Rene van der Wouden - Numerus Fixus [CD]

booklet page 1-4

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01 Fixus part 1 14:33
02 Fixus part 2 10:24
03 Fixus part 3 04:25
04 Fixus part 4 04:56
05 Fixus part 5 07:33
06 Fixus part 6 08:27
07 Fixus part 7 04:18
08 Fixus part 8 09:11

Product info

Press information:
Composed, arranged, performed and produced by Rene van der Wouden.
Recorded and mixed from July to October 2009 at the Miniminus Studio. Gouda.

Rene van der Wouden - Keyboards, Moog and Prophet synthesizers, electronic percussion and software

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Mastered by Ron Boots

Numerus Fixus = Latin and means in English: Limited Places.

As we see the world as it is now today with more than 6 billion people I ask myself at times: can we keep on living our lives with less land, less water, less healthy air and fewer new resources with an ever growing worldly population? One of the predictions is that complex, interlinked ecosystems - (rain)forests, reefs, lakes, rivers, oceans and their food webs could collapse within a couple of decades from now if we continue like this. This album is dedicated to those interlinked ecosystems on which we are using every day and becoming more limited in period of time.

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REVIEWS:

Review of "Numerus Fixus" by Artemi Pugachov of The Encyclopedia of Electronic Music:

Rene van der Wouden "Numerus Fixus" (self-released [I.E. REWO-Records], 2009)

"Numerus Fixus" is another collection of bright, ethereal rhythmic and sequencer tracks from Dutch synthesizer artist Rene van der Wouden. A sequence greets the listener once the play button is pressed. This pulsation is of a lilting, bell-like quality. The rest of the sonic space is filled with multiple pads and a distorted analogue noise. A bass sequence appears as classic synth leads remind us on the good old days of EM. Especially Jarre from the 1970's comes to mind. This analogy is reinforced by the fat twittering effects. However, whereas Jarre's style war melodic and focused, Rene's music on this particular track is free and improvised. A completely different sequence takes over after 7 minutes into the track, but the mood is still that of melancholy and reflection.

A steady rhythm appears as Rene uses more and more of ethereal Mellotron strings. The track rises in intensity before ending abruptly as we transition to Part 2 on the crest of the wave of analogue effects and wind sounds. A rapid sequence seeps in, as ethereal Mellotron choir is heard. Another sequence joins and the track takes on an insistent, urgent stance. Even more sequences are added as well as a nice Mellotron flute. "Fixus Part 3" is an unusually soft, uplifting, almost New Agey track. An arpeggiated beauty of a rhythm serves as the basis for all kinds of pads and even birds singing! It does work is a strange, charming way, especially once the multiple analogue sequences take over. Part 4 opens with intense wind sounds before a very synth-pop like theme and rhythm are introduced. It really sounds like some forgotten early 1980's instrumental gem. Wonderful!

Part 5 is introduced with a sequence that goes down the scale a few octaves before a thumping bass rhythm is unleashed, almost Techno-ish, the pads serving as a nice ethereal background. Now we're talking another forgotten gem, this time sounding as if coming from the early 1990's. Unfortunately, it was not my favourite epoch for music and although I do like this track, I find it somewhat less attractive.

It is nice to see Rene trying new (old?) things, though. Part 6 begins with a really dramatic atmospheric section, one of the best on the disc. A bit funky rhythm starts and a fitting bass line supports this flowing track. And, boy, does it flow. Once again I get this nostalgic feeling as if I am listening to a lost funk / synth fusion track from the late 1970's - early 1980's. Does it sound good? Hell yes! It's different, enjoyable and very melodic. Part 7, on the other hand, is a cosmic monster of a track. It is dominated by flowing pads and wonderful fat analogue bass timbres, not to mention the ubiquitous twittering effects. A nice change of pace and a neatly produced beatless track, this one. Amazingly, a synth-pop rhythm heralds the coming of the last part that fuses 1980's sensibilities with a somewhat ethnic-sounding flute. It is amazing, how Rene has evolved since the last album.

While the first two long tracks are more or less in Rene's typical (sequencer-based) style, the rest could be seen as a diversion into different realms, and a very successful one at that. This is Rene's best album so far and it certainly deserves the full-fledged CD release it got. "Numerus Fixus" wins in my book, hands down. And now, once the review is finished, I am going to listen to that gorgeous Part 4 again.

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Review by Bert Strolenberg of Sonic Immersion

"Numerus Fixus" by Gouda-based electronic musician Rene van der Wouden, is a concept album dedicated to the various interlinked ecosystems on our blue planet. The fact that we use and rely on them almost regardless every day, makes them also gradually becoming more and more limited and vulnerable in the near future. A tough theme in these times of global warming and other major environmental issues.

Sonically, what we got here is a fine and fresh sounding album with Berliner School flavours which incorporates some minimalist sequencer patterns, rhythms, a varied assortment of vintage and contemporary synthesizer sounds plus occasionally some massive retro effects.

All these elements, fused together in eight mature "Fixus" parts, are in almost constant interaction with each other as the music gradually evolves without interruption in a kind of ebb and flow manner.

At times, even some space music territory is touched, but for the most part, the melodic, harmonious and rhythmic spiced music stands in its own right, although I personally feel the bouncy, groovy part four a bit bland and directionless.

Nevertheless, all other tracks sound tasty and well rendered and very pleasing to the ear, which is emphasized due to the excellent mastering of Ron Boots.
Chapeau, Mr van der Wouden!

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Review by Sylvain Lupari of Guts of Darkness & Planet Origo

Numerus Fixus is René Van Der Wouden's 8th album. It has as framework the fragility of ecosystems in a world that keep being smaller and smaller. An opus in the image of the Dutch synthesist but strongly inspired by analog sound effects, molding thus a musical approach more galactic than earthbound, and strongly influenced by French electronic music.

Numerus Fixus thus lulls between two universes with a strong Jarre perfume, where the cosmos interlaces a contemporaneousness which does not really bind to the works' thematic. If the first three parts form a moving symbiosis where the paradox earth / space is vibrating, the five last ones rather throw us in a sound universe where Van Der Wouden continues where Jarre decided to stop his creative meter.

Fixus Part I opens the album with fine arpeggios which tinkle, such as the striking of a xylophone, then movies on to dance lazily on a sequential minimalistic movement which fits the shape of a perpetual spiral. A galactic twist, accompanied by choirs of vaporous breathings, which parades a Halloween bed song, where motorcycle roaring bursts and get lost in this crystal space. A heterogeneous intro to which is added the weight of a beautiful line of bass which rocks the movement of the same minimalistic similarity, where synth solos insufflate a more spectral approach than cosmic to a title which is closer to cosmos than the earth, with its mellotron of slow violin breaths which cross coiled sequences among e-drum strikes and colorful sound effects bring a greater level of intensity, without however deviating Fixus Part I of its ethereal elongated bed song. Electronic sounds to the effervescence of the analog years punctuate constantly the works of René Van Der Wouden and Numerus Fixus is full of it. Fixus Part II soaks in these e-sounds, with a rain of sonorous constellations which breaks under powerful cosmic waves, before a heavy oscillating, and sometimes resonant, sequence livens up a tempo which clears a path towards a panoply of sound particles. Slowly, the rhythm gets loose from its lunar approach to embrace a more terrestrial structure, under the breaths of a Mellotron sound which always hesitates between both universes. A sound which takes a flutier look while this second part flirts strangely with tinkled arpeggios of the introductory part. Always in the register of the crystalline arpeggios of soft musical orations, Fixus Part III is simply magnificent. A dreamlike sweetness which sings life and hope, as the tic-tac of a timeless watch, to shape a so warm and poetic musicality that it's a pity it has to end.

Fixus Part IV returns us in the rhythmic soils of Space Art with its fiery tempo seized by a synth lead of interlaced solos, while Fixus Part V is of a galactic heaviness extremely well structured. A crossing between Jarre's Magnetic Fields and the electronic post punk of Daft Punk on a loud and livened up tempo of which a tinny synth sound offers beautiful symphonic impetus, quite as Part VI which enjoys a superb atmospheric intro and a roaring rhythmic sharply more elaborated. Fixus Part VII is close to Jarre's Oxygene area, with a beautiful ambient and cosmic structure, filled by a dramatic side of a rare intensity. Fixus Part VIII closes on a more cheerful note. A heavy title, encircled by a round and fat sequence which parades with a synth of fluty breaths, adorned with a beautiful floating Mellotron sound and with xylophone arpeggios that dance on carnival-like percussions.

Without figuring among 2009's Top 10, Numerus Fixus is not that far away. It's a beautiful album which is a kind of continuity of Jarre's analog years, without falling in the easy trap of plagiarism. There are superb passages on this opus which one can listen to without a second of boredom. Great work by René Van Der Wooden there, who doesn’t stop to amaze and touch us. In fact, René Van Der Wouden is to Jarre what Redshift, Arc and Free System Projekt are to Tangerine Dream; the reflection of an area sealed in time with a splendid dosage of creativity and originality. Fans of Jarre and Vangelis will truly value Numerus Fixus and the great majority of René Van Der Wouden's works.

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The new album of Rene van der Wouden is a true gem. With this album he seems to go to back to his debut album Pro Sequentia which has a combination of Berlin School with electro music. I always liked this album a lot. But this time ambient influences on track 7 are added to the spectrum of the sound of this album.

In short: Part 1 is a Schulzian style track, referring to a famous album of the master, Part 2 reminds me of the sublimely Universal Quiet album. That track should easily fit on that one as well. True retro-style analog space synth music! I love that album so much, that this track really makes me smile. Part 3 is unique in itself. When we come at Part 4, the Pro Sequentia album rings a bell. This continues with Part 5, 6 and 8. The 8 tracks sound very good. This might also be the cause to the fact that Ron Boots has mastered the album. The synthesizers sound analog and warm. The sequencers sound as Moog as it should be in electronic music, deep and powerful. I think Mr Van der Wouden has chosen the right instrumentation this time. In the booklet I read: Minimoog Voyager, Pro One, a Teisco 110F and a Pro One, but also the Moog Little Phatty is doing its job. You will easily forget the used music software, when you listen to this album.

It is almost unnecessary to state that this album should be in the catalogue of the electronic music enthusiast. I am glad that it is in mine now.

2010. Andre / NL