The George Lite Zone

If you haven't heard it already check out the BBC radio Torchwood episode, Lost Souls , courtesy of BBC's iPlayer. Martha Jones is working on the large Hadron Collider at CERN, and something strange is happening prior to the big turn on. Is Captain Jack about to encounter one black hole too many?

George Lite Zone favourites Madensuyu, in the land of Pelé, playing Lost Jimmy's favourite D Is Done song . Fafafafuckin' awesome!!!

Time to ramp it up at the Music Brussels party, with a bit of glam punk attitude. The Vogues come on like a band that should have been in at least one Austin Powers movie, with 60's sensibilities and a spiritual home of London. Gor' blimey guvnor! They quote their influences as being The Beatles , The Stones , The Kinks , The Stone Roses , Blur , Oasis , Suede and The Strokes which is OK by me. This cocky Belgian five piece consist of Fab on vocals plus the fab four of Nico and Ian on guitar, Guillaume on bass and Denis on drums. Fab comes across like a Belgian Mick Jagger, all swagger and attitude, just what you want for fronting The Vogues. The bands first EP, Fall/Winter 10 is out now and contains the killer track Sunglasses . I'm sure that copies will be available at saturday's MB party. You can here this and another four tracks on the bands Facebook page . Give them a spin. So put on your union jack underpants, come on down to Churchill's bar on saturday ...

Question How do you follow an act like Garner ? Answer With a band guaranteed to rock and bring the house down. That's dIPLOMAT that is. I first came across the band listening to the track Last Disco Bitch , which is the opening track on their cunningly titled album, The Diplomat . Unable to get it's catchy tune out of my head and driving rhythm, I was impelled to buy a copy of the aforementioned CD which proved to be equally memorable. The band were formed by guitarist/vocalist Fabrice Dubard and bass monster Sophie Chiarmonte in 2005. Throw in Pascal Storme who beats the crap out of his skins and you've got a storming group ( cue sound of thunder ) who know how to rock. I met the band briefly in a bar in Brussels a couple of months back, while listening in on an interview with them, and a nicer bunch of people you couldn't hope to meet. Mild, mannered Sophie's transformation into the bass playing rock goddess at the heart of the band is one of the wonders of...

I first encountered Garner's Niko Rambaud and Laurent Stelleman playing in a band with no name, in a bar with no name just off Brussels' Grand Place. Asked by MB's own Suki Jenkins to take some pictures of the gig and forgoing the night's Champions League football, I sat enthralled by an amazing voice chased down by a couple of Barbars. The Band With No Name rattled through a set of bar room standards that night and whetted my apetite for their other band, the illustrious Garner. The third member of the band is the renowned rock drummer Didier Fontaine who includes on his impressive CV the likes of David Byrne and Deus . Saturday's MB party sees the launch of the bands first album, and I've been giving a preview copy a spin for the last week. The overriding impression I've got is that Niko has a fantastic voice, he started voice training from the age of four, and it shows check, out this video of This Is How I Used To Live to get a taste of it. Garner a...

Brought to you courtesy of FM Brussels (22/02/10 Rue de Flandre / Vlaamse Steenweg) here's an interview with Suki Jenkins and Garners own golden tongued vocalist, Nico Rambaud, discussing amongst other things, the forthcoming Music Brussels opening party . The session ends with Garner's song ASAP taken from their forthcoming album. MingCast, it's the dog's bollocks!!!

Opening for Music Brussels on the 27th are My TV Is Dead , who's album Freedomatic is currently gracing iTunes on my Mac as I type. With a backbeat provided by drummer, and on occasion drum machine, it swirls along quite nicely a potent mix of psychedelia, rock, techno and sumptuous vocal arrangements, taking you on a musical journey to remember. At times reminiscent of the Beatles and Psychedelic Furs amongst others, the music is rich in its diversity. Amaury Massion's voice has a dreamlike quality, or have I fallen asleep and just dreamt that, delivering their material in perfect counterpoint to Joël Grignard's bass and guitar work. And what great material it is. To give you a feel for the band, here are a couple of choice video cuts to tantalise the senses. Enjoy. Daydream This sounds like the best song that REM never released, with some sublime guitar, keyboards and a haunting melody to lift the heart. Just Another Day Played in the following clip as an acoustic numbe...

Yet again I find myself away from blighty on that festival of flipping, pancake day. And so it's back to that old crepe stalwart Le maison de crepes for some of Brussels finest to adorn my plate. An excellent rum and raisin crepe was followed in short order by its lemon and sugar stablemate. No Narcotic Daffodils in this Brussels creperie tonight, just some damn fine crepes. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Only the best digital media will be good enough for Apple's iPad. iPod, iPad, iBooks, I think you'll love Music Brussels. Reach out and touch someone on the 27th. It's coming.

What is this that stands before me? Figure in black that points at me Turn around quick, and start to run Find out I'm the chosen one Oh nooo! It was 40 years ago today that an album was released that would change the course of music and give birth to the genre that we know as heavy metal. Black Sabbath's Black Sabbath album with its doom laden rifts was like nothing that had come before it, each song delivered with sledge hammer intensity to set heads banging across the land. Not the folk and blues driven stuff that Zeppelin were producing, or the prog rock rifts of Purple, oh nooo, this was metal in its purist form. Sabbath did more to father heavy metal than any other group. Alice Cooper, Nirvana, Metallica and countless 80's thrash metal bands took their inspiration from this band of Brummies. Sabbath were originally called Earth, but, thankfully had to change their name due to another band having the same name and getting tired of being confused with them. The name Bla...

Hawkfans impatient for the release of the bands next studio album should grab a copy of the latest Mojo magazine. Featuring covers of the classic Syd Barrett 70s album The Madcap Laughs it includes a version of Long Gone by captain Brock's psychedelic warlords. Throw in further renditions by the likes of REM and it makes this months Mojo pretty indispensable. The full track listing is: - Field Music - Terrapin J Mascis - No Good Trying The Besnard Lakes - Love You Race Horses - No Man's Land R.E.M. - Dark Globe Hush Arbors - Here I Go Captain Sensible - Octopus Hope Sandoval & the Warm Intentions - Golden Hair Hawkwind - Long Gone Skygreen Leopards - She Took a Long Cold Look Cate Le Bon - Feel Jennifer Gentle - If It's In You Marc Almond - Late Night Robyn Hitchcock - Dark Globe (live bonus track) In the magazine, Brock compares Syd to Hawkwind's resident poet Bob Calvert. Syd and Bob shared a couple of traits they were both barking mad and both damned fined musici...

Great things sometimes start in small places, JK Rowling penned her first Harry Potter book in Edinburgh's Elephant House coffee shop and on February 27th another piece of magic will take shape as Churchill's bar opens its doors to the Music Brussels launch party. Belgian music as I have found is a match for anything to be found in the world, but is in desperate need of promotion. The countries musical scene is also in a state of civil war, with the French and Flemish portions at loggerheads. Music Brussels aims to break down any cultural divides putting Belgian Music in the worlds shop window regardless of the language it's sung in. To mark this event some of the countries finest musicians will be playing at the launch. My TV Is Dead , Garner , dIPLOMAT and The VOGUES , who will be having a launch of their own that night in the shape of a new album. Free CDs, free drinks (courtesy of sponsors Jamesons and Absolut Vodka), free T-shirts and free music, it promises to be a n...