45

I grew up in the Germanic-region of mainland Europe, specifically on the border between The Netherlands and Germany. As well as being a very temporary product of a doomed Forces family, this unique upbringing has left me somewhat isolated as a British citizen. Slap onto this my cyclothymia mental illness, and you have someone who struggles to deal with life on a daly basis. Luckily, as a sort-of-Dutch-child, or Dutch-identifying-English-Canadian-child, Kinderen voor Kinderen was somewhat apparent to me at an early age. KvK is a musical collective, with song subjects suggested by its audience and eventually written, performed, recorded, and released by professionals. While I picked up on some of KvK as a child, it wasn’t until recently, when I was looking for music to help me battle low-mood attacks, that it fully opened opened up to me.

KvK has, coincidentally, been going on for as long as I have. Every year since 1980, before obnoxious singing contests were a thing, the Dutch have being broadcasting a big show on television, releasing an album, music videos, and live performances, on every medium possible. The music isn’t tired or halfhearted or obligatory, in fact it’s filled with ingenuity and passion and originality. Basically, the complete opposite of what you’d expect from the same thing in the United Kingdom.

And so we come, in 2024, to the 45th album. The forty-fucking-fifth one of these damned things. Can you believe it?! No, I can’t either.

The album opens without too much ingenuity, with “Lekker eigenwijs”, reminding us of “Stiekem stoepen” from 40. The next track, “Dansen in de regen” ticks all the right boxes, but still without inspiring much from the listener. It’s solid though, which I can’t blame it for. Nothing then really happens until the John Carpenter-inspired “Vreemde dingen”, which is nothing but a lost album opener. A true highligh! Obligatory ballad “Alles op z’n tijd” doesn’t provide anything unique, but it’s certainly not a bad song. It has those “Coldplay choruses” that have seemed so popular since Viva la Vida, which, while not my kind thing, I don’t admonish it for.

Due to not speaking the language, I don’t know what is truly going on with “Schoolziek”, but I like it. There’s very old-school KvK fun production going on here, including endearing vocal interruptions. “Oogie op jou” features some great chorus pedal guitar noodling. Another average song buoyed by its production. “Superkratch” is a roofraising stomper, which really should have been placed at the front of the album. A great moment, indeed. Which leaves “Meidengroep”, a Faces-style groove, with gorgeous Stratocaster licks, to lead us out of proceedings.

I bounce in and out of KvK as and when I need them. Whilst my usual delve into Sonic Youth or Radiohead or Interpol gets me through the day, sometimes I just need some upbeat-Dutch-power-pop to keep me going. I understand why they remain undiscovered, due to their apparent-disposable nature and foreign lyrics, as well as certain other issues, but I sincerely hope you approach them with an open heart.

It’s the best music you've never heard. You will be better off for it.

Do stay in touch, darlings.

Toodles!