Instant laidback summer vibes custom-made for relaxed terrace dwellers with a cool drink or a shake by the pool enjoying the longest day of the year... or somethin' like that.

I don’t know how live is out there where you plug in, but over here it’s really hot and wet and we like it that way :) summer at last.
It’s Sunday and laidback, maybe to the extreme as it seems because quite a few of people decided to choose the eternal for the temporary or the present for the afterlife. Most notable Michael Jackson. In short, I'm sure his musical legacy is what will last and stand the test of time instead of the freakshow he put on the last couple of years.

We’re also happy to welcome a new album by The Gossip. You can listen to it right here. I already heard a couple of tracks yesterday and they sound diverse, danceable, just simply great. A swell way to get ready for a party and that's what i did. I went to one of the nicest parties this year so far at Recyclart in Brussels. It was their final evening because they’re closing for more than a year. Yet another Los Niños – Fingerspitzengefühl gem with this time Pilooski, Bottin from Italians do it better and Dirty Soundsystem from the great blog Alainfinkielkrautrock. Less Italo this time but enough stuff to get glued to the dancefloor.

Aeroplane - Mini Mix for Annie BBC1
Aeroplane ft. Au Revoir Simone – Paris
BIBIO - weekend wildfire
Buggles – I Love You (Miss Robot)
Celestine Ukwu & His Philosophers National - Okwukwe Na Nchekwube
Dirty Projectors – Temecula Sunrise
Elvis Presley – Crawfish (Pilooski edit)
Faze Action – Stratus Energy (Special Disco mix)
Findlay Brown – Promised Land (Pilooski Edit)
Gal Costa & Caetano Veloso – Quem me dera
Gang Gang Dance – First Communion (TV On The Radio mix)
Gazebo – Sun Goes Down On Milky Way
Gori Ka Dance Orchestra – Kajele Tikika Nakarame
Gui Boratto – No Turning Back
Joyce – Banana
Meco Monardo – Moondancer
Michael Jackson – I Can't Help It (Todd Terje mix)
Schmutz – Love Games
The Gossip – Love Long Distance
The Herbaliser feat. Jessica Darling – Can't Help This Feeling
The Herbaliser feat. Jessica Darling – Clap Your Hands
The Units – High Pressure Days (Rory Phillips Remix)
TV On the Radio – Stork & Owl (Gang Gang Dance remix)

Spring Break Cleanup
with Lots of Goodies

Isn't she just adorable?

For some reason this post keeps on disappearing.
So I keep reposting it.

Rone – Belleville (original mix)
Robbie Pardoel – Orologio (Fairmont remix)
Paul Ritch – Evil Laff (Konrad Black remix)
The Gossip – Heavy Cross new single
The Juan Mclean – One Day (Surkin Remix)
Martin Buttrich – Stoned Autopilot (C2 version) killer track
Catz 'n Dogz – Sunset In The East (Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts remix)

Seen them live at the AB together with The Invisible and Micachu & The Shapes
Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
The Whitest Boy Alive – Island

Classic dance and rave tracks
Foreign Affair – Jounieh
Z-Moor-Z – Heros Dynamique 12 inch
Nitro DeLuxe – Let's Get Brutal (Brutal Dub)
Marmion – Schöneberg (original mix)

Around the World
Nuno Malo – Faduncho (OST Tudo Isto e Fado)
Madredeus – Maio Maduro Maio (Pedro Ayres Magalhaes) (OST Ainda)
Antonio Carlos jobim – Berimbau 1966
Carlos Dafé And Banda black Rio – O Metro
Benitez – My Girl part 1 & 3
Harvey Averne Barrio Band – Cucaraca Macara 1971
Moneim Adwan – Law Ani Moughani (Si j'étais chanteur)
Baghdad Ensemble – Jamil Bashir – Je Mali Wali
Dzansever – Ce Aysunu ( Trad. From Macedonia)

Papercuts – Future Primative
Next ones from Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation with indie music)
The Books feat. Jose Gonzalez – Cello Song
Beirut – Mimizan
Feist + Ben Gibbard – Train Song
Bon Iver – Brackett, WI
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – Inspiration Information
Yeasayer – Tightrope
My Brightest Diamond – Feeling Good
Antony + Bryce Dessner – I Was Young When I Left Home
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues – Amazing Grace
Andrew Bird – The Giant Of Illinois
Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch – Lua

La musique d'Issa Sow - Doumale Home Records

As a young Peul sheppard Issa Mbaya Diary Sow (1947 Talbakhlé-Senegal) played the nianiooru or riti, a one snare type of violin with a thin, shallow and melancholic sound. Over the years the now 62 year old musician became a leading performer on the nianiooru and an ambassador for the music of the Peul people. He toured for 16 years with the Orchestre National du Sénégal and played together with Baaba Maal, Malick Pathé Sow and Yousou N’dour.
Since 2000 he lives in Brussels and now he made a CD with his band Malick Pathe Sow (hoddu), Boa Cissokho (kora) and Tom Theuns (gitaar) plus the local violin player and composer Wouter Vandenabeele from Ghent. Vandenaabele plays in many Belgian folk bands but the main ones are Olla Vogala and Ambrozijn. For this production he wrote a string arrangement for a couple of the songs.

This crossover with Western, Indian and Arabian styled strings is nevertheless strongly routed in the Senegalese tradition. It’s a beautiful dialogue of fiddles and violins that cross borders.

01 Ouverture (listen)
02 Thiay alaa (listen)
03 Doumale (listen)
04 Njaru (listen / download)
05 Niaale (listen)
06 Diombela de mola sylla (listen)
07 Rendo fulo (listen)
08 Aïda dialya (listen)
09 Garbare (listen)
10 Daniyalke (listen)
11 Ngee naage (listen)
12 Njahden (listen / download)
13 Yero mama (listen)

It’s a great day. A long weekend, a sunny day and I’ve been around looking for records and stuff and what did I find? A real whopper :) I never thought I would ever find this one but I just did, Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4 record.
Maybe that doesn’t make a bell ring for many people but it’s just awesome. It supposed to be recorded on one seminal evening in September 1981 after he returned from a tiring tour with Klaus Schulze, who used to be a member in his band Ash Ra Temple, and got first released in 1984 after many people pushed him to do so and it ended up being virtually the blueprint for much of the Techno and Ambient house music afterwards.

It’s still incredible to hear this piece of music as something that’s not brand new but as a record that’s 28 years old. The length of the record is a sign though. Almost 60 minutes. Only Ricardo Villalobos does that these days :)

I made an edit of the first part which is about 13 minutes and it’s called Ruhige Nervosität or quiet nervousness. It pretty much marks the essence of the music.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Manuel Göttsching – E2-E4 01 Ruhige Nervosität 1982

Recital Romantique
Philippe Jaroussky, contratenor
Jérôme Ducros, piano

captage RTBF – la monnaie, 19 avril 2009

And now for something completely different, a classical intermezzo. If you’re into ‘old’ music like Italian Baroque you probably have heard about this new young virtuoso from France called Philippe Jaroussky. Apparently he likes some adventure from time to time because now he released an album called Opium with colorful French belle époque chansons that some people may find a bit old fashioned or even corny but in the capable hands of Jaroussky it all sounds fresh and well tempered.

He came to Brussels on the 19th of April to promote the album and the Frenchspeaking classical radio made a recording of it and a broadcast.

It’s a cycle of 4 times 5 songs divided by solo piano and a pause in the middle. I recorded the live streaming and edited it into two parts. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This time it’s one mediafire link with the two files in it, or as 2 separate files:

Part 1

Gabriel Dupont: Mandoline 02:20
Ernest Chausson: Le colibri 03:06
Camille Saint-Saëns: Opium 02:30
Reynaldo Hahn: Offrande 02:54
Jules Massenet: Nuit d'espagne 03:14

Cécile Chaminade: Automne – solo piano 05:58

Reynaldo Hahn: A Chloris 03:08
Gabriel Fauré: Automne 02:30
Ernest Chausson: Papillons 01:04
Ernest Chausson: Les heures 03:27
Cécile Chaminade: Sombrero 01:30

Part 2

César Franck: Nocturne 03:24
Reynaldo Hahn: Trois jours de vendange 03:24
Gabriel Fauré: En sourdine 03:00
Guillaume Lekeu: Sur une tombe 04:00
Reynaldo Hahn: Fêtes galantes 01:41

César Franck: Prélude – solo piano 03:36

Gabriel Fauré: Nell 01:28
Ernest Chausson: Le temps des lilas 04:00
Reynaldo Hahn: Quand je fus pris au pavillon 00:57
Cécile Chaminade: Mignonne 02:58

Reynaldo Hahn: L'Heure exquise 02:16

Setting Something Straight / Rectification

Shark Bay Stromatolites

A while back, as you may recall, I made amusing but in some way hurtful remarks about our numerous co-inhabitants of this planet called bacteria. Thanks to Bill Bryson’s bestseller ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ I realized just how much we owe to these nifty little creatures.

In the beginning, in the ancient Archaean world going back as far as 3 billion years, the Earth certainly wouldn’t have suited us. If you were to step from a time machine you would very swiftly scamper back inside, for there was no more oxygen to breathe on the Earth back then than there is on Mars today.
It was also full of noxious acid vapours powerful enough to eat through clothing and blister skin. The chemical stew that was the atmosphere back then would have allowed little sunlight to reach the surface. What little you could see would be illumined only briefly by bright and frequent lightning flashes. In short, it was the Earth, but one we wouldn’t recognize as our own.

Anniversaries were few and far between in this Archaean world. For two billion years bacteria were the only forms of life. They lived, they reproduced, they swarmed, but they didn’t show any particular inclination to move to another, more challenging level of existence but at some point in that first billion years of life, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, learned to tap into a freely and widely available resource called hydrogen and that exists in spectacular abundance in water. They absorbed water molecules, supped on the hydrogen and released the oxygen as waste. In so doing they invented photosynthesis and produced the air we now all breath in.

They laid the foundations for all living things that came after them.

Photosynthesis is ‘undoubtedly the most important single metabolic innovation in the history of life on this planet’ and it was invented by bacteria and not plants.

As cyanobacteria proliferated the world began to fill with oxygen to the consternation of those organisms that found it poisonous, which in those days was all of them. New oxygen-eating organisms had 2 advantages. It’s a more efficient way to produce energy and it vanquished competitors.

So the next time you hear someone say something nasty about bacteria you know what rub them in their face.

Akron Family – They Will Appear, Behold
Circlesquare – Hey You Guys (The Juan MacLean remix edit)
Gillian Welch – Caleb Meyer
Gillian Welch – Whiskey Girl
Kleerup Feat Titiyo – Longing For Lullabies (Joakim Remix) Just awesome… this is what Glass Candy should be doing right now
Moderat (Apparat+Modeselector) – Rusty Nails (original mix)
Philadelphia Grand Jury – Going To The Casino (Tomorrow Night)
School of Seven Bells – Connjur
School of Seven Bells – White Elephant Coat
Sebastien Tellier - Kilometer (Aeroplane italo 84 mix)
Sebastien Tellier – Kilometer (original radio edit)
The Chain – Geo (original mix) for those who didn’t know, the R&S label is back
The Chain – Letting Go (original mix)
The Chap – Ethnic Instrument (joakim remix)
Tiga – Turn The Night On
Wizards of Ooze – Fuzzball

Birthdayboy

I’ve been out en about and abounded this blog for far too long. Shame on me… I’ve been quite occupied spending the greater part of my time working and some spare time partying and catching the first rays of the sun.
But at night I’ve been clubbing to see InFlagranti DJ in Café Capital last weekend and Döpplereffekt play at a music festival in bozar in Brussels which was historic for many reason. The first Belgian gig in their long career and the fact that it was historically… boring. Man, I’ve found a new absolute zero tolerance point of no return for total boredom. 2 dummies doing playback. One could also look at it as some conceptual performance but still it all looks and sounds the same to me. Luckily they had some visuals.
Just before the gig I had a small chat with Stijn. A local pop star deluxe :) he’s a fan of Döpplereffekt and sounds like Döpplereffekt + Sex circa Prince and he was sitting just in front of me on the first row. Turns out that he has ADHD if you ask me. He couldn’t sit still, talking with everybody around him, adding comment to everything. Especially the people passing by. As you might have guessed the Boreffekt was too much for him, so he left.

Another disappointment was The Animal Collective at AB. Nice music on record but not much of a live band. A nice surprise was a guy called Matias Aguayo. He too played at BEMF (Brussels electronic Music Festival). Good thing that I keep this blog ‘cos otherwise I would have forgotten to check him out. That’s what I’m going to do right now.

Since it has been the third birthday of this blog a couple of weeks ago, I should have made the effort of making a special post but thanks, no time. There’s a pretty nifty mix in here somewhere but nah, as almost everytime lately it seems… a random mix of various styles and moods + a nice picture.

Abdel Gadir Salim All-Stars – Bassama
Agoria – Dust
Agoria Feat. Sylvie Marks – Spinach Girl
Arto Lindsay & The Ambitious Lovers - Let's Be Adult A recent favorite from my personnel reissues out of the cassette vault
Asiko Rock Group – Lagos City
Augustus Pablo – Sassava Piece My all-time favorite piece of Dub
AWA Band – Timba (Tiefschwarz Dub)
Bat For Lashes – Daniel
Ben Klock - In A While
Ben Klock Feat. Elif Bicer – OK
Bim Marx – Strong Arms + Love Me Baby Thanks to 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Chaka Khan – Tearin' It Up (Extended vocal mix)
Cécile feat. Dennis Coffey - Una Domenica Italiana
Daniel Merriweather feat. Wale – Change
Danny Howells – September (Future Beat Alliance remix)
Deep Collective – Lies (original mix)
Fever Ray – When I Grow Up
Golden Bug – LookLookLook (InFlagranti mix)
I, CED feat. Coultrain – Love... Meaning As heard on Gilles Peterson Worldwide Show
Joni Haastrup – Greetings
Micachu & The Shapes – Calculator I’m definitely going to see them play live at Les Nuits
Milton Jackson – Backwards Disco (original mix)
Milton Jackson – Ghosts In My Machine (original mix)
Morten Sorenson – Start Something
New Age Steppers – Fade Away
New Age Steppers – Nuclear Zulu
Peter King – African Dialects
Pigeon Funk – Alma Hueco
Roxy Music – Angel Eyes the disco single version and not the album version
Sheila E. & Prince – Love Bizarre (album version - 12 Inch mix)
Sir Shina Peters and His International Stars – Yabis
Tesla Boy – Neon Love
The Jets – Crush On You (12 Inch version) 1986
The Raincoats – No Side to Fall In
Yeah Yeah Yeah's – DullLife From the new album, still puzzling

Dajeur de Malheur à Quelle Heure


No need to look for a link between these files, there isn’t one. Just a random bunch of what I’m listening to right now.

Ian Dury and The Blockheads – In betweenies
Ian Dury and The Blockheads – Jack Shit George

R. Stevie Moore – 96 Tears 1977
R. Stevie Moore – Conflict Of Interest 1978
R. Stevie Moore – Under The Light 1976
R. Stevie Moore – Chantilly Lace 1980

Amadou & Mariam – Ce N'est Pas Bon
Femi Kuti – You Better Ask Yourself

Juan Formel & Los Van Van – A Ver Que Sale
Harvey Averne Barrio Band – Cucaraca Macara
Segun Bucknor & His Revolution – La La La
Danilo Perez – Elegant Dance
Simentera – Raiz

Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Darkest Light
Lafayette Afro Rock Band – Voodounon
Inner Life feat. Jocelyn Brown - Moment Of My Life
Mike Theodore – Moon Trek
The Sylvers – What's It All About
Captain Dax – Dr. Beezar (Soul Frankenstein version)
D'Angelo – I Found My Smile Again

Man Parrish – Boogie Down (Bronx)
Break Machine – Break Dance Party
Paulett & Tanya Winley – Rhymin' and rappin'
The Worlds Famous Supreme Team – Hey DJ
Tyrone Brunson – The Smurf

Baldelli & Dionigi – Dark Flies
Black Devil Disco Club – The Devil In Us (en Français) (Elite Technique Mix)
Hatchback – Carefree Highway
Hatchback – Closer To Forever
Sylvester – I Need Somebody to Love Tonight
Zombie Nation – Automatic Gestalt

Alpha 606 – Ciudad Debajo
Dopplereffekt – Infophysix 1996
Carl Craig – Landcruising

The Juan MacLean – Happy House (Prince Language Dub Mix)
Diskjokke – Staying In
Shadow Dancer – What Is Natural
Dolle Jolle – Balearic Incarnation
Dolle Jolle – Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terjes Extra Døll Mix)
Ratatat – Mirando

Work... Party, Party... Work... Party, Party... No Time For Blog

Any Resemblance To Real-time Action Figures Is Strictly Coincidental.

Yes, I had my fare share of working and partying the last few weeks. Now I’m chilling down at the crib set on a cocoon mode :) During those weeks music kept me company. For proof see down below.

People always ask me what I do for a living. I usually start by saying I’m an Architect. Then I ad that I no longer devote my life to these fine arts and instead decided to go by the name of 'spatial planner' working freelance for a consultancy firm. If for most people being an architect is already something that’s wrapped in veils of mystery, just imagine what they must feel like when they hear the lather.

Of all creatures great and small, bacteria and consultancy firms are probably the most under appreciated.
Bacteria because they accomplish a very useful task, in contrast with their reputation, certainly when it comes down to cleaning up garbage. I’ve been told this numerous times by a friend who’s a civil engineer - and therefore knows practically everything as long it doesn’t involve the arts, literature, philosophy, history or ethics. Another friend, who’s into ‘deep ecology’ even talks about his ‘friends’, the bacteria. Seriously, I find this to be a bit too familiar. Maybe even farfetched but at the same time I have a slight suspicion that this strange expression of love has its limits though, because I get invited to his parties and his ‘friends the bacteria’ don’t. That doesn’t prevent them from showing up though… the party poopers.
Soit, the use of consultancy firms on the other hand is far less obvious to explain to your average Joe six-pack. I honestly think that it would become crystal clear if all of a sudden they would just all vanish into thin air. I understand that it’s kind of difficult to grasp, I know I do, but let it be clear that the benefits of the very existence of consultancy firms has to be astronomical if this already goes beyond the limits of our understanding.

If on the workfloor or the office one speaks about consultancy firms, even in the most broad and general terms – it has been checked, it’s not yet ready – what one aims to address is something that basically, in its most typical form, is plural. It’s THE consultants who are studying hard and long on what you thought was going to be nothing but a rather practical inconvenience. If THE consultants are poppin’ by for a visit it usually means that two or three of them are coming. For the exact nature of this fully voluntary display of multiple personality, there’s a rather lively debate going on among scientists.

A brief, basic observation on my behalf points out that at least one consultant carries a laptop, connects it to a wall socket, a beamer and maybe even to the net and looking professional and ‘deep’ while the others do the talking.
A second one usually is the project manager who gives an introduction, introducing the firm, himself and expressing special devotion to his colleagues (yes, we can do it, we can pull this one). Nowadays these colleagues no longer carry a surname. It’s either John, Michael or just Pete, sometimes even Mary or Jane. This is meant to create a nice cozy, informal atmosphere, just as long one doesn’t ask questions that are too difficult or too critical.
Now, the third one (that's where I come in) usually is an engineer, an architect maybe even an urban planner or (God forbid) a designer. If it’s an engineer that person will very likely be dressed like your next door neighbour when he comes back from the pub after a quick pint with the lads or when he’s been choppin’ wood in the back garden. Hence the limited amount of Mary’s and Jane’s. If it’s an architect, designer or a planner, that person will very likely be dressed in black. A black pair of trousers and a style that would blend in fine in the more fashionable streets of Milan. Topped by a black roll-cover and Colbert jacket. In that jacket there’s a black stylish mobile phone that will give a manifest token of its existence at least once during the meeting whilst churning out chimes produced by a bunch of overactive papoea’s messin’ around with some electronic beats as part of a political correct sustainable experiment in a distant offshore lab.
This architect, planner or designer usually brings a set of plans or sketches along which, he declares, he didn’t produced himself. It’s actually another colleague who did it but who was unfortunately not able to attend the meeting (definitely not in my case, I produce my own stuff). But since he’s hanging around instead of the other, he will be so kind to try to explain them for you if you don’t mind – once, as an attendee, I tried to state that I did mind, just as a folly… big mistake.

If subsequently questions and comments raise conclusive problems or complications for the project to proceed as planned, the standard formulation is that those remarks will be addressed in the most suitable way and if relevant and significant they will lead to the necessary adjustments at the most suitable stage of the process.
Afterwards, as a rule, one never hears anything about them again. Unless, one reminds the consults of this fact again and again and again. Then, usually what follows is a bill with unasked for but nevertheless necessary extra adjustments of the agreed upon fee or the plain notification that the addressed person involved is no longer an active member of the firm.

Of course, the consultants will take in account all reasonable factors implied. After the finalization of the study and the actual realization of the project it will become clear that most factors at stake were not of a knowable kind or anticipatable nature. If drainage is implied this means practically everything that’s situation underneath the surface. If it concerns roads, tunnels and bridges it almost anything that moves. For buildings it’s both.

All of this will be received and accepted with the utmost profound understanding. After all, if the project wasn’t that risky and complex the client surely would have been able to do it himself. And the fact that (the foreseen) problems did occur, even after the intervention and consultation of the consultants, just only shows that assigning them with the project was the only right choice.

Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart I’m pretty anxious to hear the new project of Karin Dreijer from The Knife. A first single.
Luomo – Have You Ever (With Cassy) new Luomo album from last year.
Morgan Geist feat. Jeremy Greenspan – Ruthless City
Daniel Wang – Pistol Oderso
Rodion – Tu Mi Turbi (Extended Club Mix)
Kahana – Michael Forzza A local. I heard he’s makin’ music again
Zombie Nation – Forza (Original) last year’s favorite
Wighnomy & Robag Wruhme – Stekkreflekks Ohne Chill
Codebreaker – First True Love Affair (Jimmy Ross cover)
Loud E – Drums Dutour II
Telepathe – Devils Trident (Rory Philips Remix)
Marvin Gaye – Don't Mess With Mister T from the Trouble Man soundtrack
Mandrill – Fat City Strut
Labelle – Teach Me Tonight
Jennifer Lara – Consider Me
Otis Gayle – I'll be Around
Jerry Jones – Still Water
Jackie Mittoo – Deeper and Deeper
Johnny Osbourne – Sing Jah Stylee
Pivi et les Baladins – Samba
Thione Seck – Mapenda
Latin Playboys – Ten Believers
John Barry – Beat Girl I saw the movie again.
Animal collective – My Girls

Antony and the Johnsons – Another World

Two Turks and one Greek. No this is not the beginning of a lame joke… I’ve seen the Kocani Orkestar play live in my hometown. This is one of their most popular Macedonian songs in the version of… 2 Turks and one Greek

Durmus Çigdem – Siki Siki Baba
Ferdi Tayfur – Siki Siki Baba
Giorgos Xanthiotis – Shiki Shiki Baba

I’ve been digging in our musical pop heritage the last few months. As a couchsurfer travelling around Europe I have the custom to take a gift with me to give to my host. Up until now I used to give chocolates and some typical biscuits but I feel that it’s becoming a bit lame to give Belgian chocolates to an Italian who has really fine chocolate of his own. That’s why I decided to do something else. I’m planning to make a double CD with the best examples of our often underappreciated Belgian pop music. It turns out that this is becoming one hell of a job because I’m discovering so much great old music. Here are some tokens of it. All of them are collector items now.

Los chakachas – Stories
Aroma Di Amore – Gorilla Dans De Samba
Berntholer feat. D. Kotaji – My Suitor
Lavvi Ebbel – Telepathia Telepathia
Luc Van Acker – The Fear In My Heart
Noise Abroad – Vent That Spleen

face on / face off

I have some swell music that I would like to share with you. It took a while to get it on these pages because I had no appropriate words or pictures to go along with it. I had nothing special to tell apart from the fact that for a couple of weeks now I’m an official member of facebook. Yes, I wasn’t planning to, but I surrendered. I didn’t or maybe still don’t see the use of it but I got to many ‘friends’ requests on a such short notice to not be bothered with it. It looked like almost everybody took a facebook account during the Christmas holidays. So did I. partly because I was curious to see what’s it all about.

Now after a test phase it still looks strange to me. I get drawn to it but at the same time it feels totally obnoxious. What’s special about this virtual social network is the fact that it has all kinds of features and applications that you can fondle with, but also that all your friends can see or better read what you’re doing with it and what for comments you leave on other peoples homepage. It really feels like eavesdropping and that’s probably the catch, if you ask me.
One is always curious what other people, especially your friends or those who you especially favor (if you know what I mean) are doing, thinking and feeling but at the same time I can’t be bothered with it all the time or with everybody’s ‘signs of life’.

Anyway, I don’t want to spend too much time on it in order to have some time left for other social networks :) like MySpace for instance. I don’t use MySpace to often and certainly not for social networking but as a tool to find new music. To great effect. I made quite a few discoveries. Some of them made it into the spotlight by now but others didn’t (yet).
Like The Rayees for instance or maybe this UK band: The Invisible. I found a couple of articles about this band and their homepage of course. An interesting project which features Leo Taylor who also played drums in Gramme and worked together with Zongamin and Matthew Herbert. No further explanation needed.
The Diaphanoids are a Dutch duo that favor a more relaxed and psychedelic version of italo and electro.
Liron van Daalen is a veteran in the Dutch electronic scene and now he operates under the name of Kabale Und Liebe, beautifully named after a play by Friedrich Schiller (the one from Ode an Die Freude). Richie Hawtin and Magda are fans. If you listen to Childs Play you'll know why.
I’m following Shearwater for a while now and they get better with each new record.
Jerome Brailey is a former P-funk aficionado from who fell from the Mother Ship and kicked back in great style.

The Invisible – London Girl
Kabale Und Liebe – Childs Play (original mix)
The Diaphanoids – Lost In My Room
Glossy – Burning Love
Chateau Flight – La Roquette
THP – Who Do You Love
Jerome Brailey And Mutiny – What More Can I Say
Jerome Brailey And Mutiny – Lump
Sandi & Matues – The World
Moutchatcha – San Wo San
Shearwater – Rooks

Barbiejew



I’m always curious to find out what drives these people, what makes them tick. Especially the last few days.

You’re probably wondering, what’s with the Barbie’s? Barbie-Q’s, Barbie-cues,… what’s next?
My big sis’ used to have a Barbie set and I admit, I used to play with those dolls as a kid. A boy playing with a Barbie doll? I know, not very manly but I can ad in my defense that the only thing it did with them was… burn them :)

A shrink can probably give a good explanation what It all means and through the internet and youtube I found out that I 'm not the only boy who liked or likes to burn Barbie’s or any other stuff for that matter.
If one told them that they were actually playing with a Barbie doll they would very likely look at you in utter disbelief, trying to explain that they actually don’t like them, maybe even hate them and would not agree then, but nevertheless. It’s still a kind of play.

At least that’s the way my mind works and my philosophy. If you try to get away from something very badly, you’ll end up next to it. If one tries to get rid of somethin’ or dislikes somethin’ by anxiously doing the opposite you will ultimately end up doing the thing you dislike.
It’s the same with love. The opposite of love is not hate. Don’t be silly. They’re both a form of dedication. Total indifference is the opposite of caring love or hate, whatever.

So maybe all this diverging dislikes and contempt are a good sign? Or maybe that’s what’s so strikingly bold and extremely vulgar about the indifference of the outside world to current dramatic affairs.

2009 2009 2009 2009 2009

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Studio Apartment feat. Ron Carroll – I'm In Love (Rasmus Faber epic instrumental)
The Sunburst Band – Journey To The Sun (Dennis Ferrer remix)
Tele Music – Disco Free (Faze Action edit)
Ane Brun – Headphone Silence (Henrik Schwarz remix - DF Noizy edit)
Patti Smith – Frederick
Sandii & The Sunsetz – Living On The Front Line
Parenthetical Girls – A Song For Ellie Greenwich

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – War

The Daktaris – Eltsuhg Ibal Lasiti
Brass Construction – Ha Cha Cha

Down-home New Year Special
Two Man Sound – Capital Tropical
Max Berlin – Worldwide Party
Nico Gomez & His Afro Percussion Inc. – Ritual
Nico Gomez & His Afro Percussion Inc. – Baila Chibiquiban

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, flemish movie directors are like flandriens, our local cyclists. They’re both great at dealing with short term action, be it a short movie or one day rides around the local pub or one day cycle classics like Paris-Roubaix. The problem with them is dealing with long term action like a full feature movie or the Tour de France.

Sure they can win one or two flat trips, but that’s not the same as arriving in the mayo jaune in Paris or strollin' on the red carpet in Cannes like our French speaking brothers and sisters on the Southside do well.

Bloody Merry Olives X'mas Coral


Talking ‘bout the Southside. For me last year’s revelation and talk of the town was Aeroplane. They produced as set of great originals and remixes and they were resident DJ’s at my favourite club. Now they’re off conquering the world and the Make-Up Club switched over to some Japanese juvenile delinquent’s favorite soda pop bubblegum on acid. Or maybe it’s just that I’m getting to old for clubs.

They made a great mix for Residentadvisor but I noticed that it’s currently not available so I uploaded it.

Residentadvisor RA.114 – Aeroplane Podcast

Tracklist
01. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal - Bella Union / 02. Quixote Feat. Lisa Li-Lund - Before I Started to Dance (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) - Versatile / 03. They Came From The Stars I Saw Them - Moon Song (Holy Ghost! Remix) - This Is Not An Exit / 04. The Shortwave Set - Now Til 69 (Aeroplane Remix) - Wall Of Sound / 05. Dolle Jolle - Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje Mix) - Permanent Vacation / 06. Eine Klein Nacht Muzik - La Serenissima - Modular Recordings / 07. David Rubato - Circuit (Aeroplane Remix) - Institubes / 08. Eddy Meets Yannah - Solid Ground (Crazy P Remix) - Solid Ground / 09. Toby Tobias - The Feeling (John Daly Remix) - Rekids / 10. Mugwump - Yajna - Disco 45/Kompakt / 11. Bostro Pesopeo - Communquis - Permanent Vacation / 12. Maelstrom - Enter The Cosmo (Sankt Goran & Erik Sidung Remix) - Solar Disco

One thing I learned from their sets is a great remake by Riton or Eine kleine Nacht Musik of La Serenissima from Rondò Venziana. They played it almost on every occasion. They must really love that edit and they’re right. I already liked the original and a DNA remix from 1990 but what Riton did with it is just fabulous. Extra strings and bass and some heavenly catchy vocals that work up to a climax. Great electro acoustics just like all the other tracks on his Nacht Musik album.

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik – La Serenissima original mix
Eine Kleine Nacht Musik – Phantasie original mix
Eine Kleine Nacht Musik – Bardolator original mix

Glass Candy – The Beat's Alive
Grace Jones – Williams' Blood (Aeroplane remix)
Chicken Lips – He Not In original mix
Rodion – Luna Dark Extended Original Mix
Harmonic 313 – Problem 1

Fairmont – I Need Medicine original mix

Dolle Jolle – Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje’s extra doll mix)
Goldfrapp – Happiness (Metronomy remix feat. The Teenagers)

Le Corps Mince De Françoise – Ray-Ban Glasses (acoustic)
Le Corps Mince De Françoise – Ray-Ban Glasses (Les Gillettes remix)

The Man

Jo Crepain 1950-2008

Last Saturday a man who’s dear and precious to me pasted away much too soon. The architect for whom I worked for years and who became a kind of father figure for many, died from cancer.

I knew he was very ill but it’s still a shock to receive such a news. It’s a big cliché but oh so true that if someone close to you dies you start to give it more of a thought. It simply affects you more.
As much as I appreciate his work, what I will remember and cherish the most was the man himself. His personality and charm, his wit and restless energy.

He did not like to go with a big scream but rather quiet and I’m quite sure he would not have wanted us to mourn to long and instead remember the fun times.

As a tribute a farewell song to lower the curtains and after that the only thing that will rest is his voice as it whispers through his buildings.

Tindersticks – Closing Titles [Trouble Every Day OST 2002]

Last call for planet Earth (featuring Jo Crepain)

TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM

Jeez, I love tomatoes. I wish I was in Spain right now for some juicy tomatoes, tomato soup, pan con tomat... whatever. The ones over here are ok but not as tasty as the ones down south.
There are more people who love tomatoes. Tomatito for instance. One of the greatest Flamenco guitar players. His name means ‘small tomato’. His father’s artist name was Tomate and his daughters have a group called… Las Ketchup (yes, from the Ketchup song). Yes it runs all red in the family.

Tomatito – Manduka
Tomatito – Al Mariyya

Pettie Bass

It’s the dark cold days before X-mas. I’m a person who really needs a bit of sun to feel happy or at least at ease but right now the sun is as easy to find as easy bank loans and safe shares.
I usually don’t feel very happy then but the last days were pretty awful. Worse than usual. I was very uncomfortable, feeling totally empty, discouraged and dispirited. A broken man.
That’s why I took a day off from work (no mail, no telephone,…) just to relax, to give myself a treat and get back in shape. Catch some extra sleep, drink a awful lot of healthy tasty fruit shakes (like for instance mint+coconut milk+limes+honey), do some sports (went to a new fitness gym for free) and to finish things off, a relaxing chilling stay in a sauna, a hot tub of water and a nice meal. No massage, that would have been too much of the good stuff.

Now I feel all fresh again… tired though, but happily tired. A bit high even or is that the wine I drank? So how do we celebrate this renovation? With music off course.

Triggerfinger – Soon (acoustic studio versio '08) The second track that I post from Triggerfinger but they’re getting better and better. I really like this unplugged version of one of the best son gs on their last album. It took me a while to get this.
Larkin Grimm – Ride That Cyclone This album is really somethin’. I would/could post every single track because they’re all great but that’s against my principles or maybe just one track at the time :)
Emiliana Torrini – Jungle Drum
Eagles of Death Metal – I Wannabe in LA Don’t we all? Talking about LA. Lykke Li & Bon Iver doing 'Dance Dance Dance' in LA

The Sedan Vault – Unidentified Flying Subjects A local Mars Volta rip-off but still a nice tune
David Byrne and Brian Eno – Strange Overtones After 30 years back on track just like in the good old days. This is a free sample from a new album
Eero Johannes – We Could Be Skweeeroes a recent e-music pick and a quite good one
DJ Mehdi – Pocket Piano (Joachim remix) The best remix so far
Hudson Mohawke – Overnight I think/hope that this guy is going to be next year’s revelation. I picked this up from bleep and it’s truly awesome… promising, can’t wait to hear more where this is coming from
Hudson Mohawke – Polkadot Blues
Loco Dice – Carthago
John Tejada – Raindrops (Original Mix) a new Tejada album is always great news
John Tejada – Turning Point (Original Mix)
Butch – Amelie
Lützenkirchen – All That Jazz (popof remix 01) I’m probably going to see this guy spin at Petrol this weekend. I’m quite curious after hearing that final Berlin party anthem 3 Tage Wach.

Mary Jane Girls – All Night Long A bad habit I know but I can’t let this pass without mixing in some black funk and disco
Rene & Angela – I'll Be Good All-time favourite killer groove, second entry on these pages but a better rip this time (from CD).
Rick James – Ghetto Life one of his best and grooviest songs

I watched this a dozen times by now and I still find this to be hillariously cute



ahaha charlie bit me
ahahah ohohoho ouch!
ouch!!!
ouch Charilie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooouchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Charlie!
That really hurt!!!!!
(charlie) hahahahahahahahaghhhh hhhhhh
charlie bit me!
And it reeeeeeeeeeeeally hurt
(charlie) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
charlie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Memo,

Bettie Page

1923/2008

Nightmoves In Mysterious Ways

Well what can I say? Grace Jones is coming to Brussels in March for a live gig in a small venue. Tickets are costly and above average for the AB (50 euros) so I thought... I could buy me some time, but nope. The show was sold out in just 6 days! Fat chance. It’s the second time I miss one of her shows and it’s quite possible that Sly&Robbie are joining her for what will probably be a very memorable concert. Now I have to look if she’s playing somewhere else within a 300km range from my frontdoor.

If it may be a comfort, I saw a nice small set on Saturday by Zeitgeist from Sweden. They’re usually compaired with the Knife but they’re not that gloomy, introvert and dark. Rather hedonistic and extrovert. They had a very simple but oh so effective lightshow and lots of costumes. Afterwards a DJ from Kitsune took over. Nightmoves made a couple of great remixes on the label but he turns out to be great funky DJ as well. Just check the set he made for Sweeney’s Beatsinspace.

Zeigeist - Wrecked Metal


Some of the good stuff that Saint Nicolas gave to the merry children this weekend got stuck in the chimney and fell down just now. It’s all brand new apart from the Stina Nordenstam track.

Vic Chesnutt – The Mad Passion of the Stoic

Larkin Grimm – Parplar
Cats In Paris – Cold Products
Cats In Paris – Flamethrowers
Bang on a Arcade Fired Can

Rainbow Arabia – Omar K

Rainbow Arabia – Hear No See No
Rainbow Arabia – The Basta

Rainbow Arabia, a strange but hypnotizing new wave mix of Balkan, Favela & Sufi beats

Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane remix)

MGMT – Of Moons, Birds & Monsters (Holy Ghost Remix)
The Mole – Smiling And Running
Stina Nordenstam – People Are Strange (UNKLE mix)

Nightmoves mix

Tracklist:
1.) Tussle - Comma - Troubleman
2.) Fleetwood Mac - Tusk - WEA
3.) Tullio De Piscopo - Stop Bajon - ZYX
4.) Lindstrom & Solale - Mystery Track - CDR
5.) Rodion - Fisico - Gomma
6.) Johnny Wakelin - In Zaire - Pye
7.) Methusalem - Zombie - Supersound
8.) Bjohn Torske - God Kveld - Smalltown Supersound
9.) Daniel Wang - Echo By Midnight - Basenotic
10.) Antena - On The Boat (Disco Devils Rubber Room Mix) - Permanent Vacation
11.) Force Of Nature - Unstoppable (Broken Rule Remix) - Headinghome
12.) Faze Action - Stratus Energy (Special Disco Mix)
13.) Dinosaur - Kiss Me Again (Serge Sangtiago Re-Edit) - CDR
14.) Shocking Pinks - Smokescreen (Glimmers Edit) - DFA
15.) The Chap - Baby I'm Hurt'n' - Lo Recordings
16.) Lopazz - Gimme Gimme - Get Physical
17.) Argy - Love Dose (Luciano Remix) (Prins Thomas Re-Edit) - CDR
18.) Lee Douglas - Our Song - Rong
19.) Hatchback - White diamond (Prins Thomas Remix) - Thisisnotanexit

Burned Barbie-Qutie


Just look what Santa’s competitor Saint Nicolas brought with him all the way from Spain. I received a load of very charming, adventurous, weird and slightly burned but otherwise wonderful stuff, ready to be shared. It’s been a good year music wise (has there ever been a bad one?). But first of all… a golden Detroit oldie. Still looking for a hardcopy of this oldskool techno classic. Maybe Santa brings one over from The States?

Reel By Real – Surkit 1990 (Peacefrog)

One can find compilations these days collecting music on the most bizarre topics. Take for instance ‘Tea’ or the art of making tea. Teaism is a release on Static Caravan and features at least one outstanding killertrack by Cornel Wilczek, aka Qua, from Melbourne Australia. According to Wikipedia Lapsang Souchong is: a type of xxxtra-strong (and gross) black tea which is meant to taste ‘similar to the smell of a campfire or of Latakia pipe tobacco’ or whatever.

This is what Qua wrote himself about it: ‘This song was inspired by an unexpected finding when experimenting with ice teas. While chilling many different teas, one of my favourite hot teas, Lapsang Souchong, took on a whole new taste when served cold. It has energy and sense of mature fun. I wrote this song for her’.
After hearing the track I’m seriously considering to give it a try. After my trip to Italy I got hooked on Coffee again so I wanna switch back to tea.

Qua – Lapsang Souchong (iced tea mix)
DJ Mehdi – Pocket Piano (Brodinski remix)
Morgan Geist – Detroit (C2 remix 1)
Owusu Hannibal – Delirium 12” (Morgan Geist unreleased dub)
Final Fantasy – Cockatrice
Fyoelk – Kelly
Harley – From Paris With Love (rac remix)
Passion Pit – Sleepy Head
Neon Blonde – Crystal Beaches Never Turned Me On
Le Corps Mince de Françoise – Cool and Bored
Micachu & The Shapes – Golden Phone
Micachu & The Shapes – Just in Case
Bat For Lashes – What's A Girl To Do
Terror Bird – Parties Are For Fools
Little Jinder – I Like It Casual

I can hit myself and bang my head against the wall right now or rather climb into the curtains and walk on the ceiling out of pure frustration. Why? I forgot that Dan Curtin was coming to town last night to DJ at Café Capital (which is practically in my backyard). ‘Dan’ who? Well I would direct your question to an appropriate site or page with proper and substantial info but I can’t find one right now. His myspace isn’t that informative and doesn’t do him right according to the role he played in the evolution of electronic dancemusic. So maybe a quick pick of some of his music then.

Dan Curtin – Matter of Sound (Peacefrog) 1995
Dan Curtin – Ride (Peacefrog) 1996
Dan Curtin – Sword Of Orion Dave Angel mix (Sublime) 1998