Beequeen – Port Out Starboard Home ****

Sublime dream-pop

Beequeen have been releasing records for over 23 years, the duo of Frans de Waard and RC contributor Freek Kinkelaar amassing over 20 albums in that time. Musically, they’ve explored sonic textures covering everything from drones, ambient twirls and cover versions, to a fascination with dream-pop, which began in 2001 on the Ownliness LP. In recent years, Beequeen have drafted in Olga Wallis – first making an appearance on Sandancing, and here acting as a full blown band member. Her voice adds to a vibrant album: it’s wondrous how the dreamy vocal recordings such as The Centipede Song and Giant’s Hill are interspaced with experimental textures, which gives the album focus and a sense of journey. Saying that, it’s annoying that the jazzy instrumental A Gall Ill Sow, is only 1.08 long! Fans of Everything But The Girl, Swing Out Sister and, of course, Stereolab will love this. The whole ends with The Lord Is My Shepherd – not a cover version, but a wonderful piece of ambient sonics complete with sampled lambs. Ian Shirley

Wow! Not bad eh?

So Miranda and I went to see the Beatles. Courtesy of free tickets from Miranda’s boss (thanks Wim!). Not the Real Beatles mind, but the Cavern Beatles, who, like the Real Ones hail from Liverpool. It was a most surreal experience. Some of the Cavern lads actually looked the part (John – scaringly so, Ringo) whereas others didn’t (Paul – who looked a bit like Whitney Houston and George – who looked… strange). They are certainly professionals; the clothing, the mop tops, the equipment, the movements – it was all there. Their playing is great and proves what you can do with just 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 set of drums and a couple of good tunes. Watching Ringo’s drumpatterns live was fascinating - he is a very underestimated drummer. What was most refreshing was the lack of any “show”. It was just the musicians, a backdrop of one colour and the music. First the early 60s stuff and then the late 60s stuff, carefully avoiding the Srg. Pepper stuff (which is fine by me as I’m not such a big fan of Pepper anyways – except of course for Penny Lane), changing clothes midway. The audience was spectacular too; not many under 65s. All grey haired or balded boppers. When the Cavern boys started singing I though I heard some weird reverb on their vocals until I realized (we were front row seated) it wasn’t reverb but the audience singing along! In all, a great evening – as said, quite surreal – but great fun. If you want to see the Cavern Capers in action, have a peek at their website at www.cavernbeatles.com. Coincidentally, Paul McCartney is playing Rotterdam in March this year. Tickets are close to 100 Euros. Slightly more expensive than the Cavern Laddies…

Musically 2011 was a very fine year. Even though Beequeen didn’t play live as much as I would have wanted, the Lux in Wonderland performance in May 2011 with Use of Ashes and Legendary Pink Dots, turned out to be a very special evening indeed. October saw the release of the Port Out Starboard Home CD by Beequeen, which I am well pleased with. October also saw a brief tour of Russia (taking in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yaroslavl), with shows by Beequeen and Wander, which to me was the musical highlight of the year for which I thank everyone involved!

2011 brought me a few records I’d been after for ages: a copy of Psychopathia Sexualis by Whitehouse, an original tape copy of Chemical Playschool volume 1 by the Legendary Pink Dots (hand made in an edition of 25 copies in 1981), an original tape copy of the Led Zeppelin tape by the Deep Freeze Mice, an original pressing of Nurse With Wound’s first album Chance Meeting, a copy of All That I Am by Kit Ream from the 70s and a few others. There were also amazing and rare Japanese records by the likes of Mari Sono, Itoh Kiyoko, Mari Atsumi, Tachida Uchida and two utterly beautiful 10 inch albums by Matsuo Kazuko, which brought me lots of audio joy. Not to mention some other rare Japanese pressings I got in 2011; the first album by Paul McCartney on gorgeous red vinyl, the first album by Lou Reed, a Japanese promo copy of his Metal Machine Music 2LP and, on the verge of the new year, an original 1968 red vinyl Japanese press of the Beatles’ White Album and an original 1966 red vinyl Japanese press of Revolver.

Musical discovery of the year to me was the album God Help The Girl. Released in 2009, it had eluded me until some months ago when I bought a copy cheap because I liked the cover. The album is basically the work of Belle and Sebastian’s vocalist/guitarist Stuart Murdoch. Working here with guest musicians and vocalists like Celia Garcia,  Brittany Stallings and especially Catherine Ireton (whose voice knocked me backwards), Murdoch created a wonderfully intimate, funny, intelligent and gorgeous album. God Help The Girl: remember the name, buy the album!

I was able to buy a few personal items (sunglasses and two bracelets) from the legacy of Rozz Williams, who has always fascinated me as a person as well as a musician.

Beam ends records and tapes released Back To Life The Deep Freeze Mice; a single by Bat Cigarette and At Home At Last; a tape by Freiband. Wander released a tour 3 inch CDR on Moll and Zo Volhardend De Dagen, a track under my own name for the Achteradem project by Frank Anthony van Alphen, was finally released on CDR. Both a Beequeen and a very nice Wander track were released on the compilation cassette “The Many Names of Frans de Waard” by, you guessed it, Frans de Waard.

In 2011 I finally met Alan Jenkins of the Deep Freeze Mice in person. I have known Alan for a long time, but we were finally able to shake hands at the VRIL performance in Nijmegen. Coincidentally, our meeting was close to the publication date of the feature I wrote on the Mice for Record Collector magazine. Speaking of reading: this year I read quite a few books. Most impressive were Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Colin MacInnes’ Absolute Beginners and After Dark and 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. The last two books were very intense but beautiful reading; I finished 1Q84 on the last day of the year. I’m sure there must be some significance in that…

When it comes to movies I quite enjoyed Get Low, The Artist, Black Swan, Midnight In Paris and, first and foremost, The King’s Speech. I readily admit I enjoyed the final part of Harry Potter and Pirates Of The Caribbean as well.

For some reason I did not visit a lot of live performances in 2011, though I very much enjoyed seeing the B Movie Orchestra play live in September.

Personally speaking 2011 has been a fine year as well. Miranda and I are keeping very well, enjoying life, dancing Argentinean tango and each other. Only the Mayans know what the New Year will bring us, but allow me to wish you all – for as long as it lasts – a very happy one!

This website had nearly 3000 unique visitors in 2011… wow – thanks!

So it’s been a bit of a wait, but Beam Ends is extremely proud to present AT HOME AT LAST by FREIBAND. This cassette-only release features 6 songs from the archives of Frans de Waard’s project Freiband, which were carefully selected by the Beam Ends Review Team.

The first side features 4 songs: Kapotte Muziek by ? [1] (2008), Well (2001), BCN (2003) and Unter den Linden (2001?), whereas the second side features two songs Tilos (2001-2002) and An invited guest (2004). All songs are previously unreleased.

The cassette comes in a glorious color cover and is limited to 30 copies only. So get your copy while stock lasts!

One copy will cost you 4 Euros (excluding postage), wholesale (more than one copy) will set you back a very reasonable 3 Euros (excluding postage).

To order your copy (or copies) please send an e-mail to info@beequeen.nl

Dutch national radio VPRO have listed Port Out Starboard Home on their “luisterpaal”. To vote for the album or to have a listen before you (obviously) purchase the CD at (even more obviously) this site, please visit http://3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/

Here’s an all-too-brief review of our Russian adventures!

12 October 2011
WANDER at Sigmund Freud Dream Museum

The first concert of our short tour started in St Petersburg. After a long journey, we arrived at the Sigmund Freud Dream Museum, which is a great place – though not literally; in fact it’s extremely small size-wise. The first evening Frans and I played as Wander, as Olga had not arrived yet in Russia. Our set consisted of one 40+ minute track, which we had rehearsed at home. Around 20 very attentative people came to see the concert, which gave the Dream Museum a quite crowded feel. Unfortunately, there was no time for a proper sound check prior to the concert, so there was precious little time to get acquainted with my borrowed guitar, which, to add insult to injury, lacked a string. For me the concert was hard work, but it musically it turned out to be a very nice performance.

13 October 2011
BEEQUEEN at GES

The second concert of the tour in St Petersburg and the first one as Beequeen with Olga on vocals. GES is a gorgeous club, hidden from its street entrance. You have to cross a few squares, walk up a few steps and then; lo and behold: there is a bar, a Beatle museum and some very friendly people. The supporting act Badoseneticcube featured a girl with a lovely voice singing traditional Russian songs stretched out into long soundscapes. The club had a grand piano on stage, which we used to great, if not exactly loud effect, on The Lord Is My Shepherd. Olga turned a few heads in her golden lamé dress. The concert went really well, probably the best one as the Beequeen threesome so far. All those rehearsals did paid off. The response from the audience was great; we sold CD’s and even had to sign a few of them. A really lovely evening!

14 October 2011
WANDER and BEEQUEEN at Artist Residence

We left St Petersburg in high spirits and relocated to Yaroslavl, some 300+ kilometers up north from Moscow. Originally scheduled to play at Dom Muz, we were diverted to what I can only describe as Artist Residence as it had no official name. The rescheduling was necessary because there was no electricity at Dom Muz. Beequeen unplugged – a nice thought! With Olga staying a day longer in St Petersburg, the show in Yaroslavl featured me on vocals. As a nice addition, and since we were the only band playing, we decided to do our own support act: as Wander we played a condensed version of our set (20 minutes), a short break and then we magically re-emerged as Beequeen for the second half of the show. Since I had to sing all the songs as well as play guitar (this time a six stringed one) and remember all the breaks in the songs, this was an evening I anticipated with some nerves, but it all worked wonderfully; both the Wander as the Beequeen set went really well. The concert was filmed with professional cameras. As a result, the full Wander show and the “after party” can both be found on YouTube. The after party in fact consisted of delicious home-made food and alcohol. With one in each hand we enjoyed the gorgeous night view of Yaroslavl from the 14th floor where the venue was based.

15 October 2011
WANDER at Ex Libris

Another evening, another guitar. For this show Alexei was kind enough to lend me his Viper guitar. We returned earlier that day in Moscow from Yaroslavl. The Ex Libris is a library annex bar, and quite professional it is too. As with most bars in Russia, smoking seemed mandatory. The performance was planned in the downstairs room, which featured a sophisticated sound installation. With only 8 paying people turning up, it was quite funny that the table in front of the small stage had a “reservation” sign on it. Those present saw a great Wander concert with good sound to match, probably the best show Wander played so far. Concentration and enjoyment – a very fine combination.

16 October 2011
BEEQUEEN at Dom

And then we came to the final concert of our short tour. How time flies! The second show in Moscow (as Beequeen with Olga singing) was quite an experience: neither the audience nor we were quite sure what to expect. We played third on a bill with 3 other bands, none of which sounded anything like Beequeen. But like magic, the audience became more and more enthusiastic with each song – as did we. The playing was smooth and good, the singing went great. A couple started dancing in the aisle. People clapped along and laughed at our tiny jokes. The show ended before we all wanted it to end. To me the Dom concert was probably the most fun one to do. We made friends for life that evening and sold quite a few CD’s.After the show, we went out to celebrate with cocktails and were almost refused entrance at a posh cocktail bar. If the bouncer had known we were Beequeen, he would have offered us Mick Jagger’s seat. The Dom performance was a great closing of a great tour.

The Beequeen live concerts are available for free download at our archive pages.

We met many lovely people, all willing to help us out, listen to our songs and provide us room to stay. Thanks to all of you, Russia was a dream-come-true!

While we were packing our toothbrushes and clean underwear for our Russian adventure, the postman delivered (in the nick of time) a large box with the new Beequeen CD! Hello hurray! We’ll be selling copies at our Russian shows as well as via mailorder. You can send your orders to info@beequeen.nl. We are selling these at a very reasonable price; cheaper than the U2 reissue boxsets and by far better.  

Good news! As we prepare our balloon for take-off to Russia, we have spent some time in the studio in order to create this little wander wonder. It comprises bits of the set we intend to play live. Why not contact Moll for your copy? Or, even better, come and see us in Russia and buy one live! More details here: http://kormplastics.nl/moll.html

An update for the Russian tour: see renewed tour schedule below. Rehearsals are going well. Will be fun.

12th October Wander in St. Petersburg (at Sigmund Freud Dreams Museum www.freud.ru)
13th October Beequeen in St. Petersburg (at GES-21, support act to Beequeen: Badoseneticcube)
14th October Beequeen in Yaroslavl (at Dom Muz)
15th October Wander in Moscow (at Ex Libris www.exlibriscafe.ru)
16th October Beequeen in Moscow (at Dom www.dom.com.ru/events/254/)

No less than 15 various projects featuring Frans de Waard on this brand-new compilation tape released by Maneki Neko. The tape features a really nice previously unreleased track by Wander (entitled Wander of course) and a live version of Breathe by Beequeen (with me singing, so you’ll have to bear with us). Copies are for sale via www.fransdewaard.com