how the Room was filled with a unnerving Type of old Fear. Someone said, a little Child was once hung here, on her arms and legs- and died.”
RD

Wendingen 1918 ~ La decorporisation de la realite

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Artwork Description: Photography by Bart de Paepe. Handwriting and Drawings in Goldmarker by Raymond Dijkstra. Black LP Cover.

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RAYMOND DIJKSTRA ~ AFFEN-THEATER

LP
Original Artwork by Raymond Dijkstra
Numbered, dated, signed edition of 40 ex.
d’or029
SOLD

Reïssue of Raymond Dijkstra ~ Affen-theater (Le Souffleur, 2005) with original Artwork

Affen-Theater is an early Le Souffleur Period RD Work from 2005, opening a new Artistic Direction in the Œuvre of RD, with a high Focus on an expressionist Style of Playing Harmonium, experimental frotting and scratching of Glass Surfaces with different Materials, sometimes combined with manual Tape Manipulation and rudimentary Delay Effects. The Key Element in these expressionist Works (starting with Affen-Theater and involving 73 published Titles between 2005-2017) is an Approach very close to Surrealist Automatism, giving free Reign to the Unconscious of the Artist.

“My music is made in an abstract process of self-detachment. While detaching myself from myself, I connect with my Self. My expressionistic music should be regarded more as a physical act, more than music. It’s a constant training in opening up my mind, removing obstacles with violence, and seeing a different reality through the debris.” “The final result is a pile of fragments, but I guess something of the initial light still shimmers through.” “The publication is simply a registration of a physical event, and should be left untouched. Any changing of the initial energy is a weakening.” (RD)

raymonddijkstra.com

Side A   Affen-theater20:00
Side B   Affen-theater08:00
Affen-Theater (Excerpt)
Raymond Dijkstra
Affen-theaterLP Original Artwork by Raymond DijkstraSold

Artwork Description: Charcoal on Brown Paper

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WENDINGEN 1918 ~ MUZIKË MUUSIKA

LP
Original Artwork by Wendingen 1918
Numbered edition of 40 ex.
d’or022
SOLD

WENDINGEN 1918
Bart de Paepe
Raymond Dijkstra
Frédérique Bruyas : Voice

WENDINGEN 1918.

“Little by little, the mass turned like a slimy and forceful nausea, a kind of immense influx of vegetable and thundering blood. And the small fibers trembling at the edge of my mental eye, broke off with a vertiginous speed of the tense mass of the wind. And all the space trembled like a sex organ which the globe of the burning sky was battering.”

Raymond Dijkstra is an autodidact Artist from Indonesian / Dutch / English / Belgian / Portuguese descent. He has developed a highly personal acoustic-experimental and expressionist style, using his body as a tool for ‘automatic writing’. His explorations in this area are carefully documented by his own imprint Le Souffleur, especially in the series “Catalogue du Bruit”. Since about 2009 he also started working on a different, more ‘musical’ type of music, hereby incorporating electronic sources and a more eleborate use of effects. Since 2003 he’s been combining most of his limited publications with original exclusive handmade artworks of himself.

Bart de Paepe is a Belgian Musician and Artist who has worked in many diverse directions, leading to an eclectic array of experimental and underground escavations of his innerworld. His solo music is portrayed by a compact electronic, yet psychedelic style. He’s the Art Direcor for the labels Sloow Tapes and Sloowax and has collaborated with Louise Landes Levi, Timo van Luijk and members of Embryo.

Frédérique Bruyas is a Native French Reciter of (mainly) French Literature. Approaching the texts almost as an actor, she’s showcasing her superb sensitivity for atmosphere and her excellent ability to translate written word in spoken word with great respect to the original texts. The texts used on “Tremblaient à la lisière de mon œil mental” are part of L’Ombilic des Limbes by Antonin Artaud, a text written in 1918 during his stay in a mental asylum and published only a decade later.

Wendingen 1918 is dedicated to the Dutch Architectural Magazine ‘Wendingen’ from 1918 and the Work and Life of Antonin Artaud.

Artwork Description:
Cover tied with rope; Innercover with wooden Dowel (Design RD)
Original Artwork by BdP, RD

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  Coverdesign & Artwork by RD

  Artwork Bart de Paepe

Face A

Les sous-vêtements de l’irréel

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Face B

Tremblaient à la lisière de mon œil mental

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WENDINGEN 1918
  SOLD

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