Ancienne Belgique

A CERTAIN RATIO"Without A Certain Ratio there would be no !!!, LCD Soundsystem or The Rapture" (AB)"James LCD Murphy was inspired to start (his label) DFA after reading an article in a UK paper abou...

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A CERTAIN RATIO
"Without A Certain Ratio there would be no !!!, LCD Soundsystem or The Rapture" (AB)
"James LCD Murphy was inspired to start (his label) DFA after reading an article in a UK paper about the resurgence of minimal disco like ESG and A Certain Ratio". (Urb Magazine)

Strange how a band can suddenly once again become so omnipresent. Last year, without a sound, post-punk group A Certain Ratio (who date from ’77) released their (at a rough guess) ninth album, ‘Mind Made Up’. Despite the lack of attention, the band has suddenly appeared on the stages of a number of prominent European festivals annex halls. Think,The Barbican in London or festivals like Primavera Sound (Barcelona) and Motel Mozaique. Entirely justified, by the way, as ACR sound just as relevant in ’09 as they did almost 30 years ago. Soul Jazz Records (see also their compilations ‘New York Noise’, ‘100% Dynamite’,…) started in 2002 with a series of A Certain Ratio reissues that introduced the band to a completely new audience … Their band name happens to be derived from the Brian Eno song ‘The True Wheel’ (that in turn borrows from a quote from Hitler).

Their debut (produced by Martin Hannett) was released on the famous Factory Records (see also: Joy Division, New Order,…) and their post-punk sound was quickly injected with funk and even disco. Uncut wrote of it: "No group can claim a greater role in post-punk’s mutation into funk". The most well-known ACR-hits were certainly ‘Shack Up’ and ‘Do The Du’. Of the original line-up, Martin Moscrop (guitar, trumpet) and Jeremy Kerr (bass, vocals) still remain, together with Donald Johnson (drums, vocals), although is role was at first played by a drum machine. Finally, in the category ‘miscellaneous facts’... In ’80 ACR headed to New York in order to perform together with soulmates ESG, opener at the time was an unknown, upcoming star answering to the name Madonna…

HUDSON MOHAWKE
Young Glasgowian Hudson Mohawke belongs to the Scottish LuckyMe collective (see also: Rustie, Wireblock,...) and is – according to XLR8ER – "a disciple of Dilla, an avant-hip-hop instrumentalist, a leftfield beatmaker". Hud Mo (to his friends) has released a number of hard-to-find EP’s in the past but has suddenly become a hot producer, at the forefront of the ‘the next generation beat music’, after the recent release of his impressive EP ‘Polyfolk Dance’. When the famous Warp label signed him, they immediately shouted: "Hud Mo is one of our secret weapons for 2009!". His full-length debut will still be released this year, again on Warp. We also read somewhere that: "This so-called left-wing hip-hopper is averse to unnecessary frills and prefers to make beats with the most ramshackle possible Nintendo game-console." Ready for a portion of laser bass? Or rather 'wonky', as they say in the UK? Hudson: "I like to be un-pin-downable. I’ll be pretty gutted if ‘Wonky’ ends up sticking. I’d rather liked if it was called ‘Polyfolk’." Curious? Well you'd better come and check it out for yourself then, before you going wonky from all this ‘genre-dropping’!

BLK JKS
Blk Jks (pronounced: Black Jacks) is already one of the hypes of spring now, trust us! (Rightly) described as the African TV On The Radio, a soon to be released EP on the (still prominent) Secretly Canadian label and with a series of exciting tracks on MySpace can't be lying. The quartet describes itself as a fusion of traditional township jazz, metal (only in the background), the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, reggae and dub. They've warmed the world with only one EP (nice try, dear glasshouse-effect). Brandon Curtis (The Secret Machines) is a great fan and got behind the mixing desk for their latest EP ‘Mystery EP’. Diplo (producer to M.I.A. et al ) is also a huge fan. Are you familiar with DJ Mujava from his track ‘Township Funk’ (released via Warp)? Well, BLK JKS does it live in quartet form. Finally, Spin talks about BLK JKS too: "BLK JKS fuse the electro-funk experimentalism of TV on the Radio with the Afro-pop guitars of Vampire Weekend and drop in hints of jazz, ethnic African music, and the prog-rock of contemporary acts like The Mars Volta."

RUSTIE
Friends with Hudson Mohawke and also a part of the hot LuckyMe collective from Glasgow. He already gained attention with his EP ‘Jagz The Smack’, inspired by the heroin problem in South Glasgow. Rustie prefers to call this hybrid mix of old-skool rave, grime, hip-hop and bleep techno: aquacrunk. Euh, Rustie, some call it laser bass and others call it wonky. Rustie: "How I feel about being ‘Wonky’: "Wanky!". Rustie also acknowledges the influence of J. Dilla and calls the LuckyMe Crew his greatest inspiration. His name can also be found on remixed releases from Jamie Lidell and also Pivot.

DISKO DRUNKARDS
Disko Drunkards are the bastard sons of none less than the famous GLIMMERS. Lets just say: the steaming live-incarnation of the DJ sets of these gentlemen. Musically you can call it the raw power of The White Stripes vs the urban jungle funk of Liquid Liquid vs the psychedelica of Funkadelic. Their first feat was a version of Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Let’s Get Physical’ that was immediately a radio hit. Behind Disko Drunkards hide a number of illustrious friends, such as dEUS-drummer Stéphane Misseghers and also Millionaire-frontman Tim Vanhamel. Meanwhile Disko Drunkards have released a full album with twelve of their own tracks, a treasure that will only be distributed at shows. Belgians and funk on the one? It's possible!

Hudson Mohawke - ‘Overnight’

A Certain Ratio - ‘Shack Up’

Blk Jks - 'Lakeside'