20 years on from the project's inception, beequeen's frans de waard has now
released his final studio recording as kapotte muziek. an evocation of the
auditory experiences to which anaethetised patients are subject to during
surgical procedures, curing without killing is a series of crepuscular hums
and vibrations presented as one long continuous track. even considering the
work's explicit connection to extreme sensory impressions that are not
supposed to be happening, de waard's ability to infuse even the briefest of
silences with a sense of menace is quite extraordinary.

the wire, issue 246, august 2004, outer limits reviewed by ken hollings

KAPOTTE MUZIEK :: Curing Without Killing
CDR: Fencing Flatwork Recordings


After a few years absent Frans de Waard re-emerges with the final work by Kapotte Muziek, at it since 1984. The newest full-length Curing Without Killing may wake the dead with its staccato drone and linear, twisting core. His sounds vibrate with a precision of something like a microfine saw of some kind delivering something that seems like a creaky door that's been muted and mixed and layered. In a straight-shot 43-minutes Kapotte Muziek defies normal conventions, whatever may remain, and test our ability to accept buzzing tone that draws with light for instance. Hard wired. Dedicated to Cefas Van Rossem and Andrew McKenzie the breathy and ambient to atonal, unsympathetic storyline follows the unnerving discovery that the body is truly not under when going through medical operations. de Waard wonderfully terms this "operating theater" since the body can still sense acoustics in this state of un/consciousness. The final 20 minutes here could induce some form of industrial slumber, though its demeanor is lax, there is an alluring intuition for things feared, yet unseen, just chilling. The apparatus is in motion; it’s like a taffy machine twisting chaotically wrapping and spindling, rubbery and apprehensive. With this in mind, and all of the truly fantastic sound recycling that has been created over almost two decades, will Kapotte Muziek, really, ever put itself to rest?