Minimal Damage Recordings

label for adventurous music

Minimal Damage Recordings is an independent label for adventurous music that doesn’t fit regular categories. If you want to be/stay informed, or buy a CD, please contact me on albert.v@xs4all.nl Minimal Damage Recordings is a member of Toondist. The Cd’s are available for listening and buying on BANDCAMP (links on the album pages) and can as well be ordered at Subteranean Distributions

One of the starting points for the label is releasing albums where ‘established’ musicians work together with new talents. As a teacher at the Utrecht Conservatory I meet many creative, dedicated, authentic musicians, makers, improvisors who (can) add value to the musical landscape. The label offers a platform for these new collaborations. An example of such a project is the release of MDR 2301, Het Oog in de Naald – The Eye in the Needle -, featuring the phenomenal Roosmarijn Tuenter, Rogier Hornman and Francisca Snip.

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

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
Bora Kim, Oene van Geel & Albert van Veenendaal live in Splendor Amsterdam
Release: December 1st, 2023 on 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.

Songs from the secret house – MDR 2401
To be released: February 2024. Click here for further information

Albert van Veenendaal: prepared piano & compositions; Mees Siderius: drums, vibraphone & percussion; Mieke van Dam: Theremin; Steven Kamperman: es & bass- clarinet; Koen Boeiijnga: whistles, sounds, percussion, little instruments; Rogier Hornman: cello

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 mindedness.

Interlocking – MDR 2402 –
To be released: spring 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 imaginative 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 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