Lots of exciting things happening over at V/Vm Test Records at the moment, not least the continuing revival of Belgian New Beat - that cruelly overlooked/forgotten/brushed-under-the-carpet/dirty secret of Dance Music. I discussed V/Vm's first New Beat maxi-single in my genre overview last year, and now there's another vinyl 4-track EP released on WeMe Records, straight outta the Benelux, which means that V/Vm's James Kirby has finally fulfilled a life-long ambition to release a record with the legend "Made In Belgium" on the cover. Check my friend Kek's blog for a full and accurate description of this EP. There's good news too for all the old closet New Beat fans who don't have a turntable anymore - V/Vm has just released a CD called "Sabam", compiling most of the tracks from the two vinyl EPs plus several other new tunes, resulting in a 13-track, hour-long, journey to the heart of the Belgian porno-acid/sub-120bpm stomp, with "Fuck My Pussy" being a prime example of that unique aesthetic whereby outrageously full-frontal female sex-grunts combine with turgid, doom-mongering sequencer riffs and clumpy 4/4 beats, resulting in a sound that is simultaneously frigid, horny, uptight, sexually liberated/inhibited and all the other weird sensations that we loved about the original New Beat movement ( I say 'we', but I guess that just means a few old bloggers based in the south-west of England). "Antwerpen Nights" adds resonant, detuned slabs of synth-sorrow with Kraftwerkian percussive blips and freeze-dried waves of spine-chilling strings, while over-stimulated lovers fornicate in an endless pleasure-loop somewhere in the background. The (ham) fisted electro beats and sickly, staggering riffs of "Space Bunny" make me feel weird and unbalanced everytime. I'll leave "The Acid Sausage" to your imagination. Do you dare to explore the sleazy underbelly of this distinctly European post-acid phenomenum? "Sabam" is a great place to start....
