Hello,
Today's Artists, would be one of the most widely respected bands in the world today -- at least on par with whip-smart types like XTC. Certainly, few can match their sheer creative stamina: how many other bands can claim to be still reinventing themselves after 40 years and more than 20 albums? But today's artists come from Holland. Furthermore, the occasional tour of the U.S. and Canada aside, they quickly made it clear that their only concession to the big outside world, would be to sing in English. That aside, anyone wanting them to tailor their unique brand of art pop to the demands of a broader audience could go hang. In particular, they specialize in making their latest album sound as little like the last as possible. This has simultaneously guaranteed them a modest degree of success across continental Europe, where fans appreciate their fierce integrity and commitment to playing intimate venues, and denied a lot of people in Britain and America some wonderfully inventive -- and very accessible -- music. Here's your chance ..............N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
The Nits originally consisted of Henk Hofstede (vocals, guitar), Alex Roelofs (bass), Michiel Peters (guitar) and Rob Kloet (drums). Influenced by British pop music, especially the Beatles, they also incorporated influences from new wave music into their sound. They made their live debut in 1974,[1] and released their self-financed, limited-run debut LP, The Nits, in 1978.[2] This brought them to the attention of Columbia Records, for whom The Nits would continue to record for the next 22 years. Their major-label debut, Tent (1979), carried on the new wave style of The Nits, but was considerably more polished, partly due to the influence of producer Robert Jan Stips. On New Flat (1980) and Work (1981), which made increasing use of synthesisers, "Hofstede reveals a growing aptitude for creating little emotional postcards."
"The obvious derivativeness on the Nits' early albums could have been written off as cut-rate local flirtation/reassembly of the real thing from Britain and America (Beatles, Talking Heads, etc.). In retrospect, however, those records could be seen as learning experiences of a world-class band now deserving international attention."
In the meantime, the group had been developing their sound on their numerous European tours. Many songs were radically reworked for live performance, a practice the group would continue throughout their career. Between the group's experiments with different arrangements, and the addition of Stips to the line-up, The Nits gradually moved toward a more distinctive musical style, with Kloet playing a wide range of percussion, and Stips' keyboards used to produce a lusher sound. Omsk showcased the new Nits sound with songs like "A Touch of Henry Moore", almost entirely based around Kloet's percussion, and the dramatic hit single "Nescio". The follow-up "Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof" was another hit, but tensions between the group and producer Jaap Eggermont led to the departure of Peters, and a change in the group's working methods. In future, they would produce their own material and bring in guest musicians as required.
The album Henk - which included such classic songs as Bike In Head, Home Before Dark and Port Of Amsterdam - was recorded as a three-piece, after which new bassist Joke Geraets became the first female member of The Nits, completing the line-up that would go on to enjoy commercial success with single and album In the Dutch Mountains (1987). Its title track became a European hit and one of the band's biggest. It was accompanied by a video with just the image of man in a rowing boat. Follow-up J.O.S. Days was a successful single as well. The group's extensive tours during this period led to the accomplished live triple-LP Urk (1989) which became their best-selling album. The live version of Adieu Sweet Bahnhof was released as a single, again accompanied by a video. It became a Top 30 hit for the band in Holland. Urk also featured live versions of songs from Hat, the band's 1988 6-song EP, including popular songs like The Dream, Bauhaus Chair and The Train.
Giant Normal Dwarf, Ting & Hjuvi
When Geraets fell ill with a muscular disease, meaning that she was unable to play bass, the group (now using the shortened name "Nits", often rendered in capitals to emphasise the absence of the definite article) continued as a trio. Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) was a kaleidoscopic affair which at first glance seemed like a return to the psychedelia of "I Am the Walrus" and "Glass Onion" but was actually inspired by Hofstede's desire to write musical fairy tales for his newborn child. The subsequent album Ting (1992) was a return to a much more minimalist approach, both with respect to the emphasis on the piano and the inspiration of Philip Glass on several songs. At the same time as working on Ting, the group were also preparing material for a TV special with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mainly composed by Stips, this was later issued as the album Hjuvi - A Rhapsody In Time.
The 1994 album dA dA dA was something of a return to basics, with "traditional" songwriting largely replacing the quirkiness of recent Nits releases, and the group's early influences once again to the fore. The album was the first Nits material to gain a release in the United States. Ironically for a group that had always performed in English, regarding it as a necessary evil for international success, recognition in the major English-speaking markets always eluded them. dA dA dA, despite critical acclaim in both the UK and USA, still failed to break the group in either market.
In 1995, the group released Nest, a 20-track retrospective album, and the accompanying tour ended on a high note with a concert broadcast live on television from the Uitmarkt festival. Stips then left to pursue a solo career.
The group continued, releasing the introspective albums Alankomaat (1998) - which featured the singles Sister Rosa and Robinson, and fan favourite Three Sisters - and Wool (2000), followed by another retrospective, Hits.
The group continues to perform to this day following the return of keyboard player Robert Jan Stips in 2003 for the release of the album 1974, commemorating the year of their formation.
A new album titled Les Nuits was released in October 2005. Three of the songs on the album - The Laundrette, The Key Shop and The Pizzeria - were about the murder of film director Theo Van Gogh, which happened in the street where Henk Hofstede lived. The title track of the album would pop up on the band's setlists for many years to come. After an extensive tour and some solo activity, the band returned to the studio in mid-2007 to record the album Doing the Dishes, released in January 2008. The album went top 10 in the Netherlands (for the first time since URK in 1989), had an airplay hit in The Flowers and was once again followed by a tour. Many of the album's songs were performed live. In 2009, the next album and tour, Strawberry Wood, a top 15 hit on the Dutch album chart, followed. It was preceded by the single Hawelka.
Malpensa, NITS? & Hotel Europa
In early 2012, the Nits released the album Malpensa, to positive reviews and fan reactions. It contains a collaboration with Colin Benders of Kyteman on the track "Bad Government". The songs "Love-Locks" and "Man on a Wire" were released as singles, as well as "Bad Government", which was re-done with Perquisite and Dazzled Kid for the single remix. The song "Schwebebahn" finds the band singing in German for the first time. In 2013, the Nits composed and produced the music of the documentary The King of Mount Ventoux by director Fons Feyaerts. The 7-track soundtrack was released on iTunes and Spotify. 2014 and 2015 focused on the '40 years of NITS' anniversary. A 3CD compilation album spanning the band's whole career was released in 2014, which contained three unreleased tracks. In March 2015, the band released Hotel Europa, a double live album with songs ranging from Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) to Malpensa (2012), with exception of a live version of "In the Dutch Mountains". The album received rave reviews and entered the Dutch album charts at #5, making it their highest charting album since Urk (#3, 1989) and their first Top 10 album since Doing the Dishes (#8, 2008).
In November 2015, all Nits albums were released on digital platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music.
TING! with Scapino Ballet & new album 'angst'.In 2016 the band played 20 shows with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. The show, entitled TING!, featured 20 NITS songs including "Nescio", "Five Fingers", "The Long Song", "The Swimmers" and "In the Dutch Mountains". More than 20,000 people saw the show in Rotterdam. A set up that currently re-run in Amsterdam..
In August 2017 new album and tour angst were announced for September. Preceded by the songs "Flowershop Forget-Me-Not", "Yellow Socks & Angst" and "Pockets Of Rain". On Friday September 15 "Yellow Socks & Angst" was added to Spotify's popular New Music Friday playlist. angst was released by the band's own WERF Records and largely sold through the band's own website. Despite this, on the back of very good reviews in OOR, Algemeen Dagblad and Lust For Life a.o., and promo shows on Dutch Radio, it entered the Dutch Album Top 100 at #40. The European 2017-2018 tour started in September 2017.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
You won't find many more minimalist titles than those listed on the sleeve of the Nits' 1988 mini-album, Hat. These include "Blue," "The Train," "The Dream," "The House," and, inevitably, "The Hat." A total of six tracks, with five definite articles and two adjectives between them. Lyrics are similarly minimalist and often take the form of fragments of recollected dreams and memories in which everyday scenes and objects trigger feelings of loss and melancholy. It's perhaps surprising, then, that for such an austerely conceived project, the Nits again came up with some of their most enduring work. Opener "The Train," whose rolling rhythm matches that of its subject matter, boasts a breezy, instantly memorable melody framed by Robert Jan Stips' exultant piccolo-synth and, at one point, samples of wheels on tracks and screeching brakes. Hat's other undoubted masterpiece is "The Bauhaus Chair," a poignant melody, beautifully sung by Henk Hofstede (though his inability to master the English "th" sound is particularly intrusive here) and rounded off by a richly resonant organ passage that evokes Procol Harum in their pomp. Elsewhere, "The Dream" has a vibrant South American feel that recalls "Nescio," while "The House" is an altogether bleaker affair, with its measured, incantatory refrain of "Time slipping away." Only "Blue" and "The Hat" are a little too sketchy to make much impact. Songs apart, what is most striking about Hat, however, is Stips' keyboard playing. In just two years he had gone from the often grotesque and alienating synth effects that blighted much of Henk to the lushly organic settings contained here. Rob Kloet had also by now arrived at a distinctively understated and highly musical technique that saw him tailor his percussion parts to the precise requirements of each individual song, rather than reaching for a ready-made beat like most rock drummers.
The Nits - Hat (flac 133mb)
01 The Train 4:08
02 Blue 4:04
03 The Dream 4:20
04 The Bauhaus Chair 2:43
05 The Hat 4:28
06 The House 3:49
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Anyone looking for a convenient summary of the Nits' work from the '80s could do worse than check out this superbly recorded live double CD. Over two hours and 29 tracks you can trace their progress from bug-eyed new wave types to master songsmiths, still with an eye to pushing envelopes and confounding expectations. And there's no need to worry about how well the band reproduces its studio creations before an audience, either. As the 1987 album In the Dutch Mountains proved, for all their concern with texture and detail the four members of the Nits were capable of producing a lushly sculpted sound without the need for overdubbing or armies of session musicians. That said, the most heart-stopping moment of Urk comes with an ingenious reworking of the memorable 1984 song "Mask," featuring an elegantly extended introduction by the Amsterdam Saxophone Quartet. Given that a casual listener might assume the Nits to be a dourly serious bunch of art rockers, Urk contains no shortage of the (strictly musical) humor that invariably forms an important part of a typical Nits concert. It also features an early sighting of what was to become something of a concert tradition, with the band congregating at the front of the stage around Robert Jan Stips' accordion and Henk Hofstede's acoustic guitar for a few campfire renditions of classics like "Adieu Sweet Bahnhof" and "Panorama Man." Urk was also important in the Nits' development in that it marked their earliest venture away from the world of sweaty clubs and into the rarefied atmosphere of Holland's theaters, where for the first time they were guaranteed a more sophisticated and attentive audience. After the tour, bassist Joke Geraets was sadly forced to leave the band owing to the onset of a muscle-wasting disease.
Nits - Urk (flac 361mb)
101 The Train 3:04
102 Adieu Sweet Bahnhof 4:58
103 J.O.S. Days 3:18
104 Sketches Of Spain 5:00
105 In The Dutch Mountains 3:35
106 The Dream 4:24
107 The Swimmer 5:10
108 The House 4:00
109 Two Skaters 7:33
110 Cabins 3:19
111 Nescio 5:56
112 Pelican & Penguin 4:32
113 Telephone Song 2:37
114 Dapperstreet 4:58
xxxxx .
Nits - Urk 2 (flac 343mb)
201 Port Of Amsterdam 4:18
202 Bike In Head 4:39
203 Mountain Jan 4:36
204 Walter & Connie 3:32
205 A Touch Of Henry Moore 3:37
206 The Bauhaus Chair 3:05
207 Under A Canoe 4:11
208 Shadow Of A Doubt 3:16
209 Mask 5:51
210 Home Before Dark 3:25
211 The Panorama Man 3:59
212 Slip Of The Tongue 3:52
213 An Eating House 4:40
214 Red Tape 2:18
215 Tons Of Ink 3:40
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
After the relative austerity of In the Dutch Mountains and Hat, the Nits really let their imaginations run riot for Giant Normal Dwarf. On first acquaintance, this beautifully packaged album might suggest that lyricist Henk Hofstede had taken an LSD-inspired trip back to the world of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Glass Onion": the opening track alone manages to rhyme "telephone lake" with "periscope snake." Yet the mundane truth was that these apparently psychedelic ditties had been penned by Hofstede as a kind of musical fairy tale for his newborn daughter. That said, there's nothing childish about the music on this album, which is one of the most consistently satisfying of the band's career. Though occasionally the whimsy might get a little cloying for some tastes, there's no denying the sheer beauty of a song like "The Night Owl" -- which sounds like a lost Moody Blues classic -- and the delightful strangeness of the closing songs, "House of the Sleeping Beauties" and "The Infinite Shoeblack." Yet amidst all the candy-striped surrealism, the band's ability to write instantly memorable, utterly distinctive melodies that frequently veer off at unexpected tangents shines through. Check out the entry of a full choir singing "Little red roses fall" in the midst of "Radio Shoes," for instance. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face, check for a pulse. Special mention should go to the keyboard work of Robert Jan Stips, who created a multicolored world of sound that perfectly complements Hofstede's flights of fancy, without ever fetching up in synthesizer hell. Though it remains a favorite among fans of the band, Giant Normal Dwarf nevertheless failed to match the commercial success of In the Dutch Mountains.
The Nits - Giant Normal Dwarf (flac 302mb)
01 Radio Shoes 3:10
02 Ice Princess 4:00
03 Boy In A Tree 5:06
04 There From Here 2:52
05 Sugar River 3:37
06 Around The Fish 3:04
07 Fountain Man 4:35
08 Apple Orchard 4:09
09 Long Forgotten Story 3:03
10 Giant Normal Dwarf 2:31
11 Moon Moon 3:10
12 The Night-Owl 3:41
13 House Of The Sleeping Beauties 4:09
14 The Infinite Shoeblack 5:47
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Today's Artists, would be one of the most widely respected bands in the world today -- at least on par with whip-smart types like XTC. Certainly, few can match their sheer creative stamina: how many other bands can claim to be still reinventing themselves after 40 years and more than 20 albums? But today's artists come from Holland. Furthermore, the occasional tour of the U.S. and Canada aside, they quickly made it clear that their only concession to the big outside world, would be to sing in English. That aside, anyone wanting them to tailor their unique brand of art pop to the demands of a broader audience could go hang. In particular, they specialize in making their latest album sound as little like the last as possible. This has simultaneously guaranteed them a modest degree of success across continental Europe, where fans appreciate their fierce integrity and commitment to playing intimate venues, and denied a lot of people in Britain and America some wonderfully inventive -- and very accessible -- music. Here's your chance ..............N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
The Nits originally consisted of Henk Hofstede (vocals, guitar), Alex Roelofs (bass), Michiel Peters (guitar) and Rob Kloet (drums). Influenced by British pop music, especially the Beatles, they also incorporated influences from new wave music into their sound. They made their live debut in 1974,[1] and released their self-financed, limited-run debut LP, The Nits, in 1978.[2] This brought them to the attention of Columbia Records, for whom The Nits would continue to record for the next 22 years. Their major-label debut, Tent (1979), carried on the new wave style of The Nits, but was considerably more polished, partly due to the influence of producer Robert Jan Stips. On New Flat (1980) and Work (1981), which made increasing use of synthesisers, "Hofstede reveals a growing aptitude for creating little emotional postcards."
"The obvious derivativeness on the Nits' early albums could have been written off as cut-rate local flirtation/reassembly of the real thing from Britain and America (Beatles, Talking Heads, etc.). In retrospect, however, those records could be seen as learning experiences of a world-class band now deserving international attention."
In the meantime, the group had been developing their sound on their numerous European tours. Many songs were radically reworked for live performance, a practice the group would continue throughout their career. Between the group's experiments with different arrangements, and the addition of Stips to the line-up, The Nits gradually moved toward a more distinctive musical style, with Kloet playing a wide range of percussion, and Stips' keyboards used to produce a lusher sound. Omsk showcased the new Nits sound with songs like "A Touch of Henry Moore", almost entirely based around Kloet's percussion, and the dramatic hit single "Nescio". The follow-up "Adieu, Sweet Bahnhof" was another hit, but tensions between the group and producer Jaap Eggermont led to the departure of Peters, and a change in the group's working methods. In future, they would produce their own material and bring in guest musicians as required.
The album Henk - which included such classic songs as Bike In Head, Home Before Dark and Port Of Amsterdam - was recorded as a three-piece, after which new bassist Joke Geraets became the first female member of The Nits, completing the line-up that would go on to enjoy commercial success with single and album In the Dutch Mountains (1987). Its title track became a European hit and one of the band's biggest. It was accompanied by a video with just the image of man in a rowing boat. Follow-up J.O.S. Days was a successful single as well. The group's extensive tours during this period led to the accomplished live triple-LP Urk (1989) which became their best-selling album. The live version of Adieu Sweet Bahnhof was released as a single, again accompanied by a video. It became a Top 30 hit for the band in Holland. Urk also featured live versions of songs from Hat, the band's 1988 6-song EP, including popular songs like The Dream, Bauhaus Chair and The Train.
Giant Normal Dwarf, Ting & Hjuvi
When Geraets fell ill with a muscular disease, meaning that she was unable to play bass, the group (now using the shortened name "Nits", often rendered in capitals to emphasise the absence of the definite article) continued as a trio. Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) was a kaleidoscopic affair which at first glance seemed like a return to the psychedelia of "I Am the Walrus" and "Glass Onion" but was actually inspired by Hofstede's desire to write musical fairy tales for his newborn child. The subsequent album Ting (1992) was a return to a much more minimalist approach, both with respect to the emphasis on the piano and the inspiration of Philip Glass on several songs. At the same time as working on Ting, the group were also preparing material for a TV special with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mainly composed by Stips, this was later issued as the album Hjuvi - A Rhapsody In Time.
The 1994 album dA dA dA was something of a return to basics, with "traditional" songwriting largely replacing the quirkiness of recent Nits releases, and the group's early influences once again to the fore. The album was the first Nits material to gain a release in the United States. Ironically for a group that had always performed in English, regarding it as a necessary evil for international success, recognition in the major English-speaking markets always eluded them. dA dA dA, despite critical acclaim in both the UK and USA, still failed to break the group in either market.
In 1995, the group released Nest, a 20-track retrospective album, and the accompanying tour ended on a high note with a concert broadcast live on television from the Uitmarkt festival. Stips then left to pursue a solo career.
The group continued, releasing the introspective albums Alankomaat (1998) - which featured the singles Sister Rosa and Robinson, and fan favourite Three Sisters - and Wool (2000), followed by another retrospective, Hits.
The group continues to perform to this day following the return of keyboard player Robert Jan Stips in 2003 for the release of the album 1974, commemorating the year of their formation.
A new album titled Les Nuits was released in October 2005. Three of the songs on the album - The Laundrette, The Key Shop and The Pizzeria - were about the murder of film director Theo Van Gogh, which happened in the street where Henk Hofstede lived. The title track of the album would pop up on the band's setlists for many years to come. After an extensive tour and some solo activity, the band returned to the studio in mid-2007 to record the album Doing the Dishes, released in January 2008. The album went top 10 in the Netherlands (for the first time since URK in 1989), had an airplay hit in The Flowers and was once again followed by a tour. Many of the album's songs were performed live. In 2009, the next album and tour, Strawberry Wood, a top 15 hit on the Dutch album chart, followed. It was preceded by the single Hawelka.
Malpensa, NITS? & Hotel Europa
In early 2012, the Nits released the album Malpensa, to positive reviews and fan reactions. It contains a collaboration with Colin Benders of Kyteman on the track "Bad Government". The songs "Love-Locks" and "Man on a Wire" were released as singles, as well as "Bad Government", which was re-done with Perquisite and Dazzled Kid for the single remix. The song "Schwebebahn" finds the band singing in German for the first time. In 2013, the Nits composed and produced the music of the documentary The King of Mount Ventoux by director Fons Feyaerts. The 7-track soundtrack was released on iTunes and Spotify. 2014 and 2015 focused on the '40 years of NITS' anniversary. A 3CD compilation album spanning the band's whole career was released in 2014, which contained three unreleased tracks. In March 2015, the band released Hotel Europa, a double live album with songs ranging from Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) to Malpensa (2012), with exception of a live version of "In the Dutch Mountains". The album received rave reviews and entered the Dutch album charts at #5, making it their highest charting album since Urk (#3, 1989) and their first Top 10 album since Doing the Dishes (#8, 2008).
In November 2015, all Nits albums were released on digital platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music.
TING! with Scapino Ballet & new album 'angst'.In 2016 the band played 20 shows with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. The show, entitled TING!, featured 20 NITS songs including "Nescio", "Five Fingers", "The Long Song", "The Swimmers" and "In the Dutch Mountains". More than 20,000 people saw the show in Rotterdam. A set up that currently re-run in Amsterdam..
In August 2017 new album and tour angst were announced for September. Preceded by the songs "Flowershop Forget-Me-Not", "Yellow Socks & Angst" and "Pockets Of Rain". On Friday September 15 "Yellow Socks & Angst" was added to Spotify's popular New Music Friday playlist. angst was released by the band's own WERF Records and largely sold through the band's own website. Despite this, on the back of very good reviews in OOR, Algemeen Dagblad and Lust For Life a.o., and promo shows on Dutch Radio, it entered the Dutch Album Top 100 at #40. The European 2017-2018 tour started in September 2017.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
You won't find many more minimalist titles than those listed on the sleeve of the Nits' 1988 mini-album, Hat. These include "Blue," "The Train," "The Dream," "The House," and, inevitably, "The Hat." A total of six tracks, with five definite articles and two adjectives between them. Lyrics are similarly minimalist and often take the form of fragments of recollected dreams and memories in which everyday scenes and objects trigger feelings of loss and melancholy. It's perhaps surprising, then, that for such an austerely conceived project, the Nits again came up with some of their most enduring work. Opener "The Train," whose rolling rhythm matches that of its subject matter, boasts a breezy, instantly memorable melody framed by Robert Jan Stips' exultant piccolo-synth and, at one point, samples of wheels on tracks and screeching brakes. Hat's other undoubted masterpiece is "The Bauhaus Chair," a poignant melody, beautifully sung by Henk Hofstede (though his inability to master the English "th" sound is particularly intrusive here) and rounded off by a richly resonant organ passage that evokes Procol Harum in their pomp. Elsewhere, "The Dream" has a vibrant South American feel that recalls "Nescio," while "The House" is an altogether bleaker affair, with its measured, incantatory refrain of "Time slipping away." Only "Blue" and "The Hat" are a little too sketchy to make much impact. Songs apart, what is most striking about Hat, however, is Stips' keyboard playing. In just two years he had gone from the often grotesque and alienating synth effects that blighted much of Henk to the lushly organic settings contained here. Rob Kloet had also by now arrived at a distinctively understated and highly musical technique that saw him tailor his percussion parts to the precise requirements of each individual song, rather than reaching for a ready-made beat like most rock drummers.
The Nits - Hat (flac 133mb)
01 The Train 4:08
02 Blue 4:04
03 The Dream 4:20
04 The Bauhaus Chair 2:43
05 The Hat 4:28
06 The House 3:49
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Anyone looking for a convenient summary of the Nits' work from the '80s could do worse than check out this superbly recorded live double CD. Over two hours and 29 tracks you can trace their progress from bug-eyed new wave types to master songsmiths, still with an eye to pushing envelopes and confounding expectations. And there's no need to worry about how well the band reproduces its studio creations before an audience, either. As the 1987 album In the Dutch Mountains proved, for all their concern with texture and detail the four members of the Nits were capable of producing a lushly sculpted sound without the need for overdubbing or armies of session musicians. That said, the most heart-stopping moment of Urk comes with an ingenious reworking of the memorable 1984 song "Mask," featuring an elegantly extended introduction by the Amsterdam Saxophone Quartet. Given that a casual listener might assume the Nits to be a dourly serious bunch of art rockers, Urk contains no shortage of the (strictly musical) humor that invariably forms an important part of a typical Nits concert. It also features an early sighting of what was to become something of a concert tradition, with the band congregating at the front of the stage around Robert Jan Stips' accordion and Henk Hofstede's acoustic guitar for a few campfire renditions of classics like "Adieu Sweet Bahnhof" and "Panorama Man." Urk was also important in the Nits' development in that it marked their earliest venture away from the world of sweaty clubs and into the rarefied atmosphere of Holland's theaters, where for the first time they were guaranteed a more sophisticated and attentive audience. After the tour, bassist Joke Geraets was sadly forced to leave the band owing to the onset of a muscle-wasting disease.
Nits - Urk (flac 361mb)
101 The Train 3:04
102 Adieu Sweet Bahnhof 4:58
103 J.O.S. Days 3:18
104 Sketches Of Spain 5:00
105 In The Dutch Mountains 3:35
106 The Dream 4:24
107 The Swimmer 5:10
108 The House 4:00
109 Two Skaters 7:33
110 Cabins 3:19
111 Nescio 5:56
112 Pelican & Penguin 4:32
113 Telephone Song 2:37
114 Dapperstreet 4:58
xxxxx .
Nits - Urk 2 (flac 343mb)
201 Port Of Amsterdam 4:18
202 Bike In Head 4:39
203 Mountain Jan 4:36
204 Walter & Connie 3:32
205 A Touch Of Henry Moore 3:37
206 The Bauhaus Chair 3:05
207 Under A Canoe 4:11
208 Shadow Of A Doubt 3:16
209 Mask 5:51
210 Home Before Dark 3:25
211 The Panorama Man 3:59
212 Slip Of The Tongue 3:52
213 An Eating House 4:40
214 Red Tape 2:18
215 Tons Of Ink 3:40
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
After the relative austerity of In the Dutch Mountains and Hat, the Nits really let their imaginations run riot for Giant Normal Dwarf. On first acquaintance, this beautifully packaged album might suggest that lyricist Henk Hofstede had taken an LSD-inspired trip back to the world of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Glass Onion": the opening track alone manages to rhyme "telephone lake" with "periscope snake." Yet the mundane truth was that these apparently psychedelic ditties had been penned by Hofstede as a kind of musical fairy tale for his newborn daughter. That said, there's nothing childish about the music on this album, which is one of the most consistently satisfying of the band's career. Though occasionally the whimsy might get a little cloying for some tastes, there's no denying the sheer beauty of a song like "The Night Owl" -- which sounds like a lost Moody Blues classic -- and the delightful strangeness of the closing songs, "House of the Sleeping Beauties" and "The Infinite Shoeblack." Yet amidst all the candy-striped surrealism, the band's ability to write instantly memorable, utterly distinctive melodies that frequently veer off at unexpected tangents shines through. Check out the entry of a full choir singing "Little red roses fall" in the midst of "Radio Shoes," for instance. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face, check for a pulse. Special mention should go to the keyboard work of Robert Jan Stips, who created a multicolored world of sound that perfectly complements Hofstede's flights of fancy, without ever fetching up in synthesizer hell. Though it remains a favorite among fans of the band, Giant Normal Dwarf nevertheless failed to match the commercial success of In the Dutch Mountains.
The Nits - Giant Normal Dwarf (flac 302mb)
01 Radio Shoes 3:10
02 Ice Princess 4:00
03 Boy In A Tree 5:06
04 There From Here 2:52
05 Sugar River 3:37
06 Around The Fish 3:04
07 Fountain Man 4:35
08 Apple Orchard 4:09
09 Long Forgotten Story 3:03
10 Giant Normal Dwarf 2:31
11 Moon Moon 3:10
12 The Night-Owl 3:41
13 House Of The Sleeping Beauties 4:09
14 The Infinite Shoeblack 5:47
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
5 comments:
would it be possible to upload the giant normal dwarf album again?
the couldfiles link seems to be disfunctional.
thank you.
hello anon i don't understand everything looks in order here, i just went thru the motions using mozilla and got this to download
http://s8.cloudyfiles.me:8080/d/xlsbbl5sp7c26xzec7xizw43o64bz3fy5wlvkqrecxu7tqyk5ehxlpn3uwvrvq4zg5ohaseu/Nts Gnt.zip
At first I'd like to thank you a lot for the great music you upload, especially in FLAC files and for all the info you share with us. Is it possible to re-upload the GIANT-NORMAL-DWARF album in FLAC? By mistake I asked for it in your other NITS page.
Thank you in advance!
Thank you very much for the quick response.
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