Radio Kurtodrome 86: Rock Herk Review
Not a traditional edition this time. Rather an elaborate review of our annual trip to the Rock Herk festival, complete with audio proof. (All the streams are provided by the VPRO.)

In a moment the only download and here's why: when afternoon became evening there were a few bands we didn't mind missing and the prospect of aimlessly having to hang around in Herk with tons of tough to do at Kurtodrome Headquarters... well, you can guess the rest. That did mean missing Hood (of whom we'd heard they were a bit disappointing at a previous venue - and the press reviews of Herk repeated that accurately, so not bad we 'missed' that one) and Mogwai favourites Isis. They say "you win some and you lose some" and here are two bands we also lost (as in "did not see"), but we'll make this up to them with a little download. Fair enough?

BRANT BJORK AND THE BROS - You're Alright (D)
Local Angel is Brant Bjork's most intimate and laid back record to date. A sometimes acoustic and always beautiful expression of love and pain that will make you cry now and laugh later. Out on Duna Records.

HELP SHE CAN'T SWIM - Are you being fashionable? (D)
But the band we really regretted having to miss out on also gets the prize of Best Group Name (with I Am Kloot as a close second). Their debut album Fashionista Super Dance Troupe is out on Fantastic Plastic Records, the label that also gave us the sadly deceased Ikara Colt (but a nice reference for their noisy punk songs).

Which brings us to The Supersuckers, the first band we saw (part of). Actually just the final two songs. Our research had shown us the way to their site and the first song we heard was painfully out of tune. A contrast to the band we saw on stage: they had the flair of ZZ Top (but not the looks) and in the final songs a bass guitar was passed on to introduce us to the members of the band. Every member had to play a few seconds, which gave us the sound of a bass being drummed on by the drummer (egads) and the nice sight of the guitarist playing on bass while the lead singer played on the guitar still around the guitarist's waist. Nice to see for a few songs, don't mind having missed the first half hour of the set.

I AM KLOOT - Live at Lowlands 2004 (stream: 56 min)
My honest opinion about I Am Kloot? I don't know. There was always something blocking my liking them: either they tried to be too intense on stage (thus not achieving their goal) or they were too cocky on the wrong moment (like the "Dutch fuckers" you'll hear in this Lowlands recording). But I Am Kloot were asked by the Rock Herk crew to perform on this year's edition, felt the odd one out on the festival (true: the softer bands had cancelled, leaving us with only the louder ones - not that we're complaining) and gave it their best shot. From the first moment they hit the right spots: the bass player and the drummer were enjoying their own music with their eyes closed, the shout-out to the free festival sounded as sincere as they'd meant it, the solo efforts by the singer and his guitar felt like a welcome oasis and the whole concert was just beautiful. I Am Kloot has always had intriguing lyrics and you could enjoy them in this setting. I Am Kloot were the soft spot between The Supersuckers and Millionaire, the odd one out between the guitars and the beats. This obviously became them and they were great.

MILLIONAIRE - Live at Motel Mozaique 2005 (stream: 55 min)
As I'm reviewing this, my dog is looking eerily bewitched by Millionaire's opening music. Opening music can bring you in the right mood for a concert, but Millionaire's Tim Vanhamel used to go to the same cult video store as I did and that became obvious in the sample: "This is the night of the demon" is a sample from the excellent cult movie Night/Curse of the Demon (starring Kurtodrome favourite Peggy Cummins). All positive things one would like to write about this aside, something was clearly wrong with the sound (and that's why I opted for the Motel Mozaique session rather than the splendidly sounding gig they made for the VPRO - which we'll come back to later this year, trust me). Yes, you could enjoy Millionaire and tell they were in good shape, but you couldn't fully enjoy the sound. At one point Evil Superstar and full time genius Mauro (Tim debuted in Evil Superstars) came on stage for one number and we, on the left of the stage, could hardly hear him (still, those on the right couldn't hear him at all). This could've been excellent and never before had I seen so many people at Rock Herk as at during Millionaire... but it just turned out good. A small disappointment.

NID & SANCY - Live at Nu-Heroes 2005 (stream: 48 min)
Millionaire was obviously the headliner, which meant Nid & Sancy were in charge of kicking of the afterparty with their beats. Nid & Sancy were once called Galacticamendum, but chose a new name and a slightly more commercial tone (which really doesn't mean a thing). We've been fans of Galacticamendum from the time they still sent their demos in pizza boxes to radio shows. It's nice to see them get more success these days, but this time they chose for 'songs' rather than a continuing beat and their enthusiasm made them screw up a few times. When their time was up and heard they couldn't go back for an encore, they just stayed on stage and played "Back 2 Back", a song from their Galacticamendum period. So are Galacticamendum and Nid & Sancy two different bands or is it just a name change? Who cares? If you can enjoy alternative dance music with enthusiasm getting in the way of professionalism, you'll enjoy Bart and Tania, no matter which name they've chosen.

DR LEKTROLUV - DJ set (Awakenings 2003) (stream: 80 min)
In an effort to get more people drunk, there was a new stand on the festival grounds where you could drink Cointreau cocktails. So in case you were totally wasted: you might have imagined a lot of things, but there really was a green man on stage. Dr Lektroluv is a Belgian DJ who reinvented himself with a gimmick: a white doctor's coat and a green face. This particular doctor describes beats, which is not bad, but we had to wait almost half an hour before we heard some vocals in one of his tracks and at least a quarter of an hour before the beat sounded a bit changed. Maybe it's us and our lack of Cointreau, but we'd expected more. What you get to hear now is a concert from 2003 and it's the doctor I would've wanted to see. Maybe he changed his own prescription halfway through the set... I didn't stay and wait. Lektroluv was okay, waiting longer could've turned out to be a disappointment... and frankly, on the first Rock Herk I went to without getting wet (it's the first time in 6 years it didn't rain) and with good concerts in my ears, it's always a good idea to go before disapppointment kicks in.

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