One of my main influences in the graphic design field has got his new site up and running. You might know him from his work for Talking Loud, Straight No Chaser or Addict. Would love to have one of his artworks. If ever my dj-career takes off and I start making money instead of investing (a euphemism for losing nowadays) tones of it, I surely buy one of his works. For now I’ll keep it with acquiring some of those (still) super fresh fonts.
Feeling wrecked today. Lack sleep, lack sunshine, lack a lot of positive things. Could use some good stuff happening to me soon. So if you hold that back, don’t. Let it loose. I’ll be glad to receive.
On the positive tip. The DJ Xogn Podcast mix is creating waves. Even some Japanese sites picking it up. Got to give it to them, nobody can beat them when it comes to being on point. Not even Alex. Who’s on an e-break by the way. Got crazy respect for that.
And we have the guys from Untitled! In the studio this week. Looking forward to that.
And some major Onda Sonora net actions scheduled for later this week.
Big up to alex from On-Point. He has contributed to the new Shook magazine. He has written and illustrated the Marc Moulin in memoriam. Nice one.
You’ll hear plenty more of this kid in the near future. He’s getting noticed. Maybe, even in his own country. Haha.
These days everything is design. Or better said, everybody thinks he’s a (graphic) designer or, even worse, an plastic artist. And frankly, most are nothing more than decent copyist at best. There’s only a few truly innovative and good ones out there. My personal favourites being Mode2, Swifty, Sozyone, Delta and the one they call Shoe. That last one, known by his mum as Niels Meulman, is an Amsterdam based graffiti artist with a keen interest in calligraphy. Merging both styles to something he calls Calligraffiti. Something I’m a huge fan of.
Combine this with my favourite record shop, also based in Amsterdam, and you got yourself an killer exhibition. Called Different Strokes. Starting December 19th and ending January 18th. Keeping the Rush Hour tradition with fine graphics going strong. I’ve been known to buy records of their label mainly for the artwork, afterwards discovering they’re wrapped around fantastic music. Will definitely try to make the trip up north in January.
Oh, and if somebody with way too much money wants to offer me a nice Christmas present. Browse a bit through the site and I’m sure you’ll find something that’ll please me a lot.
Different Strokes, 19 December – 18 January 2008
Rush Hour, Spuistraat 98, Amsterdam
In a crazy mood we decided to head to Amsterdam yesterday to check out the Disco 3000 party in Paradiso. And eat some McKroket burgers while we were there. Had a blast with Yoeri, Lieve and Karl. Heard some very deep beats. Met some nice people like Boye from Kindred Spirits and those tv-people who went to a spiritual healing (and didn’t got healed from their homosexuality or deafness, haha). Great to see Antal and Trus’me again. Future looks bright for the Disco 3000 concept. And we’re very honoured to be (a little part) of it. More about that soon. But be prepared because it’s going to be wild.
And mad funny to bump into Alex and J to the C from On-Point. Didn’t really expected that. Haha.
I love Amsterdam by the way. Wish I could be there more. Love the skirt-wearing (why do Belgian woman always wear trousers ?) girls on bikes or in cosy café’s like crazy.
Exhausted now but ready for Strictly Niceness tonight. Been a while since I’ve was on that dance floor.
Oh, and my phone is acting strange. Going dead mid conversation and starting up again. Guess it’s the battery. So might be difficult to reach next few days until this problem is fixed.
Always nice to hear your name shouted out on BBC 1Xtra. Haha. Nice one, Benji. Can’t wait to see you in Southport. Still a month to go, though. I’m getting impatient.
Next time he mentions us on Deviation it’ll be because he plays a track of us. I hope.
Anyway, I’m of to Amsterdam to catch the Disco 3000 party and see Trus’me and the Rush Hour family.
More about that Disco 3000 concept soon.
There’s still a month to go but since this weekend I’m officially all hyped up for the Southport Weekender. Booked everything needed to get there. I will spend a few days before it in London. Visiting some museums, pubs and record shops. And finally going to a Deviation session. Kinda felt bad that they celebrated their first birthday and I hadn’t been there once. A few days off. I really need that.
I’ve got a month to shape up a bit. Don’t want to miss the late night sessions anymore at Southport. And I want to do it the Onda Sonora way. Strictly on Red Stripe, chocolate milk, instant coffee, soup & meals and pub food. Like Jacky Moore sang “This Time Baby”. Or something like that.
And we play at the Fuse club on Monday (more about that soon). If you want to see two exhausted but euphoric dj’s being confronted with a Belgian public after spending days with likeminded soulful-music-mad people, you need to be there. Could be something surreal. But being from Belgium we love that.
I agree a lot with Kevin Hedge on the Obama point he makes in the interview we aired yesterday (and which is still available through the FM Brussel streaming). The positive aspect of his “change” rhetoric is the most important. I may not agree with everything he stands for – I’m way more progressive - but I think he might be the catalyst in making this world a bit more pleasant to live in for everyone. A world where we don’t blame others for our shortcomings and do something about it ourselves. In a positive way. Might sound hippie but I don’t care. I think the world lacks warmth and understanding. And I hope Obama’s election is a spark towards more of that. The fact alone that he gives me hope is already half of the struggle.
Dustin Ross, one of the most interesting photographers I know, and which I discovered through his “musical” work with a lot of the artists I like, made a nice “behind the scenes” reportage of the Democratic convention in Denver. Check out his blog for some pictures.
Last 2 weeks we had guests in our radio show. Hope you liked it at much as we did. We love to push the music we like. We are trying to bring more of that. An interview with NYC legends Blaze and up and coming Brussels based melodic Techno cat Home Run are scheduled. If you are a producer / beat maker / MC / Singer / Artist / Party organiser and you have something to promote that connects with what we stand for please get in touch with us. If we like it we’d love to get you in our radio show. Same for new music. Feel free to send us your music. We always will give you an honest idea of what we think about it and if we think it’s good we’ll play it. Or if you want to give goodies away. Anything we can do to make our show more interesting and inform people about quality stuff. And everybody listening, feel free to make comments, suggestions and, why not, congratulate us. One address; ondasonora@fmbrussel.be
Although summer has been far from nice weather-wise I feel it’s been a good one. Took some time to finally start producing (still only edits but it’s a first step), silently prepared some major moves for Onda Sonora (like Laid Back we’re making it all a bit more official and we’ll be taking the Go Bang! parties up a level soon), met a lot of new interesting people, severed ties with those we already knew and welcomed some new members to the extended family, had a blast at Worldwide festival, Bruksellive and Spectakulo and best of all, kinda found peace with myself.
But enough looking back. Lets look ahead. We’re working on or invited to participate in some exciting new projects. More about them once they are confirmed. But we always love being part of something done with love and passion. We actually rather do that than simply do our thing as DJ’s, cash our cheque (if we are paid that is) and go home. Things like the Belgikolor event are what we love doing (outside of our own organisations). Not that we don’t like the DJ part of our game but we get our motivation mainly out of the love for it all rather than the money or the sake of being DJ’s. Not that there’s much money or fame to win in the Soulful niche we are in anyway. This is in no way a diss to others (we respect everybody and every motivation) but I felt it needed to be said. Mainly because people sometimes accuse us of being too modest or not ambitious enough and that we should play more, ask more money or be more outspoken. We are very aware of ourselves and we have crazy ambition. But maybe not in the typical way.
Apart from that we’re working on more edits / productions of our own, honing our skills as DJ’s (seeing Lefto & Mad Mats play this summer inspired me a lot), trying to add more Soul to the Brussels / Belgian nightlife, working together with the forces aiming for similar goals (the Take A Step In The Right Direction site and our show on Laid Back being the first results of that) and visiting parties everywhere.
And nice to see the blog getting more popular every day.
Shook
The new edition of this excellent magazine is out. Buy it here. They are even giving away all editions in PDF-format. Check it out.
On Point
Alex is getting back into business after a rather calm summer. His interview with Dopeness Galore’s Wouda is online on On-Point.be.
Lefto on Brownswood
Playing next Saturday at our party. Now part of Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood family. Check his posts on the Brownswood blog.
Jose James on Strictly Niceness
On the Brownswood Blog you’ll find an interview with Jose James. Done by Strictly Niceness’ Kwak. Off course you can check that on the Niceness Blog too.
Mystery Mix
A great concept if you’re a crazy digger like ourselves. Every month a somebody puts together a mix with overlooked and hard to find gems and then some bearded music nerds try to guess as many as possible tunes. “Get a life” I hear someone say. Maybe but in the meantime this is much more fun than poking people on Facebook. Check the mix archive here.
Big up to Thierry and all involved with the Brussels Soul weekender. Had a blast. Superb music, lots of nice people and booze galore. Talked to a lot of people and although I’m pretty sure a lot of what I’ve said was plain nonsense I had a lot of fun. Even went back on Sunday. Not all that well due to partying a tad too hard the day before. But enjoyed the music sitting down. We need more of this.
And great that Disco Dalglish is back from the States. With a crazy amount of records (which should result in new Podcasts) and lots of stories and experiences. Which means we’re ready to take it up a notch Onda Sonora wise. We’ve received a lot of good news and promising propositions, plus some of our plans are slowly coming together. Once things get confirmed or are ready to share with the world you’ll read about them here.
Hectic week ahead. Hope to finish some more edits. Maybe even an mix. And hope to finish rearranging my collection.
Haven’t got much to share with you lately. Because it’s summer and that’s, apart from the many festivals, a quiet period music-wise. But also because we’re taking a little break from organising and being busy making plans ourselves. Which doesn’t mean nothing’s happening in the wonderful world of Onda Sonora. Nope. Quite a lot is going on. Mostly stuff I can’t share yet. Which is damn shame. For myself. Because I’m completely crap at keeping my mouth shut. Anyway, looking forward to the future. Seems like exiting times are ahead.
On the other hand. About time I fixed y’all another Podcast. Will try to have one up by the end of next week. Maybe a bit of my set at Bruksellive which I plan to record. Completely forgot I have a Minidisc I could use for that. And some more edits and even what one might call a remix are being constructed. When Disco Dalglish is back we’ll try to make an Onda Sonora edits only mix for the Podcast.
Saturday I’ll be dj’ing solo as my colleague is still enjoying the east coast of the US. A bit nervous about that. Haha. That big stage all for myself. For those of you who won’t be able to make it, there’s the live coverage of the festival on FM Brussel. They even plan a little interview with me. Curious what nonsense I’ll be saying this time.
Had a nice weekend. Did absolutely nothing of the things I planned. No Dour, No 10DaysOff. Went to Paris instead. To do some shopping and to enjoy some sunshine. Nice weather over there. And 12 Inch Records is definitetly one of my favourite vinyl shops worldwide. Always finding some kickass gems there. Big up to Manu and crew. Big up to Phil for the nice trip.
Checked the Atomic party on Sunday underneath the Atomium. Superb surroundings. And a super ace Ableton Live performance from Home Run. Deep, moody Techno, just the way I like it. Keep up the good work Laurent. And thanks for the CD (got it back).
Up to next weekend with the Bruksellive festival. Really looking forward to it. Looks like the sun will shine. It’s going to be banging.
And thanks to all who told us about the “listen again” problems on the FM Brussel website. Still the first episode that’s available. Some computer problems apparently. Should be fixed soon.
Not feeling all that well lately. The bad weather is weighing on me both physically as mentally. Could use some more sunshine. Stayed home most of the weekend because of that. But every bad thing has its positive sides. This way I don’t spend too much money in this expensive period and I used the extra time to make some edits. One of the results of that is up on our Myspace page. It’s the “Tower of Soul” track. Keeping it a bit mysterious title-wise. Can anyone guess what the original track is ?
Didn’t stay in all weekend. Partied at Cafe Bota on Friday. It was nice. Lefto, Kid Sublime, some Laid Back / Infinitskills guys, Kwak, 72Soul, Dieter, Jazz, Karl, Elke and off course Vic ‘n Lloyd & Funky Bompa all making it a very nice party. Had a good time and I’m truly impressed with JC’s skills on the keys. Knew he could rock the decks and the mic, but he’s even hotter doing “the Kerri Chandler”. Nice one.
Up to the rest of the week. Really looking forward to recording our Radio Show, Erykah Badu at Ghent Jazz and Saturday (both killer Dour day and the only good 10DaysOff night). And to making more edits. I’m getting on fire.
Lefto ripped it Yesterday. Superb set. Roots Manuva was dope too. Not too sure about Ben Westbeech. But all in all a great night. Heard something about a worldwide gfestival in Instanbul. Sounds like a good idea.
Great to see some familiar faces. Southport and Nottinghill veterans.
We’re almost ready to leave for the festival. After 3 days of heavy chillin’, loungin’ near the pool and making cocktails. Made a little trip to Montpelier. Did some shopping. Vinyl and hats. Some nice finds. Anyway it’s been nice up until now. Will post some pics tomorrow if I get my laptop hooked to the net (blogging on another one for now).
This weekend we’ll be in Ghent on Friday, click on the flyer right of this for more info, and at a little private party on Saturday. If you’re in Brussels / Evere and in need of something to do that night say something. We can always slip you in.
For now busy preparing the first radio show (all very exciting), preparing mixes and selections for the road to Sète (we go a week earlier to get into or groove) and cleaning up the mess my record collection has become last few weeks. That last thing is quite a job and makes me realise I should reorganise it completely. Maybe this summer if I feel like it. Will decrease the volume too. Too many things I barely listen to.
and Big Up to my fellow Keep On compadre Daquan. And his girl Lotte off course. Congratulations with Josse, the newest funky cat in town.
Been quiet on the blog last few days. Will continue next few days. But that doesn’t mean we’re doing nothing. Been busy organising our end of year activities. Looks like we’re going to top everything we’ve done so far. We ‘re working on our all new all incorporating site (hopefully ready somewhere in September), the radio show that will be starting in a few weeks, we got the Spectakulo party with Mad Mats, 2 Go Bang! parties - one on 26/9 and one on 21/11 (one resident, one with a guest), we plan some next level mixes, re-edits and maybe something combining both, … . Lots to look out for.
And we’re not the only ons who got some dope things lined up for you. Heard some yummy news from other crews like Dyn-O-Mite, Jazzbreak, Lefto (PPP coming over!), Strictly Niceness, … . You’ll hear about them as soon as things are confirmed. But it looks like Brussels / Belgium will finally get a fair amount of Soul injected to its nightlife. And it’s nice to see forces are joining in “the scene”. Big up to Thierry and Phil for keep pushing us to do something together. Really hope it’ll have the result we all aim for.
Not too much to do in Belgium this weekend as far as I know. Might be wrong. I’ll keep it cool anyway. Although several people are testing my will power by tempting me to go see Phil Asher & co in Amsterdam. Got to be strong. Need to visit some people I’ve neglected too much and need to do some shopping to be prepared for my trip to the south of France in a few weeks. Worldwide festival, hopefully see my man Titou in Toulon and enjoying some sun. So I need sunglasses and a board short.
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.
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.
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.
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.
