Hoekstra Autumn Leaves and October News – Words & Music
.Yes, we know it’s hard to believe that October is here, but that means the holidays are around the corner and never too early to start that early shopping, may we suggest a copy of 2021’s The Day Deserved new music by Doug Hoekstra or Ten Seconds In-Between (new short stories by Doug Hoekstra)? Or a gift package that includes both. And, you know it is always better to own the physical copy for posterity. Btw, there are also still some backstory booklets on The Day Deserved left at Bandcamp as well, which includes full song exposition, extra photos, and bonus poems.
The Day Deserved is a welcome return to song from one of Nashville’s most lauded songwriters…you’ll see Doug Hoekstra’s name on various end of the year best of lists…” (Ink 19)
In other news, a new spoken word piece just dropped at Soundcloud. This one is a flash fiction titled “Essence,” from Ten Seconds-In-Between, a tale about gaining through subtracting. For the recorded piece, Hoekstra says “I used found sound, in the same way the character is having “found” experiences. I’d also been thinking John Cage a lot and the idea that all sound is music. So, I recited the piece to a loop (which was mostly edited out later) and then added non-musical elements – a stopwatch, a pocket alarm clock, my parents old mantelpiece clock, the insides of a video cassette recorder, just letting them play out – randomness at play.” More also at Soundcloud Hoekstra.
“….Hoekstra writes evocatively of real characters often knocked off centre from their comfort zone, and ‘Ten Seconds In-Between’ reveals a multi-layered, versatile writer of haunting talent.” (John Clarkson, Pennyblack Music.)
In other multi-media news, the Hoekstra Creative Team trotted out six videos for this latest record over the past five months, with premieres on both sides of the pond (We Own This Town, Big Takeover, Vents, Americana Highways, Pennyblack Music, Ink 19, Americana-UK, Glide) and some replays in other spots such as Ditty TV and Baseball Bard. You can watch them all in sequence, at the website or on You Tube. In the latter event, sign up and follow, because we hope to drop one more before the
“….this is far from the usual singer-songwriter fare. Delve into Hoekstra’s real and imaginative worlds, bask in his words, and enjoy the full experience….” (Glide Magazine)
In other groovy news….
—Americana Highways. Great full-length interview with John Michael Antonio, on the book, the music and “life.”
–Rock ‘n Reel (UK/print magazine), which ran a 4 star review of The Day Deserved in their May issue, later featured “Carry Me” on their issue #88 sampler commenting on Hoekstra’s “distinctive albums…a blend of imagination, invention, and poetic songwriting.”
—Cover to Cover Radio interview with Jovelyn Richards 94.1 at KPFA Berkeley 8/31/2021, as she asked great questions and read an excerpt. We are at 30:30 in!
—The Big Takeover. TBT was the premiere site for the “Outside Looking In” and they are back in the October issue, with a review of “Ten Seconds In-Between” “Hoekstra has a way of examining life that few can put down on a page. You can read the book in a hour…and you will, several times, drawing something new each time.”
—Nashville Scene. It’s always good to be called a polymath, so thanks to Ron Wynn for a great chat and subsequent press, covering both “The Day Deserved” and “Ten Seconds In-Between” –
“…an ambitious and distinctive new album The Day Deserved is diverse and intriguing idiomatically. While the solid rock foundation and writerly lyricism are dominant features, Hoekstra explores many other musical areas, ranging from vintage dub reggae to edgy and politically potent soul on Elements of jazz and folk are integrated into the basic framework, with Hoekstra’s hushed singing voice and assured authorial voice binding them together…the book’s material is no less diverse or compelling.”
—Aldora Britain. Chuffed to some new love for the back catalogue chestnut album “Blooming Roses” up at AB Records Magazine out of the U.K. “there is a wistful, almost cosmic feel to Hoekstra’s songcraft here…Blooming Roses is a brilliant modern noir alt country record…” Rest of it on page 49 right here: Bit.ly/aldorabritainrecords-magazine-57
Now, we could go on about the five-song EP that will drop this winter, the new songs that are being written/demoed and/or the gigs (we hope) to come. But you’ve read this far, the bonus cut is a brand new poem dedicated to all the Beatniks at heart. It’s called “Then and Now” and you’ll find it on the website along with a snap of the Fire Tower that inspired it. Enjoy.
“…bound to land on many ‘best of 2021’ lists..the arrangements on this album are impeccable….ten beautiful underground pop songs executed to perfection…this man has a totally killer understated manner of singing that is instantly appealing….The Day Deserved is an album that will surely stand the test of time. Resilient, smart and different. This one’s a modern-day classic. Highly recommended.”(Baby Sue)
“ The Day Deserved is a ten track record that skirts the line between Americana and the more slowcore indie movement like Low, Mazzy Star or Slow Dive. The songs are steeped in storytelling and leverage similar instrumentation to the Americana world but the feeling of embarrassing earnesty that is common to the genre is absent here…” (We Own This Town, Nashville)
Doug Hoekstra 