Kid Baltan and Tom Disselvelt

Kid Baltan and Tom Disselvelt
11" x 8.5", ink, watercolor, pencil, 2013

My record collection houses records from all over the world and I have a fair share from that little Netherlands country I was born and raised in. I buy records predominantly at thrift stores these days and usually I scoop up all the international vinyl I find there. But records from the Netherlands you don't find much in thrift stores and those that occasionally show up I mostly leave behind. Heintje is the one that most frequently appears at a thrift store, and sometimes you'll find a draaiorgel (mechanic organ) record, or one by the few international pop stars such as Herman Brood or the Golden Earring. I'm not interested in any of those, but if I would find more sophisticated ones, like free jazz records, or modern classical, or experimental, I certainly would be a happy taker. The last Dutch musician I bought music of was Willem Breuker, when I saw a CD of his at a thrift store some years ago. I was excited about it but I didn't like the CD. I've never even seen a record by Dick Raaijmakers or by his alias Kid Baltan (I was familiar with the music of Dick Raaijmakers but never heard of Kid Baltan—Tom Disselvelt I had never heard of either—until I chanced upon their music on YouTube.) So naturally it's been a while since I had some music from my own country in the Top 100. Dick Raaijmakers as Kid Baltan produced a number of experimental electronic recordings together with Tom Disselvelt in the years between 1954 and 1960. Quite a few of these can be heard on YouTube and it is the first one I ever heard that features in the Top 100 2012: Vibration from the extended play single Electronic Movements (Phillips, 1962—originally released on the LP Electronic Music under the moniker Elektrosonics in 1957).