The George Lite Zone

Gentleman Of Verona were amazing tonight. One of the best Belgian bands I've heard for years. Come to think of it, one of the best bands, I've had the pleasure to hear, period. High octane music delivered with cruise missile precision, by a band who were tight as a kangeroo's khyber, and a female vocalist who kicked ass bigtime. Reminiscent of L7, Hole early Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and Susie And The Banshees this is a band to watch out for in the future. Their new album Brutally Honest is out now on CD and, to be brutally honest, it's bloody brilliant. Their first album, the eponymous Gentlemen Of Verona , is available for download from iTunes and is also of a very high quality. If you like good music, buy them!

Thanks to all you Satan worshiping goat lovers out there who voted for the Narcotic Daffodils in the race for the palace. I'm happy to announce that after a play off today at KultuurKaffee they were chosen along with 2 other Brussels bands, Five Easy Days and OPMOC , to grace the Place des Palais near the Royal Palace on May the 7th!!! It's just as well they won mind, if they hadn't then someone would have had to deal with Nursie from Dr Poembak. The Narcotic Daffodils, space rock fit for a king.

Vote for the Daffodils or the goat gets it! The Narcotic Daffodils, cool for cats, hot as hell for goats.

Last night, not for the first time in Brussels, I was in a bit of a quandary. Did I go to Beurskafee to see two post rock bands, Belgiums own Cecilia::Eyes and Alkalys from France, or stay in Churchills to listen to the excellent Men In Blue ? On the principal that I'd probably not get the chance to see Alkalys in the foreseeable future, I opted for the former and headed down to Beurs and the Beurskafee. First off, the Beurskafee venue. I must have walked past it hundreds of times and not known it existed, delving into it's murky heart I was mightily impressed. The cavern like quality of its interior has a superb atmosphere and is ideal for gigs. Spacious, but not overly so, and oozes character from every brick. Little touches like the letters WC projected onto the wall on the steps down to the bog, that's bathroom to you Americans out there, and a ladder ascending into the ceiling behind the bar make it feel like a piece of installation art. I didn't see it, but there...

Last Tuesday night I was in Bonnefooi bar when I bumped into Madensuyu 's friendly neighborhood sound engineer and pole dancing panda, Tom. "Hey shouldn't you be out in South America with the band?", I asked, to which he replied with a nod in the direction of a chair in which sat the aforementioned bands lead singer and guitarist, Pieterjan Vervondel. Doh! Yet again my powers of observation, and spidey senses, had failed me. Speaking to the guitar maestro, I was told that The Brasilian tour was amazing, with the footage I'd seen of St Paulo typical of the reception they'd received. Tens of thousands of partying South Americans sambaing to the primal rythm of Ghent's greatest export. Now that's mind boggling. I then asked about the prospects for a new album after their outstanding previous release. "D is Done was a deep album, a dark album." I was told, "The next will be deeper, darker.". When will it be released? I asked to which ...

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...

I wandered lonely as a cloud, That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crepe eating crowd, A host, of narcotic daffodils. L'amuse Gueule crêperie, a strange venue for music, but in psychedelia strange is good. The last pancakes were munched, the diners departed and the strains of a sitar filled the air. Cue guitar, bass & drums and some hypnotic, pulsating music from The Narcotic Daffodils . At times reminiscent of Hawkwind in their prime, the band produced a wall of sound that had me in head banging heaven. They did however vary their sound quite a bit, with two covers thrown into the mix for good measure. Personally I'd like to hear them do more psychedelic material, but speaking to keyboardist and Sitar maestro Simon Rigot after the show, they want to keep their music varied. But hey, a heady cocktail of rock and mind expanding melodies is OK by me. I'd also like to hear more Sitar, but as Simon also plays keyboards that would be a tad ...

Tonight the Willard Grant Conspiracy were aided and abetted by a fine alternative Folk act from Glasgow called Doghouse Roses, initially as the support act and later joining the conspiracy. Iona Macdonald has an exceptional voice and backed by quality guitar playing from Paul Tasker, Doghouse Roses are a fine alt Folk group. I look forward to seeing them back home in Scotland some time. Doghouse Roses left the stage briefly before returning with Willard Grant Conspiracy. A session of top drawer musicianship followed, with Iona's silky vocals providing the perfect counterpoint to Robert's potent brand of Americana. An aural delight to swirl around in the mind and savor, like a fine cognac. Music to warm the soul. The following pictures were the first I've taken with my newly acquired Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. An excellent lens for low lighting conditions when you don't want to use a flash. Also great for hunting pandas.

24 hours on from Mudhoney's Berlin gig , I was still buzzing from their adrenaline fueled brand of West Coast punk. Madensuyu in Brussels were going to have to be exceptional to take me to the same heady levels of rock nirvana. And exceptional they were. For a two man band Madensuyu produce a wall of sound that is simply astonishing. Listening to their studio material had given me an inkling of what they could do, but live they are something else. Woma n, Fafafuckin' , Tread On Tread Ligh t... hypnotic pulsating music that blows the mind. Ghent's finest have raised my live rock bar another couple of notches and reaffirmed my belief in just how good the Belgian musical scene is at the moment. Go out and buy their albums. Better still, if you can, see them live, you wont regret it. Finally, here are a few more images from a truly memorable night in Brussels.

Botanique, saturday night and the anticipation of another cracking nights musical entertainment. First out of the blocks the highly experimental tUnE yArDs. Singer Merill Garbus accompanied by a single guitarist wove together a web of time delayed drums, vocals and ukulele playing that defied belief. If she could have travelled back in time multiple times to provide a one woman chorus and rhythm section with herself it would have sounded a lot like this. Add in a cracking vocal range, at time soulful, bluesy and out and out playful, and you've got a unique and highly enjoyable act. I'm listening to their album BiRd BrAiNs now it's an excellent, if a bit bizarre, listen too. After the last reverbed echo's of Merill's vocals finally faded, on came support number two, a Canadian band called Sunset Rubdown. Fronted by keyboardist Spencer Krug, they hail from Montreal and got the crowd rocking along nicely prior to the main event. Their latest album is called Dragonslaye...

Here I am sitting listening to the excellent Brooklyn based band Dirty Projectors latest album, Bitte Orca and looking forward to their gig at Botanique tomorrow night. I'll post a review of the gig on the Zone at some stage over the weekend. In the meantime, here's the video to a track from their new album, Stillness Is A Move. You just gotta love a video with a Llama.

Saturday afternoon in Brussels, with a newly aquired copy of Around Brussels in 80 Beers in hand, I made my way to #26, Corbeau, The Raven. An excellent ham and cheese omellette washed down with a superb Queue De Charrue bruin beer, in a wood panelled bar oozing class in spades. Queue de Charrune is aged in oak and has a complex taste, redolant of fruit with subtle liqourice overtones. Tart, yet sweet at the same time, it's well worth checking out. Good food and good beer, a winning combination and a great start to the guide. View Larger Map Footnote: A return visit to the bar later in the evening was equally as ggod. Of special note, the coconut beer, Mongozo, and the excellent roquefort sauce that accompanied the damned fine steak that constituted tonights dinner.

Walking into my local heavy metal CD store in Brussels today, I picked up two shiny disks of joy. One was Motley Crue's Shout At The Devil , and the other featured this well coiffeured rocker. Pop quiz, who's this candidate for Hair Bair Bunch the motion picture and, for bonus points, who were the band and what was the album I bought? On another topic, I picked up a copy of Vetiver's Thing Of The Past LP. Well worth the asking price for a cracking cover version of Hawkwind's Hurry On Sundown. Listening to Vetiver is like eating a sunshine sandwich. Mellow, chill out music of the gods, harmonically reminiscent of the Grateful Dead in their pomp, which is no bad thing. Also recommended, their latest album, Tight Knit .

Thursday night at the Brussels comedy club was a sweltering affair with temperatures hovering around that of the surface of the sun. The biggest round of applause that night was for the worthy individual who had the sense to throw open the doors and let some air into the auditorium. If he hadn't then I think the audience would have transformed into empty clothing and puddles of water. Here's one of the nights acts, and arguably the pick of the bunch, John Maloney .

Tonights Chester French gig at Botanique's Rotonde was short, around 45 minutes, sweet and highly enjoyable. And with only 60 ish people in the audience, they managed to do what much bigger bands have failed to do here, and got the denizens of Brussels dancing en masse. Meanwhile yours truly did his one man mosh pit impression, pogoing along to the beat like some kind of demented dancing bear. The only track of theirs I'd heard before was She Loves Everybody which I aquired courtesy of a free download . I'll put that to rights later when I give the album I bought after the gig, Love the Future , a spin. Not a bad buy for 5 euros, signed by the dude with the mike. The band were formed by Maxwell Drummey and D.A. Wallach at Harvard University in 2003 and are named after the sculptor Daniel Chester French, who among other things designed the statue at the Lincoln memorial. A piece of trivia for the geek files - Chester French were one of the first bands to promote themselves...

I think I'm gonna be sad, think it's today... Well I was a bit on Friday night when I failed in my attempt to get a ticket to see the excellent Yo La Tengo at Botanique. Not wanting to maintain a maudlin mood for too long, and to avoid future disapointments of a giggish nature, I decided to get one step ahead of the game and purchase some concert tickets. First up next Tuesday is Chester French . I noticed they were playing Botanique, checked them out on-line and having discovered they have a good rep, decided to check them out. I came across The Dirty Projectors listening to their collaboration with David Byrne on the indie compilation Dark Was The Night . Any band favoured by Mr Psycho Killer has got to be worth a punt, as is the aforementioned compilation, which is most excellent by the way. Rounding off this little trilogy of musical delight is a subtle harmonic band from blighty. Quiet, introspective music from the godfathers of folk... Only kidding, I'm sure Motörhe...

After last weeks glories of Brit Pop featuring Official Secrets Act and Brakes , it was the turn of Uncle Sam and Canada's finest to close out the festival de Nuit. First on Botanique's Orangerie stage was a young girl from Brooklyn called Sharon Van Etten . Sharon has a voice of aching purity that is reminiscent of early Judie Tzuke, which is no bad thing. Singing songs from her soon to be released debut album, Because I Was in Love , she held the Brussels crowd captivated. Just a girl, a guitar and a voice to make the angels weep. On this performance and on listening to her album I'd say she's destined to go far in the music industry. I wish her well. I've only one thing to say about the second act, holy crap! The sonic attack that the Akron/Family hit us with was a total assault and battery of the senses. Waves of feedback, Gongesque chanting, free flowing Grateful Dead style jamming, these guys have it all and then some. Akron/Family are impossible to classif...

The tea room over the road from The Greenwich makes what is probably the best Lemon Meringue pie I've ever eaten. In Belgium the meringue is soft and sweet and perfectly counterbalances the tartness of the lemon. Add to that some superb teas, friendly service and a resident dog and you can't go wrong.

After the esoteric delights of Official Secrets Act , Brakes came on like a shot of adrenalin to the heart, power chords a ringing and telling lyrics a singing. Fan-bloody-tastic!!! Seamlessly blending elements of punk, country and rock together their performance had humor and dancibility in abundance. Eamon Hamilton's vocals at times were reminiscent of Michael Stipe's but flew the full spectrum from rawness to sweetness. Prior to Brakes, Eamon played keyboards with British Sea Power for 3 years, while guitarist Thomas White and his brother Alex (drums) were the nucleus of another Brighton based band The Electric Soft Parade . Mark Beatty was persuaded to play bass when the trio descended on his rehersal/recording rooms Mockin'bird Studios in Brighton. I think the events organisers must have confused Brakes with US band The Brakes as the programme had them down as a US band. After this performance from Brighton's finest you may as well confuse a Porupine with a Pinea...

It's not often I go to a gig on spec and end up seeing a great band. A last minute decision to descend on Botanique for Les Nuits festival resulted in an even rarer event, the discovery of two great bands I'd not heard before. The festival was spread across 4 sound stages with a new band playing on each every hour between 8:00 and 12:00. Cool. With so many acts to choose from I had a quick scan of the merchandise tables before taking my pick. In so doing I spotted two CD's with some decent reviews. Official Secrets Act - Understanding Electricity - "Excellent", "hugely energetic, needle sharp" NME; "ThunderouslyExciting" The Guardian and "This Band are ready." Zane Lowe. Breaks - Give Blood - "It's original, it's quirky and it rocks" The Sunday Telegraph; "Lunacy has seldom sounded more exhilerating" Q; "Pretty Much Perfect " Time Out; Full of fraught frivolous fun." NME 8/10; The melodic me...