René van der Wouden (born February 10, 1972) is a Dutch electronic musician.
Contents |
René has been active in music since he was eight years old. He started having piano lessons in a classical sense and later he also had some lessons on the organ. As a child René quickly got fascinated by the organs and synthesizers he saw on TV every week in the Dutch musicshows Toppop and Countdown. Also, his piano teacher of that time (in 1983) played a Roland Jupiter 6 synthesizer in a band. During a lesson this synthesizer stood next to the piano that remained untouched that day. Since 1987 the interest in electronic music started to grow immensely. The music of Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Jeff Wayne's “War of the Worlds” got his interest.
In 1993 René bought his first set of synthesizers like the Korg Poly800 and Yamaha DX7. During this period René started to compose and record many pieces of music. Also an expanse of more electronic instruments and recording-devices happened.
Pro Sequentia, the debut CD, was released first on the German Syngate label on April 16, 2005. Because of different visions between Syngate and René, the latter left and formed his own electronic music label in May 2005 for releasing his music. The Pro Sequentia album has been well received all over the EM-scene. The music can be described as retro/Berliner Schule with contemporary elements. On this album analogue and digital synthesizers were used together will all the power and comfort of computers.
The concert at E-Live 2005 was the first concert of electronic music by Rene. This E-Live 2005 (an annual held festival of electronic music) sub-stage concert consisted of 3 sets. The first set was in the style of the Pro Sequentia album, the second set consisted of 2 tracks of ambient music and the last set/concert took place together with the most successful Dutch musician of electronic music today, Gert Emmens. The music was recorded for personal documentation and will not be released.
In 2006 the follow-up CD of Pro Sequentia was released on the 21 September 2006 as Alchemia. This CD is much more Berliner Schule/retro/sequencer based than Pro Sequentia and also contains the use of samples of "the EM-instrument", the Mellotron. The overall style of the music can be referred to what is called the "Golden Era" of electronic music. The theme of the CD is "Alchemy". For years René has been interested in this kind of philosophy.
On October 28, 2006 there was a special concert given by EL-KA, René van der Wouden & Syngate artists at the GASOMETER, Oberhausen in the afternoon from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. The inspiration for this concert was: "How can we sound like our favorite electronic music band Tangerine Dream in a unique setting and building?"
For 2007 there were no albums planned, although the "Universal Quiet" album was planned for the fall of 2007 but due to some personal reason this album was released on January 4, 2008. This album can be seen as a further seek into the Cosmos, therefore its title. It's also referring to the period of the seventies and eighties of electronic music. This album was a well received one by the critics of electronic music all over the world.
In September 2008 the album "Sequential Tourism" was released. This album is a mixture of styles of retro music and rhythms in 4 long tracks and one short one. Next to the use of analogue synthesizers like SE Moog, Yamaha CS50, Sequential Pro One and the Moog The Rogue, modern rhythm patterns were used to give the music an exploring mood.
The Netherlands
Germany