Everything Comes to An End.


It’s raining gifts . Here’s another set of seasonal goodies. Just anything that I came across in the last weeks and which tickled my fancy.

Andy Palacio – Wátina (I Called Out)
Oscar Sulley – Pleco
Vis-A-Vis – Obi Agye Me Dofo
The late Andy Palacio´s master piece Wátina became in 2007 one of the most critically acclaimed recordings of the year. Palacio died in 2008 but thanks to the international success of Wátina there’s a revival of Garifuna music among new generations, in Belize and around the world.

John Rocca – I Want It To Be Real
John Rocca – I Want It To Be Real (Farley's Hot House Piano)
Incogdo – Simply Just A Ventage
Produced by John Rocca. Mixed by Arthur Baker. Released in 1984. plus Farley Jackmaster Funk's really hot piano remix from 1987.
Derrick May ripped I Want It To Be Real entirely for Simply Just A Ventage under the moniker Incogdo, later banned because of this.

Dez Mona – Carry On
Zita Swoon – I Feel Alive In The City
Vitor Hublot – La p'tite gayole 1986
The Violent Husbands – 2010
Local talent, found in the ongoing quest for my belpoop blog, soon to be public and fully operational.

Icasol – Ongou (Dixon edit)
Joseph Nothing – Underground Café
Klaus Schulze – Frank Herbert 1978
Classic track from " X ".

Ryan Shaw – It Gets Better Ryan Shaw – We Don’t Give Up Now Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings – Ain't No Chimneys In The Projects
Free Daptone Xmas gift.

Bear in Heaven – You Do You / El Perro Del Mar – L Is For Love (Low Motion Disco's additional Love remix demo) / Mario Basanov – Do You Remember (6th Borough Dub) / Mario Basanov – Do You Remember (Downtown Party Network remix) / Sonido Martines feat. FeFe – Elsa remix - Los Destellos

America – Ventura Highway / Monsters Of Folk – Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.) / Liars – Scissor / The New Pornographers – Letter From An Occupant / Gary Burton and Chick Corea – What Game Shall We Play Today / Raffaella Carrà – A far L'amore Comincia Tu

Cindy Mizelle – This Could Be The Night 1984 / 3V – Heart Of The Beat / Touch – Without You (1987) / Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five – Internationally Known (Instrumental)

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=cc05797523f3cb92ab1eab3e9fa335ca673fe92e2bd66750

I don't Like Xmas


I’m a bit late but mediafire was experiencing some difficulties yesterday so I couldn’t upload. What I had in mind was a special Xmas gift.
I’m working on a new blog with an overview of Belgian (pop)music worth listening to, also by others who don’t speak any of the local lingo’s. It’s taking me a lot of time and effort, more than I thought it would take, but in the course of doing so, I’m discovering a lot of interesting music I never heard before.
I prepared a kind of best of compilation by Telex, the 80’s synth-popband with Marc Moulin. If you don’t know them, you can picture them as being something in between the Yellow Magic Orchestra and Sparks but then again something totally original and typically Belgian. It’s hard to describe why. maybe it’s easier the other way round. Listening to Telex can give one an insight in what it’s like to be Belgian.

Enjoy and yes sure, a merry to you too.

01 Moskow Diskow (maxi) –Looking for Saint Tropez 1979
02 Quelque Chose a Dire –Looking for Saint Tropez 1979
03 We Are All Getting Old – Neurovision 1980
04 Face A/B – Neurovision 1980
05 En Route Vers De Nouvelles Aventures – Neurovision 1980
06 Brainwash – Sex/Birds and Bees 1981
07 L'amour Toujours – Wonderful World 1984
08 Raised By Snakes – Wonderful World 1984
09 I Don't Like Music – 1984
10 Rendez-Vous Dans l'Espace – Looney Tunes 1988
11 Z-Moor-Z – Heros Dynamique (razormaid mix) – 1986

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=cc05797523f3cb92ab1eab3e9fa335ca862c91855b67045c
(usual map with separate tracks)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/fi1zngqecd3/TELEX_bestof_belpoop.zip
(a zip file with the tracks and CD covers)

Cherry Blossoms are still far away in November

Akira Ifukube - Nocturne from The Japanese Rhapsody - Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra & Ryusuke Numajiri

A bunch of friends of mine are making plans to go to Japan together next year and I feel tempted to go along but I already made plans to go to Syria around my birthday. The reason they go is Hanami. Each year in March and April they have a festival in Japan called Hanami (花見) which literally translated means ‘looking at flowers’.
The Sakura or Cherry Blossom flowers only for a short while which over time became a symbol for the fragility and the passing of life itself. The peak of this flowering happens every year at a different moment. In this time of year The TV networks devote a large part of the weather forecast predicting the moment of flowering which is a signal for most Japanese people to go outside for a picnic and enjoy the cherry blossoms and oh yes, a large amount of booze as well.
It's suppose to be the best moment to see Japan. I will skip this time and wait for another more appropriate opportunity. I’m really looking forward to go back to Syria.

This piece of music comes from a CD called Japanese Orchestral Favourites which offers a wide variety of western oriented orchestral music from a number of Japanese composers. I especially liked this nocturne which it’s sad folk-song like theme and extensive viola solos.

Aeroplane October Mix
Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions (Maurice Fulton Remix)

I’m still waiting for their debut album but meanwhile Aeroplane has an ongoing series of mixes at http://soundcloud.com/. They started in July. So this is number 4.
The tracklist: 1. Simian Mobile Disco : Cruel Intentions (Maurice Fulton Remix) / 2. Ali Love : Diminishing Returns / 3. Ladyhawke : Magic (Donnie Sloan Dub) / 4. Neurotic Drum Band : Robotic Hypnotic Adventure / 5. Cloned In Vatican : Nina (Road To Cagliari) / 6. Unknown / 7. Golden Filter : Thunderbird (Villa Remix) / 8. Royksopp : This Must Be In (The Bloody Sisters Remix) / 9. Toecutter : Best Party Ever (Jordan Lightyear & Jimmy 2 Sox Remix) / 10. Groove Armada : I Wont Kneel. The Maurice Fulton mix is truly sublime so I’ve put it as a separate track in the map.

Lucio Battisti - Dove Arriva Quel Cespuglio 1976
I heard them plugging this track on local radio. Very clearly a big influence on their style.

Natalie Imbruglia – Want
I’m not really a fan of Imbruglia but I can’t get this song out of my head. It’s the first single of a new album and it’s co-written by Cold Martin. It’s not really a great song, a beat and a dance chorus but it’s catchy as hell. So if you want to know what's buggin’ me lately, don’t ask.

Automat - Droid 1978
Retro Grade - Zoid (12 inch mix)
Early instrumental electronic music from Italy, totally built on synthesized sounds and rhythms, it's in the same rank as contemporary works by Kraftwerk, Morodor and Jean Michel Jarre, whose Oxygene was recorded in the same period and released just a few months before this. Automat was a music collective consisting of Romano Musumarra and Claudio Gizzi with Sound Engineer Luciano Torani. The main track Automat on the A side was made by Claudio Gizzi. The B side with three shorter tracks by Musumarra with sounds programmed by Mario Maggi using the "MCS 70" (Memory Controlled Sythesizer). One of these, Droid, was a leading theme on the brazilian Globo TV.
There are a lot of remakes of this song, mainly old Italian versions like Hypnosis. Zoid is a recent remake by Retro Grade. An album project by Serge Santiago and Tom Neville from the UK aiming to create a modern day take on Italo Disco. Just as on their first single MODA they take inspiration from that period between disco and house - the grey zone where synths were first used with disco and when drum machines were used to keep a track in time.

Alvin Queen - Let Us Go Into The House / Eddie Hinton - Concept World / Jimmy Hall - Here I Am / The Noisettes - Never forget you / The Marvelettes - The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game

A Brand - Mad Love Sweet Love 2009
Arthur Russel - In The Light (re edit)
Dam Funk – Toeachizown
Demarkus Lewis - Do Not Attempt To Dance
Fela Kuti - Je Nwi Temi
Florence and the Machine - You Got the Love (XX remix)
Four Tet - Love Cry
Gabor Szabo - Keep Smiling (re-edit)
Jack Penate - Tonight's Today
Jacob Korn - I Like The Sun (Prins Thomas Diskomiks)
Jaga Jazzist - One Armed Bandit (radio edit)
Led Zeppelin - Ramble On
Loleatta Holloway - Hit and Run (re-edit)
Marcus Miller - Lovin' You
Studio - Lifes A Beach (Todd Terje Beach House mix)
The Phenomenal Handclap Band - 15 To 20 (The Glimmers remix)
Vampire Weekend – Horchata
Wanda - I Must Be Dreamin'

Claude Debussy - Danses sacrées et profanes - Annie Lavoisier, harp & Oxalys / Schubert - Adagio from The String Quintet in C, D956 op.163 - Orpheus Strijkkwartet & Pieter Wispelwey - Channel Classics

>>> http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=cc05797523f3cb92ab1eab3e9fa335ca182287f3ae638b6d

Essa Una Semana Calor


I’ve just spend a superbly hot ridden sun overloaded week in Sevilla. One word: Heatwave. I left Brussels behind with a meager 2 degrees Celsius to find myself a couple hours later getting struck with 36 degrees, in the shade smack in the face :)

Yours truly feels brand new and fully operational with batteries included this time. So time for an update with another full workout.

I’m working on another system for previews and downloads on this site. It seems that the old system doesn’t work anymore or at least not as I want it to. Whenever I try to paste in a name tagged link, the complete layout changes and everything becomes unmanageable.

Instead of separate links, I now just ad one link every month to a map named after that month where all the goodies are collected and updated. This way is also easier for me. It takes less precious time which I now can devote to exploring more music and to written side dishes.

24 Carat black – Poverty's Paradise 1973
Second track from an heavily sampled rare groove classic called Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth. Their only one unfortunately. It’s such a versatile and very diverse record. A concept album. Subject: the state of black life in the ghetto in the seventies. A topic and a musical translation which deserves a proper listening instead of mere groove diggin’.

Telex – I don't like music + Alec Mansion – Trop Triste 1982
There’s a Telex link in here. A local band produced by Dan Lacksman who later reappeared as Leopold Nord et Vous with C’est l’amour which sold millions of copies in France and Belgium. One of my favorite oldies. I can’t remember having seen this video clip back then but it’s a nice one.



Au Revoire Simone – Sad Song / Shadows
One of the great concert I’ve seen recently at Le Bota. It was the fourth time that they came to Brussels and they like coming back. A swell show. They sound way better live than on their records. Sometimes the production sounds rather bleak. None of that with the great sound at Le Botanique.

The Fiery Furnaces – Even In The Rain / 'm Going Away / The End Is Near
Another recent concert at Trix. Second time round. This time there weren’t too many people paying a visit. they have a nice new album. More straightforward. A real piety this time was the fact that they left their piano at home. Instead everything got smothered with heavy distorted guitar which killed the dynamics of the songs.

BLK JKS – Lakeside / Molalatladi
Or The Black Jacks. A new band from South Africa that I’m starting to discover. They’re coming to my hometown in December. Reminds me of TV on The Radio set in an African context.

Kano – Can't hold back (your loving) - extended mix 1981 / Semblance 1985
Maxi B-side.

Marva Whitney – It's My Thing (You Can't Tell Me Who To Sock It To) Pts 1 & 2
JB.

Mockba Music – Mötet 1984
Popular band in Sweden I’ve been told. Boy, would I like to sample this.

Norah Jones – Chasing Pirates
New Norah Jones song. I couldn’t hear the lyrics well at first and thought the main line runs like ‘My mind’s racing from chasing heartaches’ which sounded nice to me but it’s actually about real live action pirates. Besides that. Am I the only person who thinks ‘Miss You’ from The Rolling Stones after hearing this song?

Soma Holiday – Shake Your Molecules (the neutron dance) 1984
Wave classic from Wave Klassix Volume 3. Don’t know much about this band. Reminds me a bit of Siouxie.

Ganzheit – Marvelous / Independence 1986
I learned about this band through Saltyka And His Friends. A strange unknown band from the UK who made their hard edged ebnergetic proto acid house meets electronic body music in the late 80's. It sounds familiar, like Front 242, very industrial.
They never made an album only a couple of maxi’s.Marvelous but especially Independence are my favorite tracks. It’s sounds like EBM but then again it’s so much more. A mesmerizing hybrid.

Monsters Of Folk - The Sandman, The Brakeman And Me
It seems that supergroups are back, at least in the States. First The Gutter Twins, after that Them Crooked Vultures or Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones and now Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes and M. Ward all together in one band.
What does it sound like? 4 of the most well know and versatile representatives of the folk revival working together makes one think about the Traveling Wilburys and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Well, they’re not that great… but that’s of course asking too much, but boy am I glad that when they met while touring they didn’t stick to playing carts to kill time, but made a couple of songs instead. It took them some years to finally lay them down. You can hear well who made which song but the beauty is in the novel combinations. The interplay of instruments, styles and voices. One of my favorite albums this year.

Simian Mobile Disco feat. Beth Ditto – Cruel Intentions
It seems like Beth Ditto is everywhere these days. Sorry for the cheap joke but given her constitution that shouldn’t be too strange.

Rudy – Just Take My Body / White Room 1979
Rudy was the first name of Rudy Trevesi, a multi talented instrumentalist and vocalist from Italy. This solo-effort, released by Polydor in 1979, was produced by Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi with whom he worked extensively throughout his career on projects like the Peter Jacques Band, Macho and Revanche. The album Just take my body was his only solo effort and that makes it somewhat rare and hard to find. The album was recorded in Italy (in Bologna’s Fonoprint Studio's) and mixed in NY (at Power Station). The background vocals were also recorded in NY.
‘White Room’ was a disco remake of the famous Cream song. Jacques Fred Petrus liked the concept of creating disco remakes, as he also put out Macho's I'm a man by the Spencer Davis Group.

Haruomi Hosono – Kinu Kaido (silk road) (1976)
Yukihiro Takahashi – Radioactivist 1980
Two members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra and their early solo output.

Andrea True Connection – Party Line
Anna Domino – Rhythm
Artefact – Mae
Blue Night – Turn Me Loose - My Design
Chic – Open Up
Easy Going – Do It Again 1978
Emora – The Clonius
Fela Kuti vs. Kano – I'm an I.T.T.
Glory – Let's Get Nice 1981
Golden Girls – Too Cute (1988)
Jacob Miller & Trinity – I'm Just A Dread
Jay Reatard – Always Wanting More
Joakim – Ad Me
Lindstrøm and Christabelle – Baby Can't Stop (Aeroplane remix)
Modern English – I Melt With You
Moderne – Switch On Bach
Recht Herzlich – 1000 Lüste
The Heavy – How You Like Me Now (solo remix)
The Jonzun Crew – WeAre The Jonzun Crew
Toby King – Mr. Tuff Stuff
Tomasz Stanko Quintet – Grand Central 2009
Turzi – Bogota
UDM – To Please You

Still more Blah Blah comin'

>>> http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=cc05797523f3cb92ab1eab3e9fa335cacecd7e1b83acc66b

There was something terrible wrong with the last message I posted in september. The entire layout went bazerk and the html code lines multiplied by the dozens.

I'm trying to fix it. Just a test in between to see if this one works properly.

September's Here... End of Summer

It falls hard to keep posting on a regular basis. I’m kind of adopting a new lifestyle which involves spending a week abroad every month and it means I have to cramp my work and social life in the remaining 3 weeks. I just spend a week in Prague and in October I’m going to Sevilla. As a result less time for blogging.

Unfortunately/luckily I fell ill in Prague. I’ve got a damn cold again and I’m doing some time indoors dividing my time between my bed and the sofa so I get bored. A good opportunity to post some of the stuff I’ve been collecting for a proper post.

Whenever I fall ill I kinda get nostalgic and start listening to whatever eighties stuff that I have lying around. Davis Sylvian, Heaven 17 und Neue Deutsche Welle as it appears.
What song is better suited than Sylvian’s September from Secrets Of The Beehive. That classic album always reminds me of September. The end of Summer but not really Autumn yet. The time of Indian Summer. The heat is off but those last rays just won’t let go. The nights get longer and colder. The first signs of winter.
The music is acoustically bright and warm but there’s a glance of doom as cold synthesizer sounds color the black backdrop.

I will try to get more active but I can’t force anything. I just do this for fun and I’ve noticed that I’m coming to the end of my Box upload capacity and Blogger is acting strange when using firefox as I presently do. Time to rethink all of it.


David Sylvian – September
Quantic And His Combo Barbaro - The Dreaming Mind part 1
Al Kent Presents The Million Dollar Orchestra - Get It Boy
Al Kent Presents The Million Dollar Orchestra - Rock Freak Boogie
Ananda Shankar – Dancing Drums
Kalyanji Anandji – Theme From Don (edit) One of my favorite Bollywood movies and the place where the Beastie Boys found there groove.
Andreas Dorau und Die Marinas – Einkauf
Vorgruppe – Verkannt Und Verbissen
Hoffnung & Psyche – Das Auto
Human League – Seconds
Lindbæk & Lindstrøm – Aliens In My Pocket Everything Norsk is still pretty prima to me
Yacht – Summer Song
Little Dragon – Looking Glass
Black Devil Disco Club – With Honey Cream Same obscure guy, brand new tracks.
Kerrier District – Let's Dance And Freak AKA Luke Vibert in a fake Italo and Disco mode
Chateau Flight – Welcome
Sorcerer – Dayglow A new sorcerer album. At first sight no new instant classics but I have to let this one grow on me.
Mid Air – Ease Out (original version)
Jupiter Band – Sarah Love (12 inch)
Mel Carter – Love Test
Home Service – Only Men Fall in Love
Strawberry Switchblade – Michael who walks by night Produced by the some guys who used to have a band of their own called Home Service. They made a couple of nice singles. This is my favorite together with one of the few Switchblade songs I still like.
Bombay Bicycle Club – Always Like This
Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move I’m going to see them play live this Saturday. Reminds me that I have to update my concert agenda
Florence And The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
Florence And The Machine – Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) And ‘deze straffe Madam’ is coming next month to La Botanique in Brussels.
Durutti Column – Duet
Andy Williams – The Impossible Dream I drive a Honda you know…
Burt Ward & The Mothers of Invention – Variant 1 (alternate)
Lisa Papineau – Rene Thomas
23 Skidoo – Language
Jah Division – Heart and Soul Dub
Bis – Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)
Atfunk – Sequence 75
Blackjoy – Mercurian (main mix)
Bottin – No Static
Bottin – Theme From St. Mark 30124
Filipsson & Ulysses – Fluffy Amadeus
Kabbala – Voltan Dance
Kotey Extra Band – Daybreak
Mayer Hawthorne – Maybe So Maybe No
New Look – Everything
Rev. Utah Smith – Two Wings If Sunday mass sermon and prayer around my corner were like this I would surely attend.
Ronda – Folana
Shannon – Sex Shooter Can’t help it, still like this song
Stockholm Monsters – Miss Moonlight
The Diaphanoids – Mermaids Of Lunaris (a Blackjoy Disco mix)
The Time And Space Machine – Children Of The Sun
The Wake – Something Outside
Time Zone – The Wildstyle The backside of a Celluloid maxi single with Jimi Hendrix and a rap by Lightnin Rod about Doriella Du Fontaine.
Village People – Don't Go in the Bushes (Horse Meat Disco edit)

Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=cc05797523f3cb92ab1eab3e9fa335cad46cc3fd1b9653f9

Hot Hot Summer Day

One long period of inactivity went over into another and now it’s the middle of summer. A hot summer day seeking shelter with a cool breeze underneath a full moon.

It’s the first time that I skip a whole month. I spend most of my days outdoors. The remaining time classical music and some books kept me company at home while everybody else went far abroad to seek quiet shelter.

Committing myself to lazy holiday inspired inactivities does not mean that I haven’t paid attention to any music going ‘round. On the contrary really. I scored some great compilations and rare grooves. This time some unmixed gay meat horse disco on Strut, plus the ZE Records Story, Balearica 3 with sounds from the white island and an undiscovered deetour EP that some bloggers put together.

Silvius Leopold Weiss – Allegro from Sonate n° 42 in a, Robert Barto on lute

Guillaume Lekeu – Très Animé, Lent et Très vif from Piano trio in f by Narziss und Goldmund Pianotrio

Léo Delibes – Les Filles de Cadix by Patricia Petitbon soprano + Orchestra of the Opera of Lyon with Yves Abel

Reynaldo Hahn – Mon Bel Inconnu by Susan Graham mezzo-soprano + City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Yves Abel

Ashkhabad – Aisha
Reading about the Arab conquest made me dream about going to Central and Middle Asia next year.

The Dresden Dolls – Coin-Operated Boy

Hong Kong Dong - Yoko Oh No

Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Hard-Boiled Babe (original mix)
Originally a bonustrack for the rerelease of Press Color but I have the original so no need for a rerelease. That’s why I’m glad to find this great track on the new ZE compilation of Strut.

Clark – Rainbow Voodoo
From a nice new Clark album
Clark – Look Into The Heart Now

John Tejada & Arian Leviste – From Empty Words

Altair Nouveau – Dark Energy

Mr. Monday – Daybreak (original mix)

Louis – Pink Footpath (original mix)

The Unknown Cases – Masimbabele
The Unknown Cases were an obscure German electronic duo, very similar to DAF. In 1983, they teamed up with African vocalist Reebop Kwaku Baah and unleashed this mighty track on the world.

Tullio de Piscopo – Stop Bajon (Primavera)

C Brand – Wired For Games

Paul McCartney feat. Stevie Wonder – What's That You're Doing

Karen Young – Deetour

Jasper van't Hof – Hoomba Hoomba (full length version)

Ashley Beedle and Horace Andy – Watch We (Souljazz Orchestra mix)

Panico – El Combo Corazon

Adama Yalomba – M'Bora

Salsoul Orchestra – Seconds (special club version)

Elkin And Nelson – Jibaro

La Rouge – No Tang Sidong

Sympho State – You Know What I Like (original mix)

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