more from
staalplaat
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

HET ZWEET

by HET ZWEET

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €8 EUR  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double LP 180 gr heavy white vinyl, two color, hand screenprinted and numbered limited edition of 400 copies on special Gmund paper.

    Includes unlimited streaming of HET ZWEET via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 400 
    Purchasable with gift card

      €21 EUR or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Het Zweet - Het Zweet album cover
    released by Klanggalerie – gg 419
    Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered
    we got a few copies

    Includes unlimited streaming of HET ZWEET via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €10 EUR or more 

     

1.
2.
Topsy Turvy 06:36
3.
Wild Man 02:55
4.
Ram 02:55
5.
On Earth 04:34
6.
Red Robe 04:40
7.
8.
Untitled 03:10
9.
Untitled 12:46
10.
Untitled 06:36
11.
12.
Live VRD 01:26

about

Marien Van Oers work under the name Het Zweet (“The Sweat” in English) originally came out in the 1980s (specifically 1983-1988), but listening to the new reissue of this self-titled album from 1987 can feel like one is listening to something that’s both much more current and also much, much older than that. Van Oers, who passed away in 2013, made music that tended to get classed as “industrial”, and tracks here like the steady, clanging churn of “From the Lowland” or “On Earth” show why, but he was as or more inspired by tribal music intended to produce trance-like effects via rhythm and (percussive and vocal) repetition. Using instruments made by himself out of anything from shopping carts to cardboard tubes, the music of Het Zweet locks into grooves that somehow feel more elemental and physical than many of his contemporaries. It never quite feels like Van Oers is emulating or echoing the music of any particular region or tradition so much as trying to synthesize all the ones he’s heard into some sort of ur-pulse, an overtone so powerful as to compel the “Massive Trance” the title of the last song on the record evokes.

The tribal drumming, the invocations, and the loops of acoustic sound add an entirely different rhythm to the game ('Red Robe', for instance). Z'EV meets early Muslimgauze and Test Department, less the political connotations. In the back of my mind, I thought the Dossier LP wasn't his best work, but I am sure I must have misremembered this. Maybe I had moved on in 1987? I no longer know. Hearing this, I realize this is an excellent record, remastered with great care by Radboud Mens and hopefully the start of a re-issue campaign of Van Oers' earlier work.(vital-FdW)

credits

released June 25, 2022

While the 1987 Het Zweet has four track titles per side, and on listening you can discern some segues and places where it feels like new movements do shift into place, it’s fitting to have this record on vinyl where the listener is encouraged to experience each side as one uninterrupted piece. The bonus material included on this reissue expands Het Zweet from one LP to two, the second LP consisting entirely of previously unreleased material. This bonus LP is sequenced similarly, with three untitled tracks and two live excerpts presented as side-long experiences that belie their disparate origins with a unity of sound and purpose. Van Oers’ percussive nous and distantly yelled chants certainly sound capable of working up a sweat in both the performer and any movement-minded listeners, but maybe the most striking thing about Het Zweet is how vital it still sounds, despite its age and relative obscurity.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

hetzweet Breda, Netherlands

contact / help

Contact hetzweet

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like HET ZWEET, you may also like: