Bart Plantenga: Radiomaker/DJ for 19 years in New York [WFMU], Paris [Radio Libertaire], and Amsterdam [Radio Patapoe and ex Radio 100]. Writer of aberrant fictions: Beer Mystic, Spermatagonia: The Isle of Man and Wiggling Wishbone: Stories of Pata-Sexual Speculation. Also writes about music/culture and is the author of cult hit Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around The World [Routledge].

Real name?
Bart Plantenga

DJ name?
Wreck This Mess

How did you choose it?
1988, beginning work at Federation Anarchist station Radio Libertaire, I thought "Wreck" = Destroy; and "This Mess" = the current state of music as mere commerce and tool to sell product. Main mission is deep pleasure in the unexpected and in the non/anti-commercial approach to free radio. Themes and freeform. Auditory dérives.

Vinyl junkie or CDs?
In the past I have used any/every format including reel-to-reel and cassettes [even 8-tracks] but now focus on CDs, CDRs, cassettes, and recovered vinyl.

How many records/CDs do you have?
Never counted. many! I DO have an archive of well over 1200 audio cassettes of my old radio shows.

What style of music do you play?
Electro-techno-punk-dub-yodeling and spoken-word-jazz-blues-experimental-soundscape-newclassical and popschlock-kitsch-house-traditional and trance-avantgarde-glitch-minimalism-folk and forgotten/neglected sonic treasure.

Where do you DJ?
Amsterdam radio, with VERY rare live appearances [festivals, OCCII]. Have DJed live in New York and Paris as well.

Your ideal DJ gig?
An intuitive soundscape where all the disparate parts and sounds jive and come together to create a new composition.

Last record/CD you bought?
Carolina Cotton: "Yodel, Yodel, Yodel!" [Binge] and Once 11: "Once 11 versus the Pyramid", and Léo Ferré.

Current musical obsession?
Yodeling's invasion of other musical styles, whistling, deep renovated dub, strange vocals.

Top 3 all-time dancefloor favourites?
Early On-U Sound [especially material from Mark Stewart's "As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade" and "Learning to Cope with Cowardice".

Lizzy Mercier Descloux.

Serge Gainsbourg.

Worst request?
At a friends' wedding [Italian and Cuban] in the Puck Building in NY, I was playing lots of Caribbean and 'ethnic' music when a New Jersey couple asked: "Can you play some of OUR music?". What they meant was white music like Billy Joel (!!!) and Van Halen...

Favourite record stores in Amsterdam?
Get Records, Concerto.

Website?
http://wreckthismess.com