NIEUWSARCHIEF

Periode : 14 februari - 19 maart 2001
In dit deel : Zita Swoon, Red Zebra, Mud Flow, Reiziger, Front 242, Sunzoo Manley, Filip Kowlier, Mintzkov Luna, Monza, Zamu

March 19, 2001

Phew ... finally got the redesign of the site finished. Hope you'll like it.

Ok back to business now, and I mean that in the literal sense of the word : if you know anybody who might be interested in putting up his publicity on this site, please pass him/her my coördinates (Dirk Houbrechts, Keinkesstraat 51, 3600 Genk - Tel 0478-883374, belpop@pandora.be).
The reason for this "cry for help": I just got round to "negotiating" the prize for the real-audio files with SABAM for 2001, and I now feel that it is no longer "doable" to pay all the royalties for the audio from my own pocket. Trop is trop and too much is too much, as one elequent Belgian once said : although the amount in itself is not so high, it's just that this site is supposed to be a hobby of mine, not something that eats up a full month's wages. If I don't find a "mecenas" in the next months, I'll stop providing the audio alltogether. So, I'm now looking for a sponsor who wants to put his branding on this site (just about the way Proxis is branding it now). With over 60,000 users each month, I'm pretty sure that this will be a very sweet deal for whoever is willing to take this shot.

Ok back to the other business - here's a first update on what you might have missed in the last two weeks:

• event of last week was certainly the release of Zita Swoon's new album "Life = a Sexy Sanctuary". Amidst lots press attention, the first reactions seem to indicate that Zita Swoon has tried to make a more "poppy" record and came up with something that is what "The Ideal Crash" was for dEUS (slightly dissapointing at first, quite addictive later on). Last Saturday, Zita gave a promo-concert at the FNAC in Antwerp, and fortunately the concert will be available from pages at the sites of Fnac & Wanadoo for the rest of this week.
  The album was released in two flavours : a regular one, and a "limited edition" which has a short film as an extra and comes as a digipack.
• Red Zebra will be releasing a new CD soon: at the party in Bruges for "20 years in a living room", they recorded a live-cd, which they'll be releasing on Halu records in April. The album will contain 14 songs, and will carry the title "Last band standing".
• Mud Flow, the band from Brussels who made a reasonably well-received debut "Amateur" last year, has decided to seperate their ways.
• If you wanna help out radio Donna on deciding what song will get their "Donna-award" for the year 2000, you can do so on this page. The choice is between 10 songs that lastes more than 10 weeds in the "Prima Donna", the hitlist of the station. The nominees are:
  - Jan Leyers - "Only your love will do"
  - Belle Perez - "Honeybee"
  - Mozaiek & Walter Grootaers - "Leef"
  - Milk Inc. - "Land of the living"
  - Novastar - "Lost and blown away"
  - Sylver - "Turn the tide"
  - Raf Van Brussel - "Talk 2 me"
  - Betty - "Come to me"
  - Hooverphonic - "Mad about you"
  - X-Session - "Number 1"
• Reiziger is becoming one of the most productive bands in Belgium. The emo-core band has now departed from the Belgian Hardcore-label Genet Records, and has moved on to Stickman records (based in Hamburg, and label of acts such as Motorpsycho, Favez and our own Gore Slut). They debut on the label with "My Favourite Everything".
• Front 242 is buzzing with activity again: sources close to the band report that Front 242 will be heading back in the studio between May and November, after which they'll be shopping the material to some labels (as the band is currently involved in an important law-suit with their former label PIAS). A release is envisaged for the spring of 2002. They'll also do a few gigs again in the summer (Eurorock, Leipzig).

February 27, 2001

Lagging so much it hurts. So here's a bunch of quick facts :

- Piet Goddaer (of the much underrated Ozark Henry) has taken on a new alias : Sunzoo Manley (with this pseudo he already took part in the La Tschak single "If this is Love" last year). The debut album of Sunzoo Manley will be released (on Sony) on March 5th, and will be entitled "To All our Escapes".

- Filip Kowlier, one of the two emCees of the West-vlaamse hiphopband 't Hof van Commerce has wandered off on a solo-escapade and is putting together a solo-cd. THere is already a promo-single, which you can download for free from petrol-mo.be and is called "Kwestie van Organisatie". The full album will be entitled "Ocharme Ik", and will be released later on. On March 29, he is opening before the ladies of Laïs at their sold-out concert in the AB in Brussels.

- For some insights on how come Soulwax is making such a good impression on the press in the UK, you might wanna read this article from zine Playlouder. Their lewd scheme involves dozens of free cocktails, gorgeous blond girls, 't SMAK, pills, snow , Music Mania, and the town of Gant (Ghent?). "Conversation Intercom" is not getting the glorious welcome they were hoping for (it is in the charts at n° 50 though), although NME rightly wrote "If someone said that Soulwax had been invented, Popstars-style, by the Belgian Ministry Of Culture purely to sex up the country's image abroad, you'd have to believe them".

February 19, 2001

Apparently these are great days for top quality Belgian single-releases that start with an "M":

MINTZKOV LUNA THROWS US "COPPER"
The winners of the Rock Rally of last year, Mintzkov Luna, make their debut release with the self-produced single "Copper". The song, about the summer, won't exactly help them get rid of the reputation of the band being somewhat of a dEUS jr., but that takes nothing away from the quality of Copper.
Almost a year after their victory, they release this as a promo-only single to gather the attention of the record companies & media (a trick that also worked for Das Pop - the winners of the rock-rally of 1998, now with PIAS). Other links with Das Pop are that the band is with the same management - Rock'o Co - and has been playing a number of gigs opening for them.
The next chance to see Mintzkov Luna, is one that isn't to be missed, as they play on Sunday February 25th at the Club of the AB, on an aftershow to the PJ Harvey concert. In the next months, they will be playing the club-circuit, so check your concert calendar to catch 'em.
Winners of the promo-only singles (you had to be here last week to participate in the draw) of Mintzkov Luna are:
- Els Mariën (Schriek)
- Quinten van Wichelen (Wommelgem)
- Wout Fransen (Leuven)
- Laurie Franssens (Houthalen)
- Christoph Collard (Gent)
- Marie-Louise Beusen (Riemst)
If you missed it, you still have a chance of getting your hands on a copy by voting in the Belpoptop during the next weeks.

MAURO "LET ME KNOW"
It's official : March 26th is the date for the release of the first Mauro solo-album. The title will be "Songs from a Bad hat".
And to soothe the waiting, there's now already an advance single of it on the radio : "Let Me Know". Some soothin', huh?
The ex-Evil Superstars frontman will be touring with his "Inferno's" in the months just after the release (e.g. Monty Antwerp on April 8, Kreun Bissegem on April 13, Viva Velinx on April 15, L'Entrepot Arlon on April 28, AB Club Brussel on May 2nd).

MONZA "VAN GOD LOS"
I must admit : this one sent shivers down my spine when I heard it the first time: the first release of Monza is here, entitled "Van God Los" (detached from God). Although the single won't hit the shops until February 26, it's already hard to miss on Studio Brussel, and made an entry to n°22 in De Afrekening. It will be the first release on the brand new CiTY label, which was recently founded by Christophe Turcksin (one of the T's in the label Double T that was purchased by Sony).
Monza is the band of ex-Noordkaap singer Stijn Meuris & his brand new band that was "kidnapped" by Hooverphonic for their American & European Tour.
In March, Meuris will do a tour of theatre halls with a toned down version of the Monza repertoire as "Monza zondermeer" (piano, upright bass, acoustic guitar & vocals only). Admiral Freebee (or better Tom Van Laere solo), the 2nd's in last year's rock rally, will travel with them.
More info can be gathered from the website that has already been established for the band at www.monza.be.

February 14, 2001

ZAMU 2000 : HOOVERPHONIC 4 - NOVASTAR 3
Yesterday evening, a AB packed with people from the Belgian music "industry" witnessed & handed out the 7th annual ZAMU-awards to the best Flemish musicians & bands. With the almost-abscence of the "Antwerp scene" in 2000, the thing developed into a close-run contest between two bands with mainstream appeal of the moment : Hooverphonic & Novastar.
It was Hooverphonic that brought home most of the statuettes in the end, as Alex Callier was awarded the prize of best producer, Geike Arnaert was elected best singer, "Mad About You" was chosen as best song, and the band Hooverphonic as a whole was awarded the title in the category "Pop/Rock".
Novastar fought back with awards in the categories "Musician" for Lars van Bambost, "Author/Componist/Arrangements" for Joost Zweegers, and "Album" for Novastar, the album.
The "leftovers" went to Laïs in the category "roots", De Nieuwe Snaar as "best live act", Buscemi as best in the category "dance", Belle Perez in the category "Popular", and Das Pop in the category "Focus" (new talent). Non-musician awards went to Rock Werchter for best concert, and to the Plankenkoorts zomerfestivals as best in media.
A special award for "Lifetime Achievement" went to the bearded bard Willem Vermandere, who replied by saying this surely meant he is getting old (he's 60).
There were live acts inbetween by Das Pop ("forever"), The Kids (a flamin' hot version of "There will be no next time" & "This is rock'n'roll"), Willem Vermandere ("onderweg"), Anton Walgrave ("show me"), De Nieuwe Snaar ("Illusies" & "Geen Illusies Meer"), and a 3-song set by Hooverphonic. You can catch these performances on television, coming Saturday at 23:00 on Canvas.

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