Liesbeth Esselink (born 14 August 1965), known by her stage name Solex, is a Dutch musician based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Her music is a light-hearted amalgamation of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and sampling.

Overview

After singing in a new wave band and performing as a member of the Dutch indie/

noise pop Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative and indie rock that developed in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and United States. It is defined by its mixture of dissonant noise or feedback with the songcraft more often found in pop music. Shoegaz ...

group Sonetic Vet, Esselink began the Solex project in order to give herself a more complete and fulfilling musical outlet. The name is taken from the French

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...

manufacturer Solex. Utilizing the records in her own record store, she assembled her music on an antique 8-track recorder, singing original lyrics over her musical creations. The first album, '' Solex vs. the Hitmeister'', was cobbled together using samples from albums that Esselink had been unable to sell in her store. Later albums would see her assembling tracks with samples she had informally recorded at live performances in addition to sampling records from her collection. In 2001, Solex released the album '' Low Kick And Hard Bop'' on the

Matador A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

label. She appeared on Gerling's album '' Head3cleaner''/'' When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun'' that year, and she also appeared on The Go! Team's 2007 album '' Proof of Youth''.

Personal life

Esselink was raised in Voorschoten. Her father was a chemical engineer and her mother a painter.Liesbeth Esselink (Solex) heeft last van haar geweten
- 3Voor12

Discography

Albums

*'' Solex vs. the Hitmeister'' (1998,

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City ap ...

) *'' Pick Up'' (1999, Matador Records) *'' Low Kick and Hard Bop'' (2001, Matador Records) *'' The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock'' (2004, Arena Rock Recording Company) *'' In the Fishtank 13'' (2005, In the Fishtank) – Solex with Maarten Altena Ensemble (M.A.E.); as a part of the '' In the Fishtank'' project *'' Amsterdam Throwdown King Street Showdown!'' (2010, BronzeRat Records) – Solex, Cristina Martinez and Jon Spencer *'' Solex Ahoy! The Sound Map of the Netherlands'' (2013, BronzeRat Records / Seriés Aphōnos)

EPs

*''Athens, Ohio'' (2000,

) * ''Solex'' (2005, JeBu Records)

Singles

*'' Solex All Licketysplit/Solex West'' (1998,

)

References

External links

Official siteSolex on ''Keeping It Peel''
(

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

memorial site)
Solex at Matador RecordsSolex at Arena Rock Recording Co.
* Solex on Allmusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Solex 1965 births Living people Musicians from Delft People from Voorschoten Dutch electronic musicians Arena Rock Recording Company artists