NEWSARCHIVE

Period : March 17 - 22th, 1999
In this issue : Windorock, Soulwax, Women On Stage, Telex, Urban Dance Squad, Wim Mertens, Vandal X, de BaSsTaard.

Monday March 22th, 1999

WINDOROCK
Those who want to see the band Front 242 performing live on Belgian soil this year (the rest of the time they'll be touring the U.S. and starting up new projects), have only once chance to do so : Windorock '99. This spring-festival in Oosterzele is preparing everything for it's 9th edition and has been split into three musically distinct parts :
- Windo Dance (Friday April 2nd), with lots of band from the Belgian commercial dance-scene, like Marshall Masters, Milk. Inc., Mackenzie feat. Jessy, Virtual Zone, Da Rick, Viper, Mc. Yannick
- Windo Retro (Saturday April 3rd), party with oldies-DJ Guy Deprez
- Windo Rock (Sunday April 4th), with a line-up of Izemo, The Grail, Chaos, The Nothing Bastards, Golden Green, My Velma (the band of ex-Soulsister Jan Leyers), Manic Movement, Within Temptation, ABN, Jane's Detd (remember "Beaver fever"), Def. P. & onderhonden, Noordkaap (with the new cd "Massis" to present), Golden Earing, Anne Clark, and top of the bill Front 242.
More info on pricing, hours ... on the website of Windorock.

Saturday March 20th, 1999

SOULWAX
The Flying Dewaele Brothers have just released the fourth single from last year's splendid album "Much Against Everyone's Advice". After their cooperation with Tracy Bonham on "My Cruel Joke", the titletrack and "Conversation Intercom", now the choice has gone to the poppy "Saturday" (including the bass-riff that is a very close relative of Coutin's "J'aime regarder les filles"). Apparently there will be also an acoustic version of the song on the single, as well as a remix by Les Rhytmes Digitales (Hey you, what's that sound ?").
Meanwhile, the breaktrough in Holland is a fact for Soulwax, witnessed by an article in Oor two weeks ago "the most remarkable Belgian band", their place at the Pinkpop-festival and the fact that the Dutch TMF is now airing their programme "@lter8".
The Soulwax-website has also gone through some changes. The looks are great, but it still is need for some content, seems to me.

WOMEN ON STAGE
The USA had the "Lilith Fair"-tour, Flanders now has the "Women on Stage"-event : a festival at de Vooruit in Ghent on April 10th, with nothing but females on the bill : BJ Scott (by then back from Switserland promoting her "Amnesty for Eve"), Lunascape (triphop with the voice of Kyoko Baertsoen, who was part of Hooverphonic before), 360 Degrees (singer Sophie Veldeman & band, according to the bio somewhere in between PJ Harvey & Anne Clark), Black Widows (emancipated indierock) and About Queens of the Blues (overview of the history of women in blues with Pascale Michiels and Kathleen Vandenhoudt). Annabel of Ketnet presents the whole thing.
This project, an organisation of the vwz Fem-Fest, wants to promote the role of women in the musicbizee. Because although there is a clear tendency towards more female voices, they are still a minority in the current music landscape.
More info : http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/gallagher/258/index.htm

Friday March 19th, 1999

TELEX
Telex, the electropop-formation from the beginning of the eighties that had a flourish of activity last year with "I don't like remixes" (a best of) and "I don't like music" (the remixes), continues to grow in cult-status. To celebrate this, the American label SSR will now release a second album of remixes : "I still don't like music, Telex-remixes vol. 2".
According to the record firm : "And the good news is that this volume is even stronger than the 1st one... It's an extremely attractive combination of driving club tracks (the Stacey Pullen, Ian Pooley, DJ D, Maurice Fulton, Eddie Flashin' Fowlkes and T-Power mixes) and of electro-pop tracks which both recapture and update the sound and spirit of the original Telex cuts (Buckfunk 3000, The Tellurians [Rainy City], Pulsinger/Tunakan), while some of them even stay close to a classic pop song structure (Morgan Geist, Juan Atkins, Seven Dub)".
The album is released in CD and 2LP formats, and is preceded by a 12" entitled "Snakes & Music", featuring remixes by Stacey Pullen and Maurice Fulton.
More info : Crammed Discs website.

Thursday March 18th, 1999

URBAN DANCE SQUAD - HERMAN BRUSSELMANS
Rude Boy, the singer of UDS, the band that single-handedly got Holland back onto the international music maps at the end of the eighties, & singer of Junkie XL ("Saturday Teenage Kick") has a troubled reletionship with our country. Because although the reünited Squad (so with DJ DNA) has just released a new album (Artantica), Rude Boy refuses all contact with Belgian journalists.
The reason : in the last edition of Oor, there is an interview with flemish writer & enfant terrible Herman Brusselmans with in it the next rather rude statement : "... that fake American stuff is is seeping through much faster in Holland than in Belgium. Junkie Xl is a typical example of that. They jump on the bandwagon, suddenly put a mixer, toaster or DJ on the stage and start going to the fitness-center to inject themselves hormones in order to become a very mean nigger. But he's not a mean nigger at all. Here in Ghent there are a lot of niggers that are meaner than Rudeboy. Pffh ... that name alone ... Rudeboy ... Jezus! That's thirteenth-rate music in my opinion."
I can't help but feeling sympathy for the Dutch singer, but if everyone who has ever been offended by HB would keep away from the press ... Humo, P-Magazine & Dag Allemaal would be out of subjects since a very long time !

WIM MERTENS
Don't be afraid : this not a picture of Wim Mertens new style, but the face of Father Damien, the Flemish priest that went to take care of the lepers on the Hawaïan island of Molokaï. The link with Wim Mertens travels by the film that has been made about this Saint's live ("Father Damien", "Damiaan"), for which he (and the ever so productive companion OST) have written the soundtrack.
The cd, with mainly instrumental music by Belgiums best known minimal composer, should be in the shops right about now (distribution EMI Classics) in Belgium (elsewhere around the date of the release of the film).
In April, there is probably going to be another release by Mertens : a boxed set with the complete performance of "Integer Valor".
More info on the web
synopsis of the film : http://www.vine-international.co.uk/father.htm
Damien De Veuster, aka Father Damien : http://www2.glauco.it/sscc/english/damian.htm

VANDAL X
Vandal X, the noisy duo from Houthalen that made quite a few speakers flip with their debut "Louder Then Anyone", now has a second cd "Songs From The Heart" in the stores. Although this title would suggest a slightly softer approach to music, there not a lot amidst the 20 songs on the cd (released by Labelman) that would substantiate this.
For the production, Bart T. & Jo B. had the chance to work with no one other than Steve Albini (known as a musician from Big Black & Shellac, and as a producer from his work with The Pixies, Gore, Nirvana ...). They taped the album during 6 days in November in Albini's studio in Chicago.
Soon, more in the "CD of the week"-section of the site.

BASSTAARD
The contest on the Flemish radio station Studio Brussel "de Basstaard", in which 7 beginning Belgian bands had to make a version of the song "My Suitor" by the eighties-band Bernthöler, now is reaching it's unfolding. Were participating :
1 Buscemi
2 Vive la Fete
3 De Bossen
4 The Nothing Bastards
5 Cinerex
6 Das Pop
7 Boenox/Wineguns.
Now, everybody has a few days (until friday march 19th at midnight CET) to cast their votes at the tel +0900/27.444. According to the Pop-Archives, it will be a race between the contributions of Buscemi and Das Pop (who managed to turn even this song into an irrisistable britpop-song with a few nice hooks).
De winner will receive an original art-work by Wim Delvoye during the first emission (April 3) of "Club Brussel", the new show that will air on Saturdays between 18 en 20 uur from the AB in Brussels.

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