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musicmapglobal · 7 years

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Ivo Schmetz (Basserk)

Amsterdam is one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. The city claims a majority of the Netherlands’ 14 million yearly visitors, who compete against the 800,000 permanent residents for space to take bridge-selfies. There are, of course, the obvious attractions: easily accessible weed, the Red Light District by night, museums, the medieval streets and pretty canals. There is, also, a more underground side to the city.

MusicMap got in touch with Ivo Schmetz, a co-runner of Basserk Records, the Amsterdam Alternative newspaper, and a programmer at underground venue OT301, to talk about the “creative Amsterdam” which is often celebrated within the city itself.

The below track is taken from a 10 year retrospective of Basserk’s output. That compilation can be heard in full on SoundCloud.

In ten words or less, how would you describe where you live? A small apartment in Amsterdam west.

What label do you run, and why did you start it, is there a particular philosophy behind the project? Basserk records is the label I run with two of my best friends. We started the label at the end of 2005 when we were still very active as a band. We couldn’t find a label that wanted to release our punky electronics so we decided to do it ourselves. Because we played a lot of live gigs with our band at the time we met loads of other bands and producers so it didn’t take long to get other musicians wanting to release on our label as well.

As a label we focus on discovering young talented producers and bands. We do not stick to a specific genre because we think that the creation of music is about experiment and joy. All the music we release fits within the description ‘Bleeps, Beats & Bass’. You can discover it on our website, SoundCloud page or of course the streaming channels.

What are the dominant music styles in your country, are there any exciting new music trends currently emerging? I guess the most dominant styles of music are the commercial ones. The ones that are being played most all over the world. I think Dutch radio for example is horrible. They only play the most boring hits ever and have no intention at all to play something that isn’t mainstream. They only care about the amount of listeners, which means money. This also translates to bars and clubs as well. The majority plays mainstream pop or mainstream house music. It is fine with me because this is what the majority of people likes. Luckily there is enough non mainstream places and channels, especially in Amsterdam and other big cities. Places that allow experiment and are not only focused on making money. In these venues you have most chances to hear new emerging styles (and of course online). New trends go very fast nowadays. I have given up trying to be up to date on everything. I still discover new things every week but I am not concerned about trends anymore.

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A post shared by MusicMap (@musicmapglobal) on Apr 18, 2017 at 1:55am PDT

Who are the key local acts we should be listening to right now? That is a very difficult question. There is a lot out there and that could change every day. From the top of my head I would say:

Precursor is a producer from Haarlem. We have released his debut album and second EP not long ago. He makes atmospheric electronics, sometimes a bit more techno style, sometimes more down tempo. Sjamsoedin is one of the guys from Nobody Beats The Drum. They split up a while ago. Sjam started his solo project. Lots of electronics but a great drive.

Awanto 3 is a project from Steven de Peven. He always does nice and funny things. A true artist. Red Light Radio is a good channel to discover new music.

Also, head to 22tracks. They curate nice playlists on Spotify. There is always a lot of Dutch talent on the lists as well

Tell us about the free newspaper you co-organise, what’s that project about and how does it tie in with the music scene in the city? The newspaper and website is called Amsterdam Alternative. It is a collective project from most of the non-profit alternative spaces in Amsterdam. We started the project in 2015 with a crowdfunding campaign. Obviously to get a little budget to start up the project but also to see if there was interest and enthusiasm for it. We made it and the reactions were very good. Most people were very happy to see this collective project happen. The nice thing about the newspaper and website is that it contains most of the programming/agenda of all the venues but maybe even more important there is space and a platform to publish articles. We write about political and social issues but also about art and music. I think it’s very important that the voice of alternative Amsterdam has platform again because it is important for a city like Amsterdam. The people that govern Amsterdam are very proud of the so called creative industry but they fail in a lot of things. Somehow they do not have the ability to see the long term effect of their stupid decisions. Everything is about money but the thing that has made Amsterdam great wasn’t money. It was freedom, variety, subculture, open minded spirits and the artistic minds that gave color to the city. Nowadays everybody that wants to do something a little different is banned, unless you bring a big bag of money. If you have money you can do everything. This way of life will destroy the true creativity and vibrancy that made Amsterdam. I hope there will always be a strong alternative group in Amsterdam, and that is why Amsterdam Alternative is an important project.

You’re involved as a programmer at the OT301, what’s the history of that venue and how did you get involved? The history is kind of long, we actually have published a book about it when we celebrated our 15th birthday. The book is called ‘Autonomy by Dissent’. To explain a bit about our history and what we are we have a short text that we have painted on the wall in our building. It says:

The OT301 has been squatted (1999) and bought (2006) by a diverse, international community that is united in an association called EHBK. We run this alternative, not-for-profit platform as a collective, in which housing, workspaces and public functions are combined to contribute to the arts, politics and subculture.

Are there any other venues in the city visiting musos should definitely check out? For sure. There is still quite a few alternative venues like OCCII, Vondelbunker, ADM, Plantagedok, Cinetol, Ruigoord, De Ruimte, Zaal100 en Filmhuis Cavia. You can actually find all these places on the website of Amsterdam Alternative. Besides the alternative venues there is also more commercial ones that have good musical programming from time to time. Think about Paradiso, Melkweg, De School or Radion. But there is more. Amsterdam isn’t dead yet.

For anyone visiting, what should they see and what should they eat and drink? Most people visiting Amsterdam for the first time want to see some of the obvious tourist attractions but once you have ticked them off your list there is still a lot to discover. It all depends on what you like but I would recommend the Amsterdamse bos or some of the parks on a sunny day. Amsterdam is small so the best thing is to just walk out of the city centre and see where you end up. Of course you can check the Amsterdam Alternative agenda online to see what is going on in all the alternative venues as well. A couple of those venues have a vegan kitchen as well. They are nice but besides that Amsterdam is full of good restaurants nowadays. If you want to eat something Dutch then go for kroket, frikandel, stroopwafel, haring or drop. (Don’t blame me if you don’t like it.)

What one song, past or present, sums up your country best? I am not sure about this one. In general I do not like Dutch singing or rapping that much. Some people would probably say that Andre Hazes has a couple of songs that would sum up Holland best but I think Doe Maar would probably be better because they made a lot of songs about Nederwiet and free thinking. Personally I have always liked the first couple of albums of Urban Dance Squat. They don’t really represent our country in song texts but it was one of the first bands world wide that started experimenting with the crossover of different styles like hiphop, rock and electronics. It was quite powerful and somehow that fits quite well with the Dutch mentality.

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How do most people prefer to consume music in your country? I think most people are on streaming channels like Spotify or Apple music so that’ll be the way to listen to music when at home. Besides that we have a very lively festival culture. In Amsterdam alone there is more then 250 festivals a year so that is def a way that a lot of people consume music.

What are the biggest challenges faced by musicians in your country? The same as everywhere else. Most musicians struggle with the issue of making money from their creations. It is quite easy nowadays to produce music. Everyone with a laptop can make beats and get their tracks online but most people have a hard time reaching an audience. There is so much new releases every day, it is hard to get noticed. So for the people that want to a living from their music it can be difficult.

Besides this fact I think it is also getting harder and harder for musicians to be really original. So much stuff has already been made. I guess that is where the real artists distinguish themselves from the ones that are just making music because it’s fun and cool to make music.

Photo by Marieke de Bra

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