NEWSARCHIVE

Period : March 23 - 29th, 1999
In this issue : Werchter, Milk Inc, JMX, Kim Kay, Arid, Machiavel, dEUS, City Kingz, Sharko, Soul Sucker, Viva Velinx.

March 29th 1999

NEW NAMES FOR WERCHTER '99
Today 13 new names for the most famous Belgian Festival were announced. In there are also two Belgian names (Praga Khan and DJ Jan Van Biesen, both on Fridaynight in a tent), after earlier also Soulwax (Saturday on the main stage) and Zita Swoon (Saturday in a tent) were selected.
The line-up on the main stage is now complete :
- Friday July 2nd : Mercury Rev, Pavement, Blur, Chemical Brothers
- Saturday July 3rd : Soulwax, Monster Magnet, Anouk, Live, Marilyn Manson, Skunk Anansie, Texas, Bryan Adams, Metallica
- Sunday July 4th : Creed, Stereophonics, Heather Nova, Placebo, Manic Street Preachers, Robbie Williams, Faithless, Lenny Kravitz, R.E.M.
In a few weeks, the line-up for the acts in the tents will be completed.
Tickets are available for ordering by phone, starting today. In the shops they will be available from April 21 onwards.
More info and source : Belgacom OLWR.

MILK INC. MOST POPULAR ACT FOR DONNA-LISTENERS
Last Saturday evening the 7th anniversary of the popular national radiostation Donna was celebrated in a packed Limburghal in Genk.
On these occasions, the station always hands out a Donna-award. This year, thirteen artists - mostly from the commercial Belgian Dance-scene - were selected : 2Fabiola, Absolom, Kim 'Kay, dj Da Rick, Milk Inc., Natural Born Deejays, Yasmine, Astroline, Alana Dante, dj Bart, Fiocco, MacKenzie feat. Jessie and Sarah.
The listeners of Donna voted most for Milk Inc. and their Belgian breakthrough single "In My Eyes". They preceded the glittergirl Alana Dante (but she had won the award last year) and Yasmine (alle meisjes aan de macht).
More info on Milk Inc : see the Antler dance-site.

JEAN-MARIE AERTS BRENGT JMX-VERVOLG
The well-known Belgian producer/guitarist Jean-Marie Aerts (see for instance Big Bill, Raymond van het Groenewoud, TC Matic, Arno, El Fish, Lavvi Ebbel, Urban Dance Squad etc, etc. ... for a few of his bestknown work as a musician and/or producer) has completed a sequel to his "JMX"-project.
As a foretaste for his soon to be released cd, the funky "I know" can already be heard.
Under the flag JMX Jean-Marie Aerts released two maxi's during the summer of 1996 (vinyl-only on the Fusebox label), with on it experiments on computes, samplers, dub & blues. This trip (which had a following in select circles only) will also come within reach of a broader audience, because the maxi's are pressed on a bonus-cd that will come with his new material (on the VIAKRA-label).

KIM KAY STILL ILL
A singer that couldn't take part in the aforementioned Donna-party, was Kim 'Kay (whose "Li La Li" has strangely enough wandered in the top 10 of most downloaded audiobits from this here site, luckily there's still no sign of "Bam bam" yet).
Kim Van Hee (as is her real name) was hopitalized during a stay in Australia (where she apparently has a friend). After an operation for gallstones, there was no real amelioration of her condition and the doctors now have been searching more than a month for the mysterious cause of her continued pains.
Her manager Ilia Beyers (together with the nowadays inevitable John Terra the team behind the "Kim' Kay"-concept) told het Belang van Limburg only last week that the Australian doctors are completely puzzled.

Thursday March 25th 1999

ARID
In about two weeks time, the debut-cd "Little Things of Venom" of the Ghent-based formation Arid will be released. Although this band is still reasonalby green behind the ears, has performed live only 20 odd times or so (e.g. as an opener for K's Choice), and so has proven very little except for a place in 1996's Rock Rally final .. this promises to be an event to look forward to.
The reason : there is some very serious interest for Arid from the United States. The tapes of the debut cd (which will appear on the Double T-label) were mixed in New York, and were played to A&R managers of Epic & Columbia. Both showed interest, and a few weeks ago the group has signed a deal with Columbia, who apperently believe the band has enough potential to become a "stadion-act" and is talking about a "second Jeff Buckley".

MACHIAVEL
After a first attempt last month had to be postponed due to illness of 4/5th of the band, the plans for an internet-concert of the walloon prog-rock band Machiavel will finally go through : on March 26th at 20:00 (Central European Time) their concert at the AB in Brussels will be beamed through to the internet in Real-Audio format (only the audio though).
The place to be : http://www.netbeat.com

dEUS
The tickets (about 2,000!) for the extra Belgian concert of dEUS at the AB that was announced yesterday, were sold out in no time (only three hours !). People that still didn't get in, wil now have to wait for the summery Beach-festival.
On April 3rd, dEUS will be guest at the new Studio Brussels program Broodje Club.

Wednesday March 24th, 1999

dEUS
- After the tickets for the two Belgian concerts of dEUS at the Ancienne Belgique (April 1 & 2) had sold out in record-breaking times, yesterday a third gig at the same hall was announced. Tickets will probably again be in short supply and can be ordered by telephone at +32/2/548.24.24, at the counter of the AB in Brussels, or through the website of this concert hall. For all of these three options, the sales will only start on March 24th (hopefully that's today when you're reading this) at 11 o'clock.
- The band is currently touring England, where a number of gigs are given that also serve as a showcase for the press (the record firm even has some Japanese journalists flown in). By playing smaller venues now, the groups hopes to create a "buzz" that will raise demand for playing in the more lucrative bigger halls later on in the year.
- "The Ideal Crash" has been welcomed by the Belgian audiences in a very good way : in the first week there were more than 30,000 copies sold (gold status=25,000). dEUS even takes the n°2 spot in the album charts, preceded only by the ever popular Clouseau with their newest album "In Stereo".

CITY KINGZ
Next week, the first Belgian hiphop-sampler CITY KINGZ (1cd or 2LP) will be released on the Ghent-based label Kinky Star. This compilation wants to give an overview of the hiphop-scene in Liège, Antwerp, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, as seen through the eyes of the Deejays & producers. "City Kingz" brings the DJ's out of the background and gives them a chance to show their skills.
The names on this first edition : DJ Sedat (Karismatic), DJ 4T4 (Hof van Commerce), Afterhours (Davy Van Laere), DJ Keso, DJ Flip (Onde de Chock), DJ Buzz, Smimmooz Exel (De Puta Madre, RAB, U-Man ...), Desk & Uinkxs, Serious (Krewcial, Starflam), Grazzhoppa & L-Train (Rhyme Cut Core, Rab, 9mm ...), Kaine (Déhaêl).
From April 5 to April 14th there is an exposition at the Casino in Ostend about this project.
More info can be gathered at the recently opened website of Kinky Star.

Tuesday March 23rd, 1999

SHARKO
Sharko, the tandem of guitarist-singer David Bartholomé and studio-technician Rudy Coclet (also busy with Sweet Jane), is looking for a bass-player.
The profile that is wanted : "un bon bassiste, charismatique, humainement interessant et intelligemment doué" (a good bass-player, charismatic, interesting as a person and not braindead).
The musical style of this band from Liège was described in Weekend-Knack at the time of last year's debut CDM "Cuckoo"as "a not uninteresting 4-track, that is situated somewhere in between dEUS, David Thomas & some weird Arno-effects, on a discovery of the darker sides of the mind with at times heavy & at times acoustic music.".
Contact : David Bartholomé or tel : 02-534.71.44.

SOUL SUCKER
Soul Sucker, the band from Antwerp with the unique sound due to the unusual combination of piano, tuba or trombone, guitars, & drums - and the unique songs due to their blending of blues, jazz, polka, lounge & general weirdness, will be releasing their second cd pretty soon.
Two years after the well-received debut "Light", they have a CD-single out (with a "dirty" bonus video) containing the song "Dirty Thing" of the forthcoming album "Soul Sucker Is Everything".
You can read more about the band (and about the English formation Ska'd For Life) at the website of their small independent record company Shut Up and Eat! (SUE).

VIVA VELINX
The billing for "Viva Velinx", the interesting yearly happening in the Limburgian rock- & culture temple, has fallen into a definitive form.
On April 16 in Tongeren, you can witness performances on two stages by Abundanza, Fence (2nd from last year's Rock Rally, now on the radio with the debut single "Singapore Airlines"), Godspeed You Black Emperor! (Can), Mitsoobishy Jacson (2nd cd probably coming up in May/June), Ozark Henry, Daan (armed with his nice cd "Profools"), Calexico, Cornelius and Cinérex.
There will also bu musical installations of Stichting Logos and an expositiona "Between art & hoes" (about arty album covers) by Luc Janssen.
More info : Velinx - 012/39.38.00

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