In a perfect world, scientists would place a chip in my head so that I would instantly receive Erol Alkan's favourite track of the moment without going through the trouble of downloading, buying or going to places where funky shit gets spinned to hear these amazing new tunes. Unfortunately, that isn't the case yet so we still have to plough our way through heaps of shit before actually encountering a real gem. Parties are these to easy our life a little though and luckily there's plenty of those this weekend.


Tomorrow, it's nü-rave time at Petrol in Antwerp because Punks Jump Up are coming over and you better hope they spin that "Disco Wreck" remix they did for Don Cash because it'll set the place on fire. Monica Electronica will be around as well.

Over at Mirano in Brussels, the Dirty Dancing concept shows it is still one of the dominant forces in clubbing because Carl Craig is coming to burn down the house. If you haven't yet seen this guy spin, you best head the fuck over there...

We have though, which is why we are dragging our ass to a paradise which we will refer to as the übertrendy Make-Up Club in Ghent. Innervisions chief Dixon (the deepest of respect for his Body Language compilation) is coming to Belgium again and he'll make your body move to those funky deep housey tunes of his. Residents Fredo & Thang (isn't that the coolest name you've ever heard?) and Stephen are joining in as well. Did we already mention that this is a free party?

It's one of those weekends again when you just can't make a bad choice. You can only regret that you can't see all of them because these are absolute killer line-ups.

we'd like to know kung fu as well

Before Nü-ravers (some say new-rave but please indulge my fondness of the umlaut) Shitdisco hit it big, they hosted free parties in their drummer's flat in Glasgow. These so-called "61" parties would last an entire weekend. In 2005, their first single "Disco Blood/ I know Kung Fu" was released on Fierce Panda and the world outside of Glasgow was able to enjoy Shitdisco's intense sound. Their first album, Kingdom of Fear, was completely in the line of their debut single and a few weeks back, the 12" of "I Know Kung Fu" was released.


On the A-side, the original can be found along with an absolutely destructive remix by Belgian electrorockers Goose. This remix kind of reminds me of "Ravelight", the remix Soulwax made for Robbie Williams's "Lovelight".It also has this kind of slow (well, compared to what's coming...) building up followed by quite a lengthy run-up to a massive explosion. Also note the bleepy noises during the building up which resemble the ones in "Ravelight" very much. And by no means is this a bad thing, au contraire, this remix would cause mayhem on a dancefloor. On the B-side, there's a remix of "OK" by Radioclit and a remix of "Dream of Infinity" by Passions.

Plutôt au dessus qu'en dessous

Het Duitse houselabel Dessous Recordings legt zijn ziel bloot op de nagelnieuwe dubbelaar Dessous' Best Kept Secrets. Het album is een greep uit het seizoen aan 12" en omvat daarenboven een resem exclusieve tracks, hun 'best kept secrets' die paradoxaal genoeg tot nu toe achter slot en grendel werden gehouden.

Bij Dessous zelf omschrijven ze hun sound graag als 'modern House music' en gepaard gaande met hun unieke 'touch' weten ze als geen ander muziek te creëren met maar een doel voor ogen: music that moves your body as well as your soul.

De klinkende namen op het album - uiteraard gewikt en gewogen door labelbaas Steve Bug - doen ons alvast niets anders geloven. Niemand minder dan Charles Webster, Efdemin, Tanzmann, Mr V., Will Saul, Morgan Geist, Anja Schneider en vanzelfsprekend Steve Bug himself hebben hun creativiteit kunnen botvieren op de originele tracks van onder meer Phonique en Alison Marks.

Maar waar het uiteindelijk allemaal om draait - en naar waar de titel Best Kept Secrets werkelijk verwijst - is de tweede CD. Vincenzo Ragone, de - naar eigen zeggen - 'Don of Deephouse, verwerkt naast zijn eigen tracks ook die van ander aanstormend geweld, zoals Simon Flower, Ryo Murakami, Steve Ferrand & Pete Sung tot een warm en soulvol geheel.

Dessous' Best Kept Secrets, bestemd voor zowel de dansvloer als voor 'en dessous de la couverture'.

Contemporary 0.1 & Classics by Luciano

Cadenza Records en Luciano – 2 namen haast synoniem met de hedendaagse minimal/tech-house – komen naar buiten met hun eerste compilatiealbum Cadenza Contemporary 0.1 & Classics. Een dubbelaar die niet alleen de pure essentie van het label weerspiegelt, maar tevens een subtiele knipoog is naar wat in het verschiet ligt en zo alvast mede de toekomst omarmt.

De eerste CD – gemixt door Luciano zelve – omvat Cadenza’s afgelopen releases met daarenboven Luciano’s track Tonerres van het album No Model No Tool dat uitkwam op hun sublabel Cadenza Split Composition.
De ‘minimalguru’ steekt van wal met de kleurvolle housy tracks van respectievelijk Argenis Brito en Digitaline, gevolgd Petre Inspirescu’s psychedelische Racakadoom. De donkere winterslaap wordt dan plots verstoord door het funky trompetgeschal van L delay dat op zijn beurt weer plaats maakt voor Rhadoo’s Woa Ovuls. Stek 7 op het album is opnieuw voor Inspirescu met z’n bleepy Galantar dat op de voet gevolgd wordt door de ‘jungletrack’ Madre Tierra van Alejandro Vivanco. Eindigen doet Luciano in stijl met het diepe, ‘it makes you wanna move’ Fango van Pikayou en zijn eigen experimentele 12” Tonerres.

En de hoogtepunten blijven zich maar opstapelen op de tweede CD. Wat volgt is een overzicht van het repertoire aan wat men bestempelt als ‘classics’; vereeuwigd in de memoires van menig liefhebber van Cadenza’s sound. Woorden schieten tekort om de tracks te typeren, dus zal ik wijselijk de muziek voor zich laten spreken en jullie zelf op ontdekkingsreis sturen doorheen het ‘minimalwoud’.

Het prille begin en het denderende heden, – the beauty and the beast – vastgelegd op een CD.
Contemporary 0.1 & Classics is een mijlpijl voor het label en een must have binnen ieders platencollectie.

faut le faire...

After escaping its maker's clutches in October, it had wandered around the globe. Some say they saw it at Cheops' piramid, probably because it looks like Daft Punk's infamous piramid, whereas others believe they saw it pissing down Will.I.Am's neck. I myself got an angry call cause it was standing in Iraq to see the hanging gardens of Babylon ( history isn't its strong side )but ended up almost getting shot by Americans who took it for a suicide bomber. After that unfortunate event, it decided that its creator wasn't such a bad guy after all and took the first plane home.

Some call it a masterpiece, others (the Iraqis I presume) say it's a poisoned gift from the heathens but we like to refer to it simply as Liss's October mix which was made with pleasure to please people like you and me.

Tracklist:
Kraftwerk – Aerodynamik (Hot Chip rmx)
Cobra Dukes – Leave the light on (Fredo & Thang rmx)
Dirty 30 – Roman steppe
In Flagranti – Nonplusultra (Sex Schon rmx)
Michel de Hey – Compound (Shinedoe rmx)
Alter Ego - Why not (Joakim rmx)
Smith ‘n Hack - Falling stars

You can download it world exclusively here

"Pilooski", I said to the garden-gnome,"do you know Pilooski?"
And he just went like: "..."


The man is playing Ghent's Make-up club tonight (Chris forgot to mention this below), so here's a little intro: Pilooski is from Paris, France and he speaks French. He makes nonchalant, slow, disco-ish, jazz-infected music and particularly likes sprucing up old classics. I've made a top three of his oeuvre for you:

Pilooski - Love is wet
Frank Valli - Beggin' (Pilooski re-edit)
John Miles - Stranger in the city (Pilooski re-edit)

When my pals first heard these tracks, they cummed all over the place, love is wet indeed. And for the record, Pilooski's next record, the Discodeine Ep in colab with Pentile, will be out soon on D-I-R-T-Y records.

Glowstyx with glowsticks

Tons of great parties this weekend: Groovecity, Freeform Five and Pitchtuner at Petrol, Kiki at Café d'Anvers and a free party at Silo with Trish Van Eynde and Mugwump.Nice, innit? We are opting for a different one though...


This Saturday, in an attempt to bring back real rave, a new party concept named Rave Our Souls takes place in the illustrious Muziekodroom in Hasselt. Headlining in the "Old Skool Room" is Glowstyx. Their debut album was released last October on the US-based Cock Rock Disco label and definitely needs checking out if you're into rave. The headliner seems to fit the description of this party perfectly.So, what about the rest of the line-up?

Well, Body to Body resident DJ Dan is spinning too and given his predilection of raw electro, he should be a ball. Furthermore, Goldfox, practically a celeb at parties in this region, will be at the controls next to two promising youngsters from my hometown: Disko Drunkardz. Trust me, their Beatz & Bleepz set is something you want to listen to, which is why you can download it here.

Oh, and if you're into DnB: there's also a DnB room with Remarc, Bong-Ra, Riot, Stykz and MC Doc.

AND they've got gadgets. What more can one ask for?