Biography
Experimental guitarist Koen Holtkamp launched his solo endeavors by establishing the apestaartje imprint during his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1990s. At that point he also initiated Aero, a solo outlet devoted to heavily processed guitars and layered textural sound, and used the label to issue its albums Pretend in 2001 and Rises & Falls in 2003. Around 2005 he moved to Brooklyn and shifted primary attention to Mountains, the drone project he had started with Brendon Anderegg, his apestaartje co-founder and fellow Art Institute alumnus. The duo placed its debut self-titled album on the label that same year; later recordings appeared on Catsup Plate and ultimately Thrill Jockey. While Mountains continued to attract wider audiences and stronger critical notice, Holtkamp delivered his first solo album under his own name in 2008, the quietly expansive experiments and meditations of Field Rituals, which Type issued in the U.K. The record earned positive responses, prompting a 2010 follow-up, the limited-edition LP-only Gravity/Bees, along with numerous collaborative pieces, EPs, and additional vinyl-only items. Both Mountains and the solo project maintained active touring schedules throughout this period, appearing in settings that ranged from basement venues to international festivals. In 2014 Holtkamp released the stand-alone album Motion on Thrill Jockey, issued alongside the companion collection Connected Works, which gathered the majority of his previously vinyl-only recordings into digital form for the first time.
Albums
