Minimal Damage Recordings

label for adventurous music

Minimal Damage Recordings is an independent label for adventurous music that doesn’t fit regular categories.

My vision is to give space to new talent, creative makers who add value to then world, as well as releasing albums by adventurous ‘established’ musicians and inter-inspiring collaborations between the two. An example of such a project is Het Oog in de Naald – The Eye in the Needle -, featuring Roosmarijn Tuenter, Rogier Hornman and Francisca Snip.

Soon guitar player and composer Prashant Samlal releases ATMA, a short, epic album. In the spring we will present Songs from the Secret House, based on prepared piano (in cooperation with Mees Siderius, Koen Boeiinga, Rogier Hornman, Mieke van Dam, and Steven Kamperman) and Interlocking, with pianist Laurens de Boer. In autumn Jonathan Ho’s album Who Cares If I Mind will be released. Keep an eye out and enjoy our art!

Article in Jazz Nu (in Dutch) about the label, click HERE

If you want to be/stay informed, or buy a CD, please contact me at minimaldamagerecordings@gmail.com Minimal Damage Recordings is a member of Toondist. The albums are available for listening and buying on BANDCAMP [links on the album pages] and can be ordered at Subteranean Distributions

Please consider this: the best way to support musicians is by going to concerts and buying their music (CD’s, Vinyl or Digital releases). Use streaming platforms to enjoy the abundance of creativity that is out there, to inform yourself, to be surprised, but realise that producing music is dedicated, professional and expensive work. Artists will be deeply grateful for your support, even more so in these challenging times. Thank you!

Het Oog in de Naald – The Eye in the Needle – MDR2301
Released 20 April 2023. Click here for all texts , BANDCAMP link and further information
CD € 10,00 + shipping: mail albert.v@xs4all

The Eye in the Needle explores what it means to be human in today’s challenging world. With songs, spoken word (in Dutch, German and English), poetry and improvisation we are telling stories that might even shed a new light on the challenges we are facing.

Roosmarijn Tuenter: viola, vocals, Francisca Snip: spoken word, vocals, Rogier Hornman: cello, Albert van Veenendaal: piano, compositions, Monique Besten: text

RARA AVIS – How Do I Listen – MDR2302
Released 20 april 2023. Click here for BANDCAMP link and further information
CD € 10,00 + shipping: mail albert.v@xs4all

The highly imaginative and acrobatic singing style of Jodi, the classical background and curiosity of Tineke, and Albert’s pictorial musicality all contribute to the miraculous sound of this trio. They find inspiration in a wide variety of texts including the eternal wisdom of the 14th-century Sufi poet Hafez, the poems of the Japanese poet Yosa Buson, a novel from F. Scott Fitzgerald, humorous modern newspaper headlines, a Handbook of Roses and Jodi’s writings. The album is fully improvised.

Jodi Gilbert – voice, spoken word, small instruments, Tineke de Jong – violin, Albert van Veenendaal – piano, prepared piano

The Bluebird Flew – MDR 2303 [digital release on Bandcamp only]
Bora Kim, Oene van Geel & Albert van Veenendaal live in Splendor Amsterdam
Release: December 1st, 2023 on [click here:] BANDCAMP

Bora Kim: vocals, electronics, Oene van Geel: viola, 5 string violin, orchestral bass drum, Albert van Veenendaal: prepared piano

How destiny unfolded… After Oene van Geel and Albert van Veenendaal played a live streamed duo concert at the BIMhuis in Amsterdam, the organisers of the Korean Jarasum Jazz Festival saw the material and were keen to broadcast the footage in Korea. In Oene’s subsequent contact with the festival, he got to hear several musicians/bands from the Korean scene. What immediately struck him was ‘that voice’. So much power and colour! It turned out to be Bora Kim. In an exchange between Korea and the Netherlands, Oene, together with Joon Suh of the Jarasum Jazz Festival, he organised a concert at Amsterdam’s Splendor for Bora, Albert and himself.

Prashant Samlal – Atma – MDR 2401
You can listen to and purchase the album on BANDCAMP

‘Atma’ is a short story about introspection and self inquiry. The mini-album contains a collection of personal compositions written by guitarist and composer Prashant Samlal, performed by himself and his quintet ‘Atma’. The music is inspired by dealing with different facets of one’s mind, reflecting on fear, love, creativity and the temporal state of emotions. And how expressing oneself through music and art can be seen as a way of navigating the mind.

Daniël Clason – trumpet. Marco Bernardi – alto saxophone, Prashant Samlal – electric guitar, acoustic guitar and synthesizer (track 5). Jonathan Ho Chin Kiat – double bass , Domen Cizej – drums

PIN – Who Cares If I Mind – MDR 2403 [digital release on Bandcamp only]
to be released: spring 2024. first single to be released February 13, 2024
Click HERE to go the album page on Bandcamp

P I N is a free-improvising electroacoustic quartet based in Rotterdam. Using the format of free improvisation, P I N aims to maximise collaboration with improvisors from all over Europe. Led by Jonathan Ho [ i n n e r f r o ] on double bass & electronics and Andrew Moreno on guitar & pedals, the quartet is complete with Laurens Buijs on drums & objects and Jun on vocals & effects.

PIN features in this album specific use of analog and digital electronics, namely No Input Mixing [N.I.M] and Max MSP audio programming. As much as PIN is fundamentally an experimental improvisation group, PIN emphasises heavily on melodic phrasing, harmonic & rhythmic suggestions, guided by carefully chosen moods, subjects, and dynamics. One can expect to experience personal stories of each of us within this controlled cacophony of sounds and textures, even if some stories are told in dialect or just simply selected onomatopoeia. “Who cares if I mind” is their debut experiment on this unique sonic journey of storytelling.

Songs from the secret house – MDR 2402
To be released: Spring 2024. Click here for further information

Albert van Veenendaal prepared piano, singing bowls, e-bows, little instruments;
Koen Boeijinga singing bowl, double flute, bells, cymbals, mouthpiece choir, small flute, bagpipe chanter; Mees Siderius drums, vibraphone, gongs, woodblocks, percussion;
Mieke van Dam theremin; Rogier Hornman cello; Steven Kamperman alto clarinet, clarinet

Ten years after the release of my solo album for prepared piano Minimal Damage I decided to create a new story in sound, together with musicians I admire for their creativity and open mind. The recordings for this album are made in the Secret House Studio, hidden somewhere in Amsterdam. The songs reveal secrets to those who know how to listen deeply, with open hearts and ears.

The album will be produced by Pjotr Lasschuit

recorded on October 14 2023
produced by i n n e r f r o
phone recording #4 outro by Yi Huijun
images by Yi Huijun

Interlocking – MDR 2404
To be released: spring/summer 2024

In this project Pianist Laurens de Boer and composer Albert van Veenendaal work closely together. Laurens plays (with) compositions that Albert wrote for him. In these pieces we are drawn into a harmonious world of sound, inspired by far-away countries. We hear music that could be Gamelan (but it isn’t), that could be Jazz (but it isn’t). What it is, will be defined by the ears and phantasy of the listener. Not only will Laurens play ‘written notes’, he will also improvise with the composed material. The music you are going to hear came into being in close cooperation between Laurens and Albert.

Laurens de Boer: piano and prepared piano
Albert van Veenendaal: compositions, recording and production

Tale Tellers from a Timeless Tribe – Talk of the Town – MDR 2300
Click HERE for further information
CD € 7,50 + shipping: mail albert.v@xs4all

When Makki van Engelen and Albert van Veenendaal met, there was an immediate match and recognition. Story tellers, speaking the same language, experienced musicians getting down to the heart of the matter instantly. Pulsating landscapes, knife sharp grooves, magic minimal, deep statements and tribal trance, it’s all interwoven in their musical universe where drums and piano speak with equal voice.

Albert van Veenendaal: piano, prepared piano, Makki van Engelen: drums

Money For Your Whale – Twelve – Twelve – Twelve – MDR2200

This album was conceived and recorded in 2012 and never ‘officially’ released. Listening back to the music convinced me that it deserved a second life on this newly founded label. Therefor, the album is re-released on Minimal Damage Recordings, available at Bandcamp only. Click here for further information

Robert van Heumen: laptop instrument, Albert van Veenendaal: prepared piano

12 tracks recorded on December 12, 2012 by Robert van Heumen, mixed and mastered by Robert van Heumen, produced by Albert van Veenendaal and Robert van Heumen, polaroids: Monique Besten, special thanks to Heather Segger and Monique Besten