The collaboration with VM dates back to the beginning of the 80ies when VM (Floris van Manen - 1953) recorded Smalts’ Werktitels in the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatorium (on an early Sunday morning). A decade later VM contributed to the three Minny Pops CD reissues on the LTM label and contributes as Klankschap with his soundscapes to a couple of Smalts releases.

Blowpipe is proudly to present his recordings and state of the art soundscapes in its catalogue. take a listen and enjoy!


VM - Rogge (BP074)    Download

VM - Mixx for Unintended Backgrounds (BP034)    Download

VM - Horizon (BP023)    Download

© Blowpipe 2000-2024

MIXX FOR UNINTENDED BACKGROUNDS (BP034) - DL


To be able to listen to something you must hear it first. And vice versa.

In our Western world there is indeed a lot of screaming but few listening. Who realizes that a lot of activities and actions have unintentionally sounding side-effects? Airplanes, cars and motorcycles are made to get you from A to B. Not as a musical instrument. But it can be done, listening to unintentional sounds.

In general you could say that we only listen to sounds we hear.

Only those tones which are distinguished from the background and thereby become the foreground. After all, everything apart from the normal state in a sounding space, is a potential source of danger.

We only hear changes. When we enter a new space, everything is new and everything is heard. But after three minutes the new has quickly gone. We as listeners like coherent structures and stories. A good listener has half a word. This mix is about changes in the background.

The material is included at different times of the day. Deep in the night, late at night, in the afternoon and very early in the morning. All sounds have a high content of inadvertent sounding but are also of an intrinsic beauty.


To hear a background as a background sound, you need a foreground.

And because the standard mixes are mostly dealing with foregrounds,

I wrote especially for this mixx a composition of one hour.

A nonrepeating structure in the sense of more of the same and yet different every time. Electronic sounding to better reflect the expectations. In a tight 50 BPM tempo, without any fluctuation, a web is woven to which the backgrounds can be mirrored. At the end of the mixx the foreground will blend with the location of the listener.


All the sounds you hear through your headphones are 100% electronically. That we allocate some of natural origin, is in itself an interesting phenomenon. What makes certain sounds that we hear as tools and other nature sounds like? In the preparation of the mix, there is no coincidence, other than the life itself. You hear what you think you hear. Art must indeed entertaining, but also resistant to irritation and boredom.


Through loudspeakers whispering is very difficult.

The mix can be best addressed through good stereo headphones.

VM (Floris van Manen, 1953)

HORIZON (BP023) - DL


All works by VM (Floris van Manen, 1953) follow a path of exploration. Tracking an initial experience of joy to its underlying roots. How come we hear things we like as things we like. What sets them apart from those we don't. Horizon was a result from exploring the edges of an open listening. Using the listeners own sound of breathing as a reference, what is a maximum distance we can experience in the virtual context?

The soundcloud presented has multiple layers allowing for a diverse and rich mix of interpretations. The listener is invited to listen on very low playback levels using stereo headphones. With a reduced range of harmonics, this will provide an equal listening experience to both well trained sensitive professionals as well as damaged hearing of dance disco visiting youth alike. The work fades down to zero over a period of about forty minutes. This movement is so slow that we are unable to hear the individual changes. However we will realize at certain moments that it has changed. Just like the world around us.

Unlike the real world, we can play this work again (and again). Experiencing & refining the senses.

Even though the outcome of the piece is rather predictable, the listener is within his/her own environment listening to his/her own breathing, the forty minute journey will change every time. Thereby extending the horizon of the listener’s own experience.

A small step for mankind, a giant leap to a human mind...


Through loudspeakers whispering is very difficult.

The mix can be best addressed through good stereo headphones.

VM (Floris van Manen, 1953)

ROGGE (BP074) - DL


similar yet different
different yet similar
no repetitions, of course

(for professionals only)


Through loudspeakers whispering is very difficult.

The mix can be best addressed through good stereo headphones.

VM (Floris van Manen, 1953)