Jessica93, prodigal bastard of our glorious french squat scene, relocated on Born Bad : this is no picnic. Geoffroy Laporte, alone against all odds, alternates bass and guitar to build harsh loops with a drum machine spitting pre-Gulf War patterns. That’s where it gets tricky : every musical posse claims him.

Grunge, sure, but Jessica doesn’t indulge in necrophilia. His circuit is punk, he doesn’t dress the part though. Cold wave, the atmosphere fits somehow, but the gear does not. The self-confident rock horde saw him playing with hair in his eyes… but he never joined the Party. Metal had something to say but sadly, nobody listened.

Maybe it’s time to give it a rest and let Jessica93 cook his great misery broth on her own, called « 666 tours de périph’ » (666 laps on the beltway).

LP / Digital Album

Dream-pop band from Paris, France.

LP / CD / Digital Album

The Wild Classical Music Ensemble is a Belgian experimental rock band formed in 2007 within the social-artistic non-profit organisation Wit.h in Kortrijk. Their unique sound is a blend of punk/rock riffs, fanatical rhythms and soaring flutes and fiery synths, over which gravitate multiple, multilingual voices that scratch harshly as much as they comfort. There’s something very Belgian about this harshness and noisiness. We often think of compadre Arno, from the TC Matic era.

During the Covid crisis, the disabled members of the Wild Classical Music Ensemble were undoubtedly subjected more than others to the harsh conditions of confinement, alone in their rooms. Damien Magnette was still able to visit them with sound equipment. This was one of their all-too-few windows onto the world. Forbidden to meet, let alone play together, the members of Wild were nevertheless able to compose songs in tandem with Damien. The tracks were then sent to musician friends – Fabrice Gilbert, Ava Carrère, Wim Opbrouck, Shht, Arthur Satàn, Nathan Roche and Julien ZLDR – who added their artistic touch. Jean Lamoot and Carl Roosens joined the adventure, one as mixer, the other as video director.

As a result of the conditions under which it was created, this is the band’s most highly-produced album, and perhaps its most accessible: frankly rock, with a great deal of freedom in production, and sometimes with a certain pop allure. Jean Lamoot’s contribution to the mix had a lot to do with it. In addition, the forced slowdown allowed us to devote much more time and attention to writing the lyrics.

LP / Digital Album

Powerful, potent songs yield a brutal post-punk sound. Just imagine WARSAW meet WIRE meet the FALL and you will already have a good idea of their musical universe.

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Self-proclaimed studio rat, Forever Pavot knows exactly how to teleport elsewhere in a few chords. In “The Idiophone”, the art of storytelling takes about only three minutes to unfold. Each composition features the full soundtrack of a carefully dehydrated movie, restored to its initial volume in our stereo.

The album opens with a car chase, starring a scholarly gangster, and indulging in some engineering excentricities, such as keeping a cop’s siren in harmony throughout the song- despite the Doppler effect.

Perhaps it’s the bad lockdown speaking, but Emile Sornin’s place is a battlefield : he’s having a go at every object like family members. A clock is seemingly taking the piss at him, and it becomes the pretext for a fast-paced lesson in music theory and the effects of time on people. Read more…

LP / CD / Digital Album

Couleur Brique, third album released by Born Bad for one-man-operation Usé, opens with a coughing fit spurting on a piano, while a guitar gently dies in the back of a hangar. The connoisseur will rekindle fond memories of his underground hit “ampheta-amphéta- amphétamine”, this time to warn us about the “chef d’é, chef d’é, chef d’é-tat”. We won’t know what he had to spit about to the president, but he’s got some left on his trousers.

Usé literally punches songs, beating the snare drum to celebrate a lover that bites and claws. It’s mostly about boy-meets-girl and tough love in these seven romances that taste like beer chasing uppers, and end up in the back of a van.

Praise be, to the melodic effort, supported by layers of sharp and bitter synths, and a straightforward vocal performance. It’s a ride in forsaken land, beer in hand, documenting horny guys at the fun fair, late evenings in a shabby pub, and dirty sheets. Here and there, when least expected, flashes of unpretentious drunken wisdom hit the spot.

The record is fueled by the broken drummer’s energy, but also a verified writing effort. Those songs will be sung, bonded in the wastelands, to fight against buzzkill.

Once active in local politics, Nicolas Belvalette settled down for acting, recently starring in “Tout fout le camp” where he plays his own role. But he’s at his best on his turf, small rooms and scroungy festivals, where the great romantic weirdo spits on his tits, crawling under a raving audience. You’ll have to buy the record if you want to get the lyrics, because at a gig, it’s hard to follow when you’re busy figuring out whether it’s sweat, piss or beer that’s connecting you to your neighbor.

A fine collection of autumn tunes to get wasted, start a bar fight with new friends, and fall asleep on the counter with no shame.

LP / CD / Digital Album

Zombie Zombie are a French electropop duo. Their work includes re-interpretations of the music of John Carpenter and Sun Ra. Their performances include classic electronic instruments such as the Theremin. [Wikipedia]

LP / Digital Album

Bryan’s Magic Tears is a dream-pop band from Paris, France.

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2 unissued tracks from “So cold Streams” album recording session. Limited to 1000 copies released for Disquaire Day 2021.

7″ / Digital Album

Pleasure Principle is located somewhere within a triangle formed by Francis Bebey, Add (n) To X and Ludwig Von 88; it is a solitary race to the outside, an ode to the forward flight, a way to escape in the peaceful expectation of the great liberating flash. I often find myself dancing like a monkey who forgets the world when I record at night in my room, and I hope to provoke the same reaction in people.

LP / CD / Digital Album