Last year Julian Hermans died at the age of 12. A year earlier, he debuted with the bouncy fast dance track ‘Touwtjespringen’. Despite being ill for years, he worked together with bass producer Subp Yao and was planning a debut album. He also worked on the cover art of the album. Designer Guus Prevoo of Homo Ludens guided him in the artistic process.
His parents have been important driving forces of the creative scene in the city of Heerlen since the ‘culturele lente’ started in the early 2000s. Eva-Katrien founded important art and design initiatives like ‘Zachte G’ and ‘Dutch but not from Holland’. Maurice is a well-known local musician and debuted in the early 90s with the indie band Cowboys of the Sky.
Julian was a creative talent. In April 2019 he debuted as Puttylolian with ‘Touwtjespringen’. A few months later he was the youngest DJ ever at the local Daddy’s Cool festival. In the week before he died of the consequences of an acute cerebral hemorrhage, he came up with his moto be mad! Hence the title of his debut album: iDVW is like mad! upside down.
Heerlen-based and well-known producer Subp Yao aka Gert-Jan van Stiphout, took all the fragments, snippets, beats, and piano tryouts to his studio and, with help of Maurice, forged them together in sixteen tracks that do justice to the musical talent Julian had.
Although BE iDVW sounds like a collection of ideas, it clearly shows just how gifted Julian was. His influences range from hip hop, electronic dance music, piano music, experimental stuff, and rock. The dub in ‘Mijke heeft een leef Hoofd’ is incredibly poppy and gives a glimpse of what Julian could have achieved.
The making of this album must have been an intense, emotional, and painful process. The result is a beautiful tribute to Julian and an artifact that makes sure he and his budding talent will never be forgotten.
BE iDVW by Puttylolian can be ordered on Bandcamp.
