With one leg in the wave & punk of the eighties (Gerry Vergult & Luc
Gulinck have a history in bands such as Aroma di Amore and Men 2nd),
with a second leg in the contemporary drum'n'bass and dance-scène (synths
& samplers & drummachines are everywhere), and with a third leg in "het
nederlandstalige lied", such seems to be the idea behind this Kolk.
Singer Maud Verlynde sounds a bit like Queen Amidala in the new Star Wars
looks like. Cold and warm at the same time, and far from frigid. With a colour
of voice somewhere in between Della Bossiers
and Geike Aernaert (of Hooverphonic, her voice(s) were recorded
by ex-Hoover-Frank Duchêne).
A peculiarity is that the dutch lyrics to the songs are all from the hand of Gerry
Vergult, and most of them written about a woman in the third person. Those
words in the mouth of the female singer make up for an alienating effect.
Hopefully Kolk won't fall in the gap that exist between the musical tastes of
contemporary subcultures, since it certainly is incomprehensible that neither
cd-opener "lemmet"
(enchanting single from the spring of 1999), nor "uma"
(the current radio single) have (yet?) made it to a prominent place in the airwaves
and your memory. This although both have the stamina and posture of a classic
song.
Sadly enough, these two opening tracks also prove to be the best material on "Nachtschade".
The tracks "liever"
and "bleue"
also show a slight display of hit-potential as a sort of dark and feminine version
of the Pet Shop Boys, and the tracks "huid" and "tijd"
(an arrangement of classical composer Boudewijn Buckinx) jump out by the
wayward use of strings and are 'growers'. Lesser tracks are certainly "winter"
and "lust" (Neon Judgement-beat that knocks the melody away)
and closing track "roes".
In Dutch without being a barrage of cliché's, in the dance-scene without
a fascistoïde beat, from the underground without being marginal ... O krinkelend
winkelend waterding ... here's Kolk.
And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about
this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !
This Album in the Press
- mvs in Café des Arts (De Morgen) : "Not one bad word
about the music : it is so colourful and subtle that new details come to light
on every new time you listen to it. "Nachtschade" gets better with each
spin and has a title that perfectly summarizes it's main theme. If they work on
the lyrics a bit more, Kolk has a bright future ahead.".
- mvs in HUMO: "Het uitgangspunt
van de splinternieuwe Belgische groep Kolk leek op papier een goed idee : als
er in het Nederlands met succes gerockt kan worden, dan zou de combinatie van
hypermoderne beats en dansritmes en in eerlijk Nederlands gezongen teksten ook
wel moeten lukken. En Iemand moet per slot van rekening de eerste zijn. De kans
dat "Nachtschade" de aanzet vormt tot een nieuwe bloeiende scène,
de muzikale mijlpaal waar over vijf jaar nostalgisch en met gepast respect op
wordt teruggekeken, lijk ons echter bijzonder klein".
Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell
me about it !
Where to buy this CD ?
You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on October
11th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).
The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't
take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more
than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those
for customers in Belgium.
Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop
with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations
: let me know.
More about this group :
- alle Kolk-info you could possibly want can be found the official www.kolk.com
- Booking : L & S Agency (tel. +32 (0) 11/67.17.01 / e-mail).
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