Beaker video

Released soon on Off, the fantastic mini album of BEAKER!
Here is already a beautiful video to watch:

OVD005 : Pierre Vervloesem / Fiasco (Remastered & Augmented)

OVD005 : Pierre Vervloesem / Fiasco (Remastered & Augmented)

Second in a chronological series of 11 digital only remastered releases (6 solo (5 augmented with bonuses, lives and remixes), 1 duo, 1 unreleased duo and 3 pots-pourris (with absolutely every tunes possible ever recorded by Pierre and never released)) and coming at the pace of one every month is the fabulous second solo album from Pierre Vervloesem: Fiasco (1996).

The album has been remasterd and augmented with 3 bonuses and demo songs.

Review by Dave Lynch in All Music:

Pierre Vervloesem (bio) really rocks out on this one. Crunching power chords, blasting lead runs, pumping bass, pounding drums, yowling vocals -- the few tendencies toward a light approach on  are almost entirely suppressed here. The format is nearly that of a hard rock power trio at times, except that, in addition to Didier Fontaine's drums (and radiator), Vervloesem handles bass as well as guitar. That's not to suggest everything is heavy, heavy, heavy from start to finish -- there are jangly strums interspersed between the heavy metal machine gun choruses on the opening "Tiny Smalls," not to mention the interjection of a nice little multi-tracked trumpet arrangement from Bart Maris that would be right at home on any X-Legged Sally disc. Elsewhere, Vervloesem indulges his fondness for Laswell-styled funk-dub experimentation, overlaying deep and insistent bass vamps with stinging solos, wah-wah riffing, spacy effects, and Fripp-ish sustained harmonies and loops. Thierry Mondelaers’s vocals remain an acquired taste but improve upon his contributions to X-Legged Sally album "The Land of the Giant Dwarfs", effectively navigating stylistic territory from distortion-veiled post-punk wails to art rock crooning. The album's variety and flow are well conceived, with the rock tunes nicely balancing the more experimental groove-based dub tracks. Of the former, "Sorry" is about as punched-up and catchy as rock & roll gets, building to a thrilling ride with harmonized guitars over a driving vamp at the tune's end, while the album-concluding "Gas" merits special mention among the spaced-out dub jams -- its synthesized strings and bells (presumably contributed by composer Anne Fontigny) impart an ethereal, moody quality to the piece that contrasts effectively with the album's preceding cranked-up hard rockers. Not quite as quirky and more in your face than Home Made, Fiasco is a good choice for rock fans with limited patience for all-out avant-gardisms but who are open-minded enough to enjoy a bit of experimentation thrown into the mix. If your inclinations are reversed -- you're open-minded enough to enjoy a bit of rock & roll thrown in with your avant-garde experimentation -- Vervloesem's third release, Chef-D’Oeuvre, might be better aligned with your sensibilities, but both albums (and later Vervloesem albums as well) are fine examples of this skillful and often wildly entertaining Belgian's music.

A very fine review in French in Guts Of Darkness Here.

Digital release only on the 7th of July 2014.

Original cover art:

Track listing:

1) Tiny Smalls

2) Slow International Surfer

3) Undersexed

4) Hurl

5) Pure Hell

6) Mister March

7) The Next One

8) River

9) Sorry

10) Wrong

11) Gas

Bonus tracks:

12) Slow International Surfer ( Demo )

13) Hurl ( Spontaneous idea )

14) River ( Demo )

And in Bandcamp:

ORT007 : Vansina Orchestra / Morning Forest aka Nose up Bottom Down

ORT007 : Vansina Orchestra / Morning Forest aka Nose up Bottom Down

Bruno Vansina (38) has been active in the Belgian scene for some years now. He's regularly seen with his own projects Vansina-Verbruggen-Gudmundsson trio, Vansina Quartet (ft. Steve Nelson) as well as other bands like Rebirth Collective and Flat Earth Society.
This new project features the 'Bruno Vansina Quintet' and a large horn ensemble. The music consists of compositions by Bruno Vansina arranged for large ensemble by Dre Peremans (Rebirth Collective), a young talented Belgian composer, arranger and trombonist. For his arrangements he gets to work with a full colour pallet: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, 2 tenors, 1 alto, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones plus a large rhythm section: piano, guitar, bass, drums and percussion. A total of no less than 17 musicians!
Bruno's choice of horns for the large ensemble is reminiscent of Gil Evans/Porgy And Bess and of Charles Mingus/Mingus Mingus Mingus. And more recent inspiration derived from Wayne Shorter's recordings on 'Alegria' and his collaboration with the 'Imani Woodwind Ensemble'.
The music drives on grooves that appeal to Steve Coleman but also brings to memory the modal music of John Coltrane. Written in a intuitive way yet rhythmically quite evolved, it focuses heavily on color, atmosphere and contrast. The compositions have a worldly feel to them, at times exotic and meditative, like mantras. This feeling is amplified by the beautiful playing of Kobe Proesman on percussion and above all Magic Malik’s (FR) flute playing, largely featured on the newly recorded 'Morning Forest aka Nose up Bottom down' .
Let's not forget to mention the amazing and unique clarinet playing of John Ruocco (USA), featured on the opening track 'Dark Night' and more fantastic improvisation by Steven Delannoy, Carlo Nardozza, Christian Mendoza, Bert Cools .... 

"Ain't heard this brand of madness before. It was so much fun doing it! " John Ruocco.

Here Live in 2015:

Personnel

Bruno Vansina (alto saxophone), Christian Mendozza (piano), Bert Cools (guitar), Stefan Lievestro (bass), Teun Verbruggen (drums)

Personnel on tracks 1,2,4,5,7

Malik Mezzadri (flute), John Ruocco (clarinet & tenor saxophone), Kristien Cueppens (oboe), Kensuka Taira (bassoon), Bart Indevuyst (french horn), Steven Dellanoy (tenor saxophone), Wietse Meys (tenor saxophone & clarinet), Carlo Nardozza (trumpet), Jeroen Van Malderen (trumpet & flugelhorn), Frederik Heirman (trombone), Tom Verschoren (trombone, bass trombone & euphonium), Kobe Proesmans (percussion on tracks 2, 4, 5)

Recorded by Walter de Niel on January 29, 30 & 31, 2014 at Studio Toots, VRT, Brussels.

Mixed by Walter de Niel and Bruno Vansina on February 18, 19, 20, 21 & March 5, 2014 at Studio Toots, VRT, Brussels.

Mastered by Uwe Teichert on March 27 at Elektropolis, Wemmel.

Artwork by Bruno Vansina and Katrien Vandergooten.

Additional artwork and layout by Afreux, Antwerpen.

All songs written by Bruno Vansina.

Tracks 1, 5, 7 arranged by Dree Peremans.

Track 2 arranged by Bruno Vansina and Dree Peremans.

Track 4 arranged by Bruno Vansina.

The album (RAT027) is already released and on sale here.

Original digital release on Off on the 30th of June 2014, now in Bandcamp.

Track Listing:

1. Dark Night (10:31)

2. Fiesta Festivo (12:31)

3. Morning Forest aka Nose Up Bottom Down (5:21)

4. Ploink (11:31)

5. Groove Along (13:09)

6. Symphony Of The Fried Bananas (8:45)

7. Bike Insprivation (11:11)

8. Morning Forest aka Nose Up Bottom Down (4:30) - alternate mix bonus track ( digital release only)

In Bandcamp:

OVD004 : Pierre Vervloesem / Home Made (Remastered & Augmented)

                                             Original cover by Reflex design, remodeling by Kiekebiche

OVD004 : Pierre Vervloesem / Home Made (Remastered & Augmented)

First in a chronological series of 11 digital only remastered releases (6 solo (5 augmented with bonuses, lives and remixes), 1 duo, 1 unreleased duo and 3 pots-pourris (with absolutely every tunes possible ever recorded by Pierre and never released)) and coming at the pace of one every month is the fabulous first solo album from Pierre Vervloesem: Home Made ( 1994).

The album has been remasterd and augmented with no less than 11 bonuses and demo songs.

Review by Dave Lynch in All Music:

For his first solo album, crazed Belgian guitarist Pierre Vervloesem (bio) got together with bassist Paul Belgrado and a home eight-track recorder in late March of 1994. A couple weeks later, they emerged with Home Made, and whether Vervloesem still had friendly relations with his neighbors probably depends on whether they plugged their instruments directly into the line inputs or whether they sometimes used amplifiers that blasted out into the room. It's hard to image that they were able to keep the volume down to zero at least some of the time on this often blisteringly high-energy outing, particularly when Vervloesem and Belgrado's bandmates from X-Legged Sally were invited over to contribute sax, clarinet, trumpet, and piano (not to mention Luc Henriet's "human chicken") on "Bon Courage." At least they had the good sense to record the drummers in a studio. As for the final product, Vervloesem almost has more ideas than he can comfortably manage on Home Made's 20 tracks. He is a master of electric guitar technique and all the ways the instrument can be sonically manipulated with technological gadgetry; Vervloesem also has a finely tuned ear for multi-track arrangements, at times overdubbing himself into, if not a guitar army, at least a fairly sizable battalion. He could be viewed as either an avant-prog guitarist with heavy metal guitar shredder leanings or vice versa; stylistically Vervloesem invites comparison to Doctor Nerve's Nick Didkovsky. The concise tunes here (all instrumentals) also reveal the influences of Frank Zappa (definitely a Vervloesem hero), Fred Frith (from his dance-oriented Gravity LP), guitar fire-breathers like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, and, on "Le Fleuve," even a bit of Mike Oldfield's folk-prog leanings. Vervloesem loves to cut loose over pounding drum-and-bass vamps; he also throws in tight thematic arrangements, abrupt changes in tone and tempo, and scattered zany noises and effects, guitar-generated and otherwise. And he isn't above poking a bit of fun at the excesses of guitar pyrotechnics either, interrupting an extended shredding episode on "It's Back" with a voice that seems to be trying to get a word in edgewise before finally shouting "Stop!" Home Made isn't a stunningly original recording, at times seeming more like a catalog of influences than a strong personal statement. Nevertheless Vervloesem, Belgrado and friends sound like they had a blast recording it, and their energy and high spirits are captured quite effectively on the disc. For all the fun and games, the CD does end on a serious note, however -- the last track is a minute of silence, and its title is the date that Zappa died. 

Digital release only on the 16th of June 2014.

Original covert art:

Pierre circa 1994:

Track listing:

1) Phillip

2) Big

3) Le Fleuve

4) Nullo Problemo

5) Dukass

6) Surf Ensemble

7) Holiday out

8) Koniec

9) Fet

10) Bon Courage

11) Something In Italian

12) Christmas In New Jersey

13) Zozorro

14) Flakatakata

15) No Way

16) It's Back

17) Ski Chase

18) Man With A Stammer

19) Fringe

20) 04/12/93

Bonus tracks:

21) Zozorro ( Live )

22) Bon Courage ( Live )

23) Pillip ( Demo )

Bonus tracks Bandcamp release only:

24) Flakatakata (with Anne Fontigny)

25) Fet (with Anne Fontigny)

26) Pim Pam Poum (with Anne Fontigny)

27) Le Fleuve (with Anne Montigny)

28) Dukass (with Anne Fontigny)

29) J'ai oublié le titre (with Anne Montigny)

30) Koniec (with Anne Fontigny)

31) Nullo problemo (with Anne Fontigny)

Bandcamp of the album with Anne Fontigny (only) - OVD004 bis:

And in Bandcamp (complete + 8 bonus tracks):

ODG024-OUI013 : Blanchet - Borghi - Chevallier - Paganotti Quartet

 

covert art by A.L.

ODG024-OUI013 : Blanchet - Borghi - Chevallier - Paganotti Quartet

After committing a splendid album as a trio (here), Emmanuel Borghi comes back, only this time as a quartet. With the addition of Boris Blanchet (bio much too short as he has been playing with more than 60 big names and bands) on tenor and soprano saxes, Emmanuel Borghi on keys, Blaise Chevallier on bass and Antoine Paganotti on drums deliver a perfect contemporary jazz album. This five tracks album sees 3 new compositions from either Boris or Emmanuel, one song that was already on the trio album and one cover of John Coltrane.

This is jazz as we love it, so don't miss the chance to listen to those fantastic musicians!

Digital only release at a bargain placeon the 9th of June 2014.

Track listing:

1) Maria Callas ( Boris Blanchet )

2) Giant Steps ( John Coltrane, arr. Boris Blanchet )

3) Untitled 2 ( Boris Blanchet )

4) 18 Years Later ( Emmanuel Borghi )

5) Sac De Noeuds ( Emmanuel Borghi )

Itunes, Spotify, etc.:

bfan.link/blanchet-borghi-chevallier-paganotti-quartet

And on Bandcamp:

OPV008 : Simple / Undeletable

Cover art by Kiekebiche

OPV008 : Simple / Undeletable

Belgian guitarist Pierre Vervloesem blasted into the music world with Peter Vermeersch’s hyper-energetic X-Legged Sally at the beginning of the 1990s. His own solo albums have ranged from XLS-style ultra-tight sax-fueled avant prog to multi-tracked keyboard and electronic "knob twiddling" to proggy hard rock and metal, highlighted by his six-string pyrotechnics and touches of Zappa-esque humor. Still playing live a lot with Flat Earth Society and still producing, mixing and mastering numerous bands, he took the time to compose and record his new quartet Simple.

As he is explaining himself:
« The aim of Simple is simply to play music, my music. This is Simple.
All my projects are of nasty piece of work sort.
Codswallop (here): 10 songs in 10 days on 10 lyrics.
John Koenig (here): a rhythm box, a bass guitar and samples of soundtrack music from Cosmos 1999 from Barry Gray.
Caca (here) : a normal group plus 4 saxophones, a logistical nightmare and impossibility to rehearse.
Ray Pinson (here): I record "n'importe quoi" with the present technology, then I wait 10 years to release it, to see the effect time has on the music.
Here, it is much more simple, I only wish to be on stage with my friends and perform my debilitating music as seriously as possible. »

This time on bass, he is joined by the frontman and sideman in numerous bands Bruno Vansina (Bruno Vansina Quintet, FES, Rebirth Collective, El Tattoo Del Tigre, Brussels Jazz Orchestra…) on sax, by Didier Fontaine, a high profiled  session man on drums and by Joris Caluwaerts (Zita Swoon, Het Zesde Metaal, Franco Saint De Bakker, Milow, Lady Linn and the magnificent seven…) on keyboards.
Simple website here

The music of Simple is a terribly naïve version of jazz, sometimes even grotesque. It includes elements as diverse as music from French movies soundtracks or the New York no wave scene from the 80s, and from the most pitiful prog-rock to the most enlighted modern jazz.

From a good laugh to some kind of desperation, it’s clear that Simple doesn’t refuse itself anything !
Their first album will be a thrill when played live !

A great review in Ragazzi magazine in German here and a great one in United Mutations here in full. 

" The music is great. Simple and playful melodies slowly mutate into complex and multi-rhythmic pieces. The performances are excellent. These are top musicians. Didier Fontaine displays some great drumming, emphasizing the melody lines and keeping everything fluent. Both Joris Caluwaerts and Bruno Vansina sound very powerful, very energetic. Especially when they're playing in union. Sometimes even in trio with the bass. There's some great phrasing going on on the keyboard. For a moment, I even thought I was listening to a (synth) guitar. It's also very clear that Pierre is having a lot of fun on the bass. Beautiful lines and sounding really good in the mix.
Undeletable is a very fine album. Rumours has it that it had to be re-recorded after a poor soul erased the original recordings from the computer. There should be a severe penalty on deleting an album like this...
Some might call this experimental or avant rock. Others might say that it's a mix of progressive rock and jazz, but there's only one label that sticks: This is "Pierre Vervloesem"."  Peter Van Laarhoven in United-Mutations

Released digitally on the 2 of June and on cd on the 30th of June 2014.

Track listing:

  1) Belgian Triumphalism
  2) Blabaway Utterbunk
  3) Deliver Us From The Aliments
  4) Domestic Daredevil
  5) Finally An Elephant Full Of Jam
  6) Glass Pie
  7) Mental Mento
  8) One Of The Weakest Tune Of The Set, Pt.1
  9) One Of These Doris Day
10) Oscar Niemeyer
11) Pierre Richard
12) The Amazing Soundcheck Band
13) The Foam Cage

A video of Glass Pie directed by Bartek Zmuda:

And in Bandcamp:



There is also an OPV008 bis consisting of all the original demos of the future Simple album as composed and played entirely by Pierre Vervloesem.
Available only on Bancamp :

Track listing:

1: Pierre Richard (demo)
2: Domestic Daredevil  (demo)
3: Blabaway Utterbunk (demo)
4: Belgian Triumphalism (demo)
5: Deliver Us From The Aliments (demo)
6: Finally An Elephant Full Of Jam (demo)
7: Glas Pie (demo)
8: Mental Mento (demo)
9: One of These Doris Day (demo)
10: The Foam Cage



Cd:

Price

World shipping €12,00 EUR

ORT006 : The Bureau Of Atomic Tourism / Spinning Jenny

Cover art by Helène Glowinski

ORT006 : The Bureau Of Atomic Tourism / Spinning Jenny

This new collaboration with Rat records (here) sees the return and second full album from this fantastic sextet ( first album here ) also called simply BOAT. The musicians are still the same stars, only even playing better after having played more gigs together. This time, this new album was recorded live by Dieter Claes in April 2013 at AMR in Geneva, except 'Canon' at Recyclart in Brussels and 'Back To My Steel' at Ermitage in Paris. It was then mixed and mastered by Richard Comte and produced by Teun Verbruggen.

Personnel ( you can find all the bios here ) :

Teun Verbruggen: drums and elektronics
Andrew d'Angelo: altsax and bassclarinet
Nate Woole : trumpet

Jozef Dumoulin: fender rhodes
Marc Ducret: guitar
Jasper Stadhouders: bass

A superb review van Guy Peters in Enola (in Dutch) here.

The album (RAT025) is already released and on sale on the Rat records website HERE

Digital release  on Off on the 30th of May 2014.

Track listing:

1) Back To My Steel (Nate Wooley)
2) Canon (Marc Ducret)
3) 19 (Jozef Dumoulin)
4) FTDOY (Andrew d'Angelo)
5) Blues de L'ombre (Marc Ducret)
6) Aquatique (Marc Ducret)

                                                                (c) Roger Laute

The fantastic sextet The Bureau of Atomic Tourism performing live at the Handelsbeurs Concertzaal, Ghent, 8th of May 2014.
You can still discover and download their fabulous first album ORT004-Second Law of Thermodynamics .