Various ‎Artists – "Mad In Belgium 1" (Mad Tapes & Records) 1985

They're all mad in Belgium y'know?
And to prove it,here's the compilation cassette of the same name that came free with the magazine of the same name....in Belgium. Featuring,of course, a load of Belgian bands from 1985.
This copy has its chewed up moments, but most of it is perfectly playable;in fact the chewed up bits add to its undoubtable mystique.

DOWNLOAD this madness HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Close Circuit Connection" (Minimal Maximal ‎– MM004) 2011

That should be the end of all the Belgian posts you would think?
No,no, nooooo....there's more, lots more!??
If you can stand it, here's some more Belgian New Beat compilations. This one spans the years 1982-86, and is choc-a-bloc with lots of hard electronics from the pre-EBM era, by quite a few of the guilty parties who invented said medium.

Tracklisting:

A1 –Insekt - Subway89
A2 –Parade Ground - Entertain Me
A3 –à;GRUMH... - S-B
A4 –Vita Noctis - My Favorite Waste Of Time
A5 –Suicide Commando - Batman's Crime
A6 –A Split-Second - Hunger V2
B1 –The Klinik - Belfast
B2 –The Arch - Do It On Friday
B3 –Luc Van Acker - When The Good Turns To Bad
B4 –Liquid G. - Regression
B5 –The Neon Judgement - Sweet Revenge (Live)

DOWNLOAD by internet connection HERE!

Vita Noctis ‎– "Much Money Good Boy No Money Good-Bye" ( Camera Obscura ‎– K012) 1985

What was that?!....a sense of humour on open display????...laugh laugh cuckle chuckle.....several black stars on the Goth naughty list for these ,usually, suitably miserable Belgians.
Amusing,tee-hee-Hee, but socially accurate title aside.Vita Noctis deliver the same acoustically, and emotionally, dead dark wave as featured on their debut cassette from the previous year. I say acoustically dead, but I do sense a touch of amp spring reverb on the vocals this time around. It still sounds like the same entry level drum machine, which the concensus of opinion suggests to be a Boss Dr.Rhythm DR110(?)......a fine piece of equipment that sounds like a drum machine instead of trying to emulate a real drum kit(turns out it was a TR808 after all!). Of course, later this same year entry level Digital models started penetrating the basement level of bedroom musicians everywhere, and electronic instruments started to try and sound like the stuff they were designed to replace. A keyboard sounding like a crap trumpet is not my idea of technological advancement.Why not just get a trumpet, and have your synth sound like a synth?.....which of course we now do in the 21st century.

Tracklisting:

A1 Hade
A2 These Lies
A3 On A Day Like This
A4 Once In A Lifetime
B1 The Last Delay
B2 Against The Rule
B3 Expose
B4 New Image
B5 Execution

DOWNLOAD only if you have no money HERE!

Vita Noctis ‎– "In The Face Of ... Death" (Vita Noctis Self-released) 1984

Classic bedroom Dark Wave from Belgium on the cusp of 1985.
That drum machine is a classic sound that will live forever.
I'll hazard a guess at it being a later version of a boss Dr Rhythm;the one that came with its own padded silver case.At least, I hopeit is, but i suspect its just a TR808.
It says,'Recorded at the Noctis studio with 2amps and a cassettedeck'......in other words in the Noctis/Kips brothers bedroom, with girlfriend Martine reporting for duty.

The total lack of reverb, echo or any ambiance at all is impressive to say the least.All wet noise absorbed by the duvets and soft furnishings.The vocals,delivered in a strong Belgian accent, sound at times as if some drunk demon is on lead vocals, enunciating the slurred words backwards, like some hidden message on a Queen album.At times it even sounds like they had forgotten their lines but couldn't be arsed to do it again.....my kind of stuff.

This is the sound of acoustically dead teenage depression from the Belgian suburbs......wouldn't you be depressed too?

Tracklisting:

A1 Intro
A2 Pitch-Dark
A3 Introductary Works
A4 Hade
B1 Civilisation
B2 Hearing Noises
B3 These Lies
B4 Cleaning Day

DOWNLOAD teens in the face of death HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Climax Productions Presents...." (Climax Productions ‎– CB 101) 1986

The inevitable vinyl follow up to the original "Climax Productions" cassette, starts off brilliantly with four classic examples of proto Belgian Electronic Body Music. Then it gets a bit 'Experimental',and then sails uncomfortably close to the kind of naff euro-disco that we anglo-saxons tend to laugh at.
However, this is still a fine minimal synth compilation from the pre-Acid House era.The bad euro-pop only serves to make the good stuff sound better.In this iTunes generation ,bad tunes too often get removed from the running order on your iPhones.Thats like deleting ying and leaving us with only Yang, or editing History to make dictators look like fine upstanding do-gooders.We need the 'bad' to know what 'good' is....then we still probably woudn't know!
Todays challenge is : to Define 'Evil' in ten words of three sylables or less....then Define musical 'Evil' in two. Nouns ARE accepted. (I'll accept Red-Hot Chilli Peppers as two words...there are exceptions to every rule after all?).

Tracklisting:

A1 –White House White - Jungle Emotions
A2 –Absolute Body Control - Car Fever
A3 –Vita Noctis - She Likes Me
A4 –Schicksal - Body Beat
A5 –Nightmare Reality - The Cage
B1 –Somnambulist - The Seaman's Imagined Fish
B2 –Private Image - The Game
B3 –The French Park - The Turn Of A Card
B4 –Cross Arc - Take This Day Away
B5 –Deliens Roger - Falling Rain
B6 –Private Image - This Belongs To Your Show

DOWNLOAD this anti-climax HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Underground Wave Volume 5" (Walhalla Records ‎– WR011) 2016

Voila! A fifth volume of forgotten Belgian minimal synth from the pre-cambrian waters of electronic pop, unearthed by Walhalla Records for your entertainment.This was from a time,the Eighties, when Technology was our friend not our controller, and didn't spy on our shopping habits, or track our movements.A time when our brains were in our skulls,except when we were on drugs,instead of in a handheld machine that hypnotises our children.Where's Pol Pot when you need him huh?Perhaps thats too extreme?What we need is a form of musical Neo-Luddism to reclaim the job of humanity in the arts Industry? Better still remove Industry out of the arts all together,or even nationalise it all and provide a guaranteed state income?
One thing i am actually proud of from my hometown of Leicester(UK) is the initiation of the Ludditte movement by angry weaver Ned Ludd, when he smashed up two weaving machines in 1779; exactly two hundred years before the automisation of the pop industry began.
Yeah Ok, i am guilty of using technology to 'rob' artists of royalties maybe, but it was technology that provided their work-free lifestyles in the first place.We are helping musicians reclaim the honesty in their vocation by incentivising actually working for a living, like the rest of us,or rejecting the despicable 'music for profit' principle. That's all Ned wanted....an honest days work for an honest days pay. The days of Led Zepplin jetting around like super-rich decadent dandies are well and truly over thanks to the Internet.Major record companies are nearing bankruptcy, and self-releases are now the norm.Exactly what 'Punk Rock' failed to achieve in its short lifetime.Yes kids, technology is a force of Good after all?

Tracklisting:

A1 –7 A Nou - Victims 03:25
A2 –RDP - So You 04:05
A3 –Analysis - Gravity Dance 03:21
A4 –No Unauthorized - J'Attends 03:37
A5 –Nacht Und Nebel - Robot Robot 02:50
A6 –Dead Man Industry - Desorientation In Grey 04:15
B1 –Schicksal - Deceived 03:00
B2 –Unidentified Man - Defaced Places 04:03
B3 –Breast Implosion - Galoppin' Gertie 04:28
B4 –Man Without World - All Nymphs Are Volcanic 04:35
B5 –Vita Noctis - Hymn 03:18
B6 –Kunzysteem - Brighter Than Light 03:22

DOWNLOAD from electronic walhalla HERE!