Interview: Bert Scholten

For this episode of the THAS podcast I spoke with Dutch sound artist Bert Scholten about folk histories, religious traditions, experimental sound approaches, friendship, humiliation, and all the things that can't be spoken but need to be said. Surprisingly, all these heady concepts are intimately entwined with... wait for it... cookies. Yes, you heard correctly. Humankind's deepest feelings, fears, and the echoes frothing up from the fathomless depth of the mind all find expression through buttery treats whose traditions run back as far as the Middle Ages. Did that wet your palate? Hungry for more? Tune in to hear Bert unlock the secrets of the speculaas (Dutch cookies) and explain how the baking boards used to make them inform his work's strange, playful logic.*

Listen to my interview with Bert Scholten here: 

Listen to Dat Speelt Hier Niet here: 

*Editor's Note: Due to some confusion, scheduling issues, silliness, illness, and straight-up incompetence on my part, Bert and I ended up having to record this interview separately over a period of several months, with Bert recording his answers before I recorded my questions to him. I was able to smooth things out in editing for the most part, but I wanted to make a note to explain a little bit about how the interview came together in case anything feels a little "off." Editing is always a little bit of a sausage-making process, but this one was a little more "sausagey" than most.