format: cd / digital
released: july 12 2000
tracklisting
1.indifference / you welcomed me in strange spheres
2.lights
3.docks
4.film
5.reptile
6.freshly built houses
7.important
8.contact
9.see-through
10.costume
11.saint
12.receive
13.wake my steel
14.when coffee can’t help you anymore
15.outfit connected
16.died with a headache
17.hissing smoke machine
18.the port of big black bottle
19.bjitumen’s pissed paper temple 439
info
The second album by Larz is a split release with the American label Blackbean and Placenta. The songs were recorded between 1994 and 1998. The bulk of the material was taken from the tape Harbour Machinery. The four last tracks are from the aborted 7″ on the Dutch label Rotten Windmill. Larz recorded the songs on a four-track. He mainly used his piano, but he also experiments with electronics and songs with interesting guitar sounds. The photograph that was used for the front cover of Waving with Newtons was taken by Sander Meijer.
press downloads
hi-res image of cover
press release (dutch)
reviews
fisheye
december 18 2001
by p. wild
Dutch genius follows up to his sold out debut with this fine selection of nineteen songs. Sounding like the greatest compilation of bands that have graced the pages of the Fisheye catalogue over the years. Drag City era Pavement collides with a bedroom bound Lou Barlow or the folk driven pulse of Flying Saucer Attack or other unearthly sounds that only the Jefferies brothers would know how to make. A delicious beefheartarian pop-music that sounds very Andy Partrige (XTC) to me. Wanted a copy of Larz’s debut long player!
rif raf
march 14 2001
by jb
Think of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and the Mary Chain – stop thinking – think quickly of something else.
fret
november 4 2000
by gert verbeek
Just like the cd from Psychon Troopers (The Building Playground), the Larz solo-album was released by the label Narrominded. Solo is not completely the right word, because hometaper Larz is assisted by six guest musicians. Characteristic are the use of keyboards (especially the piano), the low, wave-like voice of Larz, whose lyrics are hard to decipher. The songs do not last longer than necessary without needless repeaten stanzas and chorusses, mostly drifting off in all kinds of directions like in the first song that actually exists out of two tracks. Sometimes the music doesn’t go any further than an intro. The tracks with drums are powerful, on the rest prevails a modest sphere. It makes the dreary music elusive and (fortunately) also hard to classify. You could call it progressive lo-fi new wave. A track like Contact is related with the psychedelic neo-folk of Flying Saucer Attack.
all music guide
2000
by ned raggett
Call Larz another bedroom genius brought to wider attention via the Black Bean and Placenta Tape Club label – which he is. But he’s got that extra bit of special something about him, which is why his Waving With Newtons album is such an inspired find, especially considering it was recorded when he was around 19. With the help of some friends here and there on drums (and on guitar and sax on one song) but otherwise tackling everything on his own, Larz creates a series of inspired songs on this album, exploring a range of wry lyrics and quietly entrancing music. Peter Jefferies has been named as a comparison point, and certainly songs like “Important,” with Larz’ dry but emotional voice over an arrangement led by piano, can call the New Zealand inspiration to mind. “Costume” is another gripping highlight, the singing soft and buried while the truly melancholic (and beautifully so) combination of piano and synth leads the heartbreaking way. However, though Waving With Newtons isn’t a sunny experience per se, it’s not quite as aggrieved or twisted as Jefferies at his most extreme. Even the apparently downbeat cabaret piano blues of “When Coffee Can’t Help You Anymore” suddenly shifts to a just sprightly enough melody here and there, while the desolate closer, “Bjitumen’s Pissed Paper Temple 439,” manages a similar combination of opposing styles. There’s a good sense of reach throughout Waving With Newtons – no two songs are quite the same, though they’re all clearly by the same creative mind. The dank, psychedelic queasiness of the instrumental “Film,” the breathtaking acoustic guitar/drone shimmer of “Contact,” and the nutty, jaunty stumble of “Wake My Steel” are all good examples of what Larz can do when he tests his more common style.
blackbean and placenta
july 2000
by mike landucci
Larz follows up his sold out debut LP on Blackbean with 19 new songs. Mixing the succintness and style of Hood with the most pop elements of Captain Beefheart, this collection reminds the listener of why one seeks out obscure titles in the first place; the thrill of discovering the sort of new approaches to songwriting that usually live off the beaten path. Animated, jazzy, precocious, and unsettling.
rotten windmill newsletter
1996
