The Sound Of Belgium is both a film and an amazing 4xCD collection of electronic / dance music spanning four decades from a slew of talented Belgian producers. The 4xCD album is coming out tomorrow - November 25th, at a variety of online stores and record stores. The collection of music on it's own is amazing, but pairing it with the film tells a great story of how influential Belgian music has been on electronic music around the world for the past 4 decades.
from the press release:
'The Sound of Belgium' is an award-winning documentary by director Jozef Devillé that explores the rich but untold story of Belgian dance music, from the grand dance halls with Decap organs and the golden days of Popcorn onto the dark and cold Electronic Body Music and New Beat to Belgian House and Techno.
To accompany the film La Musique Fait La Force are proud to announce the release of a 4 disc set ‘The Sound of Belgium – The Compilation’ available from records stores and online from November 25th. ‘The Sound of Belgium - The Compilation' is a sonic journey through 4 decades of the wonderful and weird music that has soundtracked the nocturnal adventures of the 72 hour party people we call "The Belgians".
Showcasing how much of modern dance music has its roots in Belgian dance culture the compilation is an eclectic collection of innovative electronic music and just plain hard hitting club tracks from the likes of Klaus Schulze, Front 242, Neon Judgement, Lords of Acid, T-99, CJ Bolland and many more. This IS the Sound Of Belgium...
Tracklisting for The Sound Of Belgium:
CD #1
01. Trans Volta - Disco Computer
02. Carol & Snowy Red - Breakdown
03. Pas De Deux - Cardiocleptomanie
04. The Neon Judgement - TV Treated
05. Front 242 - Headhunter
06. Carlos Perón - Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted
07. Logo - Businessmen
08. The Caravan - Somewhere In Arabia
09. C Cat Trance - Shake The Mind
10. Max Berlin - Elle Et Moi
11. Au Pairs - Sex Without Stress
12. A Thunder Orchestra - Diabolical Gesture
13. Public Relations - Public Relations
14. White House White - Ouverture
15. L&O; - Even Now
16. Klaus Schulze - Signs Of Dawn
CD #2
01. Hno3 - Doughnut Dollies
02. Fred Brown - Roman Days
03. Fatal Error - Fatal Error
04. Erotic Dissidents - Move Your Ass And Feel The Beat
05. Neon - Voices
06. In-D - Virgin In-D Sky's
07. Jc Project - Andromedia
08. 101 - Saigon Nightmare
09. Zsa Zsa Laboum - Something Scary
10. Rhythm Device - Acid Rock
11. 2 Body's - Body Drill
12. Confetti’s - The Sound Of C
13. Liaisons D - Future Fjp
14. Petra & Co - Just Let Go (Dub)
15. Neon - Don't Mess With This Beat (Instrumental)
16. Linea Alba - Chill-O-Matic
CD #3
01. Lords Of Acid - I Sit On Acid (Live American Tour Version)
02. T 99 - Anasthasia
03. Praga Khan - Rave Alarm
04. Phantasia - Violet Skies
05. Neon - Waves
06. Modular Expansion - Cubes
07. Second Chance - In Paradise
08. Joey Beltram - Energy Flash
09. Set Up System - Factory
10. Outlander - The Vamp
11. Le Mystere - Opus 303
12. Age Of Love - The Age Of Love (New Age Mix)
13. Lhasa - The Attic
14. The Mackenzie - Higher In The Sky
15. Digital Excitation - Pure Pleasure (Rave Mix)
16. World Party Ii - Forget It
CD #4
01. 2 Flying Stones - Maybe Tomorrow (After Outside Mix)
02. Innertales - Odyssee
03. Golden Girls - Kinetic (Frank De Wulf Remix)
04. CJ Bolland - Camargue
05. Insider - Destiny
06. Strong Heads - Frequency Response Test
07. Spokesman - Acid Creak (Pierre’s Reconstruction Mix)
08. Zolex - Time Modulator
09. Cherrymoon Trax - The House Of House
10. Jones & Stephenson - The First Rebirth
11. Emmanuel Top - Acid Phase
12. Push - Universal Nation
The first CD is a compilation of new wave, new beat, EBM (electronic body music), synth and post-punk. Stand out songs for me from the first CD are "Headhunter" by Front 242, "Public Relations" by Public Relations, "Disco Computer" by Trans Volta and "Somewhere in Arabia" by Caravan.
The second CD features EBM, new beat, early acid tracks and early rave sounds. Just listening to this CD, I can recognize samples from some of the songs that have been used multiple times by a variety of electronic music producers. The EBM / new beat sounds from the first 2 CDs showcases the impact this music had on what is now called industrial. My favorite songs from the sceond disc are "Acid Rock" by Rhythm Device, "Body Drill" by 2 Body's and "Just Let Go (dub)" by Petra & Co.
The third CD features sounds of rave music and techno. "Energy Flash" by Joey Beltram is an all time techno classic. I love most of the songs on this CD, but the other standouts besides "Energy Flash" are "Anasthesia" by T99 - a rave classic, "Waves" by Neon and "Pure Pleasure (Rave Mix)" by Digital Excitation.
The fourth and final CD contains sounds of techno, acid, house, electronic, rave and hard trance. Three of the songs on here are among my all-time favorites from this era - "Kinetic (Frank De Wulf remix)" by Golden Girls, "The House of House" by Cherrymoon Trax and "The First Rebirth" by Jones & Stephenson. Both "The House of House" and "The First Rebirth" are great hard trance tracks, a lot of music in this style was released on Prolekult Records in the United States. CJ Bolland was a huge influence on techno music (as was Joey Beltram) however I was surprised at the song choice for him. My favorite classic CJ Bolland song from that time was "Mantra".
Here are a couple of trailers / teaser clips about the film:
Here is an hour long DJ mix from Soulwax of New Beat music showcasing the sounds from the late 80s period of music, some of which is featured on the first CD.
