In The Trashcan Records
GEM005
"Australia, USA, UK, Belgium in a twilight world maybe..."
One of Belgium's best independent labels in the early 80s was Les Disques Du Crépuscule. With this Defunkt-styled "Life in reverse", Marine was invited by John Peel for a session, who was impressed by this Belgian band. Soon after, the band split and formed Allez Allez, with a bigger commercial success. Marc Desmare aka Marc Du Marais aka Marc Marine aka Marco Laguno tried to form a new Marine, but without any success. Two years after he's back with La Muerte, a Stooges-meets-Dali-meets-Birthday Party trash band that became semi-legendary in Belgium.
One of my favourite Killing Joke songs is "Follow the leaders". On the flip you'll find the 4'30" long "Tension", with that typical Killing Joke post-punk sound including heavy drums.
Put P.I.L.'s bass player Jah Wobble, Can's drummer Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay in a studio and this is the result: a new wave club classic called "How much are they?". This is the flipside. Alienating ambient soundscape nobody seems to remember. I love it.
Here's my number one Gang Of Four song. A contagious beat and a catchy bass riff which influenced bands like Franz Ferdinand twenty years later.
We all know Fad Gadget's "Lady shave", a club classic from 1981. Flip over that 45 and you'll get "Make room", written by singer Frank Tovey and bass player Peter Balmer, with the help of Wire's drummer Robert Gotobed. Released on Daniel Miller's Mute Records.
Is this the best 45 made by Nick Cave? I think so. The better known "Release the bats" is the A-side. I prefer the flipside, not written by Cave this time, but by Rowland Howard. 4AD released this monster in 1981. My favourite Birthday Party song however is "Sonny's burning" on the 1983 4AD "The Bad seed" EP.
Vaughan Toulouse was Department S, period. Department S was more than just "Is Vic there?". Stiff Records released their "I want" 45 in Belgium with an extra track, "Going left right". A month later it got it's proper release b/w "She's expecting you", which I put on vol 74.
"Too drunk to fuck" is a DK classic and it ought to be. "The prey" is something special. A slow and quiet but menacingly dark song built around Klaus Flouride's bass. Written by Jello Biafra and guitar player "East Bay" Ray Pepperell. On Cherry Red.
As B-side of "Kick in the eye" this Bauhaus song never got the credits it deserved. It takes off with a jungle beat. Halfway the song a dub bass appears and then the rest which gives this instrumental a non-Bauhaus feeling.
If not so obscure, this could've been a New Romantics hit single. This outfit emerged from the glam punk band Raped. They released two albums and several 45s for Fresh Records.
"Ceremony" is fantastic, but also this flipside gives you that Joy Division feeling. Go to a lonely and dark place and play this song so loud that you see ghosts coming after you.
Again a Belgian band, they came from Brussels and Aalst with the charismatic singer Cas Van Der Taelen, who became a Green politician. Weirdo funky Belpop on their second 45, recorded by legendary Dan Lacksman.
Now it's time for a Belgian band that never broke through. Knut, Gowie, Ton, Ben, Dolf and Bongo are the members of this band. Both sides are reggae influenced. A-side is called "De monki" or The Monkey, a silly song with monkey jungle noises.
B-side of their debut 45 on Refused Records by a band from Diest, with singer Guy Swinnen and Berre Bergen on bass, they became one of Belgium's best known rock bands in the 80s. The A-side "Frozen faces" is even better, but has already seen many appearances on compilations, just like their best effort from 1983 "Matchbox car".
It's 1981, so a Spizz release is under the moniker of The Spizzles. He is so depressed that the lyrics are just one word: Melancholy. This 1981 A&M release has "Risk" on the A-side.
Humo's Rock Rally from 1980 was in many ways important for Belgian pop & rock music. Suddenly there was a scene and youngsters were interested. Also this band enjoyed a brief moment of success with their uptempo ska beat.
