Here are my choices for 2008 Belgian albums with lots of highlights with this otherwise not so good year in rock music:
2 albums I already own:
D Is Done by Madensuyu
This is their masterpiece. Again a Belgian album I would recommend everybody to listen to. It's beautiful, it's experimental and it's unique. Fafafafuckin' is a good example of that. It seems they were a great live band but unfortunately I never saw a concert of them and now it's too late because they split. Goes from the 20th to 12th rank of the year
The same in terms of originality can't be said for this album but it's very catchy from the lead singer of Millionaire and part of Eagles Of Death Metal. This is a fairly psychedelic solo album but very good with irresistible and grandiose highlights like Living The Way You Should and Tell Me. It rises from the 25th to 4th (!) rank of the year.
Two albums on my wishlist:
All Lined Up Against The Wall by Vandal X
A band that everybody in Belgium has heard of but never listened to and that includes myself. But I should listen to more of their albums: I rarely heard such a bombshell of an album with ferocious singing, relentless drumming, razorblades as guitars and motherfuckers of very nihilistic but catchy songs: especially if you know the band only counts two people. The album is fairly long for a hardcore album but it never bores. What an album! Immediately enters at the 11th rank of the year.
When The Candle Dies Out... by Steak Number Eight
fairly good metal/post rock album especially if you know that those guys were only sixteen when they recorded this album. Tbh I doubted to include it in my year chart because the songs are a bit too long to hold the attention until I listened to Blood On Your Hands but it nevertheless enter at rank 49.
Enter The Characters by Customs
A band which sounds like Interpol and the Editors especially as far as the voice of the singer is concerned. Sometimes good songs and finally a bit of an in-between album and it goes from the 49th to 37th rank.
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The Hickey Underworld by The Hickey Underworld
And this one sounds like The Strokes especially as far as the voice of the singer is concerned. Sometimes good songs and finally a bit of an in-between albums and it goes from the 53rd to the 39th rank.
Three (popular in Belgium) albums in my collection:
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Echo Mountain by K's Choice
In my opinion one of their best albums and some very good melodies here like the title track. Goes from the 22nd to 24th rank of the year.
The Night Before by Hooverphonic
This is about one of the most popular bands (they even had a song for the Eurovision Song Contest this year) and sometimes that stands in the way of quality like on their most recent album. The stable factor has always been Alex Callier, the main songwriter and a good one but the real quality of the band was in the female singers which constantly change and the best choices where Geike Annaerts and Noemie Wolfs who sings on this album. The title track is the best song and its melody is just irresistible like also a few of the other tracks on this beautiful album. It rises from the 24th to 22nd rank.
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Grandchildren Of The Revolution by Broken Glass Heroes
This album has the sixties (and especially The Beach Boys) written all over it and it doesn't make a secret of it. But who cares with beautiful tracks as you can find especially on the first half of the record. Let's not Fall Apart is one of those songs which puts an automatic smile on your face: a real gem. and about the same can be said about the opener of the album, Baby Don't Worry and some other tracks. The quality dwindles a bit near the end of the album however but don't let that spoil the listening pleasure of especially the quoted songs. It improves however from the 54th to 34th rank.
I also listened to this album:
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Synrise by Goose
And the title track is one of the best and most irresistible Belgian trance tracks. But the rest of the album is not of the same quality so I chose not to include this album in my personal year chart. Also: the album art might ring a bell.
Keep You Close by dEUS
I can name at least 4 (much) better albums of this best Belgian band and three of them are real classics. This one isn't. It's a good but fairly middle of the road album with no real standouts although the title track and Second Nature are really good. Goes from the 31st to the 43rd rank
An album I own but didn't include in my 2011 top chart yet:
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As You Are by Anton Walgrave
If I have to give one reference I would say Snow Patrol (although this is a solo artist). It's a good album with sometimes good songs but nothing more. Enters at the 42nd rank of the year.
Fence by Fence
I only now realize that this is not really a good album and this not very good year for music it's rank is 32.
I listened to few other albums of artists I didn't really know but their were all not really good so I listened to an old eighties/nineties band I used to like at the time and released an album in 2012: Samizdat by Aroma di Amora. They're a bit special and especially known for their absurd lyrics (in flemish). They still have that knack and their music on this album is a bit more guitar based than they used to (in the past their sound was much more electro based) but one way or another it's overall not good enough to include in my top chart of the year.
Round The Bend by Bent Van Looy
Beatle-esque but in his own way. Not everybody's taste but I like it although it goes from the 11th to 20th rank of the year.
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Stabat Mater by Madensuyu
Not as good as their former album but this album still shows the big talent and experimental spirit of this band which is so underrated. Goes from the 35th to 34th rank of the year.
For albums on my wishlist I listened to a lot of harder albums (for anyone interested: Oathbreakers is a tip) but I finally settled for this fairly standard but good rock album:
Harlaz by Mad About Mountains
This is Belgian but at the same time a quintessential Americana album in the style of Neil Young, Wilco and especially My Morning Jacket. I just love this album with melancholic but never dull singing by Piet De Pessemier and very fine instrumentation which is mainly fairly soft but however with some great guitar outbursts; and it moves from the 41st to 30th rank.
Two albums on my wishlist:
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Roslyn by The Sore Losers
Fairly standard rock but nevertheless some good tunes here with Shakey Painters as the standout. It enters at the 38th rank of the year.
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Neutral Village Massacre by Gruppo Di Pawlowski
Mauro pawlowski is somewhat the enfant terrible of Belgium but he was part of many bands like Kiss My Jazz, Evil Superstars and dEUS. But here he is his own self with his own take on noiserock and does a fine job on that on this album. It enters at the 44th rank of 2014.
The Phantom Cowboy by K's Choice
The album where this very good poprock band goes full rock and they do it well. But it goes from the 18th to 26th rank of the year.
An album on my wishlist:
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Gruesome Masterpiece by Bliksem
I didn't really know this band which started as a trashmetal band but on this second regular album broadens its palette but with still lots of trash and really good ones. This album really surprised me in the good sense and I would recommend it to everybody. It enters at rank 14.
One on my wishlist:
I like the album Harlaz by Mad About Mountains so much that I also wanted to listen to the follow-up Radio Harlaz which is kind of a tribute to Glenn Campbell. But this album has left Americana and is now nearly completely country which is proven by the fact that even their version of Rhinestone Cowboy sounds a lot more mellow than the fairly uptempo (in comparison) original version.
I already heard most of the Belgian albums of 2017 and later extensively (this is the age of legal streaming) so I think I'll stop this round of Belgian albums here. I hope some of you might have discovered some interesting stuff.
In any case the best trio of Belgian artists remain Jacques Brel, dEUS and TC Matic. I suppose most of you know the first two so I can't do anything but strongly recommend TC Matic: it's hard to find more typical Belgian eclectic rawdy music than this.
So I'll start with another round of albums where each time I will choose an album I already own and the many albums still on my wishlist. I'll try to focus as much as possible on metal/hardrock albums but not much of that at the start of the sixties and also for later years: if I don't find a metal/hardrock album I'll go for something lighter.
I'll start with 1964 but already listened extensively to the four albums I already own so here is an album on my wishlist of that year:
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The Animals by The Animals
This is a bit of difficult because the original UK album didn't feature no hits and the US version which is on BEA has The House Of The Rising which is of course a killer. But the rest of both versions is fairly standard rhythms & Blues with not a lot of originality so I'll skip this one for my top chart. I fear most of the songs I like from the Animals were singles which didn't make it to the albums.
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dihansse
