When Belgium Ruled the World

Leo

Leo

Well-known member
weird how Belgium was the source of great stuff during this period, yet so little before or since. I'm sure there are some good artists there now, but nothing on the scale of this golden period.
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
Yes that's what puzzled me - like what happened after 92?

It's like a really narrow moment of insane greatness - roughly 90-92.

New Beat seemed fun at the time but can't listen to it now.
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
Bleep is actually the same - there's this moment of insane greatness 89 to end of '91

Then the people responsible dispersed stylistically and what they do next is not nearly as compelling

Nightmares On Wax become trip hop, RHK goes more or less IDM, Rob Gordon does.... well I have this Rob Gordon Projects LP somewhere sweeping up his bits but I can't remember much about it.

LFO - I never really clicked with Advance. Listened to it earlier for the first time since the original time - nd there's some nice bits but it's no Frequencies.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
You seen that music doc about Belgium and their dance scenes? Their contention is (or something like this anyhow) that dance spots are linked to the growth of the road network, they seem to claim that it was a particularly good set of roads whatever that might mean, or simply that lots of Belgians travelled a lot and often quite far and as a result bars sprung up along the way, I guess booze food and maybe beds were available - but also they always had dancing in these places. First just random stuff, then you get yer popcorn scene of slowed down soul records and learning dances and stuff, then new beat and then techno. All linked to travelling, which I suppose meant that if there was a place that was good people didn't mind going across half the country to get there cos driving there was already almost part of the night - and also there no laws to restrict night life and drinking or anything so they clubs could stay open for days on end...

I bet I like new beat more than most, and I do like dancing for days.... but even I would go mental if I had to dance to new beat for 72 straight hours.

As to what wrong I dunno. With new beat it became so popular and market oversaturated... piles and piles of records trying to cash in, novelty records, comedy records, that one where the speech of the kidnapped pm was used etc I think they might have also tightened the laws to stop people having so much fun.

One thing it didn't address though - that I've always wondered about - is, why is it that Belgium has two famous dance scenes and they both involve pitching records down from the speed at which they were intended to be played? Coincidence or is there something in the Belgian psyche, or something in the local conditions (eg a downer drug although I don't think it wasthat specifically) that tended to favour slower music?
 
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mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
IdleRich said:
You seen that music doc about Belgiun and their dance scenes? Their contention is (or something like this anyhow) that dance spots are linked to the growth of the road network, they seem to claim that it was a particularly good set of roads whatever that might meant, or simply that lots of Belgians travelled a lot and often quite far and as a result bars sprung up along the way, I guess booze food and maybe beds were available - but also they always had dancing in these places. First just random stuff, then you get yer popcorn scene of slowed down soul records and learning dances and stuff, then new beat and then techno. All linked to travelling, which I suppose meant that if there was a place that was good people didn't mind going across half the country to get there cos driving there was already almost part of the night - and also there no laws to restrict night life and drinking or anything so they clubs could stay open for days on end...

I bet I like new beat more than most, and I do like dancing for days.... but even I would go mental if I had to dance to new beat for 72 straight hours.

As to what wrong I dunno. With new beat it became so popular and market oversaturated... piles and piles of records trying to cash in, novelty records, comedy records, that one where the speech of the kidnapped pm was used etc I think they might have also tightened the laws to stop people having so much fun.

One thing it didn't address though - that I've always wondered about - is, why is it that Belgium has two famous dance scenes and they both involve pitching records down from the speed at which they were intended to be played? Coincidence or is there something in the Belgian psyche, or something in the local conditions (eg a downer drug although I don't think it wasthat specifically) that tended to favour slower music?
Click to expand...
Belgians' brains are 50% slower, or so the French say
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Went to an outdoor party near Antwerp on the coast must’ve been around 30 years ago. One of the most deranged, drug soaked asylums experienced. Utterly surreal. I don’t know if it was strictly the depth of drug exposure, Antwerp being a significant hub for all sorts. The entire strip of low countries those few years was relentless. Committed people. Appreciative of well built systems, not just *pounding volume*



Tons of material musically
 
DLaurent

DLaurent

Well-known member
I watched some of the Tomorrowland videos on YouTube (Paul Kalkbrenner etc) and have never seen so many hot chicks at a rave.
 
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