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Ruben Machtelinckx
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Linus + Økland/Van Heertum/Zach: Light As Never
by Mark Sullivan
Belgian duo LinusRuben Machtelinckx, guitar and banjo; Thomas Jillings, saxophone and clarinethave been recording with additional musicians for several years. This grouping is the largest they have gathered together and revisits the one from the album Mono No Aware (Aspen Edities, 2017). It is rich instrumentation, expanded by Machtelinckx's additional baritone guitar, Jillings' synthesizer and Niels Van Heertum's trumpet (along with his usual euphonium). Nils Økland sticks with Hardanger fiddle and Ingar Zach again provides percussion. The program's ...
read moreRuben Machtelinckx: A Short Story
by Mark Sullivan
In retrospect the meeting of Belgian guitarist & composer Ruben Machtelinckx and Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen seems inevitable. They are both masters of delicacy and texture, as well as having distinctive and unusual sounds on their respective instruments. Machtelinckx composed most of the tunes, but these duets cast both players as equal contributors. It is a sound like chamber music, with no heroic solos. Lessness" opens the album with an introspective air, acoustic guitar and Henriksen's distinctive ...
read moreRuben Machtelinckx: Sualme
by Mark Sullivan
As a local resident, Belgian musician Ruben Machtelinckx was asked to contribute to Kunst en Zwalm (Art and Zwalm) 2019, a contemporary art festival that happens every two years in Zwalm, a small village on the Belgian countryside. Machtelinckx settled on a sound diary format, taking a digital recorder and instruments he could bring with him by bicycle. The recordings he made include field recordings, improvisations and compositions: they are presented without any overdubs or edits. Mijnmwerker I" ...
read moreAspen Edities: The Album as a Work of Art
by Jakob Baekgaard
It's a paradox of the digital age that it has spawned some of the most beautiful physical editions of music, but perhaps it's quite logical. In an age where almost everything becomes available digitally, it's a good thing for a physical product to distinguish itself. This is exactly what the records from the Belgian-based label Aspen Edities do. Run by musicians Ruben Machtelinckx and Niels Van Heertum and writer Sanne Huysmans, the label has released delicate editions that are a ...
read moreRuben Machtelinckx/Frederik Leroux: when the shade is stretched
by Mark Sullivan
Ruben Machtelinckx and Frederik Leroux are both Belgian guitarists who have made increasing use of the banjo. They have previously performed together on Linus + Skarbo / Leroux (El Negocito Records, 2015)--Machtelinckx's project with reed player Thomas Jillings--but here they present separate solo programs. It's similar to each taking a side of an LP album. While the focus is on the banjo, it is definitely not merely a collection of unaccompanied banjo solos (although there are some tracks that are ...
read moreLinus+Økland/Van Heertum/Zach: mono no aware
by Mark Sullivan
The Belgian duo Linus (Ruben Machtelinckx, guitar and banjo; Thomas Jillings, saxophone and clarinet) began recording with additional musicians on Linus + Skarbo / Leroux (El Negocito Records, 2015), following that with the Linus + Økland/Van Heertum combination on Felt like old folk (Smeraldina Rima, 2015). That grouping worked so well that it returns here, with the addition of percussionist Ingar Zachmaking this the largest Linus guest collaboration yet. The addition of a percussionist might look like the ...
read moreKarl Van Deun & Ruben Machtelinckx: Shapes
by Mark Sullivan
Young Belgian guitarist Ruben Machtelinckx has already had an active recording career, especially with his quartet and the duo Linus. His recordings have become progressively more acoustic and ever more freely improvised. Guitarist Karl Van Deun was Ruben's teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. His performing career has been sidelined by hearing problems, but he contributes most of the compositions here, and the pair stick to acoustic instruments. The dominant sound is two classical guitars, no overdubbing. ...
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