Rutger Zuydervelt
Rutger Zuydervelt is a Dutch musician, sound artist and graphic designer, born in 1978 in Apeldoorn and based in Schiedam, near Rotterdam. He is best known for the work he has released as Machinefabriek since 2004, music that moves between ambient, drone, noise, field recording and electroacoustic composition, and he also publishes records under his own name, often scores for dance and film. Rutger Zuydervelt designs most of his own sleeves.
Aliases: Machinefabriek
Weerkaatsing
First studio meeting between two figures long circling each other in the Dutch experimental scene. The structure is itself a kind of mirror: Spiegeling is Machinefabriek's remix of Orphax's De Eerste Dag, Reflectie is Orphax's twenty-minute remix of …
Samen
'Samen' collects tracks from singles, EPs, and compilations that came out between 2015 and 2025. 17 tracks, 76 minutes, presented as a continuous mix on a shiny compact disc. This album compiles some of my very favorite Machinefabriek music, and if y…
House Of Strength
*100 copies limited edition* After Kites, Sister, and Mask, House of Strength marked the fourth collaboration between choreographer/dancer Roshanak Morrowatian and composer Rutger Zuydervelt. The performance — and, by extension, the music — has a str…
Malheur
Comes in 4-panel cover in plastic wallet. Edition of 30 copies. "Because it's so much fun to make: another beat-oriented snack, after Hinkelstap, Tuimelval, Haast, and Kadans. As with the others, I'm not sure if it's any good, but let's hope y'all en…
Gruwel
Business card CDr. "It was about time that I released a business card CDr again. I also had this drawing which I thought would work great as a cover image. The only thing I had to do is make the music for it. So here it is. It turned out a bit dramat…
The Wonder Of It All
"Choreographer Daniel Linehan’s ‘The Wonder Of It All’ radiates joy and togetherness. From cerebral to wildly energetic, the piece feels like a ritual that slowly transforms into a euphoric dance party. Creating the music for this was a joy. It broug…
Painting A Picture / Picture A Painting
“I did this piano/Rhodes recording, played live, without overdubs. I believe your approach to sound could match very well these tracks….” That’s how Giovanni Di Domenico’s collaboration with Rutger Zuydervelt started, though the first seeds were plan…
Crumble
2025 stock ** “‘Crumble’ is full of dramatic turns, immersive drones, glitchy electronics and intimate gestures. The long form piece was made by having violin player Anne Bakker and vocalist Edita Karkoschka improvise on an electronic track, and usin…
Eventual
*Lathe Cut, Limited Edition, 66 copies. clear, 180g vinyl* 'Eventual' is the first album by double bass player Gonçalo Almeida and 'knob twidler' Rutger Zuydervelt. It's not exactly their first collaboration though, having released two EPs, 'Doze Rui…
Hardanger
*150 hand-numbered copies limited edition* Hardanger is a collaboration by Mariska Baars (aka Soccer Committee), Niki Jansen, and Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek). The title refers to the instrument played by Jansen, the Hardanger fiddle. It’s …
15/15
*2023 stock* 15/15 was commissioned for the 32-speaker system Soundpiece, which is installed under the floor of the square. With the sound source being invisible for the listener, playing music on this system has something quite magical, as if the so…
Kaleiding (music for a performance by Lily&Janick)
Kaleiding is the debut show of the contemporary circus company Lily&Janick. It's a play between light, reflections and new perspectives onto partner acrobatics. With a long mirror that lays on the floor, images are getting created that hypnotize – li…
Recytle
This album wouldn’t exist without clarinetist Gareth Davis, with whom I’ve collaborated several times. When I asked him to participate on my + album, he was working with Monika Bugajny. She got wind of my project and asked if she could join. I agreed…
Kadans
After 'Hinkelstap', 'Tuimelval', and 'Haast', this is the fourth EP of (mostly) rhythm based tunes. Fun times!
Comes in a 4-panel heavy paper sleeve.
With Drums
*2023 stock* "Hello, hope you’re doing well.
I just started a little project, and I’d like to invite you to participate. Not to worry, it won’t take up too much of your time. I’m asking drummers/percussionists to record a few short fills or phrases. …
BERG (Music For A Film By Joke Olthaar)
*2023 stock. In process of stocking* This isn’t a regular ‘original film score’ album. After working on the sound design and music for Joke Olthaar’s slow-paced BERG film, Hugo Dijkstal and Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) decided to re-arrange…
Our Arms Grew Together (Music For A Performance By Marta & Kim)
*2023 stock. In process of stocking* After 'As Much As It Is Worth' and 'Engel', Marta & Kim asked me to compose the music for yet another dance/circus performance, 'Our Arms Grew Together'. This release presents an edited version of that score, tail…
+
The plan for + arose from being a young parent, and dealing with the combination of working on music at the same time. Focusing on long-form music proofed challenging. So I came up with the idea to work on super short tracks that each could be made w…
Epitaph (Live At Roadburn Redux 2021)
*Limited edition of 300 copies. 3 sided 2LP in gatefold sleeve.* Long time Roadburners will be familiar with Dirk Serries – he has performed at the festival under various guises a number of times. Having already hosted him with Fear Falls Burning, Mi…
Wisps
On 5 April 2022 I e-mailed Anne about working on a follow-up to our album Oehoe (released by Where to Now? Records in 2020). On April 7 she recorded a bunch of violin, viola and vocal improvisations at home. Gorgeous sounds and melodies, a gold mine …
Dream Sequences Volume 1 Orphax Reframed
First compilation in a series where other musicians reframe pieces from Orphax's ongoing Dream Sequence cycle, an open-ended sequence of experimental ambient and drone works. Haarvöl, Jos Smolders and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) each take a di…
Texturalis
If Texturalis was a real word it might have something to do with the density or porosity of organic compounds. In the case of Machinefabriek's Texturalis, the word fits the sounds on this album. Sounds indeed, not songs. Anyone familiar with Machinef…
Voltas
Rotterdam-based quartet Hydra Ensemble features cellists Nina Hitz and Lucija Gregov, double bassist Gonçalo Almeida and Rutger Zuydervelt on electronics. The ensemble is a juncture of four distinctive expressions finding common ground – together the…
Barbatrama
The Portuguese word Selva means “Jungle”, and this collaborative opus with Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek is one more incursion towards Paradox. The Selva made this paradoxal enterprise its trademark: a trio with two string players (cello, bass…
Orphax Reworked (4CD Box)
Four-CD box collecting reworks of Orphax's 44 Sketches of 44 Seconds, in which Sietse van Erve handed forty-four short source sounds to friends with an open brief to take them outside their usual practice. The contributing artists - TVO/Ruaridh Law, …
Porcelain (Original Film Soundtrack)
The soundtrack for Dutch/Belgium/Italian co-production Porselein (Porcelain), a psychological drama by Jenneke Boeijink. Besides the music from the film, the album contains 12 extra outtakes. Rutger Zuydervelt (who mostly works under his pseudonym Ma…
Stillness Soundtracks II
The friendship and collaboration between Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) and Alessandro Tedeschi (label founder of Glacial Movements, has been going on for several years now and it is constantly evolving. The Dutch artist, in addition to carrying …
Sileen II
2018 release **
"An adaptation from "Sileen", a composition commissioned by Musica For The Festival Oortreders at Neerpelt, Belgium, 2016 performed with 50 members of a local music school; "Sileen II" was realized with only Gareth Davis on bass clari…
Dwaal / Wold +
Originally released by Ghent's Dauw tape label in 2016 and quickly sold out, here reissued on CD with two new interpretations added. The original is a pair of eighteen-minute pieces: Dwaal layers orchestral washes against radio static and erratic noi…
Pierdrie
Pierdrie is a project by Marco Douma, Roel Meelkop and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) about the visual and sonic phenomena of pier drie in the Rotterdam Waalhaven. A colourful and atmospheric hommage to Rotterdam harbour industries, the images of…
Tides
"I had sent Neil an electronic ‘backing track’ to improvise on, with the idea to keep my part intact as the spine of this new piece. But once I received Neil’s recording, things turned out differently. While toying around with his saxophone improvisa…
Compendium
Late in 2011, Celer and Machinefabriek teamed up and recorded the 7" 'Maastunnel / Mt. Mitake', to coincide with their tour in The Netherlands. They then decided to make it into a trilogy of 7" singles, all self-released in limited editions. Now, …
Deining
Mini album, CD, self released by Machinefabriek, November 20, 2015. 200 copies. The Dutch word 'deining' (pronounced 'dining') translates to 'heave' and also 'commotion'. For 'Deining', I asked violinist Anne Bakker to bow each string of her instrum…
Whorls
Following previous Low Point releases, Glisten (2009) and Patina (2011), Whorls is the third collaboration between Tim Catlin, a guitarist and sound artist based in Melbourne and Machinefabriek, nom de plume of Rutger Zuydervelt from Rotterdam. Catli…
Memory Space
The central concept behind Alvin Lucier's Memory Space is the representation of another time and place through the use of a new set of sounds. In his instructions, Lucier asks the performer/s to go to an environment and record by any means (notes on …
Drum Solos
**Initial copies pressed on Initial copies pressed on transparent wax** Driven by my love for solo albums by drummers and percussionists like Jon Mueller, Wil Guthrie, Nick Hennies and Burkhard Beins, I've made Drum Solos. It's my take on a solo drum…
Stroomtoon II
"In December 2011 I recorded the album Stroomtoon, which was released by the French Nuun label the year after. The music was constructed using recordings from improvisations with a setup that I was trying out for upcoming live performances. It's the …
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Vergezichten
Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek is a master of self-made sound and time-stretching, sensitively handling organic recordings and samples on countless releases, and regards preset sounds in an organ or a cheap keyboard as a tonal find, as a par…
Secret Photographs
Beautiful new work from Machinefabriek. Secret Photographs was composed as a soundtrack to accompany a film made by Mike Hoolboom using photographs taken by notorious bank robber Alvin Karpis.
Filmmaker Mike Hoolboom discovered a batch of Karpis' pho…