Jandek ‎– "London Residency" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0821) 2017

Happy new Year?????..that's Fake News,but what ain't Fake is the last Jandek Monday of 2018.
What better way than six CDs of Jandek in London to end the worst year politically for the human race since World War2? And maybe an even worse year for our lovely blue planet?
Its only gonna get worse as far as I can see!
The seas are poisoned with micro plastics,during the worst year for the production of greenhouse gases since records began (Incredibly!!!???), making the projected point of no-return in twelve years time looking wildly optimistic! Top that with an oompah loompah in the whitehouse withdrawing from the Paris climate change accord, and Japan resuming commercial whaling, leaving our own extinction a near certainty.Stupid is as Stoopid does,as Stoopid gets whats-a-comin'!
We can't even try to save ourselves because democracy won't allow it!The people have spoken,they want cheap disposable convienience and fuck tomorrow.The idiots in the hi-vis jackets smashing stuff up in Paris and beyond have proved that. "Wot? Green taxes on my diesel fuel???? No way,unless I don't have to pay.Fuck the future,i'm alive today." I know of at least one of these drongos who,one week was protesting in a yellow jacket against feul taxes, then the next week was demonstrating against climate change.....this is a special kind of pure liquid hypocrisy.
That's not to mention the rise of the new incredibly DUMB neo-right,of which the "Gillets Jaune" are very much a part of, which makes "Mien Kampf" look like a reasoned work of well-thought out political philosophy, an insult to the old right.Made up of the detritus of society, moaning about the Romainians next door coming over here and taking our jobs that these lazy morons don't want.
Me?.....I'm gonna have to apply to stay in my own home because of Brexshit,and have my european citizenship revoked....a bit like the intial actions against the Jews in Germany in the 1930s;but at least i don't have to pay for the privilege like EU citizens in the UK will have to do.A different kind of residency to that which Jandek was paid to do in London,but far more incomprehensible!
Lets escape this crap and immerse ourselves in the unpredictable world of 21st century Jandek.On these three nights at Café Oto,we get a jamboree of styles jandeckian;solo acoustic Jandek to funky Jandek, to avant garde Jandek;all assisted by various musicians and, of course, his muse, Sheila, contributing her trademark channeled vocals.Both the Representative and Muse, make the traditional trip around the instrumentation to keep it fresh.Thankfully,he steers clear of the piano,and any neo-classical pretentions on this one.
Lets hope that 2019 sees a resurrection of common sense and decency on our fucked planet,and that Jandek makes a new Studio album......none of this will happen of course.
Tracklisting:

Day One - February 14, 2014
1-1 Trash Man 9:26
1-2 I'm Ready 8:22
1-3 You Ain't Me 7:23
1-4 Who 'Dat 5:56
1-5 Good Night 10:13
1-6 Down South 10:10
2-1 See Ya Later 3:55
2-2 The Devil's Dead 3:01
2-3 You Didn't Respond 4:42
2-4 Mean Anything 3:19
2-5 Chaotic Mind 3:41
2-6 Don't Want Us 3:26
2-7 Down So Low 6:26
2-8 Man On His Back 8:30

Day Two - February 15, 2014
3-1 I Laughed 13:11
3-2 Where's The Cotton 8:10
3-3 I Couldn't Find You 7:06
3-4 Wait A Minute 8:51
3-5 Choctaw Baby 7:18
3-6 The Stars 9:40
4-1 Lost Journey 8:30
4-2 You Told Me 4:03
4-3 Nothing 8:01
4-4 Tell Me 6:27
4-5 Here To Stay 3:33
4-6 Good Madness 2:37
4-7 He Loved Me 2:43
4-8 Twisted Tongue 4:12
4-9 Tripe Tales 4:26
4-10 Vain Thug 6:32

Day Three - February 16, 2014
5-1 The Dark 8:09
5-2 If I Waited Twenty Hours 5:56
5-3 Living With A Cell Phone 4:34
5-4 Downtown Blues 5:52
5-5 Cryin' And Tumblin' 7:48
5-6 Am I Alive 5:18
5-7 Peaches And Cream 2:46
5-8 Vagabond King 4:56
6-1 The Day Of Dread 22:13
6-2 Wall Fall 6:02
6-3 Solitary Sunlight 5:58
6-4 Sad But Over 4:46
6-5 Anyone Else 6:23
6-6 Somebody I'm Not

DOWNLOAD a free uk residency permit HERE!

Stranger Station ‎– "Echoes In Infinity" (Anna Logue Records ‎– ANNA 022.2009) 1981/2009

More maximal than minimal is this bedroom 'experimental' synth exploration by some spotty herbert called Simon Driscoll.
Posthumously released again in 2009, but made, and ignored, originally in 1981.
there was a single, and a track on "Synthetic Romance", but Simon casually slipped into the 'where are they now?' file with consumate ease.
He managed to fill up every space with bubbling and farting analogue synths, alongside some loosely related vocals plonked on top of the electronic foam, like some anemic cherry on the last cake in the packet.
Simon wanted to be either Tangerine Dream or Howard Jones, and ended up sounding like both of their entire back catalogues playing at the same time.Interesting insight into someones dreamworld nonetheless.

Tracklisting:

A1 Two Way Mirror 2:30
A2 Bay Of Pigs 6:32
A3 Minds Of Clay 2:31
A4 Waiting For The Moles 4:29
A5 Not Like Me 7:13
B1 Welcome To The Night 4:15
B2 Choose Now 5:17
B3 Some Of My Brothers 6:15
B4 Strangers 3:38
B5 Minutes To Silence 2:22

DOWNLOAD a stranger from the station HERE!

Those Attractive Magnets ‎– "ElectroMagnetic Pulse (1980-83)" (Dark Entries ‎– DE-005) 2010

'Those Attractive Magnets' were a four piece minimal synth quartet of acne scarred teenagers from Tamworth, Staffordshire. Which is about as far away from anywhere 'cool' as one can get in the United Kingdom. They were like a meatier, less limp-wristed version, of Depeche Mode, and comfortably the best group on the "Synthetic Romance" compilation.
Nothing released in their lifetime (1980-83), apart from one single, so this is a very limited edition posthumous collection put together by the rather good 'Dark Entries' label in the early teenies of the 21st century.

Tracklisting:

A1 Two Way Mirror 2:30
A2 Bay Of Pigs 6:32
A3 Minds Of Clay 2:31
A4 Waiting For The Moles 4:29
A5 Not Like Me 7:13
B1 Welcome To The Night 4:15
B2 Choose Now 5:17
B3 Some Of My Brothers 6:15
B4 Strangers 3:38
B5 Minutes To Silence 2:22

DOWNLOAD some very attractive magnets HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Synthetic Romance" (Ebony Records ‎– EBON 2) 1982

Back in the land of 'Pop' with this very woolworths bargain-bin looking compilation of early eighties UK synth pop.
The notes on the rear of the sleeve are worth a chuckle or two,as if they were written by a businessman who's last foray into the 'pop' market was a Shirley Bassey album.They read as follows:

"Synthetic Romance - for people wanting a collection of modern and futuristic music. The groups are varied, from all parts of the country and all walks of life, with one thing in common - the synthesizer - perhaps the most sophisticated instrument of our century.This album is intended to promote the best new groups performing their own material. It also demonstrates the imagination and foresight of these yet little known musicians. All tracks have been produced by Darryl Johnston for EBONY RECORDS - an independent record company with its own 24 track recording studio - whose aim is to promote new groups."

As I assume you all want 'Modern and Futuristic music' in your record collections, especially using that most 'sophisticated' of instruments, 'The Synthesizer';this array of third division synth -led new wave pop will be right up your alley.
There's a distinct lack of drum machines on this lot, as they emulate the Tubeway Army approach to such things musical, and use an actual drum kit instead of its solid state cousin.This is probably due to the fact that 'Ebony Records (had) its own 24 track recording studio', complete with sound egineer I suggest. Most synth bands had little idea how to mike up a drum kit, which became a dying art towards the end of the eighties.
Ebony Records, understandably switched to heavy metal after this compilation, which wasn't exactly on the pulse of Electronic music in 1982.
I would hardly call the totally unknown bands on this comp 'Synth'in any way, apart from the fact they all had a 'Synth' player in the line up. Basically its all New Wave Power Pop with added Synthesizer to add that missing touch of.....cough!.... 'Sophistication', to the proceedings.
Some people are clueless.....but would you have it any other way? It has a certain degree of charm i guess, as these eleven unknowns bust a gusset to stretch their very limited talents to attain that dream of being number 27 in the top thirty one day.....needless to say no-one here got anywhere near the top 3000 never mind the top 30!?

Tracklisting:

A1 –Jonny Dee - Stargazer 3:48
A2 –The Truth - System Thinking 2:45
A3 –Those Attractive Magnets - Fade Into Silence 4:49
A4 –Stranger Station - Welcome To The Night 3:12
A5 –Roman Holiday - Waste Of Time 4:17
A6 –Liar - Oriental Lady 4:01
B1 –Low Profile - On The Run 3:43
B2 –Factor 10 - Ever Since You Went Away 3:59
B3 –Biofeedback - As Pure As The Cloth 3:19
B4 –The Motifs - Cameras 3:54
B5 –D.H.S.S. - Together 3:27

DOWNLOAD this slightly synthetic romance HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "From Brussels With Love" (Les Disques Du Crépuscule ‎– TWI 007) 1980

They say, 'You either love Brussels or Hate them', like marmite.
They are, of course, referring to the noble sprout rather than the capital of the  European Union.
Its a 50/50 split, not unlike the famous 'will of the British public', when it comes to loving or hating the European Union.A rather nietzchien statement from same pitiful twerps who formed the German national socialist workers party in the 1920's.
The stats on this compilation on Ian Curtis' ex-girlfriend Annik Honoré's(RIP) 'Disques du Crepescule' label, should be rather more clean cut than Brexit.
Showcasing the close ties between Brussels and with Factory records in Britain. Its a mixture of stuff from both labels and a smattering of highbrow artists from Eno's Obscure label.
As this post marks the end of our trip in the Belgian underground, and its flavour is distinctly British, it gives one the opportunity to segue smoothly into some UK synth, that was obvious highly influential to the Belgian scene and beyond. It wasn't just Kraftwerk and Suicide that shaped the near future, infact one of these influetial figures is on this tape,personified in John Foxx.Then of course we have Eno.....so godlike that we only refer to him reverentially by a single word......E Knows y'know, Eno does.
As for Brussels, the vegetable, I love them.....but Bollocks to Brexit.And if you support Brexit then Bollocks to you!
Any right wing post-truth propaganda in the comments section will be no-platformed and deleted, so don't fucking bother.

DOWNLOAD some seasonal vegetables HERE!

Happy Midwinter Festival Kids!

As I can't be fucking arsed to post any music on christmas day this year, especially as in ,not making a xmas themed compilation (there are plenty of those from christmas past HERE!").
Here's a succinct message, as drawn especially for you, by my belov-ed daughter, Nancy.(available for commissions as long as theres money in it).
Abnormal service will be resumed upon the Feast of Stephen, aka Boxing Day.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!?

Jandek ‎– "Hasselt Saturday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0795) 2009

Sorry Christians, but 'Jandek Monday' falls on Christmas Eve this year.And to keep with the recent 'Belgium' theme, this is another performance the representative treated the Belgian people to on November 12th 2005, in Hasselt.
It's all been sent to test your fragile faith, so as a penance,you must listen to the whole of these voice and piano improvisations, twice, to show how much you love Jesus.Or,alternatively, how much Jesus hates.....you.
Like those faux-modern art exhibition pranks, where a bunch of credulous art critics were invited to give their opinion on a bright young artist who,secretly, happened to be a chimpanzee. These keyboard fumblings could also be taken either seriously, or as a joke, and could easily have been made by a Chimp placed in front of a grand piano....vocals included.
These eight 'parts' are more listenable than his instrumental only piano pieces, purely because Sterling treats us to some of his improv poetry as an accompaniment.
See it as an alternative christmas sermon,guaranteed to clear any christmas dinnertable in minutes. Leaving family members quietly sobbing in the corner of a room,or staring blankly at a wall in silence.
Thats my kinda Christmas folks!

Tracklisting:

The Places You Left Me
1 Part One 10:14
2 Part Two 6:44
3 Part Three 7:07
4 Part Four 7:42
5 Part Five 7:59
6 Part Six 7:41
7 Part Seven 7:29
8 Part Eight 10:01

DOWNLOAD some abandonment issues HERE!

Absolute Body Control ‎– "Tapes 81-89" (Sleepless Records Berlin ‎– SRB AWAKE 005)

Well, after Plastic Betrand, lets have something genuinely good from Belgium.
I've posted Absolute Body Controls early tapes before, but these are in CD quality rather than cassette, and includes some bonus tracks and unreleased stuff. Personally I prefer the cassette quality, but I know there are people out there who like the harsh reality of CD fidelity, so heres the CD reissues from 2010.
Classic Belgian minimal synth sound from one of the originators of New Beat/EBM.The weakest CD being the instrumental second tape,"Numbers"(1982), but most all of the rest is almost peerless.

Tracklisting:

Untitled 1981
1-1 Waving Hands 3:28
1-2 Touch Your Skin 3:38
1-3 Baby's On Fire 3:20
1-4 So Obvious 5:01
1-5 Total Control 2:55
1-6 A Broken Dream 3:24
1-7 Do You Feel It Inside? 2:56
1-8 Game For A Laugh 2:02
1-9 Shake 3:15
Bonustracks
1-10 Intro 1:29
1-11 A Better Way 2:51
1-12 Turning Around 3:21
Numbers 1982
2-1 1 3:27
2-2 2 3:34
2-3 3 2:01
2-4 4 3:58
2-5 5 2:35
2-6 6 3:16
2-7 7 4:39
2-8 8 1:04
2-9 9 4:37
2-10 10 3:18
2-11 11 4:48
2-12 12 3:38
2-13 13 3:59
2-14 14 6:08
2-15 15 8:15
2-16 16 5:24
Figures 1983
3-1 The Man I Wanna Be 3:51
3-2 Automatic 1 2:27
3-3 Love At First Sight 2:59
3-4 Melting Away 2:46
3-5 5 Minutes 3:46
3-6 Figures 3:58
3-7 Give Me Your Hands 2:37
3-8 Terminus 3:39
3-9 Automatic 2 4:02
Bonustracks
3-10 Cheree 3:28
3-11 Cover Of A Magazine 2:38
3-12 Did You Do It? 3:29
Live 1984
4-1 So Obvious / Sister Ray 6:00
4-2 Is There An Exit? 4:39
4-3 Radiation 2:58
4-4 I Wasn't There 5:04
4-5 Dance Dance 3:47
4-6 Pictures On The Wall 3:19
4-7 Touch Your Skin 2:46
4-8 Burning Inside 6:18
4-9 So Hard 4:37
4-10 Move Up 4:48
4-11 Wait And See (It Is Just) 3:01
4-12 Dirt 3:41
4-13 Back To Nature 5:37
Tracks 1989
5-1 Slow Action 1:01
5-2 Final Report 2:33
5-3 Faceless 2:46
5-4 Film 1 1:07
5-5 Tanzmusik 1:26
5-6 Lonely This Night 4:00
5-7 Car Fever 3:02
5-8 Film 3 1:14
5-9 B6 1:03
5-10 Do You Feel It Inside? (Remake) 3:46
5-11 Me And My Desire 4:31
5-12 Suffer In Silence 6:11
Bonustracks
5-13 Nightclubbing 3:00
5-14 Switch On 4:18

DOWNLOAD

CD1 HERE!

CD2 HERE!

CD3 HERE!

CD4 HERE!

CD5 HERE!

Plastic Bertrand ‎– "An 1" (RKM ‎– 4B064-60544) 1977

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The Misz ‎– "Eddy Merckz" (Misztapes ‎– 002) 1985

The most famous Belgian of all time.....in Belgium......and nowhere else......is......Eddy Merckz.
For those who don't know, he was a rather successful cyclist.
So naturally there's gonna be at least one Belgian band who are gonna mention him isn't there? Gent band,The Misz, went one further and named a concept album after this last Belgian Hero.
He won the Tour de France a lot, but now Belgians don't win anything.Even the UK wins the Tour de France every year nowadays.Making Eddy Merckz even more legendary.
This album, however, is a quirky minimal synth pop tour of vintage drum machines and whatever cheapo casiotone keyboards they could borrow.There's plenty of experimentation and spontaneity, but somehow the tracks remain coherent without becoming in any way abstract.
Eddy should be proud.

Tracklisting:

A1 The Wave Of Miszbehave
A2 Roll Over Bhopal
A3 Fear
A4 Braba-Son
A5 Eddy, Eddy!
A6 (Za)Stava Home
A7 The Heat
B1 CVC: Out Of Hand
B2 The Salmonella Song
B3 Het Is Geen Werk
B4 Qu'est-Ce Que J'ai Dit???
B5 Verlaine Et La Belle
B6 Of Coincidence

DOWNLOAD a tour de belgium HERE!

Mensen Blaffen ‎– "Verzameld Werk" (OnderStroom Records ‎– OS24) 1984-86/2014)

Ran out of 'Mad in Belgium' comps so, here's a few selected bands from these tapes, starting with Mesen Blaffen. They could have been huge in the UK alternative charts if they sang in English, and were around in 1981.One does tend to admire non-english speaking bands who are content in never breaking the anglo-saxon market, and stick to their mother tongues.Especially in 'Dutch/Flemish' as they will be dooomed to wander the Benelux nations for allll eternity with no escape.....and whats wrong with that?An admirable lack of ambition that we all could learn from and avoid eating ourselves.
Mensen Blaffen played in that disjointed Post-Punk style that got revived by the children of middle aged former post-punkers around the turn of the millenium, like Erase Errata or The Futureheads etc.....except this is from (almost) back in the day. This compilation compiles all the stuff released during their lifetime, 1984-86......Its very good.

DOWNLOAD these life sentence belgian post-punkers HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Mad In Belgium 7" (Mad Tapes & Records) 1988

Mad in Belgium magazine folded after this issue.
It was 1988, and the world had gone Mad by then, dancing like idiots on a cocktail of mind numbing medication.30 years on, and if anything, things have got worse;not just in music, but things in general.Mainly because we're facing almost an inevitable mass extinction event rather than just facing the horror of shite music.Music is already extinct.....and it started in 1988.
I don't blame mad in Belgium, I blame mad-chester....the zenith of awful.

Tracklisting:

A1 –Ninove - Kanu Leke
A2 –Catherine Jonio - Rien De Chinois
A3 –Lollek & Bollek - Animal
A4 –Saxioma - Centrifuga
A5 –Bambix - Dicked Woman
B1 –Fermentation Spontanée - Jimmy TV
B2 –Adult Fantasies - Fresh Kills
B3 –The Arch - The Myth
B4 –The Jones - Headachedays
B5 –Spermbirds - My Brother

DOWNLOAD the final famous belgians HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Mad In Belgium 6" (Mad Tapes & Records ‎– MATR 010) 1987

The old pub challenge, before mobile internet, was to name 5 famous Belgians......one of them was Plastic Betrand,and I've forgot the rest. So its apt that this tape moves on from 5 to 6!
Some more Belgian style electronics still pervade the atmosphere, but there is a shift towards that mid-eighties Indie thing. Also i notice that there's a New Zealand group in the listings.....The Chills; and i also thought that Eton Crop were English, but turns out they are Dutch!?.....blimey....full of facts i am!

Tracklisting:

A1 –Men 2nd - Crow Baby Crow
A2 –Benjamin Lew - Des Salves Des Regards
A3 –Philadelphia Five - Bump
A4 –War Tempo - Obsessed
A5 –Daniel Schell & Karo - Trois Moustiquaires
A6 –Stellingname - Alle Sirenes
A7 –Collectionism - Tor 51
B1 –The Spanks - Hurricane
B2 –Hard-Ons - 1970
B3 –Kobus Gaat Naar Appelscha - Edelweiss
B4 –L'Attentat - Drink For Me
B5 –The Chills - Kaleidoscope World
B6 –Four One & Only's - Knock Me Down
B7 –Eton Crop - Bridge Over Troubled Water
B8 –L'Attentat - Ringo's Hide-Out

DOWNLOAD the sixth most famous belgian HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Dallas Thursday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0824) 2017

Its Jandek Monday in Dallas Thursday.So......
Who needs Miles Davis when we got Jandek playing bass behind a musical picket fence on the grassy knoll of outsider garde Jazz in Dallas?
I'll try and fit in as many JFK assasination references as possible in this short review of yet another Jandek curveball to the head from the Texas Book Depository of improvisation.
Like the Zapruder film, crucial footage was shot of this performance,on May 19th 2016 at the infamous Texas Theatre(Where LHO got arrested), and released on a DVD, which you can pour through in slow motion to prove that this really happened.
Just like any epoch-defining moment in Dallas, the main protagonists sport triple barreled names. Rather than Lee Harvey Oswald, we get get Sterling Richard Smith (the Corwood representative)on Bass, and keyboardist ,Andrew Jordan Miller, with Jazzer Chris Curiel, on Trumpet and normal name.Again we have Sheila Smith with those slightly deranged,almost channeled, assasins vocals.
Another key date at this venue was November 22, 1963 at approximately 1:45 p.m.,when nearly 15 Dallas police officers converged on the Texas Theatre in search of a man who had entered without paying......no not Sterling Richard Smith......I hope.....but none other than Lee Harvey Oswald, who arrived 53 years too early for the Jandek gig.
I think I would have tried to duck in without paying if i knew i was going to see a jazz workout rather than some classic jandek miserablism.....if I wanted to see a cheap rate Miles Davis clone, I'd have gone to another venue.The representative doesn't even sing on this one!
Perhaps this record is the missing link in the conspiracy? Did Jandek fire that fatal bullet from the Grassy knoll and pin it on Oswald? He's certainly old enough, he'd have been 18 in 1963.I reckon he offed JFK for the CIA, and they placed him on an identity reassignment program to hide him, and that new ID was as a musician, even though he had no musical ability whatsoever.
This would explain a lot! Would also explain as to why he was so keen to hide his identity,and less than forthcoming about his life history.
I think I'm onto something here!
Basically It was Jandek wot dunnit!
He probably killed Miles Davis too....he certainly did on may 19th 2016 in the Texas Theatre.
No, i'm only joking, it's rather good actually....even if it is by a suspected murderer.

Tracklisting:

1 Special One 6:53
2 Vacancy 6:19
3 Despair 7:13
4 Sorrow 6:59
5 Calm My Heart 6:28
6 Love Denied 5:48
7 Plans 5:32
8 Numb 5:34
9 Certainty 5:23
10 A Dream 6:17
11 Heartless 5:42
12 Substitute For Love 8:25

DOWNLOAD this substitute for jazz HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Mad In Belgium 5" (Mad Tapes & Records ‎– MATR 888) 1986

Here you go,a fifth volume of mad Belgian post punk and wave.
This time with an added Flexi-disc from camp UK minimal fun-synth duo (with emphasis on the 'minimal' in regards to the 'fun' aspect), Jesus Couldn't Drum.


Tracklisting:

A1 –The Electric Entropy Band - Las Vegas Blues (Live In Las Vegas)
A2 –Tröckener Kecks - Betaalde Liefde (Live In Den Haag)
A3 –The Mudgang - Disappearing World
A4 –Rhinoes - Characters
A5 –The Voners - I Want To Be An Angella (Live In Kontich)
A6 –The Office - How Can I
B1 –Jean-Marie Aerts & Dani Klein - Flamenco
B2 –Fred A.- Katanga
B3 –Zorkas - Get Off My Echo
B4 –Recu Racine - Waiting For Your Call
B5 –Poppi UK - Becquerel
B6 –Metal Guru - Leather Me
flexi A1 –Jesus Couldn't Drum - Beat The Dog
flexi A2 –Jesus Couldn't Drum - Suzie

DOWNLOAD at the count of five HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Mad In Belgium 4" (Mad Tapes & Records) 1986

You noticed didn't you?.....I ain't got Volume 3!
So you will have to make do with volume four of the free 'Mad In Belgium' magazine cassette.
A smorgasbord of various post-punk phlegm,or Flem(ish)syle on offer here for your education and, if you're that way inclined...entertainment.

Tracklisting:

A1 –Bedtime For Bonzo - Shut Up 4:09
A2 –Kloot Per W - Pain 3:41
A3 –Bene Gesserit - Syanoq 2:50
A4 –à;Grumh... - S-B 4:14
A5 –Dole - The Fall 4:29
A6 –Passion Of A Primitif - (Hot Pool Of) Womanhate 3:27
B1 –Nicky Ricci - Holidays In Hell 4:04
B2 –Ressurection - Night Of The Hunter 3:33
B3 –The Boy Wonders - Bells Of Fortune 6:09
B4 –4 Bahs - Swimming Pool 4:13
B5 –Executive Slacks - Our Lady (Live) 3:32
B6 –Het Gezin Van Paemel - Mad-Rap 1:44

Mutually assured DOWNLOAD HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Mad In Belgium 2" (Mad Tapes & Records) 1985

If you think they're all 'Mad' in your country,well, they're Mad in Belgium TOO......perhaps even madder?
Further proof is given in this second volume of mad Belgians from the magazine of the same name.
Plenty of Cold Wave, minimal Wave, New Wave, and any variations on the theme  you can think of, on one convienient cassette. You're mad you are!But madder if you don't.

DOWNLOAD or are you too mad HERE!

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 – "B9" (Sandwich Records ‎– SR07) 1981

Yes, here's another Belgian Cold Wave compilation from the height of said wave, from 1981. The year after Ian Curtis hung himself for our sins.The ripples that catalysed in the black oceans of despair spread far and wide, but nowhere tapped into that wave energy more than Belgium. Triggering a tsunami of dreary emotionally bankrupt misery.I'd slash my wrists but the doom-laden self-pity makes me feel so gaddamn alive!As Cold Wave christ,IC said, as he breathed his last during his asphyxiation: "Forgive me father for I didn't know what I started"..

Tracklisting:

A1 –Kid Montana - Cabs Ambush 3:31
A2 –Tristes Tropiques - Untitled 1 1:40
A3 –Prothese - Tumeurs 6:05
A4 –Rel Rex - Program 5:54
A5 –Digital Dance - Human Zoo 5:00
B1 –Polyphonic Size - Kyoto 4:57
B2 –Satin Wall - Dans Les Profondeurs 4:01
B3 –Tristes Tropiques - Untitled 2 1:33
B4 –Pseudo Code - Around Midnight 8:51
B5 –Slim Jack & H.F.C. - So Sah Gelleck Tissah 5:33
C1 –The Names - Spectators Of Life 2:57
C2 –Siglo XX - Individuality 4:33
C3 –Marine - Life In Reverse 2:44
C4 –The Neon Judgement - Factory Walk 3:55
C5 –Nausea - Vocal Expression 3:27
D1 –Isolation Ward - Lamina Christus 2:52
D2 –Front 242 - Principles (Instrumental) 3:33
D3 –Allez Allez - Allez Allez 5:34
D4 –Berntholer - Emotions 2:23
D5 –Jung - The Real Thing 4:02

DOWNLOAD this benign beauty HERE!

Pseudo Code ‎– "Potlatch Music Vol. 2" (Sandwich Records ‎– SR15) 1981

Alan Neffe's more abstract offshoot, was Pseudo Code, spanning the genres, Industrial, minimal Synth, ambient, avant garde,.....file under 'Other'.
If you want Potlatch Music Volume One......click HERE

DOWNLOAD the pseudo code HERE!

Jandek ‎– "San Francisco Friday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0826) 2018

"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some earplugs in your ears.
If you're going to San Francisco, you're gonna meet some marginalised weirdo's and pretentious people there"(Scott Mckenzie's smarter brother 1967).

If the Hippies wore pretty flowers in their hair, then Jandek fans wear harsh scrubland berry laden twigs as in the cover shot that graces this double CD.
Jandek's 'music',if thats what you wanna call it,without doubt, resembles a thorny sapling in the last remanents of the treeline, bearing a sparse cargo of poisonous berries.Lethal to those woodland creatures with little or no experience of such dangerous fruits.
Modern era Jandek, bears little resemblance to the Jandek of the eighties, but this stuff has a similar power.This one is another improvised workout with electric guitars and drums,again adorned by Sheila Smith on stream of consciousness vocals.Its a good one.....but ain't they all?

Tracklisting:

1-1 Obstruct Me 12:52
1-2 Love Tug Of War 8:53
1-3 We Got Waves 18:02
1-4 The Sounds 6:49
2-1 What You've Been Missing 7:24
2-2 The Pharmacy 6:01
2-3 The Way It Is 4:13
2-4 Social 5:33
2-5 I Forgot The Phone 8:41
2-6 Desecrate Me 11:23

DOWNLOAD the way out of san francisco HERE!

Bene Gesserit ‎– "Postcards From Arrakis" (Ding Dong Records And Tapes ‎– DDC 006)

We can't leave this long trip in Belgium without any Alain Neffe projects.....there are plenty other works that involve himself earlier in this blogs tenure....click here and see?
This C-30 is suitably Neffe-style eccentric Avant-electronica, packaged with two postcards and a couple of colouring pens. Its usually TV pension schemes that include a 'free' pen just for inquiring isn't it? If all releases included a pen, i'd certainly buy more of them, and this one had TWO, hold me back!!!.

Tracklisting:

A1 N.O.T.H.I.N.G
A2 Dedicated To Friends
A3 Words
A4 She Sells Sea Shells On The Sea Show
B1 Moki-Toki Oka-Owa
B2 Do What You Have To Do
B3 Gloria
B4 Be Happy

DOWNLOAD this digital postacard from belgium in 1983 HERE!

Linear Movement ‎– "Pulse Music" (Micrart ‎– MCD 8304) 1983 / 2003

Another CD-r reissue of a cassette in the Micrart style.This one by ignored Belgian synth-pop trio, Linear Movement.Pulse Music was originally released in 1983 and is certainly a fine collection of  melodic electronic pop songs that emit a cold warmth,but lacking that 'Hard' Electronic style that most of Belgiums synth hoardes preferred.
The understated music could have been made by a pop orientated Vangelis had he eschewed his soundtrack work.......that's a back-handed compliment by the way?

Tracklisting:

1 To Another Soul 4:23
2 Cytogenetic Movement 5:23
3 Five Faces 5:09
4 Due To You 5:36
5 Don't Try To Trick Me 10:12
6 Way Out Of Living 5:25
7 You Won 5:05
8 The Linear Way 5:26
9 Magical Melody 3:06
10 The Other Way Round 4:26

DOWNLOAD straight from this movement HERE!

Buzzcocks ‎– "Spiral Scratch" (New Hormones ‎– ORG-1) 1977

Whoops!...."Times UP"????...Apparently Pete Shelley left our troubled planet yesterday!?
As he was a driving force behind the the first self-finaced DIY record of the modern era (Spiral Scratch), one feels it's ones duty to post a short tribute to one of the  finest pop writers of this epoch; up there in the pantheon alongside Ray Davies, and ...cough,splutter...Macca!?
Probably OTT, but we do these things when we write death tributes don't we;but those first half dozen Buzzcocks singles will still be listened to and studied by students hundreds of years in the future.....if the Earth isn't a smoking shard by then of course.
Someone should put the Buzzcocks singles in a time capsule and bolt them to the next deep space probe to civilise some alien races of the outer spiral arm,or outer spiral scratch (see what I did?), of the Milky way Galaxy.

Tracklisting:
A1 Breakdown 1:54
A2 Time's Up 3:02
B1 Boredom 2:52
B2 Friends Of Mine 2:13

DOWNLOAD the beginning of it all in 320kbs HERE!

Autumn ‎– "I Invite" (Micrart ‎– MCD 8011) 1980 / 2003

More mellow ,inoffensive minimal beatless synth tunes agogo, from the very unbelgian Belgians in Autumn.
This one was a cassette release in 1980, but re-released by the reanimated Micrart label on CD-r in 2003.I'dhave used the original artwork if I could find it anywhere,instead of the awful turn of the millenium computer graphics that adorns this cd-r.This is also the ers from which Cd-r's started to disintegrate after a few years.CDs/Cd-r's really were the worst medium for music storage ever unleashed on the unsuspecting record re-buying public!
CD gripes aside,this really does sound like it could have been made today by some Serbian kids obsessed with the Minimal Wave era of 79-84........but,with the vital ingredient of 'the Drum Machine' very missing, crucially.
Can't really call it Ambient New Beat, well I can.......it's Ambient New Beat.
Maybe they just couldn't afford a drum machine, which is a better reason than any artistic/creative reason any day of the week!

Tracklisting:

1 Behind You 4:58
2 HB Invitation 5:01
3 Inexistential Ocean Voyage (Sitting On Trainbanks) 7:48
4 Striking Terror 2:48
5 A Message To The End 10:00
6 Valium Babies 7:25
7 Dropping Gutter (The End Of An Ice Age) 10:53
8 Rasha 5:05
9 My Liquid Eyes 3:55
10 Pictures Theme 2:43

I invite you to DOWNLOAD it HERE!

Autumn ‎– "Experiments With Environments" (Micrart ‎– MC 8207) 1982

Another understated Belgian dark-synth outing for the Micrart label from 1982. There are many murkily mellow moments lurking among a dusky mixture of Vangelis, Soft Cell, without Almond, and Yazoo, without Alf.Mostly it sounds like autumn,as in trees without leaves...the season,not the band.One for relaxing in the bath in candlelight.

Tracklisting:

A1 Ocilado Q
A2 Memories
A3 Twilight World Part 1
A4 Towards Tokio Part 1
A5 Reach You From Behind My Walls
A6 I Still Care
A7 Gardens
A8 Friday
A9 Mystery Screen
A10 Twilight World Part 2
B1 My New Friend
B2 PSI, A Destiny Experience
B3 Metal Dream
B4 The Possession L.
B5 7.49
B6 Towards Tokio Part 2
B7 Experiments With Environments
B8 Pale Mist Meditation
B9 Delayed Mind Creation

DOWNLOAD something automnal HERE!

Twilight Ritual ‎– "The Ritual" (Micrart ‎– MC 8210) 1982

A dark minimal wave C-60 on the short-lived Belgian Micrart cassette label. Which revived itself around the turn of the millenium as a CD-r label.Unlike most Belgian labels, this one concentrated on mellow electronics rather than putting the boot in,in the traditional Belgian Style.
Twilight Ritual, were,as you may have guessed ,an electronic duo,with Micrart supremo Geert Coppens on the microphone and lyrics. Its uncharicteristically slow, somber, and subtle for a Belgian electronic duo,and all the better for it.
They even reformed and began releasing records again around the year 2000,presumably after the resurgence of interest in pre-midi synth wave stuff.


DOWNLOAD ritually HERE!

Jandek ‎– "New Orleans Monday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0822) 2016

It's monday again, so it must be 2009, New Orleans,Jandek,with Piano, in a live setting?
Not much music is as perfect for a Monday than Jandek improvising on a piano for one hour? Ably backed up on,what sounds like a steel guitar,Theremin or some kind of effected electronics by Sheila.
If I turned up for a Jandek gig, and they wheeled out the Piano, I'm sure I would leave the auditorium immeadiately, probably without asking for my twenty dollars back.
The bonus is, we get another photo of Jandek as child,with that classic off-center kodak instamatic effect that dogged everyones photo album in the 60's and seventies. Another piece to force into the Jandek jigsaw puzzle?
Maybe he's a real life replicant (from "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep"),and these photo's were part of the personality implants that gave the androids their feelings of 'self'? That would explain a whole lot, except his longevity.
One things for sure, this fellow certainly enhances ones own existential crisis to an uncomfortable level.

Tracklisting:

1. The Fantasy (59:12)

DOWNLOAD the fantasy that jandek is a pianist HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Nuit Blanche" (K.P. Records ‎– K.P. 700) 1984

Another collection of chart aiming Belgian new romantics that proves not everything that came out of Belgium between 1980 and 1984 was utterly perfect.
I always use the showbiz atrocity that was Classix Nouveaux as my plimsol line of BAD, and this one is nearly sinking under its listing cargo of sub-Duran Durany pretentions. 
Its accidentally weird stuff as in 'How did anyone exposed to these golden times, when genius pop music was everywhere in abundance, totally miss the good bits and just cherry pick the worst parts,slap them all together and become....well.....Classix Nouveaux?'
Its this paradox that makes this dartboard missing rubbish so interesting,and...dare I say...perversely enjoyable? Its not even what i like to call, 'Good-Bad', like Wesley Willis or The Shaggs, its just plain awful...but strangely alluring? 
Is there something wrong with me?...nah!...Now where's that Classix Nouveaux album,medication and some headphones?

Tracklisting:

A1 –Design - Sunset Boulevard
A2 –Halloween - Tomorrow
A3 –The Ashes - Delay
A4 –Chrome 17 - Etcetera
A5 –Diseño Corbusier - Chiquillo
B1 –Faits Divers - This Is A Romance
B2 –Duty Free - Burning Passion
B3 –Paris-Brule-T-Il? - La Logeuse
B4 –Croth - Daily News
B5 –Central Park - Anas De Lin

DOWNLOAD this dark white night for belgium HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Topless Game" (K.P. Records ‎– KP 600) 1980

The cover should get the punters in anyway....phwoooor!
An early compilation of rather uninspired Belgian New Wave pop,all with terrible throat straining vocalists comitting the cardinal sin of trying to sing 'proper'.
Some fairly cringeworthy nonsense on this one, from a time before the Belgian Underground had found its mojo.
The opening track and the last four of side B hint at the future direction for Belgian youth,with some proto-cold wave and minimal synth numbers,but the filling in this sandwich has hints of cluelessness rather than toplessness.

Tracklisting:

A1 –Bitoks À La Russe - Tu Dois Partir
A2 –The Ashes - Desire You
A3 –Flowers By Throe - Give Us
A4 –Duty Free - The Warrior
A5 –Subject - Italian Summer
B1 –Darkness - When I Saw You
B2 –Nosy Parker - The Earth
B3 –Anonym - Bad Dreams
B4 –Cristal Swallow - Dying Alive
B5 –Bene Gesserit - From Brussels With Love For Our Japanese Friends
B6 –Design - Premoniton

DOWNLOAD your top HERE!