Countries you didn't know you loved: Belgium

Oy!

Second country in the row of "Countries you didn't know you loved" is Belgium. And OH BOY, have you been waiting for this. You have been waiting for this. Please say it. 16 bands and artists are in this time - that's twice as many as the last one I did about Norway!


You know Jean Claude Van Damme. You know waffles. You know beer. You know Hercule Poirot. And you know chocolate. Then you think that you might know Belgium, but that's not enough! Belgium simply has one of the most interesting music scenes in Europe and maybe even more than that. Most of the music could be described as rock and generally with a heavier, more stoned touch than most other countries in the world. Well, allow me to take it away:

dEUS
Alright, let's kick this off with one of the most succesful bands in the history of Belgium. (DRAMATIC.) dEUS happen to be one of my favorite bands of the last two centuries - multi-layered clever artrock with songs written by God himself. (DRAMATIC.) Or, at least it sounds like that. Their two first albums are almost just plain weird but you'll find those brilliant ideas if you just listen enough. The next two, though (The Ideal Crash from 1999 and Pocket Revolution from 2005) are masterpieces as far as what concerns layer-on-layer-produced artrock songs written by God himself. Fantastically amazingly brilliant albums, must-haves in every record collection if you ask me. Their latest album is called Vantage Point, it's from 2008 and all of a sudden, it's NOT multi-layered Artrock anymore! But still it's absolutely brilliant, the songwriting is just as sharp as it has always been and now they even seek new territory. My favorite album of 2008. Seriously, you NEED to check out this band. They are the saviors of Artrock. (DRAMATIC.)

The Hickey Underworld
2009 was the year of the release of the self-titled debut album of The Hickey Underworld. It's offerings was noise-rock with lots of nerve and brilliant melodies. Most of the time, the vocal was screamy, the guitars were insisting, the bass was heavy and the drums were tight as hell, as heard on the fantastic single Blonde Fire which I posted very early on the blog, partly because of its amazing video and Mystery Bruise. But it also worked when they surprised - as on Future Words that was filled with pop hit potential and Blue World Order, a ballad that somehow just fits in on the album. It's going to be really exciting to follow these guys in the future. And Detectief Van Zwam from the mighty and late Openyourarmsandwelcome blog says they're awesome live! I think that there's a lot of potential in here - we've already heard some of it. UPDATE: Future Words now also has an AWESOME music video, same style and instructor as Blonde Fire.
Creature With The Atom Brain
One of the laws of music sounds: A band with somewhat of a connection to Queens Of The Stone Age is a fucking awesome band. Nobody has ever proved that wrong - neither has Creature With The Atom Brain. Frontman Aldo Struyf has been doing work with Mark Lanegan who we all know likes to drop by and say hello when Queens Of The Stone Age is around. CWTAB has made two albums, Transylvania from 2009 which is not that good and I Am The Golden Gate Bridge from 2008 which is amazing and really worth checking out. The music is stoned-out rock music with a production that's pretty "indie" as in "not really 8 distorted guitars playing at the same time".

Radio Infinity
Sweat-dripping. Tight. Dirty. Monstrous. Stoned. Cool. Brilliant. These are some of the words that I'd use to describe Radio Infinity - a stoner rock trio consisting of ex-members of Millionaire and Vandal X, among others. These guys are two album into their career, their first one, Radio Infinity, is really good and their second, Derail To Innovate, is absolutely fantastic. What you get here is rock in its purest form and nothing more than that - but Radio Infinity does it so well it's rude to ask for more. A must-hear.
A Brand
Probably the most famous glam rock outfit in Belgium, A Brand have had a fair amount of succes in their home country. And it's well-deserved. Their earliest album, 45 RPM, is not really that glam, but a tune as Riding Your Ghost is very entertaning. The second album, Hammerhead, though, is brilliant. Well-produced, filled with good rock songs and well, some glam attitude in there as well. 2008 saw the release of Judas, an album that didn't really hit me as hard as Hammerhead and 45 RPM, though. But still an interesting listen that is not too demanding.

Evil Superstars
Evil Superstars may be considered as legends on the Belgian music scene. They released two albums, the absolutely crazy Love Is Okay in 1996 and the stunning stoner-indie-acid adventure Boogie-Children-R-Us in 1998. Led by Mauro Pawlowski and featuring Tim Vanhamel (who joined when he was 15), these guys are just.... I don't know what to say, really, this is such an experience to listen to, it's amazing. Also, they made a song called "I Can't Seem To Fuck Things Up". Well, they could. Indeed.
Mauro Pawlowski
Well, this guy basically IS the Belgian music scene. Or, to but it in a better and less insulting way - Mauro Pawlowski has been almost everywhere on the Belgian music scene. He founded Evil Superstars. He has played in several bands with former dEUS members Stef Kamil Carlens, Craig Ward and Randy Trouvé including Kiss My Jazz, Pawlowski/Trouvé/Ward and The Love Substitutes. He's playing with Bum Collar. And in a jam band called IH8CAMERA. He has toured as guitarist with a Belgian dance group, Ultima Vez. Oh, and now he's the guitarist of dEUS! And that's not even half of it - I think this guy gets up early in the morning. His diversity as an artist is huge: from artrock to pop to jazz to weird acid rock to avantgarde guitar noise. There's really something to dive into here, and most of it is really, really interesting and brilliant.

The Black Box Revelation
Here's your badass rock 'n roll duo on their way to the top. The 2008-release of their debut album, Set Your Head On Fire, was hugely succesful. PIAS (former known as Play It Agian Sam) released their debut album, they've toured with dEUS and Eagles Of Death Metal and the MLB club Pittsburgh Pirates bought the rights to the song I Think I Like You. The music is very energetic, young, raw and fresh and it's an absolute pleasure to listen to. Their new album is called Silver Threats, and I think it's going to be released very soon.



Tim Vanhamel
Tim Vanhamel was the guitar player in Evil Superstars, he has played guitar with dEUS as well, and he has played with Eagles Of Death Metal, too. And he's not done yet. He put a solo album out in 2008 and it's truly great and fantastic - you'll find rock, pop, psychedelic, ballads, an acid rocker, an orchestra and LOADS of great, great melodies. Yes, I AM trying to recommend this. He's an amazingly talented songwriter with a fantastic sense of quality - this guy hasn't made anything I don't like yet.

Mint
I've only heard one album from these Belgian electrorockers, but I must admit that it's pretty damn good. It's called Hinterland and it's from 2008. Highlights are the fantastically rocking/keyboarding? Giving Blood To Machines, a driven anthem that blends rock and electro perfectly. Also, the Oasis-like Hinterland, a beautiful ballad, is brilliant. The whole thing is very well-produced and it sounds perfectly fine. All in all a good listen for those who can stand out some keys in their rock songs. Looking forwards to hearing what these guys will do next!

Guernica
These guys are actually not in a band anymore, I just found out. That's a shame, 'cause I'd love to hear more than just an EP from Guernica. The EP, Who Are Your Songs For, was very thrilling and a fine study in dEUS-like artrock. Now I'm sad.

The Germans
Although the name of the band is WRONG, these guys have at least got something right - they definately know how to make a great melodic noise-rock tune as they proved on their debut album Elf Shot Lame Witch. A tune like Waiting For The Band deserves at least 50 times the attention it got. A highly enjoyable listen that I really liked because of the raw, metallic sound and the indiepop melodies that sometimes were played. Other times it was just plain weird freakshow. It was produced by Boris Wilsdorf from Einstürzende Neubauten and that can actually be heard - there's definately some industrial noise in there. Definately worth your attention.

Soulwax
Two guys doing the electronic thing with lots of inspiration from rock music - actually, their first two albums were rock-orientated post-grunge and then it has turned over to a more Justice-like electro with rock attitude. Some of you might know them as 2 Many DJ's where they're doing bastard pop. Well, if you're into Justice or other Ed Banger-bands, Soulwax are definately something you have to check out.


Madensuyu
Belgian duo, drums and guitar - they're kind of doing the rock thing, but not as The White Stripes, Black Keys or Black Box Revelation. There's something in here that I can't really explain - it's just just your classical three-chord quick punk explosions that often dominates this kind of genre. There's something underneath here - something dark and slightly depressing about these guys - it's definately an interesting listen.

Triggerfinger
Triggerfinger are a badass rock 'n roll trio. Their sound reminds me a little of a more stoned but still hard hitting AC/DC. It doesn't require too much of your brain capacity but it's a really good listen and if you just want some ballsy rock music, this is highly recommended. This band sure has a lot of great energy and I guess these guys may be quite a fantastic experience live.

The Van Jets
The Van Jets are a band with a sound they characterize as "glam rock 'n roll", and they're not all wrong here. Dirty and radio friendly at the same time, these guys hit that 70's rock 'n roll spirit in a brilliant way. They sound like a young A Brand with more energy, and that's not a bad thing at all. They have a new album coming out here in February and I'm definately going to have a listen or two.

Well, that's all I could come up with for now. I think you'll have enough lovely music for quite some time here.