Evening of Light » arjen grolleman

Cloudscape: Tribute to KinkFM X-Rated

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:31:43 +0000

Tribute to KinkFM X-Rated by Evening Of Light on Mixcloud

At midnight between September 30th and October 1st the Dutch alternative radio station Kink FM was shut down after 16 years of dedicated broadcasting. Apart form this being a general loss for the Dutch radio landscape, it is even worse for lovers of music in the styles we usually cover on Evening of Light. For with the end of the station comes the end of the program (and since this year 24 hour channel) Kink X-Rated.

Running since the start of the station, X-Rated was the home for experimental music, industrial, wave, neofolk, ambient, drone, and all sorts of other great music. The program was first presented by Arjen Grolleman, who tragically passed away last year, and Bauke van der Wal. Later, Arjen presented the program together with Bob Rusche, who sold records in Boudisque, formerly the best record store in Amsterdam, and another institution that has passed away.

Now that Kink FM is closing down, due to dubious decisionmaking by the overarching media investment company, it also means an end to these 16 years of X-Rated in which we discovered so much great music, heard lovely interviews and live performances, and were blessed enough to be guests in the studio several times. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and Bob will be able to continue the program X-Rated at a new station, the Concertzender, but there is no doubt that the closing of KinkFM is black moment in Dutch pop history.

The mix we have prepared here is a modest tribute of ours to the music of X-Rated. Music we discovered through the program, music which is typical for the program, or otherwise came to mind. For example, Coil, Current 93, and Sol Invictus were always staple artists in the program, as heroes of the (post-)industrial music world, while Raison d’Être‘s Enthraled by the Wind of Lonelienes was the first album we ever bought in the Boudisque shop. X-Rated also functioned as our introduction to the wonderful music of Maarten van der Vleuten, which eventually led to us releasing one of his later albums. All of the tracks here have an emotional value like that, and we hope we will be able to share it with you, and give an impression of what X-Rated was (partly) about.

An immense thanks to Bob, Arjen (rest in peace!) and everyone at KinkFM for making this possible!

The tracks:

Kink FM X-Rated Radio Station Launches January 1st

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:13:49 +0000

The most important Dutch radio show on experimental music, X-Rated, will become a 24/7 Internet radio station starting January 1st 2011. Apart from the traditional live show on Sunday night between 9pm and 12pm, we can now tune in whenever we want to hear a selection of the finest tracks from over four decades of industrial, ambient, neofolk, electronica, drone, gothic, and related genres.

This is a great step forward for the show, and its host, the music station Kink FM. After losing station founder and X-Rated presenter Arjen Grolleman early 2010 in a tragic accident, co-host Bob Rusche has shown great perseverance and love for his music in continuing the show on his own.

We wish Bob and X-Rated all the best in its new format, and will be tuning in ourselves often to avail ourselves of the great tunes featured there. We urge you to (continue to) do the same in 2011, which starts in less than 50 minutes from the time of writing.

The live stream will be available here: http://www.kinkfm.com/messengerofmusic/kinkxrated

In Memoriam: Arjen Grolleman (1972 – 2010)

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:38:08 +0000

Only recently, after reading his necrology for a local bookstore, we complimented him on the way he was able to fill such memorial texts with true poetry and touching words. “Yes,” he said, “but why does it always have to be necrologies?” Perhaps because we only realise what we’ve lost until it’s gone?

On Wednesday January 20th 2010 we heard the shocking news that Arjen Grolleman had passed away suddenly, having had a fatal accident at home. Arjen was a station manager and DJ at KinkFM, as well as a prolific voice-over for national Dutch television and other media. At KinkFM, he presented the programs Avondland and X-Rated, the latter of which was the show for experimental music on Dutch radio. Through X-Rated, together with co-presenter Bob Rusche, he expressed his love for alternative and experimental music in a way that was honest, remarkable, and memorable, as well as giving it a solid place in mainstream Dutch media, inspiring many listeners and supporting a great number of artists and labels. Poetry and the spoken word always had a firm place in his programs as well, with recordings of Dutch and foreign poets and other important writers featuring alongside marvellous underground music. Where else could one hear a track by Coil after a speech by Noam Chomsky and a poem by W.H. Auden?

In Arjen, we also lost a dear friend. We remember fondly the long evenings turning into early mornings, filled with deep conversation, laughter, and wine. Arjen was the perfect companion for a discussion about music, literature, culture, art, poetry, life, perfume… He was ever inspiring; after hearing him speak about his Rosicrucian tour through Paris, you can’t help but want to follow in his footsteps. And we can’t even remember how many records we’ve sought out after having heard them played on X-Rated.

His friends were always able to follow his daily adventures and travels on Twitter, a medium which he had utilised to perfection, with an excellent sense of timing and content. A lovely feeling in the morning: turning on your PC, and seeing a first-hand account of Arjen and his radio colleagues, rushing down the slope in front of the KinkFM studio in their desk chairs in the middle of the night.

Arjen was an exceptional person. Exceptionally driven, exceptional in his idealism, his interests, and his passions. He was able to put his spirit into all of his work and interests, turning it into something more. The way in which he made his job out of his passions is equally admirable and inspiring. He was also gentle, loving, and hospitable. We wish with all our hearts that we would have been able to spend more time with him, but it was not to be. We hope he has found a loving embrace in whatever awaited him in the hereafter… the warmth of the sun, floating on the æther, a drink with Jhonn Balance?

Our thoughts are with Arjen’s family, friends, and colleagues, all of whom we wish much strength in coping with this great loss.

-Oscar & Diane