JAAP BLONK “Joyous Junctures” C60 (Eh? / Public Eyesore)


Jaap Blonk is a friggin’ weirdo, but that shouldn’t matter to any of you who read any of this because you’re probably just as big of a friggin’ weirdo if you like all this outsider crap. And I include myself among that number, because I’m writing about all this outsider crap, like all the time. So does it even mean anything to refer to Mr. Blonk as a “friggin’ weirdo” even? I’m not sure it does.

The Netherlands’ answer to … I can’t even think of a contemporary. The Netherlands’ answer to No One, then, Jaap Blonk does a lot with his mouth, making noise, intoning passages, incanting spells. I don’t understand a word he’s saying, because Dutch is not even remotely a second language to me. Which turns out to be fine as the meaning often ruins the whole deal for me. Here, on Joyous Junctures, we get the vocalizations overtop synthesizers, random noise bursts, other baffling instrumentation, and it’s all an incredible ride on the roller coaster of Blonk’s madness. Did I mention there were 27 tracks on this thing, and that it lasts an hour? That’s an awful lot of Blonk, and an awful lot of fun.

In fact, it’s so fun that I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to it as space alien music encountered by the crew of the starship Enterprise throughout their intergalactic travels. Plus, Blonk’s been around so long, I bet he’s been to outer space himself at some point. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.





--Ryan