Kees Aerts is from 1952. He worked in the I.T. business for over 24 years and making music has always been one of his hobbies. He started playing the synthesizer around 1982. At that time he was a DJ at a radio station and he used the synth for several jingles. That synth was a Realistic MG-1, bought at the local Tandy store. Around 1982 a friend thought him the basics of music making and together they start writing music. They released one cassette called \'PLUGGEN\' under the name EEKA. Just when the second cassette \'SOMS BEN JE ALLEEN\' was finished, they broke up and all copies were destroyed. During the rest of the 80\'s he wrote and recorded his own music but none of it was released. In 1991 he was asked to compose the music for a police education film called \'KEN JE NIET UITKIJKEN\'. It\'s a film about kids being careless in traffic. The film was shown in schools all over the Netherlands. In 1995 he joined Ron Boots on a trip to the Emma festival in Sheffield, England as roadie. After that trip Ron and Kees wrote a song together for the album \'THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE\'. When the follow-up \'THE TRUTH IS TWISTED\' was released, Ron and Kees already were partners and owners of GROOVE Unlimited (at that time CUE Records NL). Kees can also be heard on three songs of \'TRUTH OR DARE\', part 3 in the series. His first solo album \'SLICES OF TIME\' was released in October 1997. On February 1 1998 Kees performed life during the Schwingungen-Club Wahl in Duisburg, Germany. On that day he was also rewarded with 2 prices, he was second in the category Best CD Cover and he became second in the category Best Newcomer. In April 1998 Kees was voted eight in the category Best Newcomer during the \'Schwingungen Radio-on-CD\' awards. On June 1 he performed live with Ron Boots and Harold van der Heijden in Sweden on the island Valö. In July \'98 a CD-R became available with the music from that concert. In the same month he finished a new song with James Clent for the CD \'FOUR, THE TRUTH\' called \'Straight Ahead\'. On October 17 at E-Live \'98 a 2-track limited CD single was released which contains an improvisation song from the Sweden concert and an improvisation song from a concert at a private party. In March 99, Kees together with Ron Boots, Eric and Harold van der Heijden, performed live in Cologne, Germany and a large portion of the played music was released in April 1999 on the CD \'JOIE DE VIVRE\', which is French and means JOY OF LIFE (read: the joy of performing live). They also performed on October 30 1999 in Huizen, the Netherlands during the promotional festival of Groove and Quantum. In April 2000 the track \'Stranger\' from the album \'JOIE DE VIVRE\', on which Kees did the vocoder voices, became \'3rd best song of 1999\' in the Schwingungen Awards from Winfrid Trenkler. During the Summer Space Party in Essen, Germany on July 22 Kees, Ron and Harold van der Heijden performed a new song. This song called \'Giants of once before\' is released on Ron\'s solo CD \'CLOSE, BUT NOT TOUCHING\' in September 2000. In the fall of 2000 Kees and Ron Boots also made a track for the sampler \'WORLD WIDE KIND\' which was released in October of 2000. On November 5 2000 Kees finished a track for the Book \'TRACKS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE\' (about E-music) with accompanying CD\'s. The track is called \'Put me down Scotty\'. In March 2001 the promo version of this set was released and on CD #2 is Kees\' track. In January 2002 his first solo album \'SLICES OF TIME\' was remastered by Ron Boots and re-released. The annoying mistakes in the cover were also corrected. The remastered CD print is black instead of red. And the inlay card contains the text \'remastered in 2002\'. In 2008 he released his second solo album called \'IF ONE DOOR CLOSES\'. More info can be found on his website: www.keesaerts.com "Slices of Time" is notable for being the first ever release of the Groove Unlimited label. The title track opens the album with atmospheric synth background and female voice. Dramatic string sounds are dominating the picture, all tied by stiff electronic effects and some samples. "Waiting for Curtain" continues in that direction and ends with the sound of waves. "Eire" introduces gentle rhythms in mid-pace mode so typical of this work. The fluently leads sound pretty New Agey and overall the track fails to impress me. It's all too comfortable, too sweet for my taste. The track again ends with the sound of waves and next on show is "Balance" - a lengthy number with relaxed rhythms, nice pads and subtle sequences. Not exactly ground breaking, but fine. Note the excellently executed synth fx. With the title "Darkness" I expect something mysterious and perhaps minor key based. And, yes, the track does start in a haunting mode - all we get for a while is a sonic field sparsely populated by sounds that fly like ghosts over a barren land. After the 2 minute mark rhythms are introduced and unfortunately the track becomes brighter and more cheerful - major harmonies are dominating the picture and the sequences are so optimistic, this should have been called "Brightness". Ok, not a bad track of course, just doesn't exactly live up to its title. "The First Time" is more upbeat and more successful overall - great melody, this time with a somewhat urgent, dramatic character, in contrast to the positive sounding major-key sensibility that was more or less obvious up to this moment. Along with the title track, this is the best cut on the entire album. What I like most is how the sounds fade away at the end leaving us with a voice, humming the track's main melody and the sounds of feet walking around the room. Nicely done! "Travel" immediately introduces bass sequences and propel us forward at a neat pace. The pads soon join the flow and it all ends up being a relaxed and comfortable number, with enough variation and key changes to keep interest throughout. Some lead synth work is the highlight. At around the 4:50 mark there's a nice brief atmospheric section before it all returns to sequencing / pad / strings / e-perc formula. "Lovers" is next which serves as a brief prelude to "Other Worlds". Nice sequencing and effects are an asset of the latter, as well as the track's urgency - must be great for in the car. "Friends" contains contributions by three fellow artists - Ron Boots on synthesizer, James J. Clent on guitar and Harold van der Heijden on electronic drums. All of them did an admirable job of adding some color to Kees' composition which is one of the highlights of the entire disc. Ron's synth solo is very good, the guitar playing by James is pretty neat too, and the fact that Harold broke his arm shortly before the recording of "Friends" and eventually had to play with one hand only (his playing was recorded in two takes) proves what an expert drummer he is. The album closes with a reprise of the title track that features nice use of samples. 2005. Artemi Pugachov / Encyclopedia of Electronic Music Kees Aerts, co-owner of Groove Unlimited, has been in the music business forever. He has contributed his formidable talents to Groove's 'Truth' series, a collaborative serial based loosely on 'The X-Files' television series. 'Slices of Time' is his first solo album. It is a set of musical moods and vignettes. Each vignette has its own mood. Kees is an excellent sound designer. The soundscapes create a wave of ambience worthy of Europe's best. The sequences are lush. The drama is high. The bravado is full. The only question is: 'Why did Kees wait so long to record this?' Jim Brenholts Hailing from Holland, Kees Aerts music goes for slower beats and a more ambient, dreamy feel to the music. Most of the tracks on "Slices Of Time" tend to sequence into the next one, so the album is more like a symphonic poem in several sections. "Balance" is one of the best tracks, its beats gently insistent as it propels the hummable melody along. "Friends", the only track where Aerts is joined by other musicians is one of those slow burners that build in intensity as it flows along. This is gentle stuff, an album for winding down after a stressful day, rather than gearing up for clubbing. 2000. Musicwatch As one of the main men behind Dutch synth label Groove Unlimited, Kees Aerts has quite a reputation to keep up, and luckily this new CD doesn't let him down either in terms of production or of musical innovation. The title track opens with a great, vocoded chant reminiscent of Robert Schroeder's opening to "Paradise", but we're soon off into heavy analog territory with the swirling strings of "Waiting For Curtain". That's a transitional piece though, and "Eire" which it leads into is soft and lyrical, with chittering drums reminiscent of synthy band Peru underpinning flowing whistles and flutes. "Balance" is stronger meat, opening with twisting synthy sounds and leading into a long, Oxygene-like track full of trilling sequencers. "Darkness" opens in ambient mood, strange digital synth sounds much to the fore, and developing again to a mid-paced analog sequencer workout. "The First Time" has a stronger melody and chittering chords over strong drum patterns, sometimes reminiscent of Chris Franke's "London Concert", while "Travel" goes back into Peru territory with slow, lyrical synth leads over wandering analog sequences. "Lovers" is a short, string-led transition, while "Other Worlds" is a much more substantial piece, picturing Earth as a dot in the galaxy and plastered with spacey sounds, driving drums and off-beat synth rhythms. The last major track "Friends" features Ron Boots on synth and Harold van Der Heijden on drums - it's a melodic, slowly-building and lyrical piece, which leads into a reprise of "Slices of Time", building on the harmonizer-multiplied vocal chants, sampling and layering them together into an atmospheric climax. Overall this is a pretty exemplary synth album - well-produced, plenty of informative sleeve notes, varied musical ideas, and a nice balance between the use of concept tracks and a sense of complete musical freedom. Almost certainly set to be a big success among synth music fans. Rating: **** Four Stars - an excellent album of its kind E-Mix This CD is follows in the tradition of Patrick O'Hearn, Jean Michael Jarre, and Tangerine Dream (Hyperboria, Melrose). Although the influences are apparent Kees has it's own style that is sure to intrigue any electronic music fan. This atmosphere is mostly catchy sequencer rhythms and symphonic deep space. The music ranges from electronic pulse and melodies (in the vein of O'Hearns "Rivers Gonna Rise" and "Eldorado") to rhythmic space and ambience. Never gets trancey or dancey nor does it go to far into minimalism. It is just right. ZeitMaster