The Great Image Has No Form

by Matthijs Kouw

supported by

Tom Rimshot In separation
It is possible to hear
Two distinct layers

Like a bell ringing
Pealing and peeling apart
Waving through the air

Jacob Calland (Discreet Archive) thumbnail

Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) thumbnail

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

€7 EUR or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of The Great Image Has No Form via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 5 days

Purchasable with gift card

€10 EUR or more
Get of one copy of each of my 3 latest CD releases at a friendly price. Includes 'Obscurum Per Obscurius', 'ER-1', and 'The Great Image Has No Form'. Download codes for these titles will be provided by email.

ships out within 5 days

Purchasable with gift card

€25 EUR or more
Full Digital Discography

27

releases

Get all 27 Matthijs Kouw releases available on Bandcamp and save 75%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Isometry, HIC SVNT MONSTRA, Who Goes There?, Recalcitrance, Masked (MVK Remix), Mei, The Hidden Accord, Metastabilities, and 19 more. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

€26.75 EUR or more (75% OFF)

1.	The Dao Is Achieved Through Discipline 08:52	buy track
2.	The Being-within-form Is The Mother Of The Myriad Things 07:23	buy track
3.	Immersed In The Roar Of Crickets Upon Approaching The Temple Where Sifu Lives 13:20	buy track
4.	But To Whom Will They Be Told? 04:54	buy track
5.	Sword Practice 16:34	buy track

about

“The structure being so large, in order for an impression leading towards a possible overview, the participant, of necessity must encounter the limits of what they are able to hold in front of themselves. In doing so, a sort of ’stretching’ must take place, and with it, a kind of ‘friction’, which provides the energy necessary for Work, on a small scale.” Andrew McKenzie

On this album, Matthijs Kouw presents pensive and melancholic guitar-driven drones inspired by his longtime interest in Daoism and his visit to the Wudang mountains in China in 2007, where he studied Chinese meditation and martial arts.

Much like the dissolving landscapes in the cover art of this release, the drones on The Great Image Has No Form evolve and morph into transient pieces that linger on, only to slowly evaporate and merge with the undifferentiated.

Daoism teaches us that the foundational cannot be named and identified, but rather has to be experienced first-hand. This album is an invitation to the listener to dwell in the space of the unnamable and the mysterious, and to embrace it wholeheartedly.

Reviews

"A very refined album of drones [...] with that right amount of roughness around the edges to make sure it does not become some new age meditation music. This is an excellent release." www.vitalweekly.net/1187.html

“Drones are what we get, and then some. But, unlike many other records in this field there is a strong sense of movement, or physicality; of ideas actively formulating as the work progresses.” louderthanwar.com/matthijs-kouw-great-image-no-form/

"It is ‘minimalist’ music, but these are nót minimalist drones: there’s a lot happening in the deceptively static sound field which is constantly moving and shifting." www.ambientblog.net/blog/2019-06-28/kouw-novak/

“Een bij de strot grijpend prachtalbum” subjectivisten.nl/nnm-mvk-matthijs-kouw-er-1-the-great-image-has-no-form/

credits

released May 27, 2019

All music (guitar, field recordings, sound bowl) by Matthijs Kouw
Mastered by Jos Smolders
Artwork by Xia Gui
Design by Harco Rutgers

license

about

Matthijs Kouw Netherlands

Experimental musician based in The Netherlands exploring the relationship between movement and stasis. Using analog synthesis, software, field recordings, and recordings of various objects, Matthijs combines long-form drone with elements from acousmatic music, noise, and microsound. ... more

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Matthijs Kouw

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Matthijs Kouw recommends:

Three Pieces for Upper Partial Tones
by Radboud Mens

Minimalist long-form drone exercises Matthijs Kouw
go to album
kysztymska
by Calineczka

Sustained tone minimalism Matthijs Kouw
go to album

If you like Matthijs Kouw, you may also like:

Occam XXV
by Éliane Radigue & Frédéric Blondy

supported by 10 fans who also own “The Great Image Has No Form”

Wauw … this is totally sonic drone heaven! Radigue hits me again! Beautifull latzijones
go to album
Irradiate
by Kevin Drumm

supported by 10 fans who also own “The Great Image Has No Form”
go to album
Images
by Colin Andrew Sheffield

Colin Andrew Sheffield (Elevator Bath) repurposes heavily manipulated jazz samples into gorgeously eerie soundscapes. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 20, 2023
go to album
Holographic Dreamtime
by Khôra

Less a solo act than a one-man megalith, Khôra builds impressive experimental soundscapes from modular synths, flutes, harps, and more. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 19, 2020
go to album

Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Beans joins the show to discuss his album release, "ZWAARD".

listen now