Bullion - Get Familiar ••• One-Handed Music
Soul Designer - Rice From The Young Ghost ••• Third Ear
Charanga 76 - Ain’t No Stoppin’ Sonora (Disco Dalglish ) ••• CDR
Meikbar - My Back ••• Rush Hour
Dâm-Funk - Burgundy City ••• Stones Throw
J.Rawls & Middle Child - Music Over Madness ••• Polar
Portishead - Plastic ••• Mercury
Mike Dunn presents MD X-Spress - Na Na Na Na (I Walks With God) ••• 4th Floor
Phlash & Friends - Minotaur (Fukuoka Banzai! Mix) ••• Archive
Tony Orlando - Don’t Let Go (Pete Herbert Edit) ••• Disco Deviance
Andrès feat. Nengue Hernandez - About Time ••• Mahogani
Fulgeance - Mamie The ••• All City

Just got up. Put on the new J. Rawls album, checking some Dâm Funk and playing the new Bullion 7”. Can use some laid back vibes. Organising a party is always a bit more exhausting than just playing at one. Not because of the extra work. Nope, after 8+ years of doing is it’s still the stress that’s wearing me out. And had a firm dose of that yesterday.

But let me point out that it was a very nice party. Had a blast. Heard some very fine music, met and talked to a lot of cool cats and enjoyed playing my set very much. Loved the reactions we got. Loved the fact I saw many unfamiliar faces. Loved to see everybody enjoying themselves.

On the other hand the big success of the first one set the standard very high. We had a lot of people coming early, the vibe was exceptional and we exceeded every hope we had with our first party. Topping that would have been crazy. But you always hope. So the fact that everybody came in much later that the first time got me nervous. Kinda worrying it would all fail. You got to know I panic fast in party organising situations. It is way better than a couple of years ago but I’ll never be chill. Not even if all goes perfectly well. Even then I find ways to get worried.

Yesterday with people arriving late, slowly getting into the groove and everything I was worried. But it all fell into place after a while. We had an almost full house, people had a good time and the music was the way I like it, deep and dirty. Thanks to Red D for a great set. I enjoyed it and heard quite a few great reactions. He struggled a bit to find his groove but he delivered like always. Was curious if our public would be ready and maybe that wasn’t entirely the fact. But they’ve got to learn. We’ll never be the ones to only cook your favourite meals. We think one needs to acquire tastes and like to force you to get a bite of something you think is a bit yukky.

The biggest bummer for me personally was that the sound wasn’t all that. Don’t know what was wrong with it exactly except we couldn’t get the subs working like they should. That should be fixed by next party, September 26th, because the Barrio people will revise the system during the summer break.

I, personally, had the most fun behind the decks. Really enjoyed playing yesterday. We got a good response, played some deep shit without losing the crowd and played some of our own edits to great success. Loved every bit of it. And that’s partly why we do it. We’re dj’s and we love parties where we can play whatever we like. Nice we can do that in Brussels. Tune of the night for me was the Disco Dalglish edit of the Charanga 76 version of “Ain’t no stopping us now”. All the time it was playing I was thinking “damn, I need this” only to discover it was custom made for our party by my fellow Onda Sonora colleague. Will put it online on our Myspace on of these days.

Thanks to everybody who made it. Special thanks to everybody who helped us. Our friends giving up some of their quality party time to do the entrance, Kwak, David, Dieter, Nick, Joel, Tristan, Joanna, Jenna, Kathlijn, Waldo, the Henri crew and everybody who helped spread the word. John and Jeroen for making it all the way from Deinze / Ghent. And big thanks for everybody cheering and making noise. Love that a lot. And big thanks to Red D.

Up to the next one. The first thing we’ll organise is the Onda Sonora room at the Spectakulo festival in JH Eenders. September 6th that is. Going to be big. Next Go Bang! is planned for September the 26th. In the meantime we’ll be playing quite regularly the next few weeks. Starting this Sunday in the Rue Blaes.

Kind of last minute. Sunday afternoon I’ll be playing at D+ Design, Rue Blaes 87 in Brussels. I’ll be playing some oldskool Hiphop, Funk and breaks like it was 1979 in the Bronx. This will be the soundtrack to the live painting the legendary Kool Koor will do on one of the outside walls of the shop. This to cover up some inferior scrabbles with a real piece of graffiti.

The shops got some neat 20th century design for sale. Could be a real cool afternoon out.

It will all take place between 13h and 15h. Come say hi if you got nothing better to do.

Tonight’s the night. GO BANG! numero 2. Doors open at 22h. We’ll do the warming up. Red D will play from 23h30 till 2h30 after which we’ll take over again till it ends. Can’t wait to start.

Put a flyer of this party online a while ago but it had no names on it. Well, here’s the one with all the info. A party in Ghent on a boat organised by some music crazy people. Can’t go wrong.

The man we wanted for our little festival is coming to Amsterdam. Same room as Theo Parrish. He’ll bring Shea Soul and Mark de Clive-Lowe with him. Doing the MPC / live thing. And maybe DJ’ing I guess. Would be a waste to not let him get behind the decks. Supporting dj’s will be Antal and KC the Funkaholic, both well enough reasons on their own to make the trip. It all happens the 12th of June at Paradiso. Not sure I’ll make the trip myself. Need to slow down a bit financially to be able to do what’s planned this summer. We’ll see.

If you can’t wait this long to see that London combo you can always check Benji B’s Deviation party next Wednesday.

Kozyndan. Love their work. Think it’s genius and really dig the fact they are doing their own thing, far away from hypes and trends. Next 2 week they’re doing an expo in Amsterdam called “Beneath the surface”. If I go to Phil Asher I’ll certainly try to check it.

Read all about it here. With pictures of some of their works and a little interview.

Rarely we are that much in advance of Benji B but with this we were. He played the edit on Kat records of Angela Bofill’s “People make the world go round” we reviewed a while ago. Feels good. Although he credited it completely wrong. Both artist as who made the re-edit are wrong in his play list. In the mean time the next edit on that mighty label has arrived at Onda Sonora HQ.

Again it’s quality. Man doing the cut and paste job is none other than Million Dollar Disco’s Al Kent. A man who’s ranked among the highest pure Disco connoisseurs. Together with people like Joey Negro, Sean P and Dimitri from Paris. He took on three driving Disco Funk jams. “Discojoint”, “Doin’ our own thing” and “Perfect love affair” are the cuts you play when you go for uptempo, relentless grooves. To give your most expressive dancers a chance to shine. Can imagine dancers standing in a circle and the top movers going wild in the centre of that on this. Would love to have that happening at one of my dj sets once. Haha. Maybe tomorrow ?

Oh, and discovered that the Jackson’s “Heartbreak Hotel” edit ,some friends of mine are high on, was released on this label. Which makes it official. Every single release on this label is a winner. Hunt ‘em down. Essential edits. Together with Disco Deviance actually the only label I try not to miss a single release.

Becoming a bigger fan of this man with every release he drops. Fabrice Lig aka Soul Designer is slowly creating a league of his own. So good. Next level music. Pushing things forward without losing the groove. You should have bought this one on Versatile and his “Evolutionism” on the mighty Third Ear label is just as fresh. Essential. And although I’m not nationalist nor patriotic about music, I’m kind of proud he’s from Belgium. He proves you can be on top of things and come from this little spot on the globe more know for its incompetent politicians than its quality contemporary music. Fabrice for president.

And is that our Brussels’ songstress Cleo on the vocals in “Power of the city” ? Sounds like it. If so, nice to hear she does this kind of thing too.

Nice site with lots of info but most importantly lots of good Podcast mixes. By the likes of Ashley Beadle, Trus’me, Mr. Scruff, Ben Westbeech and more people we like a lot. All with nice little interview and track list. Genius.

There’s a big Street Art expo running at Tate Modern as you might have heard on Deviation. And they are doing it the proper way. Letting 6 artists, among them my favourites Os Gemeos from Sao Paolo, loose on the exterior walls of the immense Tate Modern building in London. Nice one. Find some info here.

Will visit it when in London at the end of August. Will be there just in time to check it.

Jill Scott, Al Jarreau, Mogwai & more at the beautiful Open Air stage in Het Rivierenhof in Antwerp. Ace location, nice names. Check it all here.

Some mixes we can recommend:

Lefto’s Mid May mix
Some Disco mixes on the Restless Soul Podcast
A LuiGi mix on Laid Back
A James Pants mix announcing his killer release on Stones Throw
A Dâm Funk mix for all the Electro Funk lovers
Gilles Peterson mixing Soundtracks and music by Mark Murphy
Another episode of DJ Deep Library show

R.S.C. Anderlecht, the football team almost the entire Onda Sonora family supports, is 100 years young in 2008. We’ve celebrated this with winning the league cup and hopefully a blazing start of next season. If you listen to FM Brussel these days you’ll hear most of us, I guess, saying how long we’ve been fan, what our greatest moments as a supporter were and who our favourite Anderlecht figure is. Mine is Gilles Van Binst. Even considering he played for Bruges a little while. Love his typical Brussels flair.

Really looking forward to Friday. It’s been a while since I’ve been behind decks at a party. And I got plenty of goodies to share with a dancing crowd. Gone through some crates I hadn’t checked in a while and found some music of which I can’t understand it hasn’t been in my box before. Some vinyl I forgot I had or, worse, just didn’t know I had. Shame on me. And really anxious to see what Red D will bring. The dj / producers / label head honcho will certainly deliver. Has always done so in the past. Just a bit curious how the Brussels public will react to it. Hope they lock themselves into his groove. That’s a sure-fire way to a memorable night.

We’ve been preparing our little room at JH Eenders’ Spectakulo festival begin September too. About time we got a name to put on the promo. We had one, Phil Asher, but he got offered a tour in Japan and we didn’t want to stand in the way of that. We definitely will bring him over in the future. He’s one of the dj’s we really want. Because of his musical history (I got tons of records with his name on), because he’s an ace dj (seen him in London and Southport and loved every minute of it) and certainly because he’s such a friendly guy. Finding a replacement isn’t as easy as it may seem. After we had Benji B, one of our main musical hero’s, last year we need to go for somebody we respect just as much and somebody we know is just as good. Not an easy task. But hopefully we can announce somebody in the coming days or weeks.

Anyway, love this. The quite period before the storm is going to hit hard.

Find the mixCD we’ve been handing out last few weeks online. To get you all in the right mood for GO BANG! this Friday. Check it on our Podcast page.

This Friday. You all need to be there. It’s going to be legendary.

Click here if you need more info.

Announcing the opening of a new sneaker store in Antwerp is this little event. Dutch store Patta will open a pop-up store for 1 weekend where the “A Cut Above” store will open. Not that I am a sneaker freak. Disco Dalglish is the one with the shoe fixation. I like their choice of music. Tom Trago, Lefto, Cris Prolific, Mr; Wix, … all names we like a lot. But you can’t expect anything else from the Afterhours crew. So if I recover well from Friday’s party I’ll head for Antwerp.

Some more info about the party we’re playing at Friday June 20th in Ghent. All in Dutch. More to come.

Sometimes people confuse being fresh with far out conceptual shit or bleeps and blips that sound like nothing else but as a result don’t sound at all. Just making quality music, these days, is more than enough to stand out from the mediocrity. Something J. Rawls clearly understands. His J. Rawls & Middle Child album proves that. No boundary pushing beats, no avant garde MC’s or singers. Nope, just damn good music. Beats that come from a tradition of keeping it soulful above anything else. The tradition that brought us Tribe, Dilla, Common et al. No wonder if you know J. Rawls history. Member / beat maker of Lone Catalysts and producer for the classic “Brown Skin Lady” by Talib Kweli and Mos Def are credentials that speak. Combine this with Middle Child who’s got a nice voice and knows how to use it and you’ve got a killer combination.

Haven’t been impressed by much Hip Hop lately but this was a release I’ve been looking forward to. Because it good. Plain and simple.

As essential as the weekender itself is, are the compilation CD’s that bear the Southport Weekender stamp on them. The one with the classics on it has learned many of my friends some of the best tunes in the sort of music I like and play. Making it much easier for me as a DJ when they are in the room. And so have the compilations. They are the ideal preparation for the weekend and good sources of decent music. The compilations are even one of the ways through which we discovered the weekender and which made us decide a couple of years ago to give it a try.

The latest one wasn’t released 2 weeks ago, much to the disappointment of my fellow party people. I myself am not really fond of mixed compilation on CD. Can’t use them as a DJ and they rarely bring me something new. It might be ideal listening food for in the car but I ain’t got one. So I dind’t care much about it back then. Even though I saw who was on mixing duties. But now it is released and when I give the track listing a better look I kinda regret not being able to buy it there (they are always a bit cheaper there, you know).

Because like you can presume of Jazzanova and Mr. Scruff it is an ace selection. Jazzanova even opening with a Belgian production (check the Red D release on Morse records where he worked together with the Telepaticos dudes). So, it’s firmly recommended music. Go buy it in a shop near you. And try to avoid the big chains. To support your local record dealer.

Track Listing:

CD1: Jazzanova

1. Telepaticos ‘Club69’
2. Badly Drawn Boy ‘Promises’ (Beyond The Wizards Re Animation)
3. Soulphiciton ‘Ghana Wadada’ (The Lost Man Remix)
4. Soultourist ‘Turn Loose’ (Dixon Edit)
5. Version ‘The Brighter Side’ (Version’s Percussive Vocal Mix)
6. Dop ‘Lighthouse’
7. Henrik Schwarz & Amampondo ‘I Exist Because Of You’
8. Recloose ‘Cahtach A Leaf’ (Mark de Clive Lowe Remix)
9. Eva Be ft Pegah Ferydoni ‘She Walks Alone’ (Markus Worgul Mix)
10. Roland Appel ‘Unforgiven’
11. Tokyo Black Star ‘Still Sequence’ (Innervisions Version)
12. Madioko ‘N’ Rafika ‘Elleli’ (Kalabrese Remix)
13. South Bronx Community Youth Project ‘Dance Freak’
14. Jazzanova ‘Theme From Belle et Fou’ (Danny Krivit Edit)

CD2: Mr Scruff

1. Stardust ‘Blazin’
2. Bobby Reed ‘The Time Is Right For Love’
3. Sandra Wright ‘I Come Running Back’
4. Gloria Scott ‘That’s What You Say (Everytime You’re Near Me)’
5. Ray Frazier & The Shades of Madness ‘Gonna Get Your Love’
6. Bill Spoon ‘I Bet You Can’t Love Me One Time’
7. Clausel ‘Let Me Love You’
8. Momie-O ‘Stop On By’
9. Jimmy Jones ‘Live And Let Live’
10. Willie Joe ‘Funny Thing’
11. Wayne Carter ‘Wahoo Wahoo Wahoo’
12. The Soul Controllers ‘I Ain’t Lyin’
13. Mark V Unlimited ‘Gone’
14. LA Carnival ‘Blind Man’
15. Donna McGhee ‘Mr Blind Man’
16. Brass Fever ‘Time Is Running Out’
17. Crue-l Grand Orchestra ‘Time & Days’ (Harvey Re-Master Mix)
18. Sparkle ‘Down The Way’
19. Arthur Adams ‘You Got The Floor’
20. The Loving Sisters ‘Cosmic Consciousness’
21. Theo Parrish ft Alena Waters ‘Soul Control’

Like said before our guest at the next Go Bang!, Red D, has launched his new label called “We Play House Recordings”. Neither of us could make it to the party. Actually the entire Onda Sonora family missed out. But we weren’t recovered from the weekend before. I still haven’t.

Anyway, you should all have pre-ordered the first release at Rush Hour by now. It’s limited to 300 copies so don’t sleep on it. Mainly because it’s quality. Check it out for yourself on the label’s Myspace. Deep, moody pieces of music the way we like ‘em.

Curious about future releases because this one is very promising.

Looks like it’ll be just as crap as the years before; 10DaysOff. Apart from Ben Westbeech, Benga, Osunlade and Pilooski not much to get exited about. And I don’t want to see those cats in an electro infested environment. I want to see them in a cosy, quality space with people who know something about (their) music.

Add to that a sound system so crap it’s almost funny and you know why I won’t be there.

The times Belgium was at the forefront of all things festival are long gone. No probs for me. I love to travel.

A little update about the festival season. Only highlighting the Belgian ones. Only highlighting what I think is worth it. With my taste and little knowledge about music. Go check the sites yourself and make your own selection.

Couleur Cafe
Erykah Badu & Konono no. 1 (27/6)
Cesaria Evora & Baloji (29/6)

Gent Jazz
Herbie Hancock (10/7)
Erykah Badu (17/7)
The Neville Brothers (19/7)
Jeff Neve & Soul and Pimp (20/7)

Cactus Festival
Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings & the B-52’s (11/7)
Saul Williams, Cinematic Orchestra & Dinosaur Jr (12/7)
Paul Weller & Bootsy Collins (13/7)

Dour
Battles & Digital Mystikz, Loefah and MC Sgt Pokes (18/7)
Mr. Scruff, Lefto, Gilles Peterson, Hudmo, Typhoon, Black Moon, Soil and Pimp, Blu, Flying Lotus, Infinitskills, Dorian Concept & Sir OJ (19/7)

Bruksellive
Lefto, Onda Sonora (haha) and Laid Back Crew (26/7)

Jazz Middelheim
Jose James (16/8)

On Benji B’s Blog there’s a post about the upcoming Finn Peters release. As you might have heard on his radio show this is a promising one but what grabbed my attention is that one Benjamin Benstead is playing on this record. And that’s none other than Benji himself. Read something about him being a gamelan teacher when checking bio’s for our party promotion last year and was curious to hear it. Now that’s possible The clip on his blog features gamelan. Nice one.