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21:00 - 23:00

Special guest shows from around the world.

2
Tokyo
21:00 - 22:00

A 15-hour tribute to the influential Japanese songwriter, Haruomi Hosono, known from his prolific productions and work in the electronic trio, Yellow Magic Orchestra. Expect mixes exploring his career and adjacent music from NTS' most dedicated Hosono-philes.

The Essence

The Essence

The Essence has been played on NTS in shows including Yesterday's News, featured first on 25 November 2016. Songs played include A Reflected Dream, Purity and The Last Preach.

The Essence is a new wave/gothic rock band from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, formed in 1984 and fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist, Hans Diener.

Signed to Midnight Music in 1985 after a year of gigging, their début album Purity (1986) was released to great acclaim, preceded by the 12-inch single, 'Endless Lakes', which was especially succesful in Holland and Germany.

1987 saw the release of the follow-up album, A Monument of Trust, plus the single 'A Mirage', a catchy tune that cracked the Top 10 in Spain. It was then that The Essence started to tour Europe extensively, building up a strong and faithful following in amongst others, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The popularity of the band continued to grow with the release of the third album. Ecstasy (1988). The videos of the singles 'Only For You' (1989) and 'Like Christ' (1990) got regular airplay on MTV. The group recorded their fourth album, Nothing Lasts Forever (1991), a powerful and dark concept album that made its way to an ever growing following around the world, including Japan and the United States.

A 'best of' CD entitled Dancing In The Rain, was released by Cherry Red Records in 1994 and 1995 saw the release of the fifth studio-album, Glow, on CNR. It was originally intended to be called Afterglow, but the band re-recorded the material especially for CNR. 'Glow' became a hard-to-find collector's item when the label offloaded its catalogue and stopped promoting the record altogether, after which The Essence returned to the original recordings, re-recorded most of the album and self-released Afterglow after all.

The Essence never split up. They continued to tour internationally as a three-piece, but they never recorded an album again, in spite of their announcement that a new album was set for release in 2007. The band's complete studio recordings were released in a box-set by Cherry Red Records in 2018, entitled 'The Essence 35: The Collection 1985-2015'.

1985 line-up:

Hans Diener: vocals, guitar Jeroen 'Jerry' Geertsma: bass Olaf 'Ol' Willemsen: drums

Most recent line-up:

Hans Diener: vocals, guitar George Tan: drums Mark Tan: keyboards, bass

read more

The Essence

The Essence has been played on NTS in shows including Yesterday's News, featured first on 25 November 2016. Songs played include A Reflected Dream, Purity and The Last Preach.

The Essence is a new wave/gothic rock band from Rotterdam, The Netherlands, formed in 1984 and fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist, Hans Diener.

Signed to Midnight Music in 1985 after a year of gigging, their début album Purity (1986) was released to great acclaim, preceded by the 12-inch single, 'Endless Lakes', which was especially succesful in Holland and Germany.

1987 saw the release of the follow-up album, A Monument of Trust, plus the single 'A Mirage', a catchy tune that cracked the Top 10 in Spain. It was then that The Essence started to tour Europe extensively, building up a strong and faithful following in amongst others, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The popularity of the band continued to grow with the release of the third album. Ecstasy (1988). The videos of the singles 'Only For You' (1989) and 'Like Christ' (1990) got regular airplay on MTV. The group recorded their fourth album, Nothing Lasts Forever (1991), a powerful and dark concept album that made its way to an ever growing following around the world, including Japan and the United States.

A 'best of' CD entitled Dancing In The Rain, was released by Cherry Red Records in 1994 and 1995 saw the release of the fifth studio-album, Glow, on CNR. It was originally intended to be called Afterglow, but the band re-recorded the material especially for CNR. 'Glow' became a hard-to-find collector's item when the label offloaded its catalogue and stopped promoting the record altogether, after which The Essence returned to the original recordings, re-recorded most of the album and self-released Afterglow after all.

The Essence never split up. They continued to tour internationally as a three-piece, but they never recorded an album again, in spite of their announcement that a new album was set for release in 2007. The band's complete studio recordings were released in a box-set by Cherry Red Records in 2018, entitled 'The Essence 35: The Collection 1985-2015'.

1985 line-up:

Hans Diener: vocals, guitar Jeroen 'Jerry' Geertsma: bass Olaf 'Ol' Willemsen: drums

Most recent line-up:

Hans Diener: vocals, guitar George Tan: drums Mark Tan: keyboards, bass

Original source Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

A Reflected Dream
The Essence, Sad Lovers & Giants
Midnight Music1988
Purity
The Essence
Midnight Music1985
The Last Preach
The Essence
Midnight Music1985
A Reflected Dream
Sad Lovers & Giants, The Essence
Cherry Red2017