ALBUM / VINYL / Digital
Phainomena
In 2011, Ard Janssen was one of the first musicians to grace Shipwrec. Now, some eleven years later, the sound sculptor returns for a full album on Phainomena. Music for Delirious Episodes brings together eleven compositions. Ard Bit is known for his delicate, almost brittle, works. This collection focuses on that same fragility that fascinates Janssen.
From the first steps of “Troubled Veil”, the listener is absorbed into a digital weave of field recordings, everyday undulations, other day modulations and loose harmony. Traditional instruments, string and wind, are filtered and re-imagined. The mundane echoes of routines are reborn as the percussive hum of pieces like “Stripped” and “Broken Respirator (White Funnel).” Behind the shifts and shuffles lurks something triumphal. Memories are given new form through audio carvings. Birdsong is handcrafted through knob tweaks, elephant trumpets bellow past swells of electronic insects as a glowing sun rises through the speaker. Hazes of static are shorn back, as in “Seppuku”, to allow moments of intense focus and reflection. And then we return, to that ephemeral beauty that permeates this record, with the final embrace of “Awakening Delusion”. An artist who finds the extraordinary in the often overlooked, or unheard.
Releasedate vinyl: 26th of September 2022
Releasedate digital 10th of October 2022
All tracks composed and produced by Ard Janssen
Artwork & Design by Niels Vrijdag
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Schwebung Mastering)
Distributed by Clone Distribution
Official Video for ‘Awakening Delusion’, directed by Jelmer Noordeman a.k.a. Void_3_4_
EP / cassette / download
self released
Another episode of strange stories and emotions wrapped up as
Part II in the AMAZING BUBBLE series.
The series is based on improvisation sessions with modular synthesis and field recordings as main ingredients. I am interested in the quest for that sorely harmony by weaving modular basses, melodies, drones, noises and rhythms with manipulated field recordings. For me a world to enter, to create amazing bubbles.
Release date:
February 17, 2021
Limited Edition Cassette available from June 18, 2021
➝ 25 copies
➝ Hand numbered
➝ Double A-side
Artwork and graphic design by Niels Vrijdag
Mastered by Jochem Paap @STOOR
REVIEWS
EP / download
self released
No random thoughts and no distractions, just me and the music. Suddenly it was there, this drone, noise, ambient piece. It was probably simmering for a while…
Maybe this can be a series, we’ll see.
release date:
4 December 2019
credits:
cover photo: Yvette de Reuver
EP / cassette /download
self released
Ard Bit’s fourth EP blends field recordings, soundscapes and rhythmic sources into melancholic and atmospheric layered constructions. The Rotterdam- based dutch composer and sound artist has several releases on Lowriders Recordings, Shipwrec and Symbolic Interaction, and now comes with a self-released new episode of strange stories and emotions.
Artwork: Meinhard Spoor
Mastering: Rudi Arapahoe
Release date: September 25, 2019
Single / digital
self released
Summer is in full swing and i want to share a track to celebrate life. It’s a kind of good vibe electro thing. Grab it for free, high quality or any other format you like.
Whatever you are doing this summer, enjoy to the fullest!!
In memoriam of Hannie de Reuver <3
Yve is mastered by Rudi Arapahoe
EP / download
lowriders recordings
A coincidence, a satisfied feeling or being in the now leads to very special moments. Moments I have been looking for to build the story. Stories that are told through harmonies, rhythms, noises and field recordings. Every track has his own theme. Together, they are one; Ellioth EP
EP / cassette / download
Lowriders recordings
Yelleen EP consists of 6 tracks. Cribble and Vixen were made in collaboration with Jor Mesin (part of the beatrotateproject). The two tracks are a step further away from the IDM straitjacket but it stays in the touch and feel of the latter. The transparency and openness is what gives it its unique character.
Alphabets Heaven, Julien Mier and Strand are on the remix duties for Yelleen.
EP / vinyl / download
Shipwrec
Split EP with Astroposer.
“Ard Bit takes rolling bassdriven dubstep into dark and abstract dimensions. AstroPoser lightens things up and shows how glitch, hiphop, dubstep and idm should sound when you put em all together”
Limited to 300 handnumbered copies, with very special hand-made
(silkscreen printed) artwork.
side a
album / cd / download
Symbolic Interaction
this is my debut album and it has received remarkable attention
“Spanon is a consistent slab of music that is rewarding and demands repeat listens”[Igloo Magazine]
“Designed as a brilliant compromise between dubstep and IDM, Spanon is an album that will delight the aesthetes of the genre.” [Chroniques Electroniques]
Field Recordings
Release date digital: July 5, 2023
Release date CD: August 23, 2023
“Het is een schitterend kleinood en reisdocument(aire) geworden”De Subjectivisten – read article
“The ambient backdrop Ard Bit waves as to underline the quiet and slow country life depicted in the field recordings. All of which I think is beautiful, even when I think some of this could extend beyond the few minutes this lasts.” Vital Weekly – read article | Igloomag – read article
“….over the course of seven tracks and 21 minutes Janssen amalgamates a plethora of often times washed out, cut up or otherwise unidentifiable fragments of Field Recordings with experimental electro-acoustic treatments….” Nitestylez.de – read article
Release date digital: June 1, 2022
Release date CD: March, 26, 2024
“On one of those days when things slow down (or seemingly do so), I sat back and played this album a few times in a row, too lazy to get up and write these words or to want to change the tune, so in that sense, it was a most successful album. (FdW)” Vital Weekly – read article
Release date: February 9, 2022
“These are sculpted selections of field sounds, creating an informative flow for your listening enjoyment. Instead of instruments, the composer is using recordings and arranging selections from the spectrum of audio that has been captured.”
Igloo Magazine, 10 May, 2022 – Read article
Release date: April 9, 2021
“These are sculpted selections of field sounds, creating an informative flow for your listening enjoyment. Instead of instruments, the composer is using recordings and arranging selections from the spectrum of audio that has been captured.”
Igloo Magazine, 10 May, 2022 – Read article
Mixtapes
mixtape / streaming
Soundwave
I did a mix for Soundwave, a moment with some favourite pieces and jamming with the Lyra and field recordings.
01. Chris Watson – Lectern
02. KMRU – Uneven
03. Legiac – Quichua
04. Ocoeur – Chance
05. Martina Lussi – Higher Energy
06. COH meets Abul Mogard – Find and Hold
07. Nikolay Kozlov – resampl4 slowed (feat. Igor Dyachenko)
08. Far away Nebraska – Lontananza
09. Ard Bit – Vervloekte Bergen
10. Deaf center – Gathering
11. Ard Bit – Mother of Hundreds
12. Ard Bit – Les Charmes Du Mont
13. Jake Muir – Tonic
14. Yann Novak – Dark, Perplexing, Ruptures of Plane
15. Ard Bit – NTRZPM
16. Radboud Mens – F
17. Ard Bit – Jezersko
mixtape / streaming
INDEx
The Hague-based electronic music platform INDEx invited me for their 17th episode. I have compiled a one hour mix for your listening pleasure.
mixtape / streaming
studio ruwedata
In this mix I take you to a intriguing and dynamic world of electronics, beats, ambient, jazz, noise and sound collages. With every mixtape I ask myself the question: what story do I want to tell? But as a result, I easily lose myself in detail. For this mix I’ve tried to focus on diversity and atmosphere to keep it office-proof, whatever that means. The story unfolds itself, enjoy!
mixtape / streaming
Stookhoksessies
finished a mix for Stookhoksessies with old favorites, fresh stuff and fieldrecordings.
Appearances
compilation / download
Australian Bushfire Compilation | Touched Music
Electronic Music Compilation project by Roel Funcken, Julien Mier and Magda Kozuba
This project is an international collective effort to generate funds for the rescue, preservation and safe sanctuary of koalas and other vulnerable wildlife affected by the unprecedented catastrophic fires of the Australian Black Summer (September 2019 – February 2020) resulting in a massive loss of habitable forests.
Curated by Roel Funcken (Funckarma)
Photography by Magda Kozuba
Design by Florence Meuleman (moiCflo)
Mastered by Bob Macc (Subvert Central Mastering)
compilation / download
Puerto Rico Relief | not on label
20 artists join in to aid in the reconstruction effort after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in conjunction with the charity “Friends of Puerto Rico”.
All proceeds go directly to Friends of Puerto Rico, they bridge between education and cultural communities in Puerto Rico and its diaspora and are actively raising funds that invest in communities that support educational, cultural and development programs in Puerto Rico. As part of the organisation’s commitment, 100% of the donations received for the Hurricane Maria Recovery Fund will be to invest to rebuild Puerto Rico through the thirteen centres managed by the Boys & Girls Clubs in Puerto Rico.
compilation / download
Touched 3 / Touched music
417 electronic, ambient & modern classical musicians come together for this amazing cause.
compilation / download
discovery 1 / soft recordings
Discovery series aims to promote new artists and sounds in the experimental music community; including ambient, drone, electronic, noise and modern classical genres.
compilation / download
Touched 2 / touched music
All proceeds being donated to Macmillan Cancer Support
It was an honour to have contributed to this huge compilation with Machinedrum, Autechre, Brothomstates, Plaid, FSOL, Nathan Fake, Orbital and many others
compilation / cd / download
the silence was warm vol.5 / Symbolic Interaction
I wrote this track for the compilation album The Silence Was Warm vol. 5
compilation / download
The electro compendium / anti-social network
Collaborated with Roel Funcken for this compilation
compilation / cd / download
the silence was warm vol.3 / symbolic interaction
I wrote this track for “The Silence Was Warm Vol.3” of Symbolic Interaction
compilation / cd / download
tured in been / onrecords
‘Tured In Been’ features artists from all over – with the thematic constant being a love of creamy electronica. I felt honoured to have my debut on this compilation amongst other great artists.