Beat Expo festival

Last Saturday, I attended the first Beat Expo festival in Ternat near Brussels. Because of a rather obscure bill and cutthroat competition from Dick Dale headlining a Roots Night in Antwerp, the venue was barely half-full (say 150 people). Afterwards, people told me Dick Dale was boring as hell, but heck, what else did you expect? The Beat Expo however was great! The fact that the hall wasn't packed, created a cosy atmosphere, some kind of intimate rock 'n' roll party for the in-crowd. I missed THE AMBASSADORS, a local band from Antwerp and the second band, PRESTON PFANZ & THE SEATON SANDS who featured 2 members from The Thanes, played very boring Shadows-like instrumentals (The Twanging Wankers would have been a more appropriate name!). Next was CURLEE WURLEE!, a band from Düsseldorf whose enthusiasm made up for a total lack of decent songs. It was party time nonetheless and the band set the tone for the rest of the night. Some of you might know the Italian band THE HORMONAS from a 7-inch on Shake Your Ass Records but I myself had never heard of 'em before and was very impressed by their 120mph psycho-rockabilly trash. The female drummer as well as the rest of the band (including stand-up bass - yeah!) played very very tight and the songs were top-notch. I am really looking forward to their upcoming album on Billy's Bones Records! THE THANES from Edinburgh treated us on some mighty fine tunes: this was beat punk par excellence! Their cover of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" might as well be my favourite live moment of 2006 (together with Jack O & The Tearjerkers godlike rendition of Booker T & The MG's "Time Is Tight"). Check out 'Evolver', their great 1987-2001 songs collection on Rev-Ola Records and cherish this band for the rest of your life! The headlining MORLOCKS (it was already 1.30AM) didn't disappoint to say the least. OK, it was a rather unbalanced set but Leighton was fun to watch, the guitars were loud & mean and you don't get to see many 1980s garage-revival bands who still can stand the test of time, right? So yeah, if you like The Fuzztones, The Stooges or The New York Dolls, fat chance you would've loved The Morlocks set! Anyway, some Morlocks footage of Saturday's show can be found here. Hopefully, there's still some courage & cash left for a Beat Expo II next year...

Paul Vernon's iPod Delta Blues

There's a great feature in the latest issue of fROOTS magazine where blues connoisseur Paul Vernon selects his favourite prewar blues songs. Here's the complete listing :

1. Cotton Field Blues – Garfield Akers
2. Mississippi Bottom Blues – Kid Bailey
3. Saturday Blues – Ishman Bracey
4. Future Blues – Willie Brown
5. Fare Thee Well Blues - Joe Calicott
6. Jailhouse Blues – Sam Collins
7. Down The Big Road Blues - Mattie Delaney
8. Bullfrog Blues – William Harris
9. My Black Mama – Son House
10. Got The Blues, Can't Be Satisfied - Mississippi John Hurt
11. Devil Got My Woman – Skip James
12. All Night Long Blues - Louise Johnson
13. Preachin' Blues – Robert Johnson
14. Cool Drink Of Water - Tommy Johnson
15. The Gone Dead Train - King Solomon Hill
16. Mississippi Jail House Groan – Rube Lacey
17. Shake 'Em On Down - Tommy McClennan
18. Sittin' On Top Of The World - The Mississippi Sheiks
19. So Cold In China – Issiah Nettles
20. Friar's Point Blues – Robert Nighthawk
21. Down The Dirt Road Blues - Charley Patton
22. Catfish Blues - Robert Petway
23. Outside Woman - Blind Joe Reynolds
24. Farrell Blues – Henry Sims
25. Motherless Child Blues – Elvie Thomas
26. Bedside Blues - Jim Thompkins
27. Sic 'em Dogs On Me – Bukka White
28. Get Away Blues – Robert Wilkins
29. Baby Please Don't Go - Big Joe Williams
30. Last Kind Words – Geeshie Wiley

Big sale at Document Records!

There's a big sale going on at Document Records. Until the 31st of January, there are 109 CDs on offer. If you are looking for more information about the CDs, go to Roots&Rhythm and search for 'Document'. Some of these CD's are highly recommended. This is a terrific deal!

Boogie Nights!

Roel Bentz van den Berg

Stoffer & Bentz are back on the air! They have a one hour show every weekday which can be listened to online here and here. I treasure so many records that I first heard at their legendary radio shows! Check it out!

Handy Boxes

I finally found great & handy boxes for my 7-inch collection at IKEA for a mere € 7,00. Me happy!

WILLIAM PARKER & HAMID DRAKE

picture by Johan Malot

On August 9th 2003, I saw a free jazz trio that totally blew my mind. It happened to be my first visit to the yearly FREE MUSIC XXX festival in Antwerp and for the last time, this small festival took place in a cosy little theatre. The Trappist beers were dirt-cheap and the ambiance was superb: about 250 jazz-aficionados were ready and waiting for some musical adventure. The first two bands were interesting nonetheless: MIKE (Mike Goyvaerts, Willy Van Buggenhout, John Edwards) as well as FRED & IVO (Fred Van Hove, Ivo Vander Borght, Maurice Horsthuis, Michel Doneda) took us on an experimental but very enjoyable musical ride. The headlining band however was no other than powerhouse trio PETER BRÖTZMANN, WILLIAM PARKER and HAMID DRAKE who put the audience in some kind of musical trance during the next 2 hours. It was one of the most impressive concerts I have ever witnessed. The spiritual majesty of the music left me speechless.

Last year, I saw this amazing trio again, this time at the Kunstencentrum Vooruit, and it turned out to be another fabulous gig. Parker had brought along his 8-string doson ngoni (traditional hunter's guitar from West Africa), Drake proved his master ship on a gigantic hand drum and Brötzmann scribbled incredible high notes on his alto clarinet. Again, I was totally mesmerized by the raw beauty of the music. It was unlike anything else I had heard before: some kind of exciting mix between world music and free jazz, without the ugly fusion element or the academic dullness. This music was ruthless, fierce & challenging.

Last Monday, Parker and Drake played another show at the Damberd café in Ghent, this time without Brötzmann. Between 2 long jams (one called 'Vietnam III' and another was a tribute I think to Dewey Redman), Drake played the gigantic hand drum and sang wonderfully (I think Moroccan). After some time, Parker changed his bass for what I think was a ghaita, a Moroccan folk oboe, and both master musicians took us to unknown territory. The gig started late and lasted until 1.45 AM. Yet, nobody left the place during this mind-blowing 2,5 hours session. Killer!

Some of the best music by William Parker and Hamid Drake has been released on the wonderful Aum Fidelity label from New York. The CD's as well as the shipping costs are very reasonably priced and label owner Steven Joerg is a terrific person to deal with. Do check out some of the fabulous music made by these fantastic musicians. You won't regret it!