The Wickywacky dancemachine aka Kris send me this. Don’t really know what this site in Japanese is all about but it has a lot of pictures of vintage soundsystems placed in common livingrooms. It certainly proves there are some mad Japanese on the loose.
I need to go to Japan.
Ben Westbeech’s “So Good Today” has been a favourite of mine for quite a while now. As you might have read in DaQuan’s interview with the man we could expect new versions of this song. On the Brownswood Myspace you can hear the version he did with the Daptones. Sounds fresh.
You’ll find another version, kinda reggae-ish, on his own Myspace.
Surely both version will be on the re-release of the song planned for August the 13th.
Is sold out. Even before the program has been announced. 3 months in advance. How wild is that.
Got my tickets together with a lot of friends. Can’t wait.
From 6/08 on they will start to announce the dj’s. I’m curious. Personally I hope for Greg Wilson, Nicky Siano, some Detroit cats, Dixon, Tawiah, Steve Spacek, Tortured Soul, Earth, Wind & Fire and Osunlade.
If you want to know where your favourite DJ plays, this site might come in handy. Nice selection of DJ’s and a neat overview of their dates. You’ll find Benji B’s date in Halle on there too.
I’ve added some pictures to our Myspace. Pictures from my trips to Amsterdam and Body & Soul in London, The Soul Jazz Festival in St-Paul and from Bruksellive. From that last festival you can find some more pictures on this site.
The Onda Sonora parties for 2008 are being planned. We got a lot of dates, some guests and some very wild plans.
First up the things that are confirmed. Mainly the dates. Off course there’s our festival the 1st of September. After that we take a relatively long break. The first party we’ll do is a reggae night called “Rough & Rugged”. Apart from the date and the name not much is known about it yet. The date is Saturday October the 27th. Although it’s a break of almost 2 months between Spectakulo and this there’s a fat chance we’ll be doing stuff to shorten this break.
Next up is our second Businghe Weekender. Which will take place on Friday 30/11, Saturday 01/12 and Sunday 02/12. For the first night we got the 3 Strictly Niceness dj’s. A thing we’re really excited about. Both Kwak, Eleven and Bernard Dobbeleer will be playing. Going to be a great party no doubt. On Saturday Moodclub’s Jonni Gratts will be our guest. We’l add more to the Saturday and surely Sunday program soon.
Then we got 2 more parties planned for December. The 24th it will be Onda Sonora’s traditional Christmas eve allnighter. With the help from some friends like Soul Rebel. Always a very cosy night out. The 29th we’ll start a completely new concept called “Gewoon Gaan!” combining our love for the euphoric, dressed up & wild partying with our love for less deep and more classic music. It’ll be carnival in the winter. Or something like that. Still develloping the concept as we speak. But it’s going to be mad, that we promise.
On top of that we’re glad that our good friend Soul Rebel has decided to start organising parties again. His 1Love. parties were sometimes legendary. The new concept will be called 2Love. and there are 2 editions planned for this year. And we’ll be part of it. We’re negotiating a real treat for one of the parties. Watch this Blog for more info soon.
And then there’s the wild ideas section. We got some propositions for nice things in Brussels. We’ll see what comes out of that. We’ll try to organise something ourselves in Brussels one of the following months. And the plans to do a regular Onda Sonora party in Brussels are still standing and even looking more realistic than ever.
By now you all should know we are having our own little festival the 1st of September. If not check this post. Or this site.
For this occasion we have made a t-shirt (see pictures above). You can buy them if you like them. They cost 15 euro. For the men we got brown shirts with orange print size S to XXL. For the ladies it’s a red sleeveless shirt with yellow print, size XS to L. Mail Disco Dalglish to order one if interested (he’ll answer you after 11/08 – he’s on holiday now). You’ll be able to collect them at the Spectakulo pre-party 14/08 at JH Eenders or at the festival itself. The money we earn with this goes straight to the festival.
About that pre-party. That’s on Tuesday August the 14th. A3N and Onda Sonora Soundsystem will be behind the decks. Free entrance and a good way to get in the mood. It’s a week day but don’t panic, everybody’s got the day off on Wednesday.
Both Alex and Kwak have already done this and gently urged me to do the same. So I’ll list my favourite spots in the city I live in. That being Brussels. I could go Schaarbeek on your asses but shop and pubwise that would limit me a bit too much.
Voila, the spots I dig the most:
_ My favorite ‘grab-a-bite’: les frères Kardesler on the Rue Gailly. My pitabar behind the corner. Two nice dudes serving a good durum’s.
_ My favourite shop: As a shop addict I must say Brussels stinks when it comes to shops. Most of my favourites aren’t in my own city. Nor country for that matter. But if I have to name a few I dig there’s Lost In Music Records and United Records for second hand vinyl, Alice for the graphic stuff, Joe Tex for the shoes and Pax for clothes. But if I really want something I jump on the train to Amsterdam, Paris or London and find what I’m looking for. All the shops mentioned above are great but they can’t satisfy all my shopping needs.
_ My favorite restaurant: Henri in the Rue de Flandre because it’s runned by two great blokes, the personnel is the nicest and the food is fresh in every sense of the word. La Cueva de Castilla in front of the Schaarbeek town hall is my other top recommendation. The finest Spanish food served by friendly young cats. Always a pleasure.
_ My favorite ‘take my friends when in town’: The Atomium by night.
_ Other 5 things to mention: Le Roskam (Rue de Flandre) because it’s the bar I like most, the Avenue Demolder and Avenue Sleeckx in Schaarbeek because of the not so known as Horta Art Nouveau architecture, Parc Josaphat because I never get tired of it, beginning your evening at an apéro organised by one of my Brussels friends - my city at it’s finest, Brussels-Midi station from where you can get to Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne or London in no time when you want to experience something else - that’s the main plus about our city - we’re in the middle of everything.
I’m not going to put any pressure on anybody to join this idea of promoting your city. Actually I hate this chain-letter emotional blackmailing idea. But if you feel like it feel free to join.
Chilling after a great weekend. It started on Thursday with our gig in Leuven at café Apero. Didn’t really know what to expect but little could have prepared us for it being this good. The bar was great, sound was very fine, the Moodclub hosts were the greatest and a lot of friends payed us a visit. After a great opening set from Igwaar we delivered a set which we were pretty pleased with. We could play what we wanted, from deep disco to even deeper house, and people liked it. They even danced. In a bar on a Thursday. Got a bit carried away with the Tequila and don’t really remember much of what Jonni Gratts and Pierre de la Riviere played but anyway, it was super. Thanks to Tristan, Igor, Pierre, Lieve, Karl, Nina, de Businghe Posse, Sung Mee and everybody else in Leuven.
Saturday we played at Bruksellive. Which was a big success. A fact we only are very partially responsible for. The good weather, the great location, the clever programming and the liters of booze have a bigger part in it we guess. Anyway, we opened on the main stage which was an experience and a bit overwhelming at first. A good luck the backstage bar wasn’t far away. We played at the Red Bull tent too. And we had a great response at the Kampioenschap van Brussel stage where we replaced the last band and filled the gap between Viva la Fête and Discobar Galaxy. Nice to get this very diverse festival moving Although we didn’t go that deep in our selection still couldn’t resist the urge to slip in a little Dubstep with Coki’s “Tortured”. I’m absolutely fascinated with Dubstep lately and it was my little act of rebellion. It was fun.
For some bizarre reason I said yes to the question if I wanted to work a little behind the bar at the end of the festival. Karl, if you ever dare to ask that again, whatever the state I’m in, the answer is no (and knees are not top priority when judging fine women). Not that I didn’t want to help but I was a bit tired after running from here to there with 2 crates of vinyl, drinking enough beer to be in a state of chillness and having had my moments of glory behind the decks. And that’s not the mood you want to be in to be serving some 8000 drunk people at the only bar still open at the festival. Surely not when the beer’s almost sold out, the tap isn’t working well and people are getting a bit irritated by that. But all in all chickened out nicely when they closed the ticket stand I was taking care off. So it’s fair to say I’m not the man to complain the hardest.
Met a lot of cool people at the festival. too much to name. Had a great time. Thanks to Dieter and the Bruksellive crew for doing a great job. Thanks to Karl and Lieve for taking care of the promo of our Spectakulo party. And thanks to Yoeri for the great fun. And to Dizze for giving me the Lil’ Louis LP for free.
A very special thanks you goes out to the backstage crew. Sara and friends. For the second year in a row we have been spoiled to the max. The food was over the top. I actually overate myself. The tapenade, barbecued Camembert and chocomousse were my favorites but it was all top quality. I even hesitated to say “no, I’m fine here” when Dieter came to ask us if we wanted to replaced the canceling Arquettes. That good it was.
This weekend, which is starting this evening by the way, is filled with Onda Sonora ish. Tonight there’s us playing in Leuven. don’t really know what to expect but that makes it all the more exciting.
Friday Disco Dalglish will be behind the bar at JH Eenders. Some Friday night chillin’.
Saturday we’ll be at the Bruksellive festival. One of the nicest festivals we know. Musically maybe not all that thrilling for the true Onda Sonora fan but unrivalled when it comes to the overall vibe which is pure brilliance. We’ll be playing 3 short sets if I’ve understood it all well. One at the beginning of the festival, one at the Red Bull / side stage and one just before Discobar Galaxy. And maybe part of one of our sets will be live on FM Brussel. Anyway, come and join us enjoying this free festival in Brussels. It’s located just under the Atomium.
On my quest to know everything about quality music I stumbled upon some things I want to share. Because they’re too good to keep for myself.
Martyn
A Dutch Drum ‘n Bass producer with some nice jazzy dubstep workouts. “JW on a good night” and other tunes have been played by Benji B. But I like all his work. Has something deep and soulful to it.
Mala
More dubstep. I’m really getting into it. Not all of it but certainly most things coming out of the Digital Mystikz / DMZ camp. You gotta check his “Alicia” tune to hear dubstep going 80’s Soul. Might sound a weird combination but it’s pure bliss.
Karriem Riggins
Detroit producer who has worked with 2 of the greatest, JDilla & Carl Craig. But he’s a giant in his own right. Has worked with the man called Madlib a lot lately of which you can find the results on the Hella International compilation and the new Yesterday’s New Quintet release.
Rush Hour
Alsways going strong but going ridiculous with ace releases from Aardvarck, Tom Trago, Beat Dimensions and more. Never lose them out of sight.
Truth and Soul Records
Dissed the El Michel’s Affair retakes of classic Wu-Tang material a bit as gimmicky but I have reviewed my opinion since then. The 12” El Michel’s did with Reakwon blew me away, Quincy Brights 7” kicks ass and the latest Lee Fields 7” is genius. Essential new Funk label.
Time to put some friends in the spotlights.
First up is Jan Peeters aka DaQuan from the Keep On crew. And from the Metronomic Family. He has written stuff for Plastiks magazine and for the Metronomic website. After an hiatus of a couple of years he’s back on track. You’ll find his 2 latest works here. An old interview with the legend Carl Craig and a recent one with Ben Westbeech. They’re well executed interviews. On point and everything.
What brings us to the On Point boys. They’ve relocated their Blog to this address: www.on-point.be. Check it out. They got a new Podcast up.
A Podcast by another friend. Kwak from the Strictly Niceness crew. Tracklist looks mighty fine. Going to give that a proper check this afternoon. Oh, and the boys from Strictly Niceness will be playing at Onda Sonora on the last day of November. The 3 of them. And they got a lot more planned for the next couple of months.
At St-Paul Soul Jazz festival there was an artist called Dan23 doing some nice paintings. Liked some of his works a lot. Not so sure about the stuff he did on stage, his live painting thing. Anyway check his site. Made me realise where I saw his name before. In Straight no Chaser Mag.
I like what he does very much only not so sure about his source, the photo’s he uses as starting point. They’re mostly well taken, almost classic pics, of the stars he paints. Using that makes that the portraits have quality when it comes to harmony and tension but it’s a quality already present in the original pictures. He would have more of my respect if he would start from scratch. Would be nice if he would take it that level. Then he would be defintely up there with the greats.
Back from St-Paul-Trois-Chateaux. And a bit damaged. Apart from being very tired and showing the usual wear and tear after 4 days of hardcore partying also not able to walk properly due to a painful foot. But it was a blast. Met some really nice people from Strasbourg, Marseille, Toulon, Switzerland, Chicago and other places from around the globe. En plus, the squad I was with were the greatest. Thanks to Thierry, Fred, Phil, Fluppe, Wout, Fabrice and Thomas for the great time.
Only minus was the French beer. The rare Heineken we drank was actually a treat compared to the piss they served at the festival.
Don’t forget Onda Sonora Soundsystem is taking a break from doing nothing but enjoying summer (even if it’s crap meteorological). On Thursday we’ll be playing in Leuven at the Apero Cafe. Really looking forward to that. Saturday we’ll be putting the needle to the wax at the free Bruksellive festival near the Atomium. Hope to see y’all there.
Just one last post before I’m off to France. To get into the retro uptempo dance music mood. It’s going to be quiet on this blog the next few days because I’l be visiting a Soul Jazz festival some 1000km South from here and Disco Dalglish will be in Berlin.
The tune in the vid above this post is a re-edit, done by French master of this trade Pilooski, of an old Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons track. This veteran of dance music with a career beginning in the 50’s and still going strong (he was in the Soprano’s) has sold millions of vinyls all around the world. He is a firm favourite in the northern soul scene but as also added his 2 cents to the “Grease” soundtrack. “Beggin” is one of his lesser known gems although it was a bit of a hit in the northern soul scene. Parisian Pilooski re-edited it in a subtle kind of way and released it as a bootleg. With great success. It has become an underground hit and the 679 label has picked it up and given it an official release with video and everything. Ideal for the summer festivals. Check it out, it got the words “BIG TUNE” written all over it.
No Dour festival nor Sly & the Family Stone at Blue Note for me this Saturday. Not that I feel too good for that but I’m not as much a fan of crowded fields nor of Sly Stone to skip this unique chance to experience the party that inspired me so much when starting Onda Sonora. Body & Soul has been one of the main examples for us and I’ve never been able to attend it in New York. It just ceased to exist just before the last time I took a plane to NYC.
So when I saw they planned a one off in London tickets were booked immediately. I knew this wasn’t going to be the same as the original weekly party mainly because apart from the dj’s, the lightjockey and the sound not much would be the same. B&S was a Sunday afternoon party in a city that hosted great parties like the Paradise Garage, Shelter, Zanzibar and more and which was deeply rooted in the history shaped by these parties. But you can’t see Danny Krivit, Joe Claussell and François K play an entire evening together every week so I gave it a go. Me and three others.
We left Brussels for London absurdly early at 7:30 am. Absurdly because we were not going to sleep in London and take the earliest train we could book at a reasonable price back. That being the 10:38 train Sunday morning. Plenty of time to visit the city though. Which we did. To save myself some money I avoided to focus on shops and went for the touristic trip instead. But couldn’t stay unfocused all the time so payed both Sound of the Universe (the shop of the great Soul Jazz label) and Vinyl Junkies a little visit. Kept it simple. Only scored some Dubstep (Coki rules), the Georgia-Ann Muldrow LP I forgot buying up until now and a 7″ on Truth & Soul. Will check both shops properly when going back for Nothinghill carnival.
Wandered through the superb city some more slowly moving in the direction of where Body & Soul was held. Which had a shop on it with Fred Perry stuff at ridiculous prices. Going back to that too at the end of August. Anyway got at Canvas, the venue hosting the party, a bit after the triumvirate of dj’s started their set (they played from 9pm till 6am). They warmed up the room with downtempo tunes gradually building up. The sound was very good. It was loud, clear and although they tweaked it to the max (Joe Claussell was behind the EQ’ing off course) not a bit of ear damage spotted.
Spotted some Southport Weekender familiar faces. The Dutch massive we always meet at the soulful house parties. Nice to see them again. Music was top, the contrary would have surprised us more than a bit. Especially DK and JC being on top. Even the constant EQ’ing sounded great when on the dancefloor. Normally I’m not that a fan of the baroque way of handling the isolator Joe Claussell is know for. But I digged it big time in song like Inner Life’s “Ain’t no mountain high enough”. François K wasn’t up to the level of the other 2 dj’s though. Which was the main bummer of the evening. Where the other dj’s were delivering the disco, house and even funk you expect at a Body & Soul party he always diverted the flow to techno. And not always good techno. He also did some awfull things with effects not adding anything. Not that it ruined anything, it would have been better without it.
Can’t say I noticed much other minuses. It’s not the same überfriendly vibe as at Southport Weekender. some more London assertiveness. But chatted with some nice people and enjoyed it all very much. Got to do that again, visiting parties abroad.
Near the end of the party tiredness began to struck. I became slightly erratic in the conversations. Certainly when I showed the dude asking me pills the way to the bar (pils coming from Pilsner, the town in Czechia were they brew beer, thus meaning lager in Dutch). The way back to Waterloo station was hard. I had injured my foot sleeping in an uncomfortable position in the Eurostar and a whole day of walking and dancing didn’t really help. On the train back some never ceasing chatting from the Spanish girls behind us and a Japanese chick testing the keys on her mobile with the sound on kept me from sleeping so I was way too grumpy to go to Brossela Jazz and went straight to bed.
Today, freshly awaken and clean, I can say that it was a blast and I can’t wait to experience the next thing. This being Saint-Paul Soul Jazz festival next weekend. Leaving for France Wednesday. Can’t wait. Big up to my fellow partypeople from Belgium, all present on the dance floor, the Body & Soul family, Need2Soul and the people at Canvas.
3-5/8 – Big Chill Festival
Looks like a lot of fun. And they got a lot of dj’s and groups I want to see. Greg Wilson entre autres.
14/8 – Lefties Soul Connection – Petrol – Antwerpen
15-19/8 – Jazz Middelheim – Park den Brandt – Antwerpen
Superb surroundings, fine jazz and fancy people. Been a while I’ve been there but got fond memories of it. Might be going back for a peep.
And some goodies playing at the Ancienne Belgique:
03/10 – Caetano Veloso
9/10 – The Cinematic Orchestra
30/10 – Amy Winehouse (on my birthday – I expect some kisses (and free booze) from the lady)
And tomorrow we’re off to London to check Body & Soul … quite hyped for that.
And Southport Weekender is almost sold out.
Jonni Gratts and Igwaar from Moodclub have invited us to play at café Apero in Leuven. They have a Thursday night residency there and we’ll be adding our deep & raw vibes to that on July the 26th. It’s a week night but it’s summer. Your boss won’t mind you working on half energy mode the day after.
And Leuven. Long time we’ve been there to play records. We only played there once in a full Onda Sonora line up. In SOJO but I wouldn’t know for what occasion. That long ago. Really looking forward to it. Been hearing good things about the Moodclub dudes.
The dates for Onda Sonora and other parties we are playing at JH Eenders this end of year are added to the calendar of our Myspace. No names of guest dj’s yet. We will contact them the next few weeks and add the info when they are confirmed.
I, myself, am really looking forward to our new concept called “Gewoon Gaan !!!”. It’ll be some mad concept shit. Something wild. More about it later.
A very nice festival in Brussel right under the Atomium. In, without doubt, one of the nicest surroundings one can wish for a festival. It’s free, it’s very cosy when the weather’s fine and le tout Bruxelles is there.
Ok, the line-up may not be the one we’ve dreamt of but there’s a possibilty to score vinyl (my good friend Didier selling some of his goodies), there’s a Red Bull Music Academy thingy and some bands that are worth a check (Members of Marvellas for example).
Check their site for some nice video promo action with Sien Eggers (In De Gloria / Het Eiland).
Fresh From The Market
Theo Parrish - Soul Control (Sound Signature)
DJ Vadim - Like The Wind - Instrumental (BBE)
Aardvarck - Kutwell (Rush Hour)
Lee Fields & The Expressions - My World (Truth & Soul)
Cinematic Orchestra - To Build A Home / Child Song 7” (Ninja Tune)
Quasimode - Ipe Amarelo - Spiritual South Skitzophremix (Raw Fusion)
Amplified Orchestra - U Can’t Help But Dance (Amplified!)
Wajeed - Proud (Fat City)
Osunlade - April - All Mixes (Strictly Rhythm)
Supra Allstars - School is Out (Supra)
Elektrons - Be With You (Genuine)
Ben Westbeech - Hang Around - Wahoo Remix (Brownswood)
Ben Westbeech - Get Closer - Lovers Mix (Brownswood)
Out Of The Freezer
Bobbi Humphrey - Chicago, Damn (Blue Note)
Davina - Don’t You Want It (Happy Records)
The Revolutionary Dub Warriors - Dread (On-U-Sound)
Mid-Air - Ease Out (Underground Disco)
Al Jarreau - Roof Garden (Warner Bros)
Whatnauts - I Can’t Stand To See You Cry (GSF Records)
Risco Connection - I’m Caught Up (Island Series)
Ramsey & Company - Leg Grease (Lotus Land)
Muddy Waters - Tom Cat (Cadet)
Maurice Joshua - I Gotta Hold On You - Maurice’s Underground
Extravaganza (ID Records)
A Taste Of Honey - I Love You (Capitol)
Marathon Men - Sweet Exorcist (GAMM)
Don Blackman - You Ain’t Hip (Arista)
Arthur Verocai - Presente Grego (Luv N’ Haight)
Those of you who aren’t in Dour, at Blue Note Festival or, like myself, leaving very early the next morning for London need to check this in Leuven. Live Funk + party from the Bugalu Boys.
Some Myspace’s you might want to check.
Robert Glasper
Jazz for the Hiphop Headz.
N’Dambi
The original behind the great Ron Trent remix. New Soul the way we like it.
The Emotions
Artists behind the Onda Sonora classic “Best of my love”.
Tawiah
Fresh talent from the UK. Her “Watch Out” is utter genius.
Theo Parrish
Because his latest Lp is a true masterpiece.
Wajeed
He’s got an LP out on Fat City. It’s phat. Cop it.
Supra Records
Out of the 12” Record shop camp in Paris. Revamping obscure Disco. All good.
Appeltree Records
Dutch label with some solid releases in their catalogue. Lefto will be adding some Belgian flavours to it soon.
Cinnaman
Aka Yuri from Rush Hour. Nice guy making dope beats.
Ramp
Classic Roy Ayers produced Soul Jazz. Are back touring. Somebody in Belgium; Book them !
Made a nice trip to Amsterdam. Lovely city if you skip the really touristy areas. Can image living there. Love the omnipresent water. And they’ve got much nicer shops. For vinyl, sneakers, clothes and beyond. Plus, there are couple of Burger Kings. Had a great time. Can’t wait to get back. Big up to Nina and Karl for the company and to Yuri from Rush Hour for storing my bag and selling me the dope records.
I love Dutch women, by the way. They seem like a size or two bigger than ours. In a good way. Plus costaud comme on dit en Français. Absolutely like that.
Went to a Voxer party Saturday night. Like their Magazine, not sure I dig their taste in music though. Always been a bit sceptical about Daft Punk crossing over to the Rock kids. Now I know why. It spawned an horror of a baby. Fusing the worse of both genres. I like my share of My Bloody Valentine, Stone Roses or even Franz Ferdinand every once in a while but this was something couldn’t connect with. Strange. But hey, there’s got to be something for everybody.
Sunday I took the time to finally sort out the piles of vinyl on the floor surrounding my decks. Been building up to a chaotic mess where I couldn’t find anything in. But that’s history now. All nicely ordered. Found some lost gems that’ll surely make my selection for the next parties.
And I made some new lists I’ll put on this Blog tonight. About time that. But I only put in the list what I have legally acquired. No shady CDR business or anything. Only what I buy myself or have received from the artist or labels themselves. Because I didn’t buy al that much new stuff it took a while to compile a list.
We told you a Christian Prommer’s Drum Lesson LP is coming. And that they did a version of “Beau Mot Plage”. Well it’s on Christian Prommer’s Myspace. And it’s a bomb. Perfect to work your way through a post S&P Sessions day like this.
