November 16, 1999

EL FISH : LIVE CD AND ROADMOVIE
It was announced yesterday that El Fish, the rad Belgian blues band, will be releasing their third cd later on this month. The disc will be called "Hooked", and is a registration of a live concert.
Other news about the band is also that they - together with multi-instrumentalist Geert Waegeman - will be providing live music to an original road movie. "A12" is a film by "Alibi collectief" (Peter Godaert, Pat Van Hemelrijck, Steven Fillet), about the road from Antwerp to Brussels, not without reason once described as "The ugliest road in Flanders. Possibly the ugliest one in Belgium, and that would logically imply that it would be the ugliest road in all of Europe. It looks like many Europeans that never have been to the United States imagine the United States : as a ordinary, vulgar, kitschy, loud, fast, superficial, honourless, criminal marketplace of traders and sharks and hagglers, a barbaric drive-in culture". The filmmakers went up and down the road in search of a story : turned out it is a world in its own, with its own feeling : the blues. They turned it into a movie with sigarettes, Duvel and wild women.
Try-outs for the video with live band on 17 and 18 November, and then on show on 24, 25, 26 and 27 in a small version in a parking lot in Brussels. Later on in the year (from August), this project will go on tour in the rest of Flanders.
Practical info on the "A12"-movie and reservations : Alibi vzw.

November 15, 1999

CAFÉ BELGE OPENS ITS DOORS
Last Thursday, production company Headtrick presented a new internet-initiative to the press : Café Belge is to become the place on the net where the BV's (that's something like VIP's, but on a Flemish or Belgian level) bump into each other (and you go to watch them).
On the site you can find "homepages" of about 70 well-known Belgians (from Gilles de Bilde to Jef Geeraerts and from Bert Anciaux to Dana Winner), who have filled in a questionnaire, have scanned in some photo's and present their products (cd's, boeken, kousen ...). In the musical part, you can find info on the girls of Laïs, about Stijn Meuris, about Jasper of Arid or Sttellla.
On the other hand, there is a part of the site entitled "Belgium City", that holds about 30 "virtuele pubs", a sort of news-lists that are maintainted by a man/woman from the trade (for music in "Café Ceedee" it is Bart Vandormael).
Café Belge is an initiative of Chris Cockmartin, a tv-maker (e.g. Goedele, het Schaduwkabinet ... for VTM) who believes the internet-market will be as big as television in ten years time.
See for yourself : http://www.cafebelge.be, but don't forget to return to this here "Café Belpop")

K3 BREAKS FLEMISH RECORDS
Not without pride, BMG/Ariola Belgium today announced that, 1 year after the release of the first K3-single, their hens with the golden eggs are about to break multiple records in the Flemish hitparade :
- "Heyah Mama" is in the Flemish top 10 for the thirtieth consecutive week. With this, they beat Johan Verminnen and are about to break Kabouter Plop.
- with "Yeke Yeke", they are still in the lead of the hitlist. In combination with their previous single, this means that they now lead for 26 consecutive weeks, which is getting awfully close to Will Tura's 1966 record of 28 weeks.
- Now that they have just released their newest single "I Love You Baby", the possibility is real that the group will be in the list with three songs at the same time, which would be a first.
We've put the matter for consideration to our 5-year old niece, and the results are positive : those records are gonna go.

FACTS OF JAZZ
Party time : Thursday November 18 at the Fill Collins Club, Lange Schippersstraat in Antwerp : Facts of Jazz.
The programma features a number of acts from Antwerp who are into the new jazzy-dance music : Groove Cartel (latin jazzy house, best known from the semi-radiohit Rumba Lunar, which also featured on the soundtrack of the film "Shades"), Fother (jazzy drum'n-bass) and Cinérex (eclectisch). DJ's Stephanie and Koenie will present a new records label ("Break It"), the evening will be mc'd by Too Tuff (of Sint-Andries Mc's), and later on in the evening Tom Barman (of dEUS) will spin some vinyl on the turntables.
Tickets : 300 francs. Info : +32/3/232.47.12.

November 11, 1999

REDEFINE LOVE WITH GLYTH
Glyth is the music-project of frenchman Christophe Bailleau. This Rennes-born citizen has been living in Brussels for over 10 years now, and has now released his second CD as Glyth on the hip belgian "Exit Recor"-label.
For this second album, he has been closely co-operating with Peter Clasen, the brain behind Neven, and has invited guests such as percussionist Olivier Galand, jazz-pianist Yannick heeren, violinist Arnaud Gsell, and ex-El Fish drummer Toon Derison. The result is described as "a nice combination of melancholic European electronic music, in the Kraftwerk-tradition, and lightfooted French disco, in the line of Daft Punk and Co. Twelve well-balanced songs with wonderful melodies and effective rhythmic substructure".
The result is also quite filmic, sexy, and mildly kitchy, with songtitles such as "belmondo", "octopus", "waterpussy", "cigarette" and "cosmostar" (which is based on the Star Trek tune).
More info on the web about exit recor, or inquire at exit.recor@skynet.be.

2nd VOICE MALE ALBUM
Voice Male, Belgium's answer to the acapella songs of The Flying Pickets, have just released their second album, entitled Colors. On it, the sextet sings 6 original tracks, and 5 covers, ranging from the Crowded House classic "Weather with you", to Pink Floyds "Another Brick in The Wall", to "Take a chance on me" of ABBA. The other covers are Stings "Love is the seventh wave", and the Turkish song "Zor Kadin".
You might know Voice Male from their venture in the Flemish preselections of last year's Eurosong with "This is My Life", or the radiofriendly "Radio Gaga"-cover.
More info on the Voice Male-website.

SOULWAX GETTING GOOD POINTS
"It's hard to believe anyone advised Belgian brothers Stephen and David Dewaele not to make this, their second album. This creative, dynamic, oftentimes lush affair is a treat for lovers of imaginative power pop. To achieve its pristine sense of harmony, the group takes cues from several '70s pop-rock legends (Badfinger, et al.), but Soulwax is very much a '90s band capable of carving an "alternative" edge into its vintage-styled handiwork. The title track attests to this fact -- its sterling harmonies and choruses share wax with overdriven guitar riffs, all of which adds up to something that sounds like the Foo Fighters backing Sweet. ... Essentially, this album is a resume-builder for everyone involved." This is a review by College Media on CD-Now, but the reception of "Much Against Everyone's Advice" is getting other good notes in the States.
Also well-worth checking out while you're surfing at it : the Soulwax-website that Almo-records has built.