news

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Sun 3 Feb 19 - by lensco - 28 Comments

Hi friends. Let’s just cut right to the chase: there won’t be any new episodes of Beyondjazz. If you take a quick look at our release schedule, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The reason is pretty straightforward: life got in the way. I started Beyondjazz back in 2001 simply because I enjoyed making radio and sharing music with others.

I’ve always promised myself that I would simply quit if I wasn’t looking forward to doing the show any more. For a while I thought we would be able to reach the episode #500 milestone, but 479 radioshows will have to do. Music is still super important to me, but I’m content with following from the sidelines.

I won’t be getting all nostalgic, but I look back with quite a bit of pride at what we have achieved in the past 17+ years. The radioshow, the forum, the countless interviews and reviews, the parties, the DJ sets, … Big thanks to partner in crime Jurriaan, and everybody involved over the years: Kristof, Brecht, Tom, Matthias, Frédéric, Christopher, Yiannis, Hans, Matthew, Frederic and many more. And thanks to you for listening and contributing!

We’ll definitely keep this website and the podcast archive online for the foreseeable future. A lot of shows remain available at Mixcloud and you can still get in touch on Twitter. (I removed the Facebook page – it was pretty useless anyway.) Jurriaan is also pretty active on Spotify.

That’s it. Godspeed!

Posted at 10:55 am

28 comments so far

Jurriaan Persyn wrote February 3 2019 at 1:32 pm ∞

Thank you, Lennart.
Thank you, Beyondjazz crew.
Thank you, Beyondjazz community & listeners.

Meeting 16 years ago through our mutual ~~passion~~ obsession with Jazzanova, has brought me so many things.

The highlights that immediately come to mind are being able to interview some of my favourite artists: 4hero, Spacek, Build An Ark. Dj’ing at 10 days off festival, Gent Jazz Festival or DaCircleOfSole in Rotterdam, and guesting on several other radioshows.
I’ll particularly remember having Carlos Niño over in our Urgent.FM radio studio, playing a demo version of J Dilla’s ‘My People’, unfortunately soon followed by a 2 hour Dilla tribute show with Lefto, Dj Grazzhoppa and Mixmonster Menno sharing our shows’ decks.
We had brilliant guest mixes by Onur Engin, Dj Azer, 2562, San Soda live in the studio, … We released 4 volumes of productions from our community members. Another one of the show’s features I liked the most were our sample spotting episodes, where we played our favourite tunes back to back with the source material (back when WhoSampled didn’t exist), including a brilliant feature by Alan – Cukipapa – Brown unveiling subtle sampling. Oh, and would some of you remember our “Aliases” feature on the old site? Connecting producers and their side-projects (much like Discogs does today). It all connected back to Kaidi, Dego & Domu. (It still does, doesn’t it?)

Some of our best radio moments were carefully planned – a 2 hour focus on just Domu productions – but the more magical ones just happened live; those Tuesdays we each brought our own CDr and new vinyl to the studio to improvise our way through 2 hours of radio, playing each other our discoveries from the week. There’s been 479 episodes, 129 of them available for re-listen on Mixcloud.

Together with the radio shows that inspired us (Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide, Benji B’s Deviation, Dirk Rumpff’s Offtrack, Michael Rütten’s SoulSearching, Lars Behrenroth’s Deeper Shades of House, Ennio’s Stylin’, Nujazzsoul – most of these still going strong!) we pioneered podcasting and premiered artists in the broken folk funk latin soul genre. Together with the 4hero message board we helped form the online broken beat and future jazz community.

I’m most grateful for all the music I got to discover while helping out. All the recommendations from peers, all the labels and artists sending us their new productions. For me, Beyondjazz has always been about sharing and discovering new music and meeting like minded peers. That doesn’t change today.

(Follow my Spotify playlists or Discogs lists for more recommendations. And today, I find Bandcamp to be the best way to look for new artists.)

Thanks for being a part of this.
Bramus! wrote February 3 2019 at 11:17 pm ∞

It joined in at episode 344. Beyondjazz was the first (and still one of the few!) podcast that I actually started listening to (and kept on listening). Discovered a lot (A LOT!) of great music over the years, all thanks to you guys. Thou shall be missed.
Edro wrote February 4 2019 at 12:29 am ∞

It’s been a great ride.Will miss checking every week for new shows..was a bit worried through that looong hiatus.glad all is well.Def understandable that when it becomes a chore,it’s time to call it a day.Ive discovered tons of new music from this show and am forever grateful… godspeed back at ya friend.cheers
Paulus wrote February 4 2019 at 9:26 am ∞

That’s so sad but totally understandable. I will miss your impeccable taste in music, Lensco. I started listening way back when and still have every mix from about 280. It was great to find a show that shared my love of Jazzanova and other artists in that vein and I’ve loved following the show and discovering fantastic newer artists in recent years like Machinedrum, Crackazat, Lone, Siriusmo, Todd Terje, AtJazz, Cid Rym, FaltyDL, Four Tet, Jimpster, Detroit Swindle, Julien Mier, Hudson Mohawke and so many others whom I would never have discovered had it not been for you. Your love of this music has influenced a lot of my buying choices and I’m sure a lot of other listeners. I’ve even got the Beyond Jazz t-shirt which I still wear! I’ll listen to one of the old shows in your honour tonight. Go well and thanks. P
Matthias wrote February 5 2019 at 10:20 am ∞

Thanks, had a great time! <3
Gio wrote February 5 2019 at 10:07 pm ∞

Sad news indeed. Thanks for all that the crew has done over the years. Much appreciated. Lensco, you have been a beacon for great music! Farewell.
Arthur wrote February 5 2019 at 11:08 pm ∞

The best podcast for musical discovery and always right in line with my musical tastes. Strong work..you will be missed. Good Luck!
marcus wrote February 6 2019 at 6:52 pm ∞

Only been a listener for a few years, but have delved deeply into the backlog. Soo many amazing artists to discover in there, and I’m very appreciative of this podcast for leading me to all of them. Sad to see it go, but glad all is well and you are staying true to what you feel. Thanks for all the hours! Farewell!
Tieke wrote February 7 2019 at 9:00 am ∞

Thanks for all guys, You all have been fundamental on my music experience, so actually a great part of my life…
See you soon I’m saying, because the music we listened never elapse and she will find the way to collect us together again!

Stay tuned
d
lensco wrote February 8 2019 at 11:41 am ∞

Thanks for all the kind words, friends! Heart-warming!
Mia wrote February 8 2019 at 4:20 pm ∞

Thank you so much for all the great music you brought us, for your time and passion you’ve put into this. BJ was one of my favorite sources of music. I’m sad there won’t be new shows to check but will gladly go back and re-listen the old ones, the tracklists of some of them I know by heart. Wishing you all the very best.
Tom Witzel wrote February 8 2019 at 8:54 pm ∞

Hi beyond jazz crew!

How sad to hear this! But thanks for the Wonderful Hours I had with your excellent Radio Show. Good luck and success for the future, whatever you do next.
Edelsteen wrote February 15 2019 at 1:39 am ∞

Thank you for the inspiration and education! Bless your heart!
Botond wrote February 15 2019 at 11:31 pm ∞

Came across your show back in the broken beat era, listening ever since. Well, thank you!
Nallacm wrote February 16 2019 at 11:31 am ∞

Discovered Beyondjazz in 2004, was a revelation of cool stuff that switched me on to Jazzanova at first, and then all the other cool acid, beats, and ambients that Beyondjazz has given us all over the world over the years. Been really cool, and Thanks So Much.
Greg, Sydney Australia
Miguel Castillo wrote February 21 2019 at 1:11 pm ∞

Thank you for the great journey! I loved every show. One last request: Could you upload all the shows (the 479) to a place where we can download them on mp3? It is a great archive.
Best luck in life!
nerstylist wrote February 22 2019 at 4:38 am ∞

Ah…you guys were my favorite show for a long time. Definitely will be missed!
Speas wrote February 27 2019 at 6:20 pm ∞

Big up for all the hard work. This show was transcendent. May whatever you occupy yourself with next be successful, and may the music always lead you.
Corrado wrote March 1 2019 at 3:52 pm ∞

Sad news for my ears.. 🙁
Thank You for all!
Stuart wrote March 4 2019 at 1:21 pm ∞

Really sad to hear this but totally understand where your coming from. I have been listening from 2004 and have a lot of the older podcasts archived. Thanks for giving us the sound track of out lives for the past 15+ years. All the best.
DSkribe wrote March 8 2019 at 11:08 pm ∞

I love this show! Best of luck to everyone involved. You will be missed. Cheers!
MDTF wrote March 11 2019 at 5:47 pm ∞

Your podcasts have had an enormous impact on my taste as well as on my own music. The funny thing is, I feel that the kind of music that you have been pushing for as long as I can remember (over a decade) is finally breaking through since last year. Who knows what your role was in this? I can’t thank you enough!
Adam wrote March 20 2019 at 1:49 pm ∞

Thank you so much for this show over the years!

I’ve been listening since 2005 when I was 17 (now 31), and was instantly a fan from the first show I heard, it complete broadend my scope for music. I was always amazed that the podcast had been running for so long but all good things must come to end eventually. I hope you guys one day might be able to find the time to post any missing shows not available online (even if you were to charge a fee for doing so).

All the best
Tetsuo wrote March 27 2019 at 5:33 pm ∞

When I think of Beyondjazz, I mostly think of the old forum and that’s plenty of good memories. BJ was not only one of the valuable sources for my own blog, but I also wanted to carry on some of the topics.

Regarding the podcast, I’m sure there are enough selectors and DJs willing to do guest mixes up to #500. Would be a nice milestone to reach IMHO.
Kalev wrote April 6 2019 at 9:08 am ∞

Thank you, Beyondjazz crew for the podcast!
It shaped massively my music taste. And that music is a big part of my life.

Cheers!
Harry wrote April 13 2019 at 12:10 pm ∞

So, BJ you were with me so many nights into the early hours of 2005 to 2008 whilst I studied for my first degree. Stand out discovery: Onur Engin, his outstanding etheral early guest show mixes kept me sane then and were constant touch stone companions until stolen in 2012. Like the many you have inspired in so many different ways, I mourn your loss, but will always remember the many astral travels I experienced then and now because of BJ. Safe journeys fellow travellers.

If anyone has those early Onur Engin mixes, you could make an old man very very happy!
Marquist wrote April 14 2019 at 9:10 pm ∞

Thank you. I’ve been following your podcast for 10+ years. You were my goto when my local radio station wouldn’t play anything worth while.
Mrc wrote May 2 2019 at 8:56 pm ∞

man, I just came here to find some kind of donation button, because for the musical inspiration over all these years. So sad to read…
hopefully there will be a comeback!

all the best!!!