Hard Headed Soul
Maskarada (2lp)
In 1993, Eindhoven's most active and creative post-punk band Hard Headed Soul decided to spent the summer in the studio making a new record. Their plan was to forge a new path and craft a record unlike any of their previous ventures. With a handful of basic tracks, drummer Mark 'Thresh' Kuipers and bassist/vocalist Martin 'Scheet' Voorbij invited a variety of mostly Eindhoven-based musicians to join them in various recording sessions. Bertus Fridael and Marc Sponselee of 35007, DJ Godeville (the then programmer at the Effenaar), Sjef Wiersma (founder of the independent and idiosyncratic fonotheek Keereweerom, Blind (post-industrial electro duo), Grizzly Ed, Frankie Buchholz, Bram Cox, Flexa Tones (Mario Horrik and Paul Verwilligen) and Parking Brothers (Harun Bahasoean, Luk Sponselee and Dick Verdult) participated. They were extremely creative sessions. 'Maskarada' was the answer to a search within the Eindhoven music scene that shifted between rock, jazz, improvisation and dance. It comes from a time that such crossovers were extremely rare and the musical rivalry between 'rockers' and 'housers' was still the order of the day. The album begins with uncomplicated post-punk, but along the way it ventures off the conventional path into the atmosphere of an open jam session which was unheard of at that time. 'Maskarada' is something akin to a blueprint for the Eindhoven music period that followed. The riffs, drones, noise, raw punk rock, the combination of electronics and analog; it's all there and will leave its influence years later in the music of Suimasen, 35007, Candy Bar Planet, Peter Pan Speedrock and others. 20 years after the release of 'Maskarada' the Zesde Kolonne brings the legendary CD on double vinyl in a beautiful gatefolded cover. The album has been re-mastered to sound more current but the original sound and energy is still there. The release is special for 30 Years of Zesde Kolonne, also the founder of the studios where 'Maskarada' is recorded.