Known as the host of the Spacemusic podcast (10 YEARS!) and creative Ambient/Electronic DJ, let’s offer you a glimpse of the man that has introduced many of us to amazing electronic music:

Born in the 70’s, raised by the best mom and dad in the world, TC grew up in a small town called Zuid-Beijerland in the South of Holland, 25 kms from Rotterdam. When he was 7 years old he heard this tape from his fellow next door by the French guy Jean-Michel Jarre. The album “Oxygene” actually changed his life, even at such a young age. As a teenager TC used to think and dream a lot of music, electronic music in particular.

Music had become the most important thing in TC’s life, focussed on great audio quality, atmospheres and certain musical approaches. During the 80’s when he was in school just before his “VWO degree”, he was looking for options to study Music and Technology, something rather new and pretty much unknown at that time. In order to prepare for it, he started following music lessons, he bought a keyboard (Hohner) and his first synthesizer module, the Roland D-110. Cubase was the Magic word! With a wide open door and with great enthousiasm, the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague met TC at the age of 20. From there we go flying…

TC studied ‘Sonology’ together with a delicate group of people interested in Sound and Sound Synthesis. In 1995 TC graduated from the Conservatoire with a special twist: he was the first student that initiated a LIVE Ambient House performance in Paradiso Amsterdam as part of his exam. The act was a fully professional show! Featuring 3 other members of what had become TC’s electronic Ambient House band, including two female dancers on stage and a serious light show. The performance took about 30 minutes… “Eat this!” TC shouted at the end of the concert and made a statement  …. The audience was both in shock and extase!

Mentors of the Conservatoire were amazed, call it ‘unpleasantly surprised’ but certainly blown away. They let him pass his exam, he got a “6” on his list which meant TC got his diploma including a special note: teachers didn’t understand why he had chosen for such a style, “you could have done much better, we don’t really understand your Ambient/House oriented choice”.

TC: ” I can still hear the teacher’s reaction and see his face, one of the main reasons I still like to do what I want, no matter what, hands down! “

TC’s band – Normally Invisible – released one Ambient/House album:  “Always Ultra with Wings”. Noticed by the Staalplaat label in Amsterdam at that time. Also the record got noticed by a popular Ambient DJ in The Hague (Elf) from the Plato Record Store. By his request the band performed LIVE on stage during “Quest for Dance” in Rotterdam and several Dance Events in The Hague. In 1997 it was TC who decided to leave the band. -Normally Invisible- tried to continue after TC had left, their next release was a film soundtrack. After that it became silent.

TC: “Normally Invisible had something to do with finding out more about myself; it was about friendships and about enemies. About trust and about people you should doubt working with” – “I’m not a pill or drugs kind of guy, though they’ve tried very hard!”

During the 90’s it was TC introducing other people to House music and Ambient music; well known places in those days, like ‘Het Paard’ in The Hague, La DS, Nighttown in Rotterdam, Bootleg, student parties in Delft and especially the secret New Year’s Eve parties he co-organized in big ‘anti-crack’ buildings. Known for his uplifting trance sessions, TC’s favorite thing was to go and play Ambient sessions during sunrise hours …. His favorite artists: James Bernard, Pete Namlook, Biopshere, Autechre, The Orb, Voices of Kwahn, Xingu Hill, Higher Intelligence Agency and Brian Eno. The combination of TB-303 patterns, soft loops, deep bass lines and mysterious vocals in particular… got him and his audience hooked and Off the World.

In 1998 TC moved to a new house in The Hague and bought some new equipment for his studio (AKAI S3000XL sampler, Nord Lead Rack and Alesis Reverb equipment). Diving into his own world of sounds, he created many pieces that would later become part of the “Atlantic Treasure” album (2001), the release you might know from the iTunes Store (and soon to be re-released again!) Some of the works TC has created since 1998 haven’t been released and are still (!) on DAT tape waiting for their destination.

It was just before he moved to Zoetermeer in 1999 that TC broke up with his girlfriend. A Big Love ended rather dramatic: she became ill and it was only after a couple of years later that TC found out about how ill she really had become at that time. TC: ” I remember the phone call by her mother, explaining what had happened, about a flight from Turkey back home straight into a mental institution. She would never fully recover again, all was part of Schizophrenia that had developped at a rather older age. It was hard to accept but at least I could process the entire drama a bit easier. The girl I once met and fell in love with, wasn’t there anymore. How cruel life can be”

In the year 2002 it was time to move to Rotterdam, starting a new job. TC bought a house near the City Centre. The Rotterdam Skyline and his passion for electronic music inspired TC to launch Spacemusic.nl in 2004 and a bit later in 2005 he started the Spacemusic podcast. It was the very first Electronic Music podcast. TC: ” An article written by Adam Curry, about starting your own radio station using RSS feed technology blew me away! I was totally excited and started doing it!” Equipped with a PC at first but very soon a brand new Mac G5 tower. TC: “It must be said: this Mac caused me to become even more creative than ever before”

Spacemusic was born. It was TC’s baby. Not yet knowing of course it would generate such an enormous feedback and popularity. From 40 listeners per show in the beginning, increasing to app. 4,000 listeners per show after only a few months time. Remember: it started as a joke, just to ‘air’ his favorite music. After the podcast became an official iTunes feature things got serious! App. 20,000-30,000 downloads each show and counting… Spacemusic became the number one Electronic Music podcast. Often mentioned as a beacon in the genre… TC showed people the way to remarkable and high quality electronic music, the true exploration, the real deal. He promoted many artists, playing most wondrous tracks, music that nobody had heard before. Soon the amount of downloads reached the 2.5 Million milestone and it kept going!

Ten Years of Spacemusic is online today: Season 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 and 9. You can find the RSS feeds on iTunes and the Spacemusic.nl website. It’s all available for free!  TC: “I hope both our longtime listeners and our new listeners will keep supporting Spacemusic. It’s simply the only way to keep the project online. Hosting and distribution costs of Spacemusic is something I can’t afford on my own”

November 2014…  TC launches his latest new project: Ambient Zone. It’s all about his deepest passion: Ambient Music.

TC: ” it feels like coming home after 10 years of Spacemusic! With this new project I want to focus on the genre I ‘grew up’ with, the magic that is called Ambient. It is a fully streaming thing now. Unlimited storage and bandwidth. No podcast plans or fees. I can play anything I want, no restrictions. Listeners will just love the Nonstop Mixes that will be released here. The clear and easy function to buy Ambient Music straight from the site will be added later this year … and not to mention: this is the place with the best URL in the Universe!”

To be continued…