about the record

Made up of four lengthy hallucinogenic incantations, Het Zweet's first self-titled tape was originally released in 1983, and was initially conceived by Marien Van Oers. 'Het Zweet' finds Van Oers at his most mystifying and most primal, forming rudimentary sounds into surging, percussive atmospheres that peer back towards ancestral rhythmic geometries and caking his repetitions in ferric, industrial-era dirt. The name itself means "sweat" in Dutch, and there's an identifiably herculean quality to the mantas - these aren't simply loops, by any means, but contemplative feats of endurance that reward patient, deep listeners. It's music that's plugged into cultural history, re-imagining long-forgotten ceremonies as a feat of physical and spiritual endurance for both the performer and the listener.