Lee Holman has been buying records since he first got into house and techno via hip-hop when growing up in the south-east of Ireland. Since then he has gone on to play at many of Ireland's leading clubs and festivals such as u.k. festival coloursfest, as well as running his own club nights and guesting throughout Ireland with top international dj talent.

2004 he co-founded the Sub-Culture night which went on to become SUB-SCAPE and moved to Belgium later that year. Now firmly established as one of Belgium's most respected club nights, as resident Lee has played with some of techno's best djs and producers including Fabrice Lig, Steve Rachmad, Ian O'Brien, Dan Curtin, DJ S²(Underground Resistance), Peel Seamus, Aroy Dee, Quinn(Delsin Records), Eamonn Doyle(D1), Âme, Aardvarck, Eddie 'Flashin' Fowlkes, Marco Passarani, St.Dic (Fuse), Shed(SoloAction, Berlin),DJ Innx(Electronic Resistance), Mark August(Mezzotinto,Curle Recordings) and Ripperton - Fat Lazy People (Planet E Records).

Lee is also extremely busy with music production, and while his style is aimed at the dancefloor, the deep aspect which he weaves into his dj sets always remains.

2007 see's lee take on a residency for www.livesets.com for the "Interstate 94%u2033 radio show along with fellow dj's Pedro Cali, Erell Ranson and Tyler Smith. 2007 also brings a high profile residency for Sub-scape with fellow residents Fabrice Lig(F-com),Spiritcatcher(20:20 vision) and Sub-scape founder Will O Brien.

What originally started as a short jam session, ended in a marvelous mayhem when "Sammy 7o" and "Tommy X" (both from The Heartaches) decided to work on some songs they had been playing for years between the two of them because these songs didn't suite The Heartaches. They got in contact with "Martellotto", a young drummer with a shit load of talent. From the first time they hooked up, all parties were convinced of the greater good - ENEMY ROSE was born. On their last european tour with the heartaches Tommy X and Sammy 7o had come across a band from berlin "RADIO DEAD ONES" with an amazing guitarist called "Rik Oldman" When Enemy Rose came up, they contacted Rik and told him that he was the man for the job. Rik gladly accepted. "Andru Bourbon" Radio Dead Ones' bassplayer also joined ENEMY ROSE a few months later.

Belgian Ghent-Antwerp based 2-piece band. Formed in 2001, when Nico Maho and Thomas Vanelslander met through a mutual friend. The atmosphere was loose, people were having a good time, parties were attended, ... Making music is so much fun. Things got more serious when in 2005 they realized that their sound was actually different from other crap, the songs were catchy and friends seemed to share these feelings. Longtime friend CJ Bolland came into the picture during the making of "Night Vulture". The whole was mixed by Jan 'Jakke" De Rijck, who worked with people like Gabriel Rios, Zap Mama, Daan, A Brand and Novastar. In November 2006 a first EP (Night Vulture) and single (8 Day's Weekend) was released through the label of the band's management, Tourcontrol. The single also featured remixes by STIJN, CJ Bolland and Lester Bangs. And to top it off there was a funky video. The first full cd (Ready To Surrender) was released in January 2008.

Headphone is a (Alternative/Electro Pop/Indie Rock) band from Ghent, Belgium. When asked to describe their music, "Pop with a definite dark side" is the standard quote. A black/white "sad little guy" is the band logo.

The Cold Eighties. Destiny drove a Hong Kong concubine into the arms of a wellhung seaman. Together they built a lovenest in the sky above the Ghent sea of bricks. Their first kitten turned out to be a moustached female, that would live by the name of Sarah Yu. It took two more years before a little male, by the name of Boris, was born. At young age, both of them bundeled their musical strenghts and that's how The Hong Kong Dong was born. A band, brainchild to two unpure types with an enormous urge to form a awesome gang! In the summer of 2005 The Hong kong Dong took the stage for the very first time. What started as a duo, became a trio. Dave Willockx became the third member and would turn out to be the banging heart of the gang. Ouch! Together they started terrorising the local clubs with their spiky tunes. In the Year of the Pig (2007 for the occidentals among us) they conquered various tournaments (they won 'Lawijtstrijd, took second place in the 'Oost-Vlaams Rockconcour' and reached the finale of the 2008 'Humo's Rock Rally'). With the Year of the Rat in sight, a fourth member joined the gang. A real Rat: Geoffrey Burton. Armed with many years of experience in other gangs (Bashung, Arno, PJDS, Stéphane Eicher, Raphael, Polar, Absynth Minded,...) he provided The Hong Kong Dong with new weapons to conquer new stages (they played as support act for Digitalism at the Ancienne Belgique and were invited to open the dance at the Radio Soulwax festival at Flanders Expo).

(The Germans is also the name of a band formed in 2003 consisting of Rat Scabies from The Damned, Peter Coyne and Kris Dollimore, both originally from The Godfathers.) The Germans is a Belgian band consisting of brothers Lennert and Timothy Jacobs (drums & bass), singer Jakob Ampe and lead guitarist Vincent Cauwels. Influenced by other Beligan bands such as Evil Superstars and Millionaire, but also by krautrock and American bands such as Pixies and Pavement, they bring melodic rock songs with an experimental edge. The debut album "Elf Shot Lame Witch" has been released in March 2008. It has been mixed by Boris Wilsdorf, sound engineer of the legendary German band Einstürzende Neubauten.

Ruw, opwindend en compromisloos zijn drie woorden waarmee je de sound van de Belgische garageband Gentlemen of Verona het best kan omschrijven. Voortgestuwd op ruige drumritmes en snijdende gitaarrifs boort het vijftal zich als een roestige kogel door het alternatieve muzieklandschap. Hun aanpak blijkt wonderwel te lukken. Precies een jaar na hun eerste optreden, tekende de muziekgroep een contract bij het Belgische e-label The Wack Attack Barrack (A Brand, Triggerfinger, Mauroi, Buscemi...). Hun debuutalbum verscheen op 13 mei 2008. Voor de opnames van de plaat trok de band niet naar een dure studio, maar sloten ze zich enkele maanden op in hun repetitiehok. "Wie rauwe garagerock in de stijl van Iggy Pop, Pj Harvey, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs en The Goxxip wil maken moet zijn sound tot de basis uitpuren", vertelt zangers Debby Termonia. "Via een Londense kennis kwamen we in contact met de mensen van de legendarische Abbey Road Studios. Tijdens een bezoek aan de Beatles-studio vertelde technicus Sam O'Kell ons dat je,om een echte garageplaat te maken maar drie dingen nodig hebt: een garage en twee steengoede microfoons. We hebben zijn raad opgevolgd. Een paar maanden later stond alles op band."

Anton Walgrave has taken some interesting turns in his career. His 2000 debut album 'The Hum' was acclaimed by the press and knowing fans. The CD was recorded in London and produced by Kevin Armstrong, who had already worked with great names like David Bowie, Youssou N'Dour, Morrissey, and more. In 2003 there was ''Before the dawn', a dark, haunting CD perfectly combining strong songwriting and tasteful electronics. The single 'Awake' enjoyed a lot of radio airplay and made it onto several compilations. Flanders' biggest girl group Scala even took it as far as Japan. More than enough good reviews, again and again hearty applause from those in the know. Anton played live, and every time he was convincing. But a real performer always wants to go deeper and wider. Walgrave did what he had to do: write songs, scrap songs, rewrite songs and scrap some more songs. Day in, day out, rain or shine. Week after week, month after month. Lots of songs. And then more work, to make good songs into great songs. The great songs caught the attention of Frank Vander linden. Although he'd won prizes for outstanding production work on De Mens Cds, Vander linden had never dared to produce any one else's work yet. But Walgrave's compositions twisted his arm, his voice gave him shivers and the man's passion was simply contagious.

Flatcat is a punkrock band, that was founded in 1993 by brothers Dirk (guitar) and Wim (drums). In 1995 Minx and Alex joined the band and after some member changes this became the steady line-up. You can expect a good dose of westcoast punkrock, mixed with emo influences. The band appeared on a compilation cd for the first time in 1996, it was called "Best of Belgium, best Belgian punkbands". After lots of shows with bands like Janez Detd., Heideroosjes, Gwyllions, Undeclinable, I against I,... they were represented a few more times on different compilations. The Belgian punkrock scene got to know Flatcat better after they played support acts for the likes of The Vandals, The Ataris, Satanic Surfers,... In that same period Janez Detd. asked the band to contribute a song on their new single cd on Virgin records, and they got an offer out of Brazil. In January Flatcat travelled to Brazil for a promotional tour, where they played a headliner show for 500 people in Sao Paulo, even before they released a cd!! The first "piece of art" was a split cd with a Brazilian and two Canadian bands, who played on the Vans Warped Tour. It was released July 2001 on Highlight Sounds. Other licensed bands on there are Samiam, Bombshell Rocks, 59 times the pain, Good clean fun,... A second release on highlight sounds, and also the debut full lenght called "Better luck next time" saw the light of day around the end of February, just one week before the second Brazilian tour, where the band did 16 shows, recorded a videoclip and gave some cool tv-interviews in only 17 days!! As if this wasn't enough they also got a 1 hour radio special on Brazil's second largest radio station! The tour was a huge succes, an average of 300/400 people showed up every time with exceptions like Sao Paulo (750) and Volta Redonda (1200)! Back in Belgium they were supposed to take the time choosing between about 4 Belgian labels, but had to act fast because Groezrock was coming up, playing with Bad Religion, Sick of it all, Down by law, Guttermouth, ... Just about some of the biggest bands in punkrock and hardcore history. With the help from Green Leaf/Goodlife recordings, Eye Spy Records (a small independent label that's growing fast) released the European version from the debut album, and it's one of the better selling Belgian punkrock cd's ever! As a tribute to the underground scene they released a single 7" at the same time called "Beautiful in Venice", the song that makes everybody sing along on the many shows played troughout Belgium, time to invade the neighbour countries!

Rambunctious. That's the least you can say about Belgian beatbastards The Subs. Having already released a couple of underground dance maxis - 'You Make Me Spill', 'Fuck That Shit', 'Substracktion' - over the past years, they hit it hard in 2008, with 'Kiss My Trance', a punktrance-juggernaut of a hitsingle.

The track started off as a joke, the band wanted to see how far they could push the limits of the trance-genre and get away with it. A true jack-in-the-box, 'Kiss My Trance' turned out te be a massive cross-over success: in genuine guerilla-style, 'Kiss My Trance' peaked both commercial charts AND dj-lists - it terrorized the radio AND put club dancefloors on fire.
So much for the joke then, The Subs are in business. For real.

The Subs are not your average 'let's mess around with some analogue machines' band.
The Subs are Jeroen De Pessemier aka Papillon (singer/producer), Wiebe Loccufier aka Tonic (half of dj-duo Starski & Tonic, heirs to the Culture Club-throne, as they took over the residency spot at the infamous Ghent club from 2 ManyDJs and The Glimmers) and Stefan Bracke aka l'entrepreneur also fronting the raverockband Foxylane.

Since their eponymous debut album Subculture landed at the dusk of 2008, The Subs have.........

Played more than 160 shows, travelled to 14 countries, used 12 different airline companies, 2 tour buses and 1 private jet. Between the three of them, they've mailed about 250 post cards and drank about 80 bottles of vodka. On the road, they've lost 5 iPhone adapters and 6 pairs of earplugs. 480 T-shirts were sold and they've counted at least 12 stage invasions and 13 scuffles with venue security. The band remembers 10 speeding tickets and were questioned by the police at least 3 times. They've made 6 music video's, launched 1 blog and recorded 3 videocasts. Their audience took home 3 shoes and ripped 2 pairs of trousers from Papillon's body, who did vomit on stage once. 7 live shows ended with a broken wireless microphone and 2 AX-7 keytars got smashed up. A total of 68 rolls of Gaffer tape were used, about 100 glitter balls were 'customised', more than 70 interviews were given and their tunes featured on 78 compilations. About half of the past 730 days they've spend inside a studio, 45 demo's were made and 21 different versions of new artwork got rejected. About 28 hours were spend discussing the definitive, 11 songs counting track list... but it's here, the second album by The Subs: Decontrol.

A lot has happened to the crew from Ghent, Belgium, since their electroravepunk-whatsinaname powered train started rolling: they celebrated 10 years of Fabric with the give-away Mitshubitchi track, for instance. But also released their acclaimed Vomit In Style EP, featuring stellar remixes from Mixhell, Don Rimini and Les Petits Pilous. Together with the latter, The Subs hooked up for the release of a banging double biller, My Body Is Gonna Rememb/Rototom. But stressed about the most important evolution, the band agree unanimously: their maturation into a fully fledged, all hands on deck live band. "It's our fingerprint", the band says. "Our ticket to open doors and roads. Gone are the freshmen days of 'two CD-J's and a microphone', travelling from one church tower to the next. With this live setting, we can travel anywhere in the world and show the people what the heart, mind, arms and legs of The Subs truly are.".

Are the new tunes that make up Decontrol the fall-out of The Subs' live incarnation? "Not exactly", stresses Papillon. "Playing a live show is not the same as recording an album. They're two different worlds. Electronic music doesn't evolve from four guys jamming together in a shed, it's the fruit of many dark hours sitting behind keyboards and computers", the singer/producer/jumping jack flash adds laughingly. All the new tracks have been road tested though. Sometimes the band stretched soundchecks into a three hour tweaking session, before unleashing new bits and pieces to a live audience later the same evening. There's been a lot of (soul) searching, trying to find the right tone and feeling of the new album, for which Papillon claims that, besides a new found love, chaos was the main inspiration: "All creativity is born out of chaos. When you allow yourself to give up control, unexpected, beautiful things happen." Creativity from chaos; it almost echo's Malcolm McClaren's famous 'cash from chaos' manifesto - "Well, we don't know about the cash, but there's always plenty of chaos surrounding The Subs", the band agree on, grinningly. And this: "Decontrol is much less a 'fuck you' album than Subculture, and more an 'I'd like to fuck you' album.".

A prime example of the rewarding, creative chaos surrounding The Subs is the smash single The Pope Of Dope, cooked up with the notorious DJ-squad Partyharders. Papillon explains: "They're such fun guys to hang out with, we wanted to collaborate on something sooner or later." It turned out to be sooner than later, when one night, the boys started fidgeting with a stray disco sample and Partyharders chief Le Colonel performed an on the spot recording of his mischievous vocal. During the summer of 2010, the result went from underground oddity to big room carpet bomb and festival favourite in no time, taking everyone, all three Subs included, by surprise.
The dopey pope is absent on Decontrol, but he gave his blessing to the too cool-for-old school house cut Don't Stop, the hyperactive rave jam that is The Hype, the hard hitting techno beats of The Visible Man and the French movie soundtrack-inspired Hannibal (And The Battle Of Zama). There's even some profound philosophies hidden inside Decontrol - the universally appealing club anthem The Face Of The Planet, for instance, or Lemonade, inspired by a quote from American skater/artist Ed Templeton: 'if life gives you lemons, make lemonade'.

"We make music for the shuffle generation", concludes Papillon. "Decontrol covers a lot of bases, but at the same time it definitely serves as a whole. We've become more positive thinking the past few years, I can't wait to infect our audience with that sensation."

Arid is a Belgian rock band, formed in the mid-90s, made up of four members: Jasper Steverlinck (vocals and guitar), David Du Pré (guitar), Filip Ros (bass) and Steven Van Havere (drums). The group first came to the attention of record label Double T when they were finalist at Humo's Rock Rally, a prestigious Belgian rock contest, in 1996. Their first album was 1998's Little Things Of Venom (retitled as At The Close Of Every Day for release in the United States). In 1999, after this album's success, they toured with Suede as well as opening for fellow popular Belgian band K's Choice. The following year they opened for Counting Crows on that band's European tour. 2001 brought extra fame for lead singer Steverlinck, who starred in the IMAX 3-D film Haunted Castle alongside Harry Shearer. The film also featured music by the band during the opening and closing credits. In 2002 the band released a second studio album, All Is Quiet Now, which was soon followed by a live album (Live in 2003). February 2007 basist Filip Ros was replaced by Miko Banovic. In April that year the song Words was released, which immediately was hotshot on Studio Brussel & Pure FM. November 2007 the single Why do you run was released. It was the second single of their new album, which was finished december that year. January 2008 the long awaited new album of Arid, All Things Come In Waves was released. In 2009, Jasper was chosen to be the lead singer of a new Anthony Arjen Luccassen (Ayreon) project, Guilt Machine.

Mathieu Gendreau (electronics) & Pieter Van Dessel (vocals / electronics) are Plastic Operator. Respectively hailing from Montreal and Antwerp, the pair met at London's Westminster University in 2001 where they were both studying audio production. Bonding over a shared love of two decades of fine electronic and indie music the pair began to make sweet music together. When the course finished Pieter returned to Antwerp to work on sound design for film and play in a few bands, and Mathieu remained in London to work as a sound engineer and record producer, working with a broad cross-section of the UK's musical talent. The pair kept up their collaborative efforts over the internet, meeting face to face in either London or Antwerp once a month. In 2004, their efforts came to fruition when then the pair released their debut three track CD through a handful of record shops, with Rough Trade making it their CD of the week. Once the tracks were out there in the public domain, things accelerated at a pace no-one could have predicted. The lead track from the CD, 'Folder', had been posted on a web blog, and within weeks Plastic Operator were receiving emails from fans in New York, Mexico City and Bangkok enquiring about the group. Radio stations as far apart as California, New Zealand and Tijuana began championing the song. In London Radio 1's Rob Da Bank began playing the track on his Blue Room show, eventually signing the track to his Sunday Best label. Plastic Operator have just released their debut album, "Different Places", on May 14, 2007 on Fine Day Records in Europe. The album will be out in Japan on P-Vine/Fine Day Records on 5th October 2007.

EN/ Leafpeople is a five-headed musical monster from Antwerp, the (multi-)cultural capital of Flanders, Belgium. They deal in Neo-Post-Pre-Pop made especially for the kind of people who like their riffs catchy and their lyrics erudite. Their enthusiasm and puberal virility helps them to give clumsy and, strangely, therefore spectacular live-shows that have brought them numerous awards, like a crushing victory on LatentTalent, second place at FrappantPOP, second place in a hit song-competition in Bxl, a short stint on Humo's Rock Rally, and some interesting gigs in support of Think of One, Raymond van het Groenwoud, Sandra Kim(!) and Willy Sommers (!).

Wat begon als een duo van neven, groeide nadien uit tot een nog steviger viertal. Wonnen in 2006 de Trix totaal wedstrijd (waardoor ze EP KAYAY MOTHERFUCKER -met medewerking van o.a. Tim Vanhamel, Pascal Deweze & Younes Faltakh- konden opnemen alsook een clip voor hun nummer In Command). Speelden onlangs het voorprogramma van Future Of The Left in Trix. Wonnen de finale van Frappant 2007 en speelden in de finale van HUMO's Rock Rally 2008.

Arquettes is a Belgian band founded in Ghent (°2006). They released a first single called 'It's A Relief' in 2007, followed by an EP later that year. In the slipstream of this debut-EP they did support acts for Built To Spill, The Veils and played numerous festivals (a.o. Pukkelpop). March 2010, Arquettes started recording their first full length with Stéphane 'Alf' Briat (Air, Phoenix, ...) Album release is set for September 2010. Arquettes are: Koen Wijnant (vox, guitars, programming) Jan Borremans (vox, guitars, keys) Tine Gernaey (bass, vox) Mario Govaert (drums, vox) www.myspace.com/arquettes http://www.facebook.com/arquettes

The Black Box Revelation is a two man garage/blues rock band consisting of Jan Paternoster (guitar and vocals) and Dries Van Dijck (drums). Their sounds varies from raw rock'n'roll to more bluesy songs. After coming in second in Humo's Rock Rally, they released their first record, called 'Set Your Head On Fire'. The album was received with much critical acclaim and became one of the most played records on national radio. The succes was soon to be followed with a tour to America. In 2009, the band released a second album, called 'Silver Threats'.

Bert Joris started studying music at an early age. At first, he played piano and violin, but eventually, at the age of fourteen, he settled on the trumpet. He had a classic education at the Antwerp music conservatory, even though jazz held a greater attraction for him, being a style that was better suited to developing his creative talents. From 1978 to 1987, he worked with the BRT Jazz Orchestra, which was led by Etienne Verscheuren. Initially, he played the trumpet there, but he also attracted notice as a composer and arranger and eventually became a guest conductor. Meanwhile, Bert Joris continued to build on his reputation as a teacher. In 1987, this led to a teaching position at the famous Swiss Jazz School in Bern. At about the same time, he launched a jazz course at the Leuven Lemmensinstituut, which gradually developed into what is now the school's jazz department. From 1990 till 1992, he was a trumpet teacher at the Hilversum Conservatory. In 1992, Bert Joris started up an intense collaboration with the Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine. He has also performed with many other musicians and ensembles. He has toured Europe with the ensembles of Rob van Bavel, Robert Jan Vermeulen, Wolfgang Haffner, Ricardo del Fra, Michel Herr, Enrico Pieranunzi, Joe Haider and Act Big Band. In addition, he formed the Bert Joris Quartet (with pianist Dado Moroni, drummer Dre Pallemaerts and bassist Philippe Aerts). He is often invited as a soloist and/or as a composer-conductor by larger European formations and big hands like those of Klaus Weiss, Al Porcino, the Concertgebouw Jazz Orchestra, the Metropoolorkest and many others. In 1986, he toured Europe together with the renowned drummer and band leader Mel Lewis, which led to an invitation to conduct Lewis's big band at the New York club The Village Vanguard, in a project with his own music. The sudden death of Mel Lewis put an end to this project. In 1998, he travelled to the US, where he scored a great success with the SJS Big Band, with which he conducted work of his own, e.g. in the famous Birdland jazz club, with Clark Terry as guest soloist. This success was confirmed in 2003 when he was invited to come and present his music, together with the BJO, at the most prestigious and international meeting of jazz musicians from all over the world: IJAJE in New York. In 1998, Bert Joris received the Django d'Or Award and in 1998, he was voted the best Belgian jazz trumpet player by the listeners of RTBF and VRT and the French-language Belgian music press. As the house composer of the BJO, he has produced three CDs: September Sessions, The Music of Bert Joris, and Meeting Colours with Philip Catherine. (c)Tom Jannsens, 2006

Born in Heusden, belgium (April 1971), Mauro first received local attention when, after joining several garage- and weddingbands, he formed Evil Superstars, The Love Substitutes (on drums, with Rudy Trouvé, Craig Ward,..) and Mauro & The Grooms. At the moment he plays the guitar in dEUS, Tom Barman's band.

Ivory sound is a reggae soundsystem out of Brussels. With their healty addiction for reggae music Mr. Herbe, Rascal, Jr. Dread and Bredda J bring the good vibes to people all over.

Belgian group formed by Nathalie Delcroix ( Laïs ) and Bjorn Eriksson.

The Violent Husbands is a 3-man indie/folk/pop/mariachi band from Belgium. They recently released their debut album. It contains songs in English and in their Bruges local dialect.

Dupstep DJ on Sub FM bio: Bun-Zer0 has been DJing both in his native Belgium for over 15 years, and most recently internationally including recent performances at the legendary night FWD>> in London, as well as a three hour set in the USA. His interest in dubstep began after hearing early music from Horsepower Productions. In 2006, to spread his enthusiasm for this emerging sound, Bun began promoting nights at the Beursschouwburg, with a wide array of UK pioneers, including Skream, Youngsta, Loefah and Mark One. He also promoted some other nights with N-Type, Walsh and Dj Pinch as guests. As a DJ, Bun-Zer0 has supported many of the scene's top artists, and is one of the best known dubstep DJs outside of the UK. He hosts an award winning weekly show on the first dubstep radio station, Sub.fm, with an audience of hundreds. It's no surprise Bun's show has a huge following, as he expertly blends fresh tunes from both the scene's big hitters, as well as unknown up and comers. Also, the accompaniment of harmonica player Mr Jo gives Bun's show a unique touch. Bun has also been writing for the music magazine Rif Raf for over 10 years, as well as compiling the CD 'SubStance' from Aecletrik Records, which showcased the now diverse & international sound of dubstep. With further international bookings as well as exciting lineups at his own nights, 2008 is set to see Bun-Zer0 cement his reputation as one of the scene's best-loved and most well-respected DJs. In January 09 Bun released Psychedelic Flu and Loneliness, two broken Dubstep bits, on BASS TOURIST.

The man behind the name is Kristof Michiels, born in '73, deejaying, producing, and simply active as a musical artist since 1987. His first platform was hiphopmusic, which was of course a much more open style in those days and as a crossbreed included house, funk and whatnot. It all really started for him after the Beasties and Run-DMC came to town in '85... In 1996 he released his first record, "Do you believe in Magick?", under the name of Magik Ballet Ensemble, which, along with its successor "What do you mean", gained him critical acclaim, but the greater succes only came with 't Hof van Commerce, a hiphopgroup rapping in flemish, together with mc's Serge Buyse and Flip Kowlier. They have scored big with 4 albums and a number of singles since then, with sales and succes topping some of the biggest pop/rockbands in Belgium. Around the year 2000 the interest in dancemusic took the upperhand over the hiphop-oriented occupations, with the exception of the activities with 't Hof, of course. This manifested itself in two ways: as a deejay he would choose a more specific direction and personality and he founded Ultrasonic (7), a soulful danceproject featuring vocalists Tom Derie and Nia Saw which scored hugely on a national level with the hit "Lips They Move" in 2003 and a couple of other smaller hit records. The group was 8 strong on stage, with very memorable sets on some of the biggest festivals in Belgium.

Jonathan Vandenbroeck is the 29 year-old singer-songwriter, otherwise known as Milow. This last year has seen Milow have enormous chart success right across Europe with his cover of 50 Cent's 'Ayo Technology'. Milow's career began in 2004 when he was a finalist in the biggest rock contest in Belgium 'Humo's Rock Rally'. Within the next few years, and acting as his own manager, Milow achieved 2 gold singles and 2 gold albums in Belgium, eight Music Industry Awards (MIA), and he has released two albums The Bigger Picture and his second Coming of Age. In 2008 it was time for Milow's career to truly skyrocket. It began with a Belgian radio station who asked Milow to play a cover song as part of a live session. Milow opted for 'Ayo Technology', an acoustic guitar cover version of 50 Cent's original 2007 hit which featured Justin Timberlake. And it worked, to striking, creepy effect. Milow's everyman yearning and the eerie desperation in his vocals and acoustic-guitar interpretation of the track work incredibly and ingeniously, especially considering its total transformation from a 50 Cent/Justin Timberlake/Timberland strip-club jam. The cover became such a lauded success that it was released as an official single through Milow's own indie label, Homerun Records, in September 2008 and went straight in at number 1 in both The Belgium and The Netherlands singles chart. The phenomenon soon spread to the rest of Europe, where the track has had massive top 3 successes in Sweden, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria. The cover has now achieved bigger success than the original in Europe, with both higher single and airplay chart positions. The sexually charged, tongue-in-cheek video for 'Ayo Technology' has proved a huge sensation online where it has received over 20 million plays on Youtube alone and has been blogged about extensively, including by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton who said of the song, "Milow improves on the original tremendously. His version is sooooo good." Kanye West also gave it his seal of approval by posting the video of it on his blog. And what does the man himself want to achieve? "To keep surprising myself, to convince people that I'm more than 'that cover', to write an even stronger album and to play concerts in as many different countries as possible."

Its only half a decade ago that Romain Descamps (bass) met Matthew Irons (Guitar/Vocals) in their Jazz school in Brussels. Romain, who had already seen the possible match, invited Matthew to jam with his drummer friend Egil "Ziggy" Franzen (drums/Vocals). Since then, the band have played all over the continent and at some of the world's most prestigious festivals, such as Reading and Bennicassim. The three man band, Puggy, plays a whole new kind of acoustic rock that proves that you don't need an entire orchestra to get the ground shaking. Possibly thanks to their English, Swedish, French influences that range from 1920's New Orleans to 21st century metal. Matt's broken and smooth voice (yes, they're opposites) go perfectly with his dry little guitar riffs and give the band a seriously groovy sound that gets the band going. His part of the puzzle could only be completed with Romain and Ziggy's rythm section. Though Ziggy makes a point of being seriously harsh on his drumset, there's more to it than just hitting the thing, he manages to make it go perfectly with Romain's wicked bass slapping and tapping. There isn't a band today that has the experience, influence and originality of Puggy, and they're only starting. Their first record "Dubois died today" was released in June 2007. Puggy being a live band hit the road big time to promote it. They toured Europe for a month with american band Incubus, opened in Bercy (France) for the Smashing Pumpkins, did a whole french tour with Fiction Plane and headlined their one shows in England, France and Belgium. They are currently working on their next album. Some tracks are already being played live.

Just landed on 62 TV records (Girls in Hawaii, Malibu Stacy, Austin Lace, etc.), this very young duet (19 and 20) from Bousval remained only as a bedroom secret till lately. The simple story of two big kids -not really interested in spending days in school or college- who spend their time playing their guitar and writing songs, a with a stron rock feel, somewhere between Bob Dylan, the Libertines or Violent Femmes. After losing a demo contest on belgian alternative national radio Pure FM and receiving a true enthusiastic response, the two boys got more sure of themselves and decided to show the people what they are up to. In october 2005 they opened shyly for Saint Thomas at Brussels Botanique Club. A few month later, they are back as a support act for Belgian band Venus and The Tellers are truly another group, Ben and Charles show the arrogant talent of the ones that come from nowhere. Okay from nowhere indeed, but you have to reckon that they don't show up holding anything in their hands... Ben has a voice that gives you thrills as Charles is taking care of all subtle acoustic arrangments, the Tellers fire at you with laidback ballads, melancholy tunes,...beauty. Their third gig was at the Nuits Botanique festival in Brussels, they'll play the Dour festival and a couple summer gigs around Europe. They'll have a 7-track-mini album available in june, lend them your ear... or even both... (2) There is at least one pre-existing artist with this name, a power-pop/ pub rock group from Brisbane, Australia fronted by Damien Garvey. They released 2 albums, a cassette-only release in 1991, and CD "Flex" in 1992, and enjoyed a loyal local following.

Gèsman (& De Zwoare Combinoatie) is a Western-Flemish band. They recently released their second CD "Omplof!". The first CD "Slich van 't eten" , which means 'Being ill of the meal', was released in 2004.

The Van Jets are a rock group from Belgium. The coastal waves spew forth four of its descendants, including the constantly bickering pair of Verschaeve brothers. The intricate mix of violence and beauty, guitar riffs and great songs, the masculine and the feminine, all mingle to produce The Van Jets' chemistry. The band previously recorded the EP Belvédère Records presents The Van Jets, and the full album Electric Soldiers, from which several songs became hit singles on national radio. Expanding their live reputation outside the steaming clubs, The Van Jets billed many festivals throughout the years, such as Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Dour Festival, Marktrock, etc, and toured in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and France. Ready for the next step, The Van Jets have now recorded their follow-up album Cat Fit Fury! at the renowned subterranean studio The Garden in London with producer Jon Gray (The Subways, Editors, Infadels, The Kooks, etc. ). Greg Gordon (Wolfmother, Jet, Soulwax) mixed the album.

CONFUSE THE CAT BIO Confuse The Cat beheld the white stage lights in 2002, the same year The Back Street Boys split. In truth a blessed year in music. Their first album Kiss Kiss Kissinger still being bedroom pop, their second album pushed the band towards a more optimistic big-city-sound with impressive drums and old-fashioned electronics. Gradually Confuse The Cat worked at their popularity, with the hit 'Akela' (from their third album 'We can do it') being a major culmination point, camping out on Studio Brussels's play list for months on end. In their own country as well as abroad, the band succeeded in attracting attention with their energetic live reputation. Now, anno 2008, the band is ticking on the window of the better alternative scene with a sturdy 'Aufmachen'. The band, conducted by Geert Plessers (Reiziger, Kosjer D) has returned with new fire shots ahead, with the album 'Kericky' to be released on Zealrecords in the fall of 2008. And the sirens are shrieking. Shelter women and children in the basement and entrench yourself beneath your headphones because Confuse The Cat is whirling into town! The band, injected with fresh members, still avails itself of sharp-edged beats and cleaving guitars. The raging raw live sound owes its reputation to Thielemans' melting guitar echo's, Neyens' metronome-steady grooves, Hoskens' deep propelling bass and most of all the intense ripping-everything-apart voice of front man Plessers. Due to an armoury of dub-sounds, Wobble-bass lines, firm slam-riffs and Luna Park-guitar effects, this pack doesn't allow itself to be labelled. Confuse The Cat is back from never been gone. This time the Belgian pop brigade is marching ahead with swinging hips in the direction of trendy clubs and fresh festivals. The dub-influences recall to memory the great London riots, though be it in white tennis slacks and with a large emphasis on dance, equally due to the portion (collaboration!!!) of Luuk - Shame on you Boy - Cox (Buscemi, Tim Vanhamel, Arsenal), operating from a Malteser mixing table. Kericky! Confuse The Cat is: Geert Plessers: Vocals & Guitar (ex Reiziger, Kosjer-d) - Dirk Neyens: Drumset - Sven Hoskens: Bass - Dirk Thielemans Guitar and Keys

UGLY PAPAS http://houbi.com/belpop/groups/uglypapas.htm Group from West-Flanders, Belgium that evolved from "psychedelic bluesrock" to "eclectic dadaïsm". The band was founded back in 1989 somewhere between Menen & Kortrijk. The first exploit of the group - participating in the Rock Rally of 1990 - became a bulls-eye immediately. Ugly Papas got to the final (that was one by Noordkaap btw) and received comments such as "ugly, loud and raised on West-Flemish manure", ""supertight contemporary bluesrock with Screaming Blue Messiahs as a possible point of reference", "Is Dr. Dekerpel the new Jean-Marie Aerts?", "not without humor" and "Ugly Papas wère absolutely Ugly, but also rather impressive". In November of the same year, they released the EP "Facin' The Crap", with on it also a Lee Hazlewood/Sinatra-cover "This Town", and an psychedelic adaptation of a Sun Ra song "The Satellites are spinning". Despite the limited sales - the EP is some sort of a collectors item nowadays - the critics loved it. In 1991 they did a bit of touring (for example at -15° in Wallonia) and warming up gigs (logical) for other groups (for example Tragically Hip), and recorded the very first full-Ugly Papas-cd at the studio of George Kooymans - Golden Earring - in Rijkevorsel. This cd was in the same line of their first gigs and EP, with "very loud, decadent rock'n'roll mingled in with psychedelics, R&B, metal and experiment". Humo adjudged is thus : "Ugly Papas play the blues as it occurs them naturally : not in the conventional way, not within the lines that the woke up this morning-experts prescribe. No, "Papa Rules" walks no well-trodden paths, but contains equal doses of Captain Beefheart, Sex Pistols, TC Matic, Claw Boys Claw, Birthday Party, AC/DC, Beasts of Bourbon, Howlin' Wolf." Throw in La Muerte and we're there. Despite reactions such as these, "Papa Rules" also meant the closing of a period for the band. To their own feeling, they had gone into an dead-end alley. So they decided to turn the wheel drastically, or perhaps throw away the wheel altogether. Dr. Dekerpel - who's a doctor in "gitarica" btw - explained this to the "Krant van West-Vlaanderen" : "The last two years we've opened up our music. We had no choice : it was either changing course drastically, ór closing the group. I was getting tired of the direction we were headed. We didn't want to become no goddamned Scabs." This meant that they left the bluesrock for their second - titleless - cd of 1994, and replaced it with "all kind of variants of psychedelics : lots of sound effects, ominous bass-loops, freaking guitars, hypnotizing rhythms, unrecognizable adaptations of Frank Zappa, Serge Gainsbourg, Johnny Hallyday and Bing Crosby, changing the genre from reggea to hardrock to ... " - as Gonzo Circus wrote at the time. Also Jacky Huys noted "Flipped, but in a way that should be stimulated". And the Dr. himself described the cd - which got it's press release in the biggest - empty - concert hall in Belgium - as a "a muggy, drugged nighttime album, a polyvalent DIY-disc, a trip for which you need the right atmosphere to enjoy it fully. Undoubtedly there will be people abandoning us, but there will also be those who will only start to like us now". After this statement, the group continued for some while as a "progressive show- & dance orchestra, which has earned the title of being the Grateful Dead of Belgium, predictable in it's unpredictability". In 1997 all activity was halted. Dr. Dekerpel tries to convince the world of the benefits of macrobiotics. Dick Descamps and Luc Dufourmont have been or are busy with diverse project such as Two Russian Cowboys, The Sparkling Pistols, De Willem Vermanderens, The Whodads, Ozark Henry, Les Bourvils Superstars and such. They even won't rule out a "come-back" of the Papas. We'll keep you in touch. In February 2006, the band plans a come-back indeed for a series of reunion concerts from May until December 2006. Band members : - Luc Dufourmont (zang) - Dick Descamps (bas) - Dr. Dekerpel (gitaar) - Paul Dreze (1989-93) / Rik Debruyne (1993-1997) (drums) - Peppie Pepermans (1994-97, sax) Albums : - Facin' The Crap (EP, Getter Records, 1990) - Papa Rules, OK? (Indisc, 1992) - Animal Reservation/Saviour (7" single, Indisc, 1992) - Météorite/Purperen Pillen (CD single, Liquid, 1994) - Ugly Papas (Indisc, 1994) - Ma Guitare/Te Pletter (CD single, Liquid, 1994) DVD: Live in Gent-Reunion Tour 2006 (to get one dufourmont@myonline.be )

The Love Substitutes are a Belgian band comprised of dEUS guitarists past and present; Mauro Pawlowski on drums, Rudy Trouvé and Craig Ward on guitar, and completed by Bert Lenaerts on bass. They were formed midway 2004. Their debut album (released - 14th February 2004) Meet the Love Substitutes while the house is on fire was recorded in a day and a half. The Love Substitutes are a band for music store browsers. Like the people that go to recordstores to endlessly browse in the collection, and end up buying a CD they already have, just because it is such a great CD to buy.

Triggerfinger is a Belgian band with an international sound which appeals to both younger people, who recognize Queens of the Stone Age and old rockers, who are reminded of Led Zeppelin. Triggerfinger receives rave reviews from the media. One such review claims Triggerfinger's live show makes about 500,000 other so-called rock bands instantly redundant. Triggerfinger consists of three talented musicians: singer/guitarist Ruben Block (Sin Alley and Angelico), bassist Paul van Bruystegem - aka lange Polle / Monsieur Paul - who still plays with BJ Scott and drummer Mario Goossens (Noordkaap, Monza, Hooverphonic, and many others).

Discobar Galaxie is a Belgian DJ-collective, started in the early nineties. Instead of specialising themselves in a certain segment in music, Galaxie chose to spin records of almost any kind. Today we know them from a mish mash of Technotronic and De La Soul. The Beach Boys and Fedde Le Grand. Diana Ross and Daft Punk. And Michael Jackson. Everything is possible, as long as the records are true 'shakers'. Discobar Galaxie did several radioshows on Studio Brussel, a Belgian radiostation. They spinned the records at almost every festival in the country. DJ Bobby Ewing (Jimmy Dewit) is mixmaster, DJ Loveboat (Adriaan Van den Hoof) is the voice and DJ Lars Capaldi (Frank Somers)... is always somewhere around. Galaxie has released already three mix-albums: 'In your Space', 'Give Space a Chance' and 'Space Bar'.

Hormonia is thé hottest girl group in the world! These three fashion icons are all from Flanders, Belgium (obviously the center of good taste and class). Shania de Bie, Rani van Dessel and Audrey Verpooten have proven to bring pop music at his best and become role models for every self-respecting person in this cruel, cold world that we live in. With hits like "Sex in de nacht", "Kevin" and "Gij zijt nen John" they are here to stay. They also have produced touching ballads like "Haag&Das" and the song "Hapjes" deals about those lonely moments that we all have. Some people are said to recognize Tine Embrechts, Karlijn Sileghem and Nele Bauwens in this flamboyant trio but it's widely known that this rumour is spread due to their own jealousy and disbelief.

2) A Belgian stoner band used the name Hulk from 2000 until 2007, when they changed their name to Les Anges." They are from La Louvière, Belgium. Band Members are: Herr Mayer/Renaud(vocals & guitar), Sandra Hagenaar(keyboards, former Fifty Foot Combo), Matthew Mc Nasher (bass & vocals) & Don Giacomo (drums & vocals) As Hulk they recorded two albums - Party Time and Cowboy Coffee & Burned Knives - and an EP called The Codeine Sessions. Websites: http://www.myspace.com/hulktheband or www.myspace.com/lesangesmusic ck, TrillBass, High Rankin and DJ Lord of Public Enemy, just to name a few. Their first official release dropped on Reid Speeds' Play Me Records as a Beatport exclusive in January of 2010, containing the tracks, "See You" and "Angeldust" with official remixes by King from Las Vegas. Hulk has also recently launched their own record label, "BroTown Records" with the help of Symphonic Distribution. This new venture already has the scene begging for the slated releases to drop, with songs by Claw and Richie August along BroTown artists Vaski, Druley, Mark Instinct, Symbl and their own moniker Hulk. Get ready for the biggest bass in the game, as Hulk is here to SMASH! Claw emerged in Houston, Texas in 1999, at the age of 15. He was well-received from the start, making contacts with the local rave DJ's of the time. By the time he was 16, he was playing at some of Houston's bigger underground parties and weekly events. After graduating high school, he moved to Florida to pursue music as a profession and began playing at weekly events. After finishing his music engineering studies at Fullsail in Orlando, Claw made his way across New York working at numerous studios with various engineers and producers. He then moved to Las Vegas to pursue his record label with Trillbass, which he co-founded. Claw also just did an official Dubstep remix for Wu-Tang that debuted at # 7 on the ITunes Hip Hop chart, and is currently back living in NY to run his art gallery and record label ventures. Richie August started out mixing Drum & Bass and Hip Hop in the south-side of Chicago in 1998. He began producing his own tracks in 2000, alongside Chicago Hip Hop artist, "Skope The Lyrical MC". In early 2008, Richie got his first taste of dubstep and It didn't take him long before he was refining his sound and signing his first EP of tracks to Betamorph Recordings. The Death Proof EP came out and solidified Richie and his unique blend of teeth rattling bass and Hip Hop edge in the Dubstep community. As soon as you hear a new Richie August tune, you know it's his. Since then, he's been making dancefloor smashing hits, remixing, collaborating, and is up to over 15 releases on various labels, with no slowing down in sight.

Started out as a band of four sixteen-year-olds in 1978 under the name of The Bungalows. After learning to play some instruments and a name change to Red Zebra, they debut with a self-produced, self-written and self-sold EP. This EP includes the song "I can't live in a living room". This biting indictment of bourgeois society became a radio-hit and is considered one of Belgium's finest cult classics. In 2000, the band was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the legendary song, with a special 2-hour performance in front of a seated audience in the Stadsschouwburg of their hometown Bruges (October 28th). This performance was also captured on CD, and released on the Belgian Parsifal label in 2001 with the title "Last Band Standing". On it, there were 13 new interpretations of the songs that made their fame.

D'Stephanie is more than a steady fixture on the Belgian club scene- for about 14 years she played from New york to London to the Gambia to Rome to Paris to Amsterdam to Barcelona... for a mixed crowd ( the hip- the Royal- the young- the old- the jetset and the gettho) through the boundaries of Broken beat- nu soul- afro- House- ElectroFunk- freestyle breaks and jamaican riddems

Daan (Stuyven) is a Belgian artist who has already been active in the music business for about 20 years. He was first known for his work with alternative/experimental rock band Dead Man Ray. His first two solo albums were made while still playing with Dead Man Ray. His first solo album called Profools was released in 1999, still showing a lot of influence from his work with Dead Man Ray but sounding less experimental.

a hiphop group from Belgium ( Antwerp), they rap int Antwaarps

A "One Hit Wonder" that was an influental indie rock band who had some decent hits in the '90s in Belgium and one very popular song, Orange. Currently, the band has split, but occasionally they reunite to play a gig (for charity e.g.).

Skeemz is a Belgium based hip hop band from Gent. They combine different styles as soul, hip hop and other urban genres.

Safi & Pxl zijn 2 jonge en veelbelovende artiesten uit Mechelen. Momenteel werken zij samen aan een aantal projecten. Safi bracht een tijdje terug zijn 2e album : Buckle Up in eigen beheer uit.

The Bear That Wasn't is Nils Verresen, een jongen met een gitaar en angelieke stembanden. Zijn naam ontleende The Bear That Wasn't aan een kinderboek van Frank Tashlin, met zijn liedjes leunt hij aan bij Gravenhurst, Elliott Smith en Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens ook. The Bear That Wasn't tokkelt en fluistert over en voor fragiele zielen, warm en zacht en stil in drukke, donkere tijden.

In 2007 werd hij genomineerd voor de MySpace Award van Focus Knack, vorig jaar haalde The Bear That Wasn't de finale van Humo's Rock Rally net niet. 'Omdat daar traditiegetrouw slechts tien groepen mogen aantreden, viel hij net buiten de prijzen', schreef de jury. 'The Bear That Wasn't had songs, een sterke stem. Tot over twee jaar.' Deze zomer duikt The Bear That Wasn't de studio in. Zijn debuutplaat verschijnt in het voorjaar van 2010 via PIAS. In oktober al vertrekt hij voor een vol jaar op tournee door België. Via Facebook zocht en vond The Bear That Wasn't 365 vrienden die hem elk een dag onderdak willen bieden. In ruil zal The Bear That Wasn't zijn gastgezinnen verwarmen met zijn fluisterliedjes. Van dit unieke project verschijnt later een film van TRS, het talentvolle Brusselse productiehuis dat eerder meewerkte aan 'Part of the Weekend Never Dies', de tourdocumentaire van Soulwax.

Rapper of the West-Flemish hiphopcrew 't Hof van Commerce who one day got a guitar in hand and suddenly turned into a sort of singer-songwriter, as he says himself a musical crossing between "Urbanus and Ween".

'Ik heb altijd muziek gemaakt omwille van het spel', zegt Flip Kowlier. 'Het is een kriebel. Van zodra ik een instrument zie wil ik het vastpakken. Dit is het vak dat ik als kind al wilde doen: dat vond ik gewoon evident.' The MC in question was Filip Cauwelier, aka Flip Kowlier (or "Levrancier"), who had already given proof that he had something more to offer than rhyming in the dialect of West-Flanders, by playing the bass in the formation My Velma (the band that Jan Leyers founded after the demise of Leyers, Michiels & Soulsister). After the second Hof van Commerce album he (and the rest of the band - e.g. 4T4's "Atomic") craved for something else, and more precisely a solo-adventure "Because I'm kinda lazy, thing dragged on for quite a while though. One day, however, I drove to a music shop and bought me a microphone stand and a 4-trackrecorder and started writing songs. These were quite close to the things of 't Hof: lots of rap, lots of beats. I've stil got these at home, I can do something with them later. But the real spark came when i was offered an acoustisc guitar after one of the last gigs of 't Hof by a girl ... It was just a nice girl who happened to have some guitars at home she didn't play on anymore. I first wanted to buy it of her, but she didn't want anything else than me taking her to a gig of 't Hof. OK I said, that's a deal. It was then and with that guitar that I started to write popsongs.". So, the song "Gele Stylo" on the second Hof Van Commerce-cd ".herman" got a sequel. A band was put together, with as the drummer Joost van den Broeck (who played with Flip Kowlier in his early days in the West-Flemish crossover band "The Prophets of Finance", and later drummed with De Mens, My Velma, Riguelle & Hautekiet or de Laatste Show-band), bass-player Pieter van Buyten (see also Marianne Debaene, the 2000-incarnation of punk-band The Kids, and the country-outfit Chitlin' Fooks) and keyboard player Peter Lesage (Moiano, Krewcial, Magik Ballet Ensemble, Atomic ...). With a few demo's, they also stirred the intrest of producer Wouter van Belle (see eg. Axelle Red, Dead Man Ray, Gorki ...) and Dead Man Ray drummer Karel de Backer, who got involved in it. The name of the band eventually became simply "Flip Kowlier", after "De Barabassen" and "Bernard & Edwyn" didn't pass the test. The plan was to release a full-cd in September 2000, but to all kind of circumstances, it took till September of the year after for these plans to materialize. A first time Flip Kowlier introduced himself to the audience through a gig in the Ancienne Belgique opening for Laïs (spring 2001), and by spreading an MP3 of the folkpop song "Kwestie van Organisatie" (with the "wist je da in bad zitt'n schreien een vorme van besparing is" line - did you know that crying in bath is a way of saving). Just before the summer, he released a first single, the angry "Welgemeende". Especially this 2nd song - despite the very incomprehensible lyrics for anyone not born in Izegem - became a breakthrough - on modest scale - through the anger and energy that shined from this "sincere fuck you" (it was even dubbed a "West-Flemish Nirvana"). In September 2001 then came the longawaited CD, with the self-mocking title "Ocharme Ik" (translated that would be "Oh poor me"), with an number of melancholic popsongs and some firmer tracks. "I know what atmosphere the album had to have when we started recording. It had to sound like a gig in a small pub, withouth minding a creaking amp or so. The CD has to give you the feeling that we're playing right next to you." As Peter van Dyck wrote in Knack : "For some, who know Kowlier only as the rapper Levrancier, the folky popsingle Kwestie van Organisatie will have come as a complete suprise. But the mixture of folkrock, bossanova, punk, country, gypsy music, reggae and Tom Waits on the full-cd Ocharme Ik will surprise them even more. The young lad demonstrates what born artist he really is". Good to know also is that there's finally a lyrics-sheet included in the album, so that people from outside the Westhoek can also get a glimpse about what the heck he's singing. Members : - Flip Kowlier (gitaar, zang) - Karel de Backer / Joost van den Broeck (drums) - Peter Lesage (keyboards) - Pieter Van Buyten (bas)

One of Belgium's finest bands... After the tight and straightforward sounding '360°' album, Mintzkov intended to open up their music a little more. On their third full length recording, 'Rising Sun, Setting Sun', the fivesome from Antwerp reaches out for a more streamlined and more dancefloor orientated sound, in which the role of keyboard player Pascal Oorts has become more prominent. "What we were after was a little more movement within the songs", singer and guitarist Philip Bosschaerts explains. "Or rather: a different kind of movement." The new album was recorded with Jagz Kooner, a British producer whose services were previously called upon by the likes of Primal Scream, Kasabian, New Order and Reverend & The Makers. Kooner, a one time member of Sabres of Paradise and a prolific dj and remixer in his own right, heard a Mintzkov demo at his manager's office and was drawn to the "undercurrent of Krautrock" in their music. In the studio he basically tried to emphasize the anthemic qualities in Mintzkov's songs. His advice was: "If you have a great chorus, then don't hide it at the tail end of a track". Still the band regularly caused him to raise his eyebrows. The 5/4 signature of 'The Simple Future' or the downright weird structure of 'Roadbuilding' caught him slightly off balance. Gradually a lack of understanding made way for admiration. One thing to remember about Mintzkov is their songs need some getting used to. And to give him credit, Jagz Kooner made some very useful suggestions during the recording process. Although 'Opening Fire' originally presented itself as a fairly abstract, epic tune, he managed to uncover the concise pop song that lay dormant in it. He also convinced the band that 'Gemini', the quiet track that closes off the album, worked better in its stripped down guise than with layered instrumentation. Another of Mintzkov's principal assets is the gorgeous sounding harmony of Bosschaerts' singing with bass player Lies Lorquet. The latter can also be heard as a guest vocalist on the latest albums by dEUS and The Go Find. Philip Bosschaerts' lyrics are no linear stories. Instead you could compare them to a carefully woven tapestry of images and metaphors. But as you listen to 'Rising Sun, Setting Sun', it does not take long before certain themes start rising to the surface. The singer, who recently celebrated his thirtieth birthday, seems to be obsessed with the passing of time and crossing borders. There is also a huge amount of acceptance and resignation in the songs. "You shouldn't waste any time or energy on things in life you cannot change anyway", Bosschaerts says. 'Rising Sun, Setting Sun' will come out simultaneously in the Benelux countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. A French release is to follow in the fall. The artwork of the album was made by Kati Heck, a German visual artist currently living in Antwerp whose work can be seen in museums and art galleries all over the world. She made some drawings for the booklet and authorized the band to reproduce her painting 'Fratzenpleite' on the cover of 'Rising Sun, Setting Sun'. A fitting image to a nearly perfect pop record. Play it loud. DIRK STEENHAUT www.mintzkov.be Mintzkov is: Philip Bosschaerts : Vocals & Guitar Lies Lorquet: Bass & Vocals Pascal Oorts: Keyboards Daan Scheltjens: Guitar Min Chull Vansteenkiste: Drums

Formed in the summer of 2000, they won the Belgian National Humo Rock Rally which led to a live session on the Belgian Radio One and MTV equivalent. Later in 2002 they recorded the debut single 'Audience' with producer Teo Miller (Placebo - Nancy Boy). In 2006 they released their first full album 'Bring It On' (on the Skint label). Dave Martijn was the temporary tour bassist for fellow Belgian band Soulwax whilst on the promotional tour for 'Any Minute Now' between 2004-2006. Goose started out as a AC/DC cover band, but they quickly found their own agenda by absorbing great amount of synth into the musical system. Belgium is located just between France and Germany - and in the same manner, Goose are the sound of an intense duel between Kraftwerk and Daft Punk at a lay-by in the Benelux. website: http://www.goosemusic.com myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/goosemusic

Fixkes are six fellows from Stabroek, a village north of Antwerp, Belgium. Sam Valkenborgh, his brother Jan Valkenborgh, Peter Deckers, Johan Pauwels, Bart Palmers and Joris Van den Broeck combine since 2005 acoustic pop and rap in the local Dutch dialect. Fans of Jack Johnson, Everlast, G. Love and Flip Kowlier will probably like the band.

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Like so many bands, Fixkes intially distributed their songs on their MySpace page. In 2007, they were picked up by the Dutch Excelsior Recordings. One month later, their first single Kvraagetaan (Irequestit) entered the Belgian singles chart at #2 and hit #1 for 16 weeks, a belgian record and most sold single of 2007. Fixkes released their debut album 'Fixkes' in November 2008 which received Gold status one month later.

In January 2010 Fixkes released the single "Rock-'n-Roll" from their forthcoming second album "Superheld" which will hit the stores on March 8.

Ze spelen op verzoek old school nummers van The Fab Four, The Beatles dus.

My Little Cheap Dictaphone is a three-pieces band from , Belgium. The frontman, RedBoy, is member of another band from Liège: Hollywood Porn Stars.

De Mens is a Flemish rock band from Belgium. The current members of the band are Frank Vander linden, Michel de Coster, and Dirk Jans. After playing in many hobby groups together, long-time friends Vander linden and De Coster decided to start De Mens. Vander linden, a journalist for the acclaimed Belgian magazine Humo, left his job to pursue a career as a full-time musician. In 1992 the band released its first radio single, "Dit is mijn huis" ("This Is My House"), followed by the full album De Mens. Later came other successful singles "Jeroen Brouwers (schrijft een boek)" ("Jeroen Brouwers Writes a Book") and "Irene". De Mens became a popular Belgian rock band. The band's second album, called Ik wil meer (I Want More), contains the singles "Nederland" ("The Netherlands"), "Zij zit daar en ik zit hier" ("She Sits There and I Sit Here"), and "Lachen en mooi zijn" ("Smiling and Being Pretty"). Meanwhile, Vander linden developed a reputation as writer. Thanks to his success in the Studio Brussel radio programme Collage, he has frequently been asked to be a columnist and spoken-word performer. In winter of 1995, Vander linden did a small tour titled Solo bij u thuis. A mini-CD, Patti Blues, followed. During that same winter, the band recorded a new album titled Wil je beroemd zijn? (Do You Want to Be Famous?) at the ICP studios in Brussels.

Eté 67 is a belgian pop-rock band who belongs to the new belgian rock wave. They began to be famous after being discovered at the festival "Francofolies de Spa" in 2004. One of their major influences is "The Velvet Underground".

Marco Bailey, real name Marc Beelen, is a Belgian DJ, producer and label owner. Born in on the 20th of july 1970, he got his breaktrough, as a producer, with the hitsingles 'Scorpia' in 1996 and 'Cokeman' in 1997. After 20 years of intensive techno sets and productions on differents labels like Primate, Zync... he created his own label with Christian Varela in 2000 called Pornographics Recording. He is recognized as one of the best Belgian DJ's and had live performances on biggest techno-events such as I Love Techno, Mayday & NatureOne.

De immer metamorferende Abendunterhaltung: goed om weten dat de Lenski's en co. op hun laatste plaat terugkeren naar het geluid van de begindagen (folk, klassieke muziek, Balkan en pop). Tof!

Momenteel met "Little Clouds" goed bezig is in De Afrekening op Studio Brussel. De band zal ongetwijfeld een flink aantal nummers voorstellen van het binnen niet al te lange tijd uitkomende nieuwe, 2de album!

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Since 1996, Dirk Swartenbroekx (Belgium) is making "warm" records under the name of Buscemi. He called himself after Steve Buscemi, one of his favorite actors. His style is deep and difficult to categorise: nu bossa, nu lounge, house, brazilian grooves, afrobeat, drum 'n bass... "Dancemusic with a latin feel" is maybe the best description of the sound of Buscemi. Buscemi is much in demand as a DJ for his eclectic, warm and deep style, but he can also be booked for a live-act. On stage, Swartenbroekx completes his sound with drummer Luuk Cox, bassist Hans Mullens, Dree Peremans on trombone and Sam Versweyveld on trumpet, and together they serve up a steaming cauldron. Buscemi is no stranger to the live circuit, having appeared on major festivals like Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Axion Beach, Lowlands, Dour, I Love Techno, Marktrock, Montreux Jazz, Asparragus Rock, Oppikoppi...

The profile of SweetCoffee (Patrick Bruyndonx and Raffaele Brescia) can be sketched in terms of past achievements, but the band can only be truly defined in terms of its evolving future%u2026

Tom Van Laere is een nieuwsgierig en gedreven artiest die zichzelf graag uitdaagt. Songs (2005) is bijvoorbeeld deels gebouwd op de spanning om in 7 dagen een straffe plaat te maken met een vreemde groep in een verre stad (Los Angeles). Voor The Honey and the Knife (2010) vond hij zijn drijfveer te voet. Kent u The Walk Anyway Day? Vrij te vertalen als 'blijf wandelen, ook als je/het geen zin hebt/heeft'. Van Laere liet zijn gitaar thuis en componeerde in zijn hoofd tijdens lange stadswandelingen. Het nieuwe materiaal testte hij zonder aankondiging op plekken waar niemand hem kende. Amsterdam was zijn favoriete onderduikadres. Admiral Freebee houdt er een debuutgevoel aan over. Een warme herinnering aan het niemandsland tussen het zilver van Humo's Rock Rally 2000 en de release van 'Admiral Freebee' (2003). Hij volgt zijn gevoel en zoekt Jo Francken op, de producer van dat debuut. Vele gevaren liggen op de loer. Maar hij weet precies wat hij doet. 'Niemand weet beter wat ik kan dan Jo. Hij is namelijk ook tien jaar mijn geluidsman geweest en producer van het eerste album. De twee nemen op een paar dagen de basistracks op in Motormusic (Koningshooikt) Daarna hadden ze de luxe om de tijd te vergeten in Studio Dam (de huisstudio van Francken) iets wat Van Laere voordien nog niet gedaan had. The Honey and the Knife is de dwarsdoorsnede van a) een debuutgevoel, b) tien jaar evolutie én c) het leven dat voorbij komt. Zonder dat het expliciet wordt uitgespeeld, voel je dat het hier over diepere dingen gaat. Freebee laat in het midden wie de verteller is. De titel is beeldspraak voor het jezelf tegenspreken. 'The Honey' beeldt zich in dat hij zichzelf kent. 'The Knife' beeldt zich in dat hij de anderen kent. Tegenstellingen regeren het album. Hij/iemand is altijd onderweg (Always on the Run) maar zoekt ook een vaste plek (Home). Hij/iemand keert zijn lief de rug toe (The Last Song about You) maar bouwt ook de hemel met haar (Fools Like Us). De muzikale geografie van Admiral Freebee blijft onveranderd. Maar het spectrum was nooit eerder zo breed. Opener Blues for a Hypochondriac is een potige fantasie over Grinderman. My Hippie Ain't Hip is swingende danceblues die verbroederen kan met Kill All Hippies van Primal Scream. The Last Song about You heeft genen van The Replacements en Always on the Run pendelt tussen eighties-Bowie en Scissor Sisters. Hymns For Demons begint bij de behaaglijke luiheid van Lambchop en mondt uit in gitaarrazernij. De glanslaag komt van Karolien Van Ransbeeck, een Anversoise die klinkt alsof ze het bos weet liggen waar de elfen wonen.

Das Pop is a band founded in the Belgian town of Ghent by schoolfriends Reinhard Vanbergen, Niek Meul and Bent Van Looy. They were initially called Things To Come, but changed later their name to Das Pop. They have a considerable fanbase in Europe. In 2007 the line-up evolved with the addition of drummer Matt Eccles, a 23 year old from New Zealand. Shortly after Eccles joined the band they played a showcase at Manchester's In The City music industry conference and were then signed by Sony BMG imprint Ugly Truth Records. In 2007 Das Pop's song "Underground" was included by French dance act Justice on their mix album Fabric Live and in their A-Z of Justice mix on Rob Da Bank's BBC Radio 1 show. In January 2008 Das Pop released "Fool For Love" on UK independent label Prestel Records. The release featured remixes from French DJ SebastiAn and Yuksek, which the Culture section of UK newspaper The Sunday Times said "the momumental new single from the Belgian electro band". "Fool For Love" is now available as a free download through the band's MySpace page. Das Pop have just finished recording the first album for Ugly Truth which has been produced by David and Stephen Dewaele from Soulwax. It is planned to be released in Summer 2008. "Underground", the first single from the album is released on 4th August and has received huge support from many top DJs and major radio stations across the UK. There are also remixes from Van She, Busy P and Kid Gloves. Das Pop have been touring all over the world at festivals such as Glastonbury, 02 Wireless and Lovebox, plus supporting acts including Gossip, Death Cab For Cutie, and The Kills. Das Pop have a summer full of gigs and a London headline date to follow.

"Kitsch? Gay? Ja! euh... Neen! Of toch? Hooverphonic opperhoofd Alex Callier is Hairglow: fijne pop, met zijn 2009 teletijdmachine uit de ee-ties naar het nu gehaald. En 't werkt! Elke single die van het album werd geplukt, ging in high rotation op Studio Brussel. Of verdiende dat op zijn minst."

Eind vorig jaar schudden Nid & Sancy (B, live) ons wakker met The Kidzzz EP. Intussen is hun nieuwe full album 'Yeah Yeah Yes' klaar, gereleased én goedbevonden door de pers. Een nieuwe stap voorwaarts in de boeiende carrière van Nid & Sancy. Zaterdag in (AB in) Petrol!

Plezantigheid uit Gent. Brachten vorig jaar hun eerste full cd uit (People And Geometry) nadat ze een jaartje eerder in de finale van Humo's Rock Rally stonden. Plezantigheid? Zeker weten! Barbie Bangkok is knapperig, retro en simpel. Ze maken aanstekelijke gitaarpop en catchy meefluiters. Sparkling sexy!

Creature with the Atom Brain is a Belgian alternative rock band consisting of Millionaire keyboardist Aldo Struyf (Guitar/Keys/Vocals), Dave Schroyen (Drums), Jan Wygers (Bass) and Michiel Van Cleuvenbergen (Guitar). The band have been said to make "fuzzy stripped-back rock n'roll noise with a generous helping of weird." The band's name is taken from the Rocky Erickson & The Aliens song (Which in turn was taken from the 1955 film of the same name), with Struyf citing Erickson's former band The 13th Floor Elevators and the man himself as influencing Creature with the Atom Brain's sound. After two 12" EPs on Conspiracy records, the band released their first full length album on March 24, 2008, entitled I am the Golden Gate Bridge. The album notably featured guest vocals from fellow Millionaire band-member Tim Vanhamel and Mark Lanegan, Struyf having provided keyboards and toured for the latter's Bubblegum album. Creature with the Atom Brain have since toured in support of the album, including playing cancelled shows for Masters of Reality and supporting Jesus and Mary Chain on selected shows Creature with the Atom Brain is a band with members from Millionaire,Dead Stop Mauro & The Grooms and Vandal X. Sounds like desert rock, straight from Belgium.

Customs is a combo of four retrofuturists, known for melody, atmosphere and mathematical edge. Influences detected by several journalists include: The House of Love, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Sound, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Cocteau Twins. Customs is known as well for making fame in a rather swift fashion: In April 2009 Customs became the first ever Artist in Residence at Het Depot. Around the same time Customs' first single, entitled "REX", was released. It stayed at the n°1 spot of De Afrekening for 4 weeks and popped up in the Ultratop Chart as well. July marks the recording of their first album and the mastering at the legendary Abbey Road Studios by the even more legendary Geoff Pesche (Gorillaz, Basement Jaxx, Simon Webbe, Kylie Minogue, Athlete, Coldplay and Dizzee Rascal). In the summer of 2009 they were welcomed at the Pukkelpop festival and received raving in reviews in the Dutch magazine Oor as well as in the Flemish weekly Focus Knack. In September 2009, the band was elected 'Vi.be On Air' Band of the Year 2008-2009 by Studio Brussel. One week later "Justine" was released as the first single of the forthcoming debut album. The band played a concert to remember at the Leffingeleuren Festival and proudly presented a music video for "Justine", shot in Berlin and directed by Joris Rabijns. On 26th October 2009 'ENTER THE CHARACTERS' found its way to every record store. De Morgen celebrated the release with a four star review Best Belgian Album Of The Year.Focus Knack put the four retrofuturists on their cover Belgian Revelation Of The Year and also Humo(Belgian weekly) hails them in their pages. CUSTOMS is: Kristof Marie August Albert Uittebroek (vocals, guitar) Joan Willy August Govaerts (bass) Jelle Florentius Mark Janse (guitar) Ace Mirko Zec (drums).

Disko Drunkards is a collaboration of The Glimmers and Tim Vanhamel.

"De winnaars van Humo's Rock Rally 2006 brachen pas een (titelloze) debuutcd uit. En die wordt die niet alleen door Humo met 4 sterren beloond. Zo schreef De Standaard: ""Onze kop eraf als er dit jaar nog een Belgische rockplaat uitkomt die even verpletterend klinkt als het debuut van The Hickey Underworld."" Kan tellen! Focus Knack schrijft: het ""voelt aan als een kopstoot gevolgd door een kus"". Rond de band zijn er inderdaad flink wat contrasten te bespeuren: De sound VS het artwork (donker, smerig VS kleurrijk en zachter). Geliefd bij kritische muziekpers VS nummer één in De Afrekening. Smerige gitaarherrie VS mooie liedjes die achter dat geweld verstopt zitten."

Started playing guitar with Evil Superstars. They made 2 albums and then stopped. After his career with Evil Superstars he was asked to play guitar for dEUS, mostly at their tours. He did this until 1999 when he started his own band Millionaire. They made 2 albums. Apart from his activities with Millionaire, he also has some side projects like Coca-Cola Met God and Eagles of Death Metal. His first solo album "Welcome to the Blue House" was released early February 2008.

Buffalo Beats... zouden dat beats uit het Gentse kunnen zijn? Jazeker: Buffalo Beats is de dj-naam van The Subs!

Luchtgitaren tijdens de les op goed volk als Radiohead & Muse, en na de uurtjes losgehen in het tuinhuis: daar komt vroeg of laat een heuse band van. Dit vijftal uit Grimbergen-Nieuwenrode hield het, na enig grasduinen in het Middelgroot Woordenboek Engels-Nederlands, bij Landfill. De gebruikelijke covers beugespeeld, maakten ze al gauw hun nummers zélf, al was het maar om er in eerste instantie mee op hun bek te gaan tijdens allerhande rockrally's. Maar afgeven staat niet in hun woordenboek, en dus deden zij gestaag hun ding en kijk, er mocht al eens gewonnen worden, de finale van Music Live bijvoorbeeld in Brugge, waardoor ze naar Zweden vlogen om er live x-aantal vrouwenharten én een gitaarhalsje te breken. Goed voor héél wat stempels op hun rock n rollpas én de aanzet voor hun eerste EP "Hello Planet Earth". Van die eerste demo verscheen "demons wear a crown" op de demopoll-cd's van stubru en poppunt. Hierna volgen de optredens elkaar snel op, van het jubileum van tante jos tot kleinere festivals als pukemarock en rock ternat. In 2008 brengen ze hun 2e EP uit, "Falling like dominoes", en halen ze de derde plaats in de provinciale rockwedstrijd Rockvonk. In 2009 kammen ze hun tuinhuis uit op zoek naar nieuw songmateriaal, en nemen ze samen met producer Bart Delacourt producer Monza, Arid en bassist bij onder ander Monza en MFT hun eerste full-cd op. www.landfill.be// www.myspace.com/landfillmusic

Nag

The Belgian alternative rock outfit Absynthe Minded is heavily influenced by thirties jazz, soul, Merseyside pop, balkan and gypsy music. Absynthe Minded originally formed in 1999 as a one man band. Singer/guitarist Bert Ostyn recorded the first demos solo in his bedroom in Ghent. In 2002 Ostyn recruited Renaud Ghilbert (violin, trumpet, percussion), Sergej Van Bouwel (bass, contrabass) and Jan Duthoy (Hammond, piano) to form the Absynthe Minded Quartet, shortly Absynthe Minded. The History makes Science Fiction EP (2003) was their first release on the independent Keremos label. One year later the band finished second the infamous Belgian rock contest Humo's Rock Rally, which gathered them a serious amount of media coverage. After the addition of drummer Jakob Nachtergaele to its line-up, Absynthe Minded released their first full length Acquired Taste later that year to much critical acclaim. Their sophomore album New Day was released only a year later. With the succes of hit-single My Heroics, Part One, Absynthe Minded start touring Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. They also supported dEUS on their European tour. For the release of their next albums There Is Nothing (2007) and the self-titled Absynthe Minded (2009), the band signed with Universal.

The ska-band Skatchou Bottos was born in 2004 in Ghent. During a school excursion in the Ardens, a bunch of students at the faculty of Bio-engineer sciences came up with plans to start a band. The first six pairs of "Bottos" were put on by Hans (alt sax), Bos (keys), Bert (base), Rik (guitar), Frederic (voices) and Bastiaan (drums), who started practicing and working out songs every wednesday after school. Soon, trumpet player Koen and tenor sax Wannes joined the band and the first own songs were finished. After a short brake during summer 2005, the first small concerts arrived, at café Kosmic and at the Faculty. After a while, Bastiaan was replaced by Erik, and three new faces and instruments showed up: Pieter on trombone, Yasmin on voice and Ruben on the congas. The 11 Bottos were now complete and became very close friends. In 2007, a dazzling period broke down, with concerts in the Vooruit, the Bijloke, at the Student Kickoff, and first gigs outside the city of Ghent. In the summer of 2008, the Skatchou Bottos were on tour in Germany and played several concerts in Bremen, Braunschweig and Berlin. A first EP was recorded at the Galaxy Studios in Mol. The music of the Skatchou Bottos can be described as world music, influenced by rhythm, latin and reggae, combining Southern, Eastern and Western aspects. After more than three years, the Skatchou Bottos built up a strong live reputation, which was rewarded by several public prices.

Capt. Luke leeft als veelgevraagde drummer (o.a. Buscemi) en producer (o.a. Arsenal, Krakow, Tim Vanhamel) in de studio. Zo zat hij achter de knoppen wanneer hij de SHAMEBOY-sound uitvond. Met Jimmy Dewit (DJ Bobby Ewing) krijgt zijn project een dubbel gelaat. De studio wordt te klein, "Rechoque" te groot en het duo vindt de weg naar de dansvloer. Als deejay brengt Luke zijn knoppenwerk tot bij de mensen. SHAMEBOY-like grooves in één berekende mix van stomende, vette electro-beats met funky elektronische en organische sounds. En met wat geluk knalt hij er een pimped-up versie van een oude dancefloor klassieker tussen. Zomaar. Capt. Luke draaide al in Zuid-Afrika, Spanje, Duitsland en verschillende bekende clubs in België.

Het Gentse duo MADENSUYU (B, live) komt zijn nieuwste album D is Done voorstellen in Petrol. Een bijzonder helder en intens werkstuk dankzij het prachtige werk van producer Peter Vermeersch en mixer Pierre Vervloesem, die ook dEUS en Mad Dog Loose begeleidden bij hun eerste stapjes in de studio. We horen zowel echo's van The Kills, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground en Lou Reed.

LALALOVER aka Tom Kestens is reeds jarenlang een muzikale veelvraat met klasse. Dat onderstreept hij eens te meer met zijn nieuwe album The Runner, een plaat die hij voor het eerst zelf produceerde, waarmee hij onmiddellijk scoorde via de single A Woman Saves A Man en waarvoor hij tal van mooie bloemetjes kreeg toegeworpen van de vaderlandse pers