Following on from my recent discovery of new bands The Ezra Collective and English Teacher, my new tip for the top is Personal Trainer. They are a Dutch indie rock band based in Amsterdam, who are occasionally referred to as a collective, as they are built around frontman Willem Smit, and have a continuously changing line-up with which they perform. The band initially started as a solo project of Smit, who frequently asked different people to play along on stage, and currently he is the only permanent member of the group, with his fellow band members rotating between artists who are part of, among others, Netherlands counterparts Canshaker Pi, Pip Blom, Steve French and The Klittens, as well as English bands Home Counties and Bull. In 2020, they performed at Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, and in 2021 they played continuously for 24 hours in Paradiso Amsterdam. On record, Smit teams up with Casper van der Lans to produce efforts that cement their status at the head of the burgeoning Dutch guitar scene, and they've been releasing singles and EP's since 2019, with their first album, 'Big Love Blanket' appearing in 2022 on The Industry record label. Now signed to Bella Union, they released their second album this year, with 'Still Willing' receiving praise from critics and the public alike, and so if, like me, you are only now discovering the delights of Personal Trainer, then here is all the music that they've released up to this point, which was not included on either of their albums.
Track listing
01 The Lazer (original single version 2019)
02 Stormchaser Of The Month (b-side of 'The Lazer')
03 Edible Plastic (single 2020)
04 Issue Box (b-side of 'Edible Plastic')
05 The Industry (b-side of 'Edible Plastic')
06 Crops (from the 10" 'Gazebo' EP 2021)
07 Politics (from the 10" 'Gazebo' EP 2021)
08 Muscle Memory (from the 10" 'Gazebo' EP 2021)
09 Fiddlefunk (from the 10" 'Gazebo' EP 2021)
10 The Loozer (from the 10" 'Gazebo' EP 2021)
11 1,000,000 (from the 10" 'Live At Katzwijm' EP 2023)
12 Total Wotal (from the 10" 'Live At Katzwijm' EP 2023)
13 The Feeling (single 2023)
14 Babyolifantjes (b-side of 'The Feeling')
