The Sound Of The Belgian Underground

“Mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground.”

 

Subbacultcha! and Ancienne Belgique launch a unique festival, ‘The Sound Of The Belgian Underground’. On 26 January 2014 the Belgian cultural platform presents ten national acts from the alternative circuit together on stage at the AB in Brussels. Headliner of #sobu14 will be Belgian cult formation Pas de deux. Their first live performance in more than 30 years!

Subbacultcha! and AB bundle all the local musical talent active on the edges of the scene under the title ‘The Sound Of The Belgian Underground’ – bands that emphasize artistic freedom and don’t necessarily focus on a broader audience. From enjoyable, introverted blues to adamant noise. From indie-rock to idiosyncratic electronica.

Pas de deux

You probably know them best, or only, from the song Rendez-Vous, the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Festival in 1983 and the very first song sent to air by Studio Brussel. But Pas de deux was (and is) much more than that one song and, aside from that one commercial foray, a real cult-band from the underground. That’s what we’d like to reinstate now, 30 years later.

The band was established 1982 by Walter Verdin, Dett Peyskens & Hilde Van Roy and made minimal electronic new wave with the assistance of rhythm box, synths, percussion and a sporadic brass section. Entirely in the Belgian tradition, there was also a surrealistic edge to the band… whereby the lyrics sometimes consisted of one word (the fantastic Cardiocleptomanie), or sometimes of complete nonsensical language (Mani Meme).

In its brief existence, the band released a number of impressive singles (that now collect many hits on YouTube with the fine video clips by video artist Verdin), the EP Des Tailles, and a number of releases in Spain, France, Israel, The Netherlands and Germany. After a number of intense months, the trio decided that maybe they had had enough and then all went their separate ways (although the American label Minimal Wave did release a compilation album in 2011 that provided a fine overview of the output of this unique Belgian band).

Fast forward to 2013: While searching for a worthy ‘main act’ for the first edition of The Sound Of The Belgian Underground, the first name to fall was Pas de deux. Contact was made, heads got put together, and after a bit of emailing it became apparent that the omens were good and that, after the many reunion and interview requests of the past (annually for Eurosong), this time the band is ready to make music together again.

We are certainly convinced that their unique show will top off an already exciting evening full of music from the Belgian underground.

Pas de deux are:
Walter Verdin
Hilde Van Roy
Dett Peyskens

Anno 2014, complemented by:
Karen Willems (Inwolves, Yuko, Zita Swoon Group, Delvaux)
Kevin Strauwen (True Zebra)
Ward Dupan (Low Vertical, Inwolves)

//www.youtube.com/embed/OT69s087wiI

Ping Pong Tactics

Dizzying lo-fi pop from Meetjesland

//www.youtube.com/embed/lBP6zGxMuv8

Bear Bones, Lay Low

Futuristic electronica with dub- and noise-influences from Brussels

//www.youtube.com/embed/p_3EwFgYZQU

Tg Gondard

Obscure pop with a wink to R&B and hardcore

//www.youtube.com/embed/AVwG0y7AfuE

Ssaliva

Idiosyncratic beatmaster from Luik who can count the likes of Oneohtrix Point Never amongst his biggest fans

//www.youtube.com/embed/ZlOwpj0eRkQ

Maan

Minimalistic cold wave duo from Ghent

//www.youtube.com/embed/m_Ub2bHprXA

Miaux

Wonderfully beautiful exotic piano compositions

//www.youtube.com/embed/IkcPLlzV5Ts

Le Colisée

Tropical synth-pop from Louvain-La-Neuve

//www.youtube.com/embed/vaT9g9xgB3c

Ignatz & De Stervende Honden

Belgium’s most underrated blues guitarist Ignatz brings along his live-band

//www.youtube.com/embed/Ci2ADS-o72I

Hantrax

Progressive synth music from Antwerp

//www.youtube.com/embed/5EVBVPwMdZ4

Going

Brussels quartet led by Pak Yan Lau mixes psychedelica and electronica with jazz influences

//www.youtube.com/embed/i13n9NDoft8

Nosedrip will be the in-house DJ on duty and in the AB-agora various labels will have a stand with vinyls, CDs, cassettes, and much more.

Video clips from past decades of Belgian underground will also be screened and there will be an exhibition too.