Planet of the Arps – planet of the arps

In July 2010, electronica musician Remy Stroomer (aka REMY) recorded the first version of an ambient piece. The result is an hour-long trip that is in some respects in line with the composer’s solo work. But the project is presented as an ambient side project: “Planet of the Arps”. The project name refers to the musical phenomenon arpeggio (whether or not produced by an arpeggiator), Halton Arp and his Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, Alan R. Pearlman and his legendary ARP synthesizers, and it is clear that it is also a nod to the “Planet of the Apes” science fiction franchise. Since the recording of the first version of the piece, the intention was to have a fellow musician contribute to the project before its possible release. When the Ricochet Gathering event takes place in Berlin, in October 2010, Remy asks Wolfram Spyra to be part of this ambient piece. Even though ‘Der Spyra’ wants to participate in this project, there is not enough time and both artists have different priorities at that moment. The project is being put aside for the time being. When Remy is invited to perform at the Zeiss Planetarium in Bochum (Germany) on September 15, 2012, he decides to perform this piece of music. Simply because it fits perfectly at this location. Some additions and edits are made, and version 2.0 is created during this solo concert. Almost two years pass when Remy organizes a concert evening in the Ruïn van Brederode in Santpoort-Zuid, on June 27, 2014. The programming consists of Free Arts Lab (the band Remy is part of at that time) and Wolfram Spyra. To end the evening, the idea arose to improvise around a shortened version of “Planet of the Arps”. This happens in a slightly different way than Remy has in mind. Due to circumstances there is no time to rehearse the joint session, and before the start of the performance it is decided that Spyra’s ‘partner in crime’ and singer Roksana Vikaluk will participate in this part of the evening. The result is a 20-minute version of “Planet of the Arps”, in a completely improvised setting. Everyone is very positive about the result. Both musically and in terms of atmosphere, everything seems to fall into place perfectly. After this, it took a while - more than 4 years - before it was decided that “Planet of the Arps” would be released in its current form: The original piece of music, mixed and supplemented with elements from the live performances. Think of it as a project that took time to develop, and to result in the version as heard on this “Planet of the Arps”.

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