Music from Belgium

This record highlights Leo Kupper's earliest unique compositions produced during the 1960's when he was ardently seeking out structures distinctly applicable to purely electronic sounds. Leo Kupper was born in Nidrum, Hautes Fagnes (Eastern Belgium) on the 16th of April 1935. He studied musicology at the Liège Conservatory, then became the assistant of Henri Pousseur who, in 1958, had just founded the Apelac Studio in Brussels. Kupper started to work on his first pieces there, but he would final…

Excellent free improvisation from the quartet of Els Vandeweyer (vibraphone), Fred Van Hove (piano / accordion), Paul Lovens (percussion), Martin Blume (percussion) recording at Kunstencentrum BELGIE & Cultuurplatform Motives for Jazz.

Eleven new & previously unreleased songs from BeNe GeSSeRiT, the cult Belgian minimal synth duo of Alain Neffe (various instruments including synth, beats, loops, strings…) and Nadine Bal (vocals). Alain started his Insane Music imprint back in 1981, he is a key figure of the European cassette culture and has been making some of the most creative and cross-boundary music since the early 80’s, also with other numerous projects like Pseudo Code, Human Flesh and more recently, his and Nadine’s duo …

Aviformes; Kamana; Parcours pour Santur; Paroles sur Lèvres; Paroles sur Langue; Lumière sans Ombre. Barbara Zanichelli, soprano; Anna Maria Kieffer, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Isherwood, bass. Leo Kupper was born in Belgium in 1935. He worked with Henri Pousseur at the first electronic music studio in Belgium and is founder and director of the Studio de Recherches et de Structurations Electroniques Auditives in Brussels. This is his 3rd release on Pogus and he remains a master at working with elec…

Very cool compilation of unreleased BeNe GeSSeRiT tracks. The husband & wife duo of Alain Neffe & Nadine Bal counted as one of the most frivolous & quite impressive live acts around during the eighties. On top of a catchy but minimal synth basis created by B GHoLa (Alain Neffe) runs the strange, & playfull voice by BeNeDiCT G (Nadine Ball). This is minimal synth pop for the crazy ones among us, but aren't we all a bit mad? Limited edition of 400 copies. Cover sleeve & insert by B GHoLa

Cien Fuegos presents live recordings circa 1970 Berlin from the legendary free music duo of German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Fred Van Hove. Instrumentation: Peter Brötzmann (tenor saxophone), Fred Van Hove (piano), Han Bennink (drums, gachi, shell, voice). Recording: Recorded by Wolfgang Bukatz on August 17th, 1970 in Berlin. Supervision by Hans-Dieter Frankenberg. Produced by Jost Gebers. This album was origi…

Cien Fuegos presents live recordings circa 1975 Berlin from the legendary free music duo of German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist Han Bennink and pianist/accordionist Fred Van Hove. Instrumentation: Peter Brötzmann (clarinets, alto, tenor & bass saxophone, vocals), Fred Van Hove: (piano, accordion), Han Bennink: (drums, cymbals, Schwirrholz, accordion, clarinets, floor, walls, megaphone, etc.). Recorded by Jost Gebers on Sunday afternoon, September 14…

Stunning ghostly new work from Timo Van Luijk, a collaborator with Andrew Chalk and member of In Camera with Christoph Heemann. Aika was originally issued in 2008 with different cover art and this upgraded edition should hopefully bring attention to one of the major European devotional drone recordings of the decade. Indeed, Aika explodes simple notions of ‘drone' with a more musical and instrument-based palette that crosses high Gothic form with a beautifully blurred sense of spatial dynamics -…

A sumptuous 5-CD box-set covering the entire discography of the cult Absolute Body Control band. Influenced by bands from the German and UK electronic scene, Dirk Ivens (synths & voice) formed the band early 1980, and was joined by Mark de Jonghe (synths) and Veerle de Schepper (backing vocals). After a first track on a compilation and a first 7" single (Is there an exit?), Mark leaves the band and Eric van Wonterghem (who was in fact a spectator at the first ABC concert), filled in the gap…

Another gem from Metaphon label: a reviously unreleased recordings by this highly underrated Belgian electronic music pioneer. A selection of concrete, electronic and experimental instrumental works spanning over a period of 40 years, housed in a terrific Hardboard linen LP box contains 3 LP's and a 20 page booklet with extensive background, notes (in Dutch, French and English) and photos from A.S. Edition of 200 copies onlyArsène Souffriau (born Brussels 1926) is a cornerstone of the first …

New Ignatz cd out now on Staalplaat ´Mort Aux Vaches´ series. Live session at Berry Kamer´s Dwars program at VPRO. KRAAK is working on a new Ignatz lp as well, compiling the best tracks of his cassette releases. Will be released after summer...On Friday Ignatz plays at the Kinky Star in Ghent. On May 22nd his new band Beautiful Band plays at the RTT in Brussels with The Psychic Paramount and Das Os. ´Beautiful Band [Laurent of Rot (guitars), Bram Devens of Ignatz (vocals & guitars), Paul Labrequ…

The first book which deals in depth with the school of American repetitive music, better known as minimal music. The author discusses in detail the work of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass and places them in the tradition of Western music. Minimal music thus emerges as the latest stage in a development leading from Schoenberg, Webem, Stockhausen and Cage.Considering the philosophical thinking of Deleuze and Lyotard, the representatives of the so-called French 'libidinal …

These sample-based constructions incorporated sounds from free-jazz, new electronic-generated sounds, classical modernism & vintage geographical recordings. Discordant segments of wailing, top-end violins give way to clunking rhythmic passages of metal marimbas & tuned percussion; free-roaming passages of rasping, low-end bass & the shuffle of free-jazz recall the work of Prestige-era Moondog, as well as aspects of Harry Partch's instrumentation via mid- to latter-day period Tom Waits. Atonal am…

Rhythm Section is an occasional duo of Peter Jacquemyn and Tatsuya Nakatani who toured in the spring of 2007 in Europe. In Belgium they have been accompanied by Fred Van Hove on piano and accordion. '... The strong-minded participants in this event are not bound to let his happen, though. A thousand megawatts bassist and a percussionist of the same calibre will not let themselves be pushed to the background. They demand their role at the forefront, by making a hell of a racket for instance, espe…

LP version. III projects the atmosphere of Jack London and The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog onto a modern world ruled by technology. Devens brings us the most genuine melancholy contemporary pop music has seen since quite some time. This album leaves the underground scenery that is troubled by trends so often far behind and just shows us the pure essence of what Music has to be: raw emotions put to sound. With his third full album Bram Devens has once again amazed us with a masterpiece. In his usual …

This double CD with 44 (!) tracks is a welcome re-release of this essential compilation which was initially released on Tarantulla Productions. A must-have for wave / minimal / electro fans! New artwork.

After releases on Kraak and Imvated (or Bread and Animals, Dutch Beer, Cauliflower Dreams or whatever Lieven decides to call it) Ignatz put out this rand new release on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. Dense clouds of chirping crickets and tangled birdsong are woven into thick sonic brambles, a swirling confusional knot of sound, a bit like Sunroof! occurring in nature, while underneath a strange melodic tapping drifts and a moaned vocal floats ominously. Pulsing bagpipe like guitars intertwine with ha…

This CD is pure aural pleasure. The Santur sounds (something) like a Chinese chen (or perhaps a Korean Kay-a-gum), but it has (a bit) more body. Kupper composes with high merit, leading the listener on a trek that won't soon be forgotten. You must be focussed on LISTENING, or you'll religate it (incorrectly) to the "background" stack...Leo Kupper was born in Belgium in 1935. He worked with He…

The debut of ignatz is still fresh in your memory, and he's already there with the follow up. On ignatz II, he continues his road through the Appalachians in the year 2050. Stunning rootsfolk, but played by a lost and unworldly creature. 'II' still has that familiar ignatz sound we love so much, with the difference that on one of the six tracks he doesn't use any effects. He even mumbles more clearly and explores his own musical world more thoroughly. If Lou Reed would have fertilized Cthulhu in…

'Growing up on a diet of '90s lo-fi, old blues and the Smithsonian Antology Of Folk Devens calls himself a lo-fi fascist. When he was just 15 years old he used to unroll old cassettes, rumple the tape and roll it back on. While recording he kicked his four-track to experiment with the wow-and-flutter effect or he just layed down his tapes in the pouring rain.And like a mouse always finds the way to the cheese, Ignatz stayed true to his roots. He wraps up his folkish guitar music in a cloud of ef…