Bettie
Serveert - Log 22
After
a year of relative silence Bettie Serveert re-emerges triumphantly
with
their 5th studio album to date, and what a scorcher it is!
Pairing the elegant and accomplished beauty of its predecessor Private
Suit,
with the energy and reckless abandon of their classic debut Palomine, Log
22 is a veritable sonic trip and probably their best album yet!
And here it is, written and produced by Carol van Dyk and Peter Visser and recorded
at Weesp’s E-Sound Studios, Log 22 contains a wide variety of shades. The 13
tracks range from the fresh and the playful (the new single ‘Smack’, ‘Love-In’)
by way of the happy-sad and melancholy (‘Have A Heart’, ‘Captain Of Maybe’, ‘A
Certain Lie’) and the sensually grooving (‘Given’) to all-out sonic blasts (‘Not
Coming Down’, ’Log 22’, ‘The Ocean My Floor’). All compositions are laced with
tasteful electronics, tapes, strings and horn arrangements, and are delivered
with an apparent effortless ease.
Listen to Carol’s singing that sounds more intimately confident and sensual than
ever and Peter’s patented ‘no holds barred’ guitar wrestling matches and Log
22 will wriggle it’s way into your skull intending to stay there indefinitely.
See the band's video for "Smack" by visiting:
http://www.parasol.com/video/video.asp
 
photos by Jasper
Coolidge
The
story
begins when Canadian-born, Netherlands-reared Carol van Dyk was
hired as the live-sound mixer for the celebrated
underground band de
Artsen (the Doctors).
Bunskoeke and Visser were already members, Dubbe was their roadie and the musical
side project in which all four friends participated became Bettie Serveert. (Since
you ask, the name means “Bettie to serve” after Dutch tennis player Bettie Stove,
who lost the Wimbledon Ladies Final in 1977).
After a false start in 1986 when they dissolved after only one gig, the band ‘reformed’ in
1990 and quickly caught the ear of Matador, Brinkman and 4AD’s Guernica label
for whom they kindly agreed to record their first album Palomine. Carol van Dyk’s
seductive voice, the band’s bittersweet melodies and a cool cover of Sebadoh’s
Healthy Sick made for an impressive debut which endeared them immediately to
the press:
Of Palomine, US magazine Spins enthused, ‘The band’s warm, engaging musical personality
makes you want to be pals o’theirs. No matter how edgy or ‘deep’ the lyrics get,
they rarely distract from the whiskey bar of aura of the music.... awe-inspiring,
with fantastic guitar sounds and lazy, sprawling leads. When did indie-rock ever
sound this mature, this developed?’
With its mournful, desolate feel, and Carol’s typically striking lyrics, Bettie
Serveert had (a-hem!) served an ace. A full year later in January 1995 the band
recorded their second album Lamprey, which was hailed by Melody Maker as ‘the
most tangled, desolate, real life guitar sound of the year’.
After extensive touring with the likes of Belly, Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom, Superchunk,
Come and Jeff Buckley, the band soon climbed to the top of the indie underground
with their unique and unmistakable heavy sweet guitar sound. In the increasing
pile of flattering press coverage that now surrounds them, they have been compared
to Neil Young, The Lemonheads, The Throwing Muses, The Sundays, Velvet Underground...
the list goes on. Let’s just say they’re the best thing to come out of Holland
before and after 2 Unlimited.
1997 sees the return of Bettie Serveert in even finer form with the release of
the long awaited third album Dust Bunnies. The product of a year hard work, during
which songs were written, books were read, more songs written. It was the first
time the Betties benefited from the studio guidance of producer Bryce Goggin,
who’s past credits include Pavement, Come, John Zorn, Kim Deal, Lemonheads and
Spacehog. It’s also the first Bettie Serveert disc that was recorded entirely
within the contiguous United States, specifically at Bearsville studio in scenic
Woodstock, New York.
After touring with Counting Crows, Wallflowers and Wilco, Berend Dubbe left the
band early 1998 and was replaced by Reinier Veldman, former drummer of De Artsen.
In 1998 the group releases a live album of Velvet Underground cover versions ‘Bettie
Serveert Plays Venus In Furs’
Then, after a period of relative radio silence, Bettie Serveert proudly enters
the new millennium with their first studio album in two years. To the amazement
of friends and foes alike Private Suit turns out to be their most accomplished
effort yet. Produced by John Parish of PJ Harvey fame they manage to deliver
an intriguing album of almost majestic beauty. Private Suit was well received
resulting in extensive touring in Europe (Crossing Border, Lowlands festivals)
and the US (headlining and supporting Counting Crows and Live).
Then in 2001, the band decides to take a break…
The sabbatical is spent meditating, re-fuelling, studying and writing. Peter
Visser is a hired gun for a while, Herman Bunskoeke learns a trade and Carol
releases a record of inspired country songs under
the guise of Chitlin’ Fooks (a collaboration with talented Antwerp based songwriter
Pascal Deweze).
Chitlin’ Fooks tour the US as a duo in the summer of 2001, an extensive club
and festival tour through Holland and Belgium follows highlighted by successful
gigs at the Crossing Border and Pukkelpop festivals.
Then, by the summer of 2002 Carol van Dyk and Peter Visser are ready to go into
the studio to record Log 22.
and the rest, as they say, is history.
 
photos by Jasper Coolidge
from Rolling Stone:
Bettie Serveert guitarist Peter Visser is quick to list the advantages of recording
at his home in Holland. "You have plenty of time and you can work at night, with
headphones on, a bottle of wine next to you, you can smoke cigarettes and just
record," says Visser of the sessions for the band's latest album, Log 22, which
it will support with a fourteen-date tour that starts tonight. "Carol [singer/guitarist
van Dyk] could sing whenever she felt like it, which is mostly not in the morning.
So it was way more relaxed and exciting like a kindergarten type setting. You
have a lot of toys you play with."
The kindergarten atmosphere made space for incidental bits of conversation --
recorded on tours, off the top of the Bettie's heads and in the case of "Wide
Eyed Fools," off the TV -- to creep into the fabric of the album. "I have this
little dictaphone machine I carry with me all the time, whenever I'm in the streets
or on the subway," says Visser. "The woman from the Handsome Family came on the
television and it was a coincidence that I was working on the song. I thought
it sounded great and it stayed on that song."
With much of the album recorded in Visser's living room, the guitarist found
plenty of time to explore left field ideas, including a foray on a synthesizer
that wound up supplying a portion of the horn section for the song "Have a Heart."
"I started playing trumpet and saxophone parts on it, but in this totally different
key because I don't know how to play keyboards," Visser says. "Carol almost threw
the headphones on the floor in disgust. She loathed it, but she said the idea
was good. We figured out what keys I could hit on the keyboard and we put a little
pieces of tape on it and Carol said, 'You can use those keys and not the others.'
It almost worked. At the end of the song you only hear the plastic horns and
in the middle it's the real ones mixed with what we did at home."
Log 22's songs began as demos with just vocals and guitar, with some undergoing
minimal alterations and others gradually growing into fully realized arrangements
with strings.
"What I wanted to do is get away from the drums, bass guitars, then guitars,
then vocal routine," Visser says. "That's why we changed it around. I wanted
to experiment a little bit. It also helped that I quit smoking. That freaked
me out, so I was kind of fucked up and it helped to give it that edge. But then
after a couple months we needed some quiet songs on the record so I started smoking
again.
“...One of the finest rock records of the new decade...” - Washington Post
“...With Log 22, the group delivers their most adventurous and sophisticated
set to date...” - Billboard
“... A real emotional rollercoaster ride... “ - Mojo
“...In recent years, indie pop has rarely been more ambitious or effective...” -
Chicago Sun Times
“...Brawnier, brainier, sweeter, more direct...” - Village Voice
”...Everyone is talking about the White Stripes’ “Elephant” as the early frontrunner
for album of the year. But, to my ears, nothing has sounded better so far than
Log 22...” - Oakland Tribune
“...That they can still be bothered to show up for work is impressive; that this,
their fifth studio album, is another beauty seems almost miraculous...” - Sunday
Times
“...Ten years after Palomine the happy-sad meander of the band’s fifth release
is warmer and sweeter still...” - Bang
“...If you don’t understand the crackling potency of belligerent rock dipped
in liquid mercury, that’s your problem...” - Logo Magazine
“...From the very start of Log 22, singer/guitarist Carol van Dyk sounds on top
of her game...” - Junkmedia Magazine
“...Bettie Serveert’s Log 22 is what is supposed to happen when a pop band grows
up - they get better than you could ever imagine...” - FM Sound
“...Bettie Serveert are not the same band they were in 1992. They are, in fact
a much, much better one...” - Seattle Weekly
“...A tuneful, jammy return...” - Rolling Stone
“... a very
pleasant surprise...” - Basement Galaxy
“...Bettie serves up an ace...” - PopMatters
“...Log 22 is some of the best pop music you’re likely to hear all year...” -
Daily Tar Heel
“...This is sexy..” - Fufkin.com
 
See the video for "Smack" |
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