It might be 8 years too late, but here it is: Bram Cools presents ‘Contemporary Christian Muzak’ (2004-2007) is finally available as an album. (digital download only now, but if there is demand a CD-R edition might be produced too!) check it out here: https://bramcools.bandcamp.com/album/contemporary-christian-muzak-2004-2007 So what is ‘Contemporary Christian Muzak’? It is not at all elevator music composed for use in megachurces as the name might suggest, but rather a weird lo-fi/indie project from Bram Cools with spiritually-minded songs for all audiences. The songs here are from the time when it had its live incarnation in the ‘Contemporary Christian Muzak’ collective (2004-2007). Since the band itself has not been recorded the versions here are the original demo-versions with Bram going in extreme multitrack mode sometimes, playing a whole noise-orchestra all by himself! Weird things are going on indeed on this album. The opener ‘St-John opens’ will probably scare some people away already with its free-form impro, but don’t worry: the rest of the album will mostly contain actual songs and not just freaky soundscapes… The second song and Bram Cools classic ‘father I am tired’ for example shows some of what can be expected: Bram in excessive multitrack with a lot of instruments, vocals and noise, and a psalm-like cry for help in this dark world. Throughout the rest of the songs we find a musical universe that is far from mainstream and will never be commercial, with very diverse arrangements, compositions to express the spiritual struggle and the search for a life centred on Love. So give it a listen and if you like it you can download it free or at a chosen price, and share with people who might enjoy it. peace Bram (And thank you for clicking!) PS: Find more Bram Cools music for download at https://bramcools.bandcamp.com/. (All music is currently ‘choose your price’) Traclist: 1. St-John opens 01:49 2. Father I’m tired 03:40 3. Elvis has left the building 05:10 4. Qualities 05:06 5. dead end streets 03:19 6. stones cry out 04:17 7. last words to the first Church 03:28 8. Feelings say nothing 05:22 9. the hippie song 04:40 10. Without You I’m nothing 03:46 11. not a tame lion 03:55 12. Yeshua 03:07

4 non-album/not-yet albumtracks in very duifferent stlyes added: every man (grungy rock-song ending in noise-guitarsolo) last fish (2015 remake) (gothic pop if such a thing exists) you were hungry (ghost mix) (you'll have to listen, no description...) thorn (lost mix) (includes programmed kitchen-equipment percussion anyone who likes them? peace Bram

For those still uninitiated: Years ago now I had a band called the Contemporary Christian Muzak collective (or CCMC). We tried to play some kind of experimental Christian music that did both connect to the Creator and make some interesting sounds that haven’t been used 100 times before already. Most of it was not exactly elevator music fit for a boring Christian radio station providing safe happy clappy Christian music for the conservative middleclass as the name might suggest, but rather some kind of rough folky indierock, mixed with very weird free-from noise and experimental impro-parts as well from time to time… (The original songs here on soundclick are from a live-show and do feature a lot of CCM-material in more stripped-down versions...) We only did a few concerts throughout the years (around 2004-2007) but we did have a lot of fun, and I really miss those days! But time passes and things change, and the bandmembers had families and other bands and other stuff going on, so it all sort of fell apart. Unfortunately We never did any studio-recordings as a band, and no real CD-worthy live recordings have been made either. So all that’s left is my own home-recorded multitrack-versions with mostly myself on a lot of instruments and Bram Beels on digeridoo in some of the songs. Some of these songs needed to be finished, and that has finally happened. So stay tuned! peace Bram