The sixth FIBER podcast is the premiere of Urkelle, the pseudonym under which Steve Mensink will be releasing his deeper, more experimental work. This mix proves that Steve can easily vear away from the 125 bpm rut and it takes you on a journey through an obscure spheric soundscape of pulsating sub-basses, laidback beats and magical melodies; much in contrast to his more house oriented work he has been showcasing at festivals and clubs, which he’ll be mixing under his other pseudonym “Frits Wentink” in the future.
Steve grew up in Nijmegen, where he began producing at an early age and like a real ‘Nijmegenaar’ befits, he was a regular at the Planet Rose parties hosted by Darko Esser at Doornroosje. As he began producing at a more serious level, he moved to Utrecht to study audio design and musicology. The skills he attained during his study can be heard in this podcast, which has been composed solely of his own unreleased material. Incorporated in his mix are melodic influences, dating from early 20th century French piano music, such as edits of “Louange à l’Ëternite de Jésus” by Olivier Messiaen and fragments of the work by Maurice Ravel. Next to Steve’s edits of these French masters, the podcast has been enriched with vocals by Loes Jongerling.
Aside from producing music, Mensink also builds his own midi controllers. These devices have beautiful wooden casings and are portrayed as still lifes on his website. The handmade controllers serve not only as a technological aid for music production, but also as a visual enhancement. A good example is the controller of which Steve chose the illustration as artwork for this podcast. The positioning of the buttons leads to a chaotic pattern that suits the granular synthesis technique this controller is intended for. As such the controllers are a guide/model to understanding Steve’s music.