Lutenist Jozef Van Wissem has got a lot on his
plate: collaborations, curation and computer games. Following
releases with Smegma and United Bible Studies, his latest solo
album The Joy That Never Ends is released on Important, and
features input from film maker Jim Jarmusch ahead of a full length
release by the duo scheduled for later this year.
Jarmusch contributes electric guitar for the track "Concerning
The Beautiful Human Form After Death" on The Joy That Never
Ends, (released on CD/LP, with the first 100 LPs shipping on
white vinyl), and the full length collaboration with Jarmusch will
be called Apokatastasis.
On a different note, Van Wissem has also contributed
compositions to the latest installment of The Sims. "I was asked to
come up with 12 lute (and some voice) pieces for The Sims
Medieval," he says. "They flew me over to San Francisco to
record there after they heard the lute compositions… I had a lot of
freedom, they didn't ask me to change anything really."
On top of these collaborations, Van Wissem is also
curating and playing at a series of events in Europe and the US
entitled New Music For Early Instruments. Paris Batofar, 8
September (with Keiji Haino). New York Issue Project Room, 13–14
October (with Loren Connors, Gregg Kowalsky, Richard Bishop and
Susan Alcorn). Aalst Network, 18 November (with Gregg Kowalsky,
Stephan Mathieu, and Keenan Lawler). For more info head here.