June 7, 2000
MARKA & LAURENCE BIBOT ON CD
In
the last days of the previous year, Brussels-based singer Marka
and his acting wife Laurence Bibot did a series of concerts/spectacles
together, entitled "A Nous Deux" (for the two of us). Now, a
number of the songs that were performed during these shows have been put together
on a cd and released on Marka's label "Daring Records".
As Le Soir wrote at the time : "Pour leur premier duo scénique, la comédienne
Laurence Bibot et le chanteur Marka goupillent quelques solides hits potentiels!
En quinze mouvements, "A nous deux!" court du rockabilly au reggae et du rock
métal à la chanson à texte. Sur la route, les deux artistes unis à la ville se
croisent, se toisent et se soutiennent, avec une dérision et une simplicité à
la hauteur de leur fougeux pari. Réussi!"
Marka has alse been selected to write the theme song for this years Francofolies
festival.
More info on his official site www.marka.be
ZAP MAMA'S MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Zap Mama have been able to record a song
for the soundtrack of the blockbuster Hollywood movie and Tom Cruise-vehicle "Mission
Impossible 2". The song that vocal acrobat Marie Daulne did was a cover
of the sixties song "Iko Iko" (aka "jockomo", originally
of James Crawford, but it has been covered hundred of times, best-known version
probably that of Dr. John), amidst other contributors such as Metallica, Limp
Bizkit, Butthole Surfers, Rob Zombie, Foo Fighters, Chris Cornell & Tori Amos.
David Byrne, ex-Talking Heads and currently co-owner of the Luaka Bop-label
- which houses Zap Mama in the United States - on a visit to our country to announce
the deal with Virgin for distribution of his label over here, affirmed that despite
the fact that the song will only be included on the European version of the
soundtrack, this could make a big difference for the band in the States, as
it is much easier to promote "the band that was on the Soundtrack of Mission
Impossible" than "the band of girls from Brussels with a Zaïrean
background".
June 6, 2000
BACK IN 1/2 FORCE
Sorry for the lack of updates during the last couple of days : lightning struck,
and it blew my PC away ...
Things have (sort of) been reformatted, re-installed etc ... so you might see
some new activity in here from tomorrow onwards...
May 30, 2000
PIAS BUYS R&S RECORDS
"Major" move for two more "indie" labels : Brussels-based
Play It Again Sam has taken a majority share of 51% in the Ghent-based label R&S.
Play It Again Sam (aka [PIAS]) was a label that grew from the Brussels
underground (with acts such as Polyphonic
Size, Neon Judgement and Front
242) in the early eighties, and now houses bands such as Thou,
Soulwax, Das
Pop ... It's main strength is are a number of distribution deals (Red Rhino,
Vital, F-Communications ...). Last year, PIAS itself was bought by the German
music-distributor Edel.
R&S-records stands for Renaat (Vandepapeliere) &
Sabine, a couple that started out with beats in the early eighties and
got a breakthrough with the New Beat (Code
61 with "Drop the Deal" was their first hit)The label has ever since
been on the cutting edge of techno music, working with international top acts
such as Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin, Aphex Twin, Ken Ishii,
The Orb ....
The two labels explain the move by saying they had been thinking about possible
joint ventures for years, and that this deal is the finalization of this.
Websites (without info on this) : PIAS, R&S-records.
May 29, 2000
As promised yesterday :
RUMPLESTITCHKIN
The
band that finished fourth in the Rock Rally of 1998 now also has made their way
onto cd, and on hearing this, it was about time. The Brussels-based Rumplestitchkin
have an EP out on the label Oyster Records, which features 4 quite impressive
songs named "oe-oeh" 
,
"Honey's Dull", "Dwergen" and "Bigbag".
The first song has already entered the Afrekening, last week. The band has presented
this EP during two gigs with Dead Man Ray
(on May 19 in Tongeren, and tomorrow during the postponed concert in the Botanique
in Brussels).
As the bio says : "Rumplestitchkin has a taste for melodic guitarrock/pop,
mixed in with a jazzy ballad, a dash of and some hyperkinetic excesses ... Synthesizer
and organ prevent an excess of guitar violence and provide both sing-along tunes
and the right fragile note". The jury of the RR had "Without mercy,
Rumplestichkin hammered away all competition. The public succumbed to their very
catchy songs which made a lasting impression, including a cover of Paula Abdul
that was 'rumplestitchkind' without much ado. A firm rhythm-section and just the
right amount of synth, an inspired singer-guitarist and songs that sound like
a filly that just left the stable for the first time..."
Haven't been this sure about much in a long time, but I'm sure about this : Rumplestitchkin
is a name you will (or at least should) be hearing a lot of!
Info : Oyster Records.
Quick Note :
- Today, May 30 at 22:00, you can watch on TV the concert that the punkrockband
Janez Detd. gave in the Ancienne
Belgique a while ago. On the Flemish music-station TMF, that is.
- Even better is the news that the concert that Dead
Man Ray gave on the very same spot, will be broadcasted live through the
same channel, at the same time, one week later from now. If you have difficulty
containing your urge for live Dead Man Ray music, you can feast on a real-audio
broadcast of an interview and show that the band gave last week for the Dutch
VPRO-radio-show Club Lek (fast forward to minute 21 for the music to start).
May 28, 2000
One, by one, the finalists of the Rock Rally of 1998 are putting out their
material onto cd's. Fence had an album
last year, Das Pop had a bunch of terrific
singles and is currently recording their debut album, The Nothing Bastards
changed their name to "L. Santo" and had two singles which didn't
produce much ... Now two more of the talent, cuvée 1998, have made their
cd-debut. Tomorrow, we can present you Rumplestickin. Today it's :
CHROME YELLOW
With
producer Dirk Blanchart, Chrome Yellow has recorded four songs onto a mini-cd
called "Experimental Box". The band, who started out as a trio in 1993
and took their name from the Aldous Huxley book "Brave New World", came
third in the RR of 1998, but went through a number of changes in personeel afterwards.
Chrome Yellow was compared most often to Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins or dEUS,
but now shows they also have a more "poppy" side (eg. the title song
"Experimental Box" ).
The four songs on "Experimental Box" (which isn't a box, btw, just a
single) were all recorded at different places and times ("smile slash fuck
you" even dates from the first demo of the band, which was also produced
by dirk Blanchart at the time). Chrome Yellow has no record deal yet, so they
released the cd themselves, on a label they named "Snooze Music".
Boeken van Chrome Yellow kan via Backbeat,
tel & fax 09 / 232 19 69 .
CHAT WITH ARID
Tonight, Monday May 28th, at 20:00 C.E.T. (that's GMT +2, or so I believe), at
www.aridcentral.com,
you can chat with the boys from Arid.
The band is currently at home, writing new material, as no ideal tour to have
a crack at the States has been found yet (plans were to do a tour with Catherine
Wheel, but Traci Bonham ended up having that). The band is also present at as
much performances as possible of "Dansen
op mijn graf" (dance on my grave), a theater play in Ghent for which
Arid has written an new song.
READY ... SET ... AIMING DISHES
Staf Verbeeck is best known for his work as a piano-player and producer of multiple
Belgian Bands (e.g. Metal Molly, The
Romans, Neeka, Kadril
...), but the man is also an active musician himself. Formerly, he was part of
the Candy Dates. Together with Fred Maenhout (The Office, also ex-Candy Dates),
he has founded a new band, and they are about to release their first cd.
Aiming Dishes is the name of the
duo (who are supported on stage by Luk de Graaff, of BJ
Scott's backing band, and Nico Van Calster ex-Noordkaap),
and "Vertical Divine" the title.
Aiming Dishes will present their debut album on June 6th, after the concert of
Tragically Hip, in the club of the Ancienne Belgique.
