Label: Vrystaete – Vrystaete21
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: Netherlands
Released: 2025
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient, Abstract, Experimental
Supremely isolated, strung-out lo-fi electronics from obscure Dutch outfit Girotuna.
Our friends in Utrecht Vrystaete once again are finding music where no one is looking. Girotuna seemingly self-released a handful of CDr’s in the late 90s but then vanished, but after raking through the groups archive the group revealed a series of tracks that were never released. Their works are ostensibly purely electronic, yet we’re a long way from the dance floors of the late 90s. Each equally stripped-back and weirdly melancholic in their own way, it’s easy to imagine this being released on London’s Fat Cat label. The arrangements are lonely, meditative and encouraging a sense of contemplation, yet laced with seismic sub rumble and stretched-out aching melodies. Comparisons to Vladislav Delay’s frost-bitten atmospheres feel fair, or that very slept-on late 90s Cutterblade EP or even Pansonic at their most restrained and hypnotic. Perfect late night solo listening. (Mint / New - with inserts, hand-made cover).
I think of myself as well informed when it comes to music but there is always music I did not encounter yet for one reason or another… and happy it is like that. girotuna was such a project I did not hear about until quite recently… I was talking to Luke Cohlen who runs the Aural Conduct label and he mentioned girotuna as something probably fitting my taste… so I checked it and indeed I instantly loved it… Funny side note is that a colleague in daily life (as not in label life) was part if this project which was active from the late 1990’s into the 2000’s. ..
girotuna have self-released two obscure cd-r’s but also proved to have many more recordings… First I wanted to re-release one of these cd-r’s on vinyl but after I received some of the archive recordings I came up with a selection of minimalistic lo-fi electronic tracks… luckily the musicians agreed on putting this selection to vinyl…
So here we are… the first girotuna vinyl LP… This album takes you on trip through minimal electronic soundscapes… with pieces hinting to dub influences (?) and others more drone minded or at least being very hypnotic … and there is no denying of the dreamy and playful vibe of this all…
Very pleased to have been able to get my hands on this music and to present a lost gem of Dutch DIY electronic music…
Tracklist
A1 7 augustus 2000
A2 8 augustus 2000
A3 16 september 2000
B1 13 april 2001
B2 6 juni 2001
