Tamara van der Laarse
Amsterdam
Tamara van der Laarse (The No)/ Sounds Like Tamara: creative music designer & dj & producer of electronic music. For fashion shows, art collaborations. Also art direction & curator events Club Lederhosen.
Amsterdam born dj, producer and audio-graphic designer Tamara has emerged to be a very broad, inspiring and recognized DJ within the electronic underground scene of Amsterdam over the past 14 years. Performing as a dj on the most obscure underground locations like OT301, OCCII, to renown pop-stages like Melkweg, where she shared the venue with some of her favorite bands like The Soft Moon, The KVB, LCD Soundsystem, Soulwax and many more.
Styles: from new beat to minimal wave, rave or electro. Or strange music. Loves modern classical music and every now and then she needs to listen to Serge Gainsbourg. Her record collection has a broad selection of records from all sorts of labels: WARP, Turbo, Border Community, Boys Noize, Deewee, DFA, Herzblut, Kompakt, Minimal Wave, Output, Versatile, late 80's new beat stuff from Belgium.
Funny detail: a few Belgians were the first to discover her :)
- Gonzo Circus released 3 tracks on Mind The Gap. (2006, 2013, 2014)
- 2 Many Djs invited her for a live performance at Radio Soulwax(2008)
Bio The No (long read)
The No is an audio graphical project by Tamara van der Laarse. It started when she designed record sleeves for a non-existing artist: The No, conceptually and typographically referring to desires like 'no fame' and 'no label'. The No is reflecting a desire, a missing element that could turn into the opposite.
Playing with sounds is something she did since she was little, recording herself and airplane sounds with her mother tape recorder. At the age of six she got classically trained in music, playing piano and cello until her 14th. Her father is a bass player and probably the reason why she loves low sounds so much.
Her love for music has always been there and exploded when she was working in record stores in Amsterdam, collecting new music and passing on her knowledge to customers, who sometimes became friends & colleagues from the music industry.
In 2005 The No actually turned into something real, when she started to compose sounds. The first concept was secret love songs for no boyfriends, a classic method of dealing with artistic expression. The No went from having no fans or followers, to people liking her music. The No is electronic, rhythmic, layered.
In 2006 she released her second track, on the little record label run by friends, the collective Plattegrond. Reknown for their memorable wild (improvised) secret rave parties on obscure locations, far from the underground. Many years later later that would turn out into a festival, called Sounds Of The Underground (SOTU Festival).
NO RELEASES:
2014 - Serious Glass - The No remix, Hunter Complex "The Hours" (Mind The Gap, Gonzo Circus)
2014 - Serious Glass - The No remix, Hunter Complex "The Hours(Narrominded)
2013 - Scrumptious Monster (exclusive) Mind The Gap #100 (Gonzo Circus)
2009 - I Lie - The No remix) The Moi Non Plus Remixed (Subbacultcha!)
2008 - Requiem For Get Records - The No (v/a Nieuwbouw / Plattegrond Records)
2008 - The No Demo - The No (own distibution / Get Records)
2007 - Kruimeldief - The No remix (Kruimeldief / Machinefabriek Remixed)
2007 - I think you're pretty - The No v/a Electronic Bible Volume 3 - White Label Music/ITunes
2006 - Radio in my head - The No (Huisvredebreuk nr1/ Plattegrond Records)
2006 - Pleasant Malfunctions - The No (Mind the Gap # 60 / Gonzo Circus Magazine)
Unofficial No remixes: (just because I had to do something with it, from an artistic point of view)
No Niobe (Caribou, 2007), Quote by Dan Snaith: "i really like your mix... it keeps all the tension of the original whilst freeing it from the rigid rhythmic feel of the original."