The flyer for 54 Kolaktiv’s Mo’Yo’Fro party happening end of February is ready. Looking forward to it.

Just a little reminder that we are playing at Maison Du Peuple in St-Gilles tomorrow. From 10pm on till we get kicked out. Really looking forward to it. It’s been a while since we’ve been behind decks in front of people. Might give some new edits their first spin. If I can finish them in time. Expect some major across the board funkyness. All styles, all tempos, all good. Entrance is free, drinks are at fair prices.  

If you feel the need to confirm your presence head for the Facebook event we made for it. And while you are there feel free to invite some friends.

Last Brussels Soul was great although we played a little late (and had already enjoyed the party a little too much, haha). Still, Thierry asked us again and promised to give us an earlier slot. Really enjoy playing strictly Soul music every now and then. Expect anything from the ’70s to the present day.

And early April is a special time of the year because it’s when the days of birth and death of one of the greatest are remembered (or simply the greatest for people like myself). This year even extra special because those moments happened 70 / 25 years ago. And no I’m not talking about Luther Vandross who’s on the flyer.

It’s on. Friday January the 23rd we’re playing at Maison du Peuple. Official start of the Onda Sonora season.

Although I haven’t been out much the last few days almost everyone I’ve met asked me when the next Go Bang! would happen. My answer is, most regrettably, that I don’t know because we’re still searching for a good venue. Luckily this does not mean you won’t be able to dance to our beat. We’ve managed to secure some gigs, some nice ones.

First up there’s a set at the nice Maison du Peuple in St-Gilles. Loved the vibe there last Saturday when Kwak and the bPm were playing. Nice & cosy venue where people dance. Managed to get my first ever non-alcoholic hangover from drinking too much Bionade there but apart from that it was all good. So I’m excited to be able to add some Onda Sonora flavour to the place. Hope to see you all there on Friday the 23rd of this month. 39 Parvis St-Gilles is the address. It’s us on an all nighter.

Next up is a party we organise ourselves. For reasons only clear to ourselves we’re not going to name that Go Bang!. We actually don’t know yet what the name is going to be. What we do know is what the concept of the night will be. We’ll invite a crew or dj we respect, usually less prolific / known than at our Go Bang! parties, to join us behind the decks. This will be Belgian crews as well as cats we meet abroad. Our network, as it is called, is ever expanding and we know some undicovered talents we’re dying to present to you. Musicwise you can expect the usual deep uptempo music with an (abstract) sense of Soul and excursions to whatever genre we feel fits. First invitee wil be Laszlo Colombani and Pete Chesnut from the Allhpon.com crew out of Tournai. Check out the site because they are doing some superb stuff. This party will be held at Cafe Bota on Saturday the 7th of February.

Last confirmed gig is on the 27th of February. Organised by the 54Kolaktiv who are currently hosting a Podcast mix we did on their site. Mo’Yo’Fro is the name of the party and place to be will be Momo’s in Anderlecht. Other dj’s that night will be, among others, Stubru’s Tomaz, Momoneyhoney and 54Kolaktiv’s own Phonetics. Really excited to be part of this one. Because it’s some unknown territory for us.

We’ve got some other dates confirmed for later this year. More Brussels Soul (early April and the weekender early August) and the Disco 3000 festival in Croatia the first weekend of September (more about that this weekend - watch the site). Still, we’re always in for more bookings. Certainly for left of centre events.

And there will be more Go Bang!’s this year. Plus lots more of crazy stuff. Always for the love of music, never for the money.

I’ve uploaded a killer shout out on our Myspace. By the best football / soccer player Belgium ever had. A true legend. He even played in that silly movie where Sly Stalone is a goal keeper. Big up for Paul Van Himst. Sporting Champion.

Tonight we play at Cafe Belga. From 10pm till it closes. Feel free to come and say hello.

About the future. Everything’s a bit misty. A lot of “maybe’s” and “if all goes well’s”. Even when it’s about what we organise ourselves. If the Phil Asher party goes well, we’ll be ambitious again. Otherwise we’ll have to keep it low for a while. Some other high-profile gigs in the pipeline. But nothing fully confirmed. We’ll see. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating you can’t go all out. How I would love to organise something like Deviation of Disco 3000 with a fancy guest each and every edition. But we live in Brussels / Belgium and that makes things a bit more complicated. It feels like pioneering, doing what we do.And that’s fun too.

Anyway, next 2 weekends are the way they should be most of the times. Plenty of gigs and some exciting guests to host. Thanks for all the positive feedback we’ve got lately. Feel free to say hello when you are at one of the parties we’re at. Would love to meet you all in person instead of the impersonal net.

Looking forward to some busy weekends. We play two times on Friday and Saturday. Lovely. First up is our gig at Café Belga. From 22h on we play a range of soulful eclectic music in one of the nicest looking bars around. In the old broadcasting building at place Flagey, in Ixelles, Brussels. The day after that it’s Brussels Soul. But more about that later this week.

The week after we’ll play at the Live Music Café. After the concert. I need to gather some more information about this one. You’ll get that once we got the details. To close off this series of dates we have our own GO BANG! party, off course. The big one with Phil Asher.

After that it’s very quiet. Apart from some projects of our own not too much bookings lined up. Not that we’re panicking, but we wouldn’t mind having some more quality spots to play at. So don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.

Had a very bad weekend. My favourite Soul Jazz bag being stolen is one of the many shitty things that sent my mood into dark territories. Feel like skipping the week entirely. But, on the plus, I’m almost on my way to London and Southport. Never needed being away so much.

Before that there’s Onda Sonora Soundsystem playing at Café Belga this Friday. Not sure what to expect but being behind decks always makes me feel better. And it’s my birthday this week so I’ll buy all the people I like something to drink. That’ll enhance my mood considerably, seeing a lot of people I like. That and ending up at home with a busload of sexy Swedish women for a little private after party (been fantasising about that bus for ages now – should come true once, innit?).

Soundtrack to my moodiness: Anything by Wajeed, Black Milk or LuiGi.

If you want to send us track we can play in our sets there’s an easy way to do it. Through Soundcloud.com. Damn handy site. Our dropbox can be found here.

SoundCloud: The Tour from SoundCloud on Vimeo.

The first weekend of August we had a kind of revelation, music-wise, in Brussels. And that doesn’t happen very often. Disco Dalglish just got back from the States and I was in the middle of my chill summer experience and we gathered at Bar En Face where the Brussels Soul Weekender would take place. Not expecting much of it because we never thought somebody would pull of a UK styled Soul Weekender over here and make it a success.

Soul in Brussels is monopolised by the Soul Qaida, as some friends and I call them. The guys who would throw things at you just because you play something from a CD (a legally acquired one) or who think that after 1968 no good Soul music has been made. Apart from those guys you’ve got the people who listen to classic FM radio stations and don’t know that there‘s more to this music than “Superstars of 70’s Soul” or “Essential Soul”. The people who leave the dance floor if you play Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” instead of “Sexual Healing”. There’s a big need to set some things straight. The 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and even current times have produced some killer Soul music.

Anyway, we had a blast that weekend. It was a pure afternoon Southport Weekender vibe. With very deep selections, nice people galore, a packed dance floor and a lot of British folks. We met the man behind this, Thierry Boulanger, and kept in contact ever since. And we were very honoured he asked us to be part of the next Brussels Soul party he planned. Not a weekender but an allnighter. People might frown at seeing us on that bill but only if they’ve never heard us play or checked our Podcast. We’re both very into Soul music, past to present. Dancing to dj Bigger, Soul II Soul, Terry Jones and Andy Davis at Southport’s afternoon sessions is something nearly holy to us. We never skip it. One of my personal highlights ever is hearing Norman Jay play at Notting Hill carnival on a sunny afternoon. That left it’s traces in our record collection. And we’ll proof it Saturday November 22nd.

Again at Bar En Face and with some of the dj’s that played at the weekender in August. Be there. It’s free and it’s good.

PS: And before I start some beef in the little Brussels Soul community. I know some cats play some of it in their sets (Strictly Niceness) or play it in bars (Soultastik guys) but nobody does it on this scale, this deep, this uncut, this nice. Props to Thierry for that.

This week it’s all about announcing parties on this blog. And even then we’re keeping the really good ones (our own ones) for next week. But this one is a pretty nice one too. FM Brussel, the radio station that broadcasts our radio show, is uniting a lot of Brussels based party crews for one big event in the legendary Fuse club. On Monday November 10th (the day after you’ll have the day off) they fill both rooms with dj’s connected to organisations active in and around Brussels. Like Dirty Dancing’s Cosy Mozzy, Lessizmore’s Pierre, Statik Dancin’s Darko or, on the more soulful front, Strictly Niceness’ Kwak, Silk’s L-Fêtes and us. We’ll be playing in the main room and are pretty excited about that. This is the club that brought us Respect is Burning so many years ago, one of our main influences when we started. Plus, we’re honoured to be part of this event. So we’re going to make a lot of fuzz about it in the weeks to come.  

Check the crews / organisations / dj’s online here:
silk: l-fêtes
soundtraffic: rim-k
nijdrop: kong & cortez
strictly niceness: dj kwak
go bang!: onda sonora soundsystem
boogie business: down jones
statik dancin: darko
cat club: lady jane
flesh: geoffroy
dali’s bar: steph x
dirty dancing: cosy mozzy
bulex nemo: fhilz & plastic soul
nightcode: the jelly bellies
lessizmore: pierre

Tickets available at Fnac.

More on the German / Köln tip. Through DJ EFF one of our mixes ended up on Soulsender radio. Disco Dalglish’s 80’s R ’N B Mix will be “aired” this Friday from 21h on. Ideal to get you in the mood for the Go Bang! party that night. Check it out here.

Big up to Falk and the people at Soulsender.

Been fighting illness since a few days and I’m clearly not winning. Still got some positive news to tell. We’ve been booked for 2 gigs in Café Belga. On the 31st of October and the 21st of November. First one is a day after my birthday so will treat my friends on some free booze then. It won’t be pure party gigs. Bit curious about it. Exploring other sides of playing records for people. Usually not too much a fan of this kind of dj’ing because I feel, most of the times, playing a CD would make more sense. But this offer we couldn’t refuse. Playing in one of the biggest, hippest bars of our hometown. It would be stupid not to use this big chance to introduce our name in the minds of so much people. Certainly not because the timing is extra fine for our November Go Bang! party. That and the tons of unbelievably beautiful ladies that seem to live around Flagey and more particularly in that bar. Stuns me every time we go record our radio show (the FM Brussel studios are in the same building as the Belga – the former national broadcasting company HQ).

Next Thursday.Last time we played in Leuven at the Apero it was a blast. It always is when Jonni Gratts and Igwaar are around. The day after most people have the day off so no reason not to join us.

We have added a date to our very calm summer schedule. Thursday 14/8 we’ll play at Apero, a nice bar you find on the Oude Markt in Leuven. We played there last year and that was a blast. Little and cosy but with a dancing crowd. We’ll share the decks with Moodclub’s Jonni Gratts and Igwaar. Always fun.

If you think “damn, a Thursday”, keep in mind that the day after is a bank holiday. No reason not to come.

Big up to Lefto for the promo. Haha.

This Friday we’ll play at De Kriekelaar. Last time, after the SOUL:ID gig, we had a very good time. Neat surroundings, nice people and a lot of people dancing. I hope it will be more of the same. You’re all welcome. Hope to see you there. More info here.

Together with Dieter, Yoeri and Lieve we recorded our first radio show yesterday. Well in advance, I know, but given it’s almost summer we had to plan it this way to be all there the first time. Had a blast and I am quite pleased with the result. Next Tuesday it’ll be on air. Only minus is that we completely forgot to play the new Prime Numbers 12”. Which is absolutely top quality. Apart from that I think it’s a dope selection, with much variety, deepness and some never played on Belgian radio stuff. Big up to Koen from FM Brussel for all the help.

Don’t forget. This Friday we party in Ghent. Promises to be good.

The show will be aired Tuesday evenings, from July on, from 22h to 23h. It will replace the Upload show. On FM Brussel off course. And it will be available on the listen again function all week long after it’s been on air. Really looking forward to it all.

We play both Friday and Saturday next weekend. Which is nice.

We begin the weekend at Tilt!. Making “Les Marolles” our favourite area of Brussels to party at. We’ll be playing together with Brussels’ House don Geoffroy Mugwump and residents Acoustix & Samy. Place to be: Le Bazaar, Rue des Capucins 63, Brussels.

Saturday we’ll be at De Vaartkapoen for the Matongé Matongé Benefit. We’ll be opening. Place to be: VK, Rue de l’Ecole 76, Molembeek.

I’ve uploaded the Disco Dalglish edit of that Charanga 76 cut on our Myspace. Check it out. One for the dance floor. We’re making more of them as we speak. Expect to here them in our sets and Podcasts. That’s why we’re making them.

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.

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.