Dirk Serries
Dirk Serries, born in Belgium in 1968, has spent four decades circling the same idea from different directions: the long tone and what happens inside it. Between 1984 and 2007 he worked as Vidna Obmana, a Serbian phrase meaning optical illusion, and made some of the most widely heard European ambient and drone records of those years, often with Steve Roach, Asmus Tietchens or Bass Communion.
Aliases: Fear Falls Burning, Vidna Obmana
Today And All The Tomorrows
"Today and all the tomorrows is one of those releases that sounds like cinema for the ears, despite the fact that the ‘song’ order might seem random and that it might be hard to find a general arc. Verhoeven firmly stands at the center of this music,…
Solo Acoustic Guitar Improvisations II / III
*200 copies limited edition. In process of stocking* "These performances are all about the process, about exploration and they more than once reminded me of a quote by Derek Bailey about the creation process as a kind of jigsaw puzzle: “Emptied out o…
Peck And Fleet
*250 copies limited edition* Limited vinyl release on Raw Tonk Records.
John Edwards : double bass Andrew Lisle : percussion Dirk Serries : acoustic guitar Colin Webster : alto sax Recorded at the Dave Hunt Studio, London on February 8th 2020. Mixed …
Island On The Moon
Dirk Serries (worldwide renowned for his ambient alter-ego Vidna Obmana from 1984 till 2007) returns to this expansive sound universe with a new collaborative album that redefines the genre. Together with alto saxophonist Trösta the duo delivers a br…
Sold Out
Live at OZO Land
After a long hiatus due to obvious reasons, Goncalo Almeida & Dirk Serries played an exclusive duo performance at Jazzblazzt in The Netherlands. Open air at the lovely Ozo Land location. Recorded live on June 5, 2021.
Unseen Descending And Lamentations
"Unseen Descending And Lamentations shows the naked, minimal approach of Dirk Serries, alone on a chair with his guitar and a huge array of effect pedals. I've witnessed this set-up many times and each time it has the same enchanting atmosphere. Thi…
Chapel
"Sometimes I wonder why it takes years for something to find its way to a release, but in this case, you could think: wow, that's really fast. The concert that we find on these recordings dates from September 4. I must assume the CD went into product…
Continuum I
Continuum was a collaboration between Steven Wilson and Dirk Serries (VidnaObmana, Fear Falls Burning) that resulted in two releases, Continuum I (2005) and Continuum II (2007), originally issued by US label Soleilmoon in limited editions that sold o…
Epitaph
“Epitaph is the swansong of music I like to name my vintage ambient. For more than 30 years I’ve been trying to seek perfection, from synthesizers to electric guitars, a bumpy ride for sure with lots of doubts, frustrations, extreme self-criticism an…
Microphonics XXVI-XXX Resolution Heart
"The final instalment in Dirk Serries‘ long-running series of releases, Resolution Heart sets a fittingly uplifting mood for the end of a process that started with the first Microphonics CD in 2008. Presented on heavyweight vinyl (with a limited boxe…
Intermediate Obscurities III (Live At Spontaneous Music Festival October 5th 2019)
**200 copies limited edition** Live recording from Dirk Serries’ Tonus project, which explores long-form, minimal, graphic score pieces.
The River Of Appearance
** 2021 stock ** This Vidna Obmana work is a surprising return to textural composition, particularly since intervening collaborations with Djen Ajakan Shean and Steve Roach have revealed the more restless side of Dirk Serries compositional persona. S…
Revealed By Composed Nature
Tip! ** 2021 stock ** Vidna Obmana (née Dirk Serries) recorded Revealed By Composed Nature in 1989 and 1990. It was his first vinyl album, intended as a sequel to his cassette releases. However, the pressing was of such poor quality that much of the …
The Shape Of Solitude
** 2021 stock ** "A collaboration with yet another guitarist, The Shape of Solitude takes Vidna Obmana's music nearer the realm of the Avant-Garde. This collaboration with guitarist Serge Devadder demonstrates Vidna Obmana's willingness to lead the a…
Tracers
** 2021 stock ** In the early years of 21st century, vidnaObmana teamed up with US experimentalist David Lee Myers, of Arcane Device fame, for a collaborative album that showcases their shared fascination for processing and recycling sound. “Tracers”…
Soundtrack For The Aquarium
Tip! ** 2021 stock ** Vidna Obmana (whose real name is Dirk Serries) evokes the sunless wet gloom of his native Belgium in this CD which, as its name says, is music composed by Obmana as background sound for an aquarium installation. It has seven sec…
The Trilogy
** 2021 stock ** A rare treat much-anticipated by out-of-the-loop Obmana fans, The Trilogy collects a trio of full-length recordings self-released by Vidna's Dirk Serries, featuring hands down the composer's finest, most accomplished textural works t…
Melancholia
“‘Melancholia’ is, perhaps, a somewhat misleading title for the duet of John Edward (double bass) and label boss Dirk Serries (acoustic guitar). One might expect some sad music, a soft thud on the bass, a few strums on the acoustic guitar, but it is …
One In The Eye
“From May this year, One In The Eye is a double CD bringing together Alan Wilkinson and Dirk Serries for selection jagged, moody, to-playful improv. The set features one disc taking in eight tracks, and a second disc features two longer work-out.
The…
Solo Acoustic Guitar Improvisations I
**Limited edition of 100 copies** “Following some forty CD releases on his imprint New Wave Of Jazz, Dirk Serries thinks the time is right to expand to the world of vinyl. Here he plays a 1957 Hoffner archtop guitar, and recorded with a single microp…
Imaginary Junction
Performed by Cath Roberts (bariton saxophone and objects), Dirk Serries (acoustic guitar), Martina Verhoeven (piano), Tom Ward (flute, clarinet and bass clarinet) on July 18th 2020. This music was recorded simultaneously in two locations - Brockley a…
Jazzblazzt
Rodrigo Amado was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1964 and took up the saxophone at the age of 17 while convalescing from an accident. Later he studied at the Hot Club Music School and was soon playing with numerous rock, pop and experimental projects. …
Light Industry
**300 copies** "Colin Webster and Dirk Serries are skilled improvisers you can’t pin down on a single outlet. They remain restless seekers, never content with merely repeating themselves, not even within the same project. Compare Gargoyles to Light I…
Praxis
**300 copies** "It’s the classic 'the journey, not the destination' attitude. Dealing with the moment. Dirk Serries, Martina Verhoeven and Colin Webster have a refreshing take on that. They use instruments, but it feels as if they are playing with wo…
An Evening at Jazzblazzt
**300 copies** "Another special such place, situated in Holland, but only a few hundred meters from the Belgian border, is JazzBlazzt. It is as homely as can get - basically a garage turned into a small concert venue - but at the same time a miraculo…
Vanguard
**300 copies** "As Derek Bailey once argued, the term ‘improvisation’ is loaded with such widespread connotations (the music is unprepared, flippant, without depth) that you’d almost hesitate to use it. However, no better alternative has become avail…
Air
**300 copies**In just a couple years Dirk Serries' A New Wave Of Jazz imprint has amassed quite a collection of diverse works that may impart some new variant of jazz and electronic music. Here alongside the venerable experimental electronic composer…
Impetus
**300 copies** "Dirk Serries (acoustic guitars), Kris Vanderstraeten (percussion) and Martina Verhoeven (piano) – these are three featured figures of international avant-garde jazz scene. Musicians are playing and collaborating with dozens of other f…
Puncture Cycle
**300 copies** "Spreading their intuitive playing over nine, randomly sequenced improvisation titled with numbers, Benedict Taylor and Dirk Serries many variations on fiddle string twists and slurred guitar fingering produce tunes that are manually c…
Innocent as Virgin Wood
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "In its essence, free improvisation is a leap into the unknown. A question mark. And while it is possible to reproduce previously used ideas, in its purest sense it takes balls to accept its challenges, for the simple fact …
Quartet & Quintet - Double Vortex
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Understated, tightly controlled, minimalist music always gets the better deal. There is something mature and cultured about an artist who distills and reaches for the essence instead of provoking and dabbling in exuberance…
I
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "(...) Lisle, Serries and Webster reconvened again in October 2015 for another studio recording at the same studio in London, now calling themselves the Kodian Trio. This trio is supposed to be a working group and is alread…
Apparitions
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Apparitions, unlike the volatile spirit of Live at Café OTO, stresses a different approach for this set of four collaborative free improvisations. Here the four musicians explore a kind of a slow-cooking interplay, a calm …
Cinépalace
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "Dirk Serries and his wife, double bass player Martina Verhoeven, meet British tenor sax player Colin Webster, who also participated in the Dead Neanderthals’ Endless Voids, for a live improvisation, recorded at the DIY clu…
Cult Exposure
**300 copies, 2019 stock** "This free improvised sax-electric guitar duo has nothing to do with previous duos of similar instrumentalists. The meeting between the muscular Brötzmann-ian sax wails of American, Amsterdam-based sax player John Dikeman, …
The Transcending Quest
**100 copies** 25th anniversary reprint on 10" golden vinyl of the 3" MiniCD originally released by Amplexus in 1994. Personally remastered in 2019 by Dirk Serries, this tiny Tribal Ambient jewel is finally available again as an ultra limited vinyl e…
The Devastation Chant
**100 copies** Another rare item originally published on a single-sided lathe cut record (8 copies only!) returns to the light. Dirk Serries' 'The Devastation Chant' was part of the "8+8" series released by 13 back in 2015, and since then has become …
The Ultimated Sign Of Burning Death
His legendary first tape finally reissued / Vidna Obmana (stylized vidnaObmana on many album covers) is a pseudonym used by Belgian composer and ambient musician Dirk Serries. The name Vidna Obmana, a phrase in Serbian, literally translates to "optic…
No Sacrifice LP
Vidna Obmana is a pseudonym used by Belgian artist Dirk Serries. He has been a significant name in the ambient scene for more than two decades, releasing over more than 50 solo albums and numerous collaborations. But apart from his main ambient …
1984-86 testament of tape
1984-1986 Testament Of Tape captures vidnaObmana in its most experimental phase during the obscure tape period, searching for its own musical voice, Dirk Serries (well-known sound-artist, especially known for his Fear Falls Burning-Releases) is movin…
