subbacultcha-be-april2012

By Sofia Ciechowska Illustration bi Basje Boer

Unruly Music Magazine April 2012

What’s Cooking

Food The Uncomfortable Issue

U.S. Girls, Chelsea Wolfe, MemoryhousePage 1

The Uncomfortable Issue

This is Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu, sticking his rubber-gloved fingers into a pot of SHAFT lubricant - a fitting image for the opening page of the Uncomfortable Issue, we figured. Jamie took the photo himself, and it is part of a series that he offered to shoot especially for Subbacultcha! magazine. The series portrays Jamie in all kinds of uncomfortable situations... or are they? He explains it all in the very honest, open-hearted interview, which you can read on our website. Xiu Xiu plays on 17 April in Botanique in Brussels and on 18 April in Vooruit in Ghent.

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Content

The Uncomfortable Issue

Chelsea Wolfe

U.S. Girls

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Memoryhouse

Agenda

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Top 5 New Music We Saw You chelsea wolfe TEEN DAZE u.s. girls memoryhouse art

10 12 16 18 24 28 32 36

reviews horoscope Agenda subbacultcha shows other shows Free Stuff after midnight Overview

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We sure have been enjoying our wonderful little counter-culture comfort zone recently. Sipping cheap drinks at those fashionable underground venues, checking the bands and flirting around. But before it all becomes too gezellig, let’s get a little transgressive. You know, push those boundaries and collectively slip into something a little more uncomfortable, cause isn’t that what progressive art and music are all about? The answer is ‘yes’, so we’ve made the Uncomfortable Issue. Enjoy it nonetheless.

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Colophon

Who we are and what we do Subbacultcha! Magazine is published by Subbacultcha!

Ghent Office Karperstraat 26, 9000 Ghent, Belgium www.subbacultcha.be. magazine@subbacultcha.be Amsterdam Office Da Costakade 150, 1053 XC Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.subbacultcha.nl. magazine@subbacultcha.nl We are Editors: Leon Caren, Bas Morsch and Kasper-Jan Raeman Editorial Assistant: Sarah Gehrke Design: Bas Morsch and Marina Henao Interns: Freek van Heerikhuize and Ruud Van Moorleghem Good Girls: Loes Verputten and Gerlin Heestermans Good Guys: Christopher Schreck and Bauke Karel

Printing: Drukkerij Gewa, Arendonk Contributors: Carly Blair, Basje Boer, Brenda Bosma, Leon Caren, Zofia Ciechowska, Sander van Dalsum, Sarah Gehrke, Dimitri Karakostas, Kathrin Klingner, Antonio Marques, Steven McCarron, Bas Morsch, Denise Nouvion, Stine Sampers, Jamie Stewart, Logan White, Isolde Woudstra and David Zilber.

Distribution: Brussels: Jesse van Pée, Gertjan Rasschaert, Simon Gossiaux, Cécile Farber, Eliott Opdenbosch. Ghent: Bart Bruneel, Loes Deckers, Eline Ceelen, Fernand VanDamme. Antwerpen: Antonio Marques, Jonathan Lichtfeld, Pia Levick, Egon Parmentier. Bruges: Pieter Devriese, Yolan Wuyts. Leuven: Stefanie Devriendt.

Kortrijk Hasselt: Sofie Devriendt. Luik: Collectif Jaune Orange.

Pick up Subbacultcha! Magazine here (among 200 other places): Brussel: AB, Buzz On Your Lips, VK* Concerts, BOZAR Gent: Democrazy, Vooruit, SMAK, DOK, Music Mania Antwerpen: Scheld’apen, Trix, Kavka, American Apparel, Think Twice Brugge: Cactus, De Werf, Snuffel Kortrijk: De Kreun, The Pits Leuven: STUK, Depot, De Werf Hasselt: Muziekodroom, Popacademie Luik: Jaune & Orange If you want your bar, venue, store or business to be on the distribution list, please send us an email.

Advertising To advertise in Subbacultcha! Magazine send an email to magazine@subbacultcha.be Memberships Become a member of Subbacultcha!. For only €7 a month you get free access to all Subbacultcha! shows and the monthly magazine sent to your house. Plus, you get a fresh Subbacultcha! bag. Check the website to sign up.

Cover: Artwork by Cazzimir Meulemans Page 8

Top 5

1

Last month at our office

Fashion: Helly Hansen Jacket

During the Kraak Festival we fell in love with the jacket of Girlseeker’s synth player Jonas Frederiksen: an old Helly Hansen jacket he got from his mum. We’ve searched online for something even remotely similar, but no luck just yet.

Please advise!

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Music: 18+

Call it porn wave, sex hop, or even audioporn for the blind.

In any case, be sure to check out the latest mixtape of sleezy hip hop duo 18+ right here: 18plus18plus18plus. tumblr.com. Slick.

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Designer: Roberto Piqueras

Our intern Ruud saw the latest fashion show of Londonbased designer Roberto Piqueras. As a result, Piqueras’ extraordinarily colourful outfits worn by models with bold make-up and tattoos made it straight into our Top 5.

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Art: The Sketchbook Project

This project is a constantly evolving library of artists’ sketchbooks from across the globe. This year, thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited in galleries and art spaces in 14 cities. One of our favourite participating artists is Ghent-based Martha Verschaffel. marthaverschaffel. blogspot.com

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Website: Cuteroulette

Browsing around the Cute Roulette website is the perfect way to relax after a hard day’s work. Fluffy cats, pink dogs and mini lamas, all on one website. Even if you are really sad, Cute Roulette can cheer you up. cuteroulette.com

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LP/CD/DL 10.04.12 ribbonmusic.com blackdice.net

lowerdens.com ribbonmusic.com

LP/CD/DL 01.05.12

New Music

This month’s recommendations

By Zofia Ciechowska

Birchess

www.birchess.com

To put it quite simply, Sandra and Sonja of Birchess are into Italo disco and hummus. So they put the two together and made the super pixelated video ‘Hummus Guinness’, which is a tribute to and celebration of the awesome chickpea mezze. And if that wasn’t enough, the Estonian duo are also known for doing shoulder stands in clubs. I don’t know if this means that they DJ with their feet, but if they do, then these chicks rule the disco. The troublesome twosome can be found bouncing around the Baltic countries, but I’m sure they’d play at your house party if you sent them a nice email and promised them lots of hummus snacks.

Treasure Teeth

soundcloud.com/treasure-teeth When I discovered US-UK husband-and-wife duo Treasure Teeth, I felt like a pirate who had unearthed a chest of golden coins. Pretty fucking ecstatic. Barbara has the voice of a mermaid (I imagine mermaids as having better voices than angels) and James twists together these fantastic aquatic labyrinths of sound that make me roll around with glee like a furry otter in a kelp forest; an otter with a penchant for hip hop/r&b bits and bobs no less. Go check out their Soundcloud and their fresh new single ‘Island Eye/Teasha’. And their shiny new EP is due to come out this summer.

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New Music

Doldrums

endlessdoldrums.tumblr.com Doldrums got his name from that cool kids’ Phantom Tollbooth book and he used to live in a Toronto DIY art colony crust warehouse venue called The House of Everlasting Superjoy. Seriously though, Airick Woodhead spells his first name funny and makes funny-sounding music that he describes as a rhinoceros repeatedly banging its head into an aluminium shed. Many of you may have never heard a mammal of that calibre colliding with a metal hut, so allow me to elaborate by describing Doldrums’ sound as dizzy pop with fuzzy frantic vocals and swelling waves of percussion. Portishead put his remix of their track on their ‘Chase the Tear’ single, that got the ball rolling and now you should totally get hold of his Empire Sound EP released on No Pain in Pop.

Loulye

loulye.bandcamp.com

Loulye is the ghost of pop music past being channelled through a variety of laptop and sampler talismans and forged into shiny new chunks of noisy, ambient pop music. Chop, loop, speed-up, slow-down, delay, delay, reverb, chop, delay, loop, repeat. This is noise music for Beach Boys lovers, electronic music for people who don’t like minimal techno and pop music for the next millennium’s coolest space bars. File under Maximal Sound Art, Lo-Fi Collage and The Latest Shit from South London in your big hipster filing cabinet.

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New Music

continued

Hélicoptère Sanglante

www.myspace.com/superkasher This mysterious Frenchman has cleverly dodged the Google bots, which makes him super über hypeable because we know practically nothing about him, i.e. we can create loads of cool lies about him that will rocket him into the blogosphere. Hendrik Hegray is most probably his baptismal name, although he goes under many others; Hélicoptère Sanglante (translation: Bleeding Helicopter) is probably his most prolific alter ego. Described as Beavis and Butthead with a French tongue, Hegray is a visual artist who likes to muck about with his laptop and create brief, quaintly sloppy but really good musical whizzbangers.

Nâ Hawa Doumbia www.awesometapes.com

This Malian singer totally blows Beyoncé outta the water in terms of singing for and about independent women. Nâ Hawa Doumbia comes from the Wassoulou region of Mali and began her career just when people from her tribe were allowed to become musicians, and being the ballsy teenager she was, she won some song contests and her bright voice shone across the land. Awesome Tapes from Africa has re-released her 1982 album La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol. 3, 50% of the proceeds of which will go to the artist. Let this honey make some money and buy this absolutely brilliant paradise of a record. And keep your eyes peeled for ATFA’s next album re-release in April.

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New Music

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this publication was printed by gewadrupo this publication was printed by gewadrupo

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We Saw You

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Spotted at Subbacultcha!

Photo by Stine Sampers

What was the last thing that made you feel really uncomfortable? Watching the owner of the Troya bar eyeballing this huge mediaeval-style portrait of himself literally every time he took a stroll around his bar. Totally creeped me out in a Portrait-of-Dorian-Gray kind of way.

Tommy Helsen, spotted at the Subbacultcha! Dream Party on 08 March in Troya, Ghent

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Features

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The Uncomfortable Issue

xxx

Features

Chelsea Wolfe

The slow, but unsettling output of this Los Angeles native is not quite as disturbing as it is enjoyable, but it sure is a close call. It’s out of the ordinary and so is the person behind the music.

We asked Chelsea about safe havens, comfort zones and stage fright.

‘There have been shows in the past where I played three songs and had to leave the stage... it was bad!’

Questions sent by email by Sander van Dalsum.

Photos shot by Logan White on a Los Angeles beach.

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Features

Chelsea Wolfe

Your bio states that it took you a while to get comfortable on stage - can you tell us more about that?

It took me a long time to be comfortable with being a musician, a singer, in general. I’ve been writing songs since I was really young, but I wasn’t ready yet, even at age 20, 21, and I made some embarrassingly bad music before taking a break, regrouping and writing my first real album, The Grime and the Glow. I have a lot of issues about being around people, especially large groups of people... I am a loner at heart. But as I’ve grown to know and understand my fans more, I really adore them and want to give them my all. It’s why I’ve started to play more shows and gradually expand my set. There have been shows in the past where I played three songs and had to leave the stage... it was bad!

Which description of your work has made you a little uneasy?

Since the theme here is ‘uncomfortable,’ I’ll approach something that artists aren’t supposed to talk about: I strongly dislike comparisons to other contemporary artists, because in my experience those comparisons are always unfounded. And because they create unnecessary, artificial rivalries that for me have nothing to do with music. Music - art - is not a competition, it’s not a contest.

What do you find the most awkward aspect of people?

I don’t know how to describe it correctly, but when you meet someone whose energies don’t react well with your own, you know? Sometimes being around a certain person or group of people can really suck the life out of you, not to say there is anything Have you got rid of that hesitation com- wrong with that person… some peopletely or is it that you now find some ple just don’t belong around one another. sort of comfort in discomfort?

I just think that every year I get older I care a little less about how I’m Is the teddy bear on the photo one of your perceived and really just want to set- comfort tools? Do you bring it with you tle into being myself. It has proved to while touring?

No, it belongs to the photograbe the right way to go. I still have a lot to learn. My favourite shows are when pher, actually! But I did suggest an I find myself letting go and allowing oversized stuffed bear for the shoot because I knew she wanted to shoot something new to happen.

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The Uncomfortable Issue

Features

‘I have a lot of issues about being around people, especially large groups of people...

I am a loner at heart.’

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Features

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The Uncomfortable Issue

Chelsea Wolfe

Features

in the ocean, and the idea of a giant thing that nobody had expected you to teddy bear weighed down with water, do?

I’m not sure anyone expected heavy in your arms, seemed uncomme to do a tribute EP to Rudimenfortable and out of place. tary Peni, but I just fell in love with Nick Blinko’s voice Where is your comand Grant Matfort zone and what thews’ lyrics and felt do you miss most almost possessed by about that particular them one night. I place when you’re on made five songs usthe road? ing only RudimenThere is a small tary Peni lyrics... town in Northern They’re not propCalifornia, not far er covers, because from my hometown honestly I haven’t and near the giant heard some of the Redwood trees. It’s songs I’ve used lyrreally a haven for ics from yet, but me, and I plan to it was my way of build a home there one day. I dream of this place — the thanking them for being a brilliant solitude, the green surroundings and and brave band. snow in the winter.

Are there also things in that cosy little zone that you don’t mind not having around for a while?

At this point in my life I know I have a lot of work to do at any given moment, so sometimes I can get restless when I’m there, unfortunately, but I always miss it as soon as I drive away.

Chelsea Wolfe plays on 13 April in Magasin4 in Brussels during the Cheap Satanism Records Night. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members. Other live dates: 14/04 4AD, Diksmuide.

When was the last time you did somePage 23

Features

The Uncomfortable Issue

Teen Daze

According to ‘postmodern collage wave’ producer Teen Daze, discomfort is a powerful creative tool.

‘When I get comfortable in a workspace, then it becomes a place to watch movies, or sit on Reddit.

When I’m in a place that’s new, and I have given myself the task of writing, then I know I won’t be distracted by those comforts.’

His songs and sounds have been on heavy rotation at the Subbacultcha! office, so it’s needless to say we are thrilled that he found time in his busy recording schedule to talk to us and to shoot some photos in the woods surrounding his home in a mountainside town outside of Vancouver.

You can read the interview online and you can preview a few of the stunning shots on the next few pages. There’s more where that came from.

Photos shot by David Zilber in Abbotsford, Canada.

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Features

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Features

Teen Daze

Teen Daze plays on 12 April in JC Den Eglantier in Antwerp.

The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.

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The Uncomfortable Issue

Features

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Features

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The Uncomfortable Issue

Features

U.S. Girls

Megan Remy aka U.S. Girls, sure knows how to play dark and compelling music. And in shifting easily from dark and distorted soundscapes to upbeat pop songs, she sounds like a person who doesn’t think twice about stretching boundaries and moving into unknown territories. In doing this interview, she kindly stepped out of her comfort zone and gave us some short and snappy answers about solitude, bad habits and extremely loud music.

‘Discomfort is never comfortable, even if it’s enjoyable’ Questions sent by email by Bas Morsch.

Artwork photographed and xeroxed by Dimitri Karakostas in Toronto, Canada.

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Features

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The Uncomfortable Issue

U.S. Girls

Can you tell us what the last thing was to make you feel very comfortable?

This interview.

In what do you find comfort? In other words, where is your comfort zone?

I find comfort in food. The food zone.

Do you go out of your way to step out of that comfort zone, just for the sake of new experience?

No, I always eat.

How do feel you about habits in general?

Habits are necessary and natural.

Do you have bad habits? Please elaborate, we love bad habits.

Sure. Sometimes I smoke and I bite my nails.

What do you do to get rid of them?

I just stop when I want to.

Or rather... should you even get rid of them? Or do bad habits make you good?

Everyone has a bad habit or two, and you should only rid yourself of them if you feel the urge. But if you are content with your bad habits, why not keep them?

Your music seems quite dark and sometimes even unsettling. Do you try to comfort or discomfort people with your music?

I try not to think about other people and their thoughts and feelings when I am writing and record-

Features

ing my music. But live, I like to play as loud as possible and make people uncomfortable through volume... it’s fun to watch ’em squirm and put their fingers in their ears.

Do you find comfort in discomfort?

Discomfort is never comfortable, even if it’s enjoyable.

Do you find comfort in solitude? I mean you are all alone... playing with your effects.

I find other things in solitude.

Peace, power, energy and ideas.

Tell us about the last time you surprised yourself.

I don’t think you can surprise yourself.

Any advice to help us step out of our comfort zone?

Don’t think, just do.

U.S. Girls plays on 30 April in DOK in Ghent. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members. Other live dates: 12/05 Botanique, Brussels.

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Features

The Uncomfortable Issue

Memory

Hailing from the town of Guelph, Ontario, Denise Nouvion and Evan Abeele are the imaginative duo that make up Memoryhouse.

What was initially intended to be a multimedia art project intertwining Evan’s classically composed music with Denise’s photographs and videos has evolved into a textural marriage of melancholic sounds, overlayed with Denise’s sincere vocals.

When we contemplated an interview with Memoryhouse, we took another good look at Denise’s photos and we were actually awed, especially by her airy and atmosperic polaroids that are sure to transport you to a melodic and perhaps familiar place nestled deep within your memories.

Photos by Denise Nouvion www.wearebandits.com

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Features

house

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The Uncomfortable Issue

Memoryhouse

Features

Memoryhouse play on 04 april in Charlatan in Ghent. The show is hosted by Democrazy and entrance is free for Subbacultcha! members.

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Art

Featured Artist

Cazzimir Meulemans

Cazzimir Meulemans (1990) is a young artist spending most of his time in Antwerp. His distorted collages, drawings and woodcuts often deal with dark and sinister themes such as death, porn and horror. Now how’s that for the Uncomfortable Issue? His skillfull realist drawings are made up of strong and powerful lines whereas his wonderful collage work is more undefined and abstract. On the next few pages, we’ve printed a few examples of his vast and varied body of work. www.flickr.com/photos/cazylum Artist selected, liked and approved by Ladda & Topo Copy.

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Art

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Art

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Cazzimir Meulemans

Featured Artist

Art

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Music Reviews

New releases worth your while

By Carly Blair

Bear in Heaven I Love You, It’s Cool

AU Both Lights

Back in December, Brooklyn’s Bear in Heaven made an interesting announcement: in advance of the release of their third album on 3 April, they would start streaming the album on their website, but slowed down about 400,000%, such that from the day they started streaming it to the day of its official release the entire album would play just once. A blatant PR stunt, no doubt, but also perhaps a small act of defiance against all the hype that followed their breakthrough album, 2009’s Beast Forth Rest Mouth. While BFRM was a tad too proggy for my taste, the shimmering, futuristic pop jampacked into these songs is charismatic enough to have me saying: I love you, I Love You, It’s Cool, it’s cool.

Portland experimental pop outfit AU (pronounced ‘ay-you’) centres on multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland. While Wyland and drummer Dana Valatka (also of Jackie-O-Motherfucker) are now the sole permanent members, the band’s line-up has swelled to double digits at times and has featured a rotating cast of characters since its 2005 inception (collaborators this time include sax virtuoso Colin Stetson). Valatka joined the band in 2008, and his wild energy has helped up AU’s forcefulness considerably, but not completely. In fact, the moods and intensity presented here span the full breadth of the human experience. While the dramatic tonal shifts take away from the album’s cohesiveness, the earnestness of AU’s delivery makes the contrast all the more vibrant and cathartic.

(Dead Oceans / Hometapes)

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(Hometapes)

Music Reviews

Mirroring Foreign Body

Perfume Genius Put Your Back N 2 It

The combination seems obvious now, but whoever had the epiphany that two ground-up, bean-like foods paired with sugar is better than one and combined chocolate and peanut butter for the first time must have felt like a genius. The combination of the electro-acoustic minimal folk by Jesy Fortino (as Tiny Vipers) with the electro-acoustic ambient/noise by Liz Harris (as Grouper) seems similarly natural, and we listeners can now enjoy it in the form of Mirroring (and not just at breakfast). Foreign Body is their first collaboration, and the result is a seamless fusion of their respective styles - a dreamlike and diaphanous recording suitable as beautiful background music, but dense enough to lend itself to closer and repeated listens.

After a period spent living away from home and basically fucking up his life, Seattle’s Mike Hadreas took refuge in his mother’s suburban Washington home and started composing songs for piano. This selfimposed exile at home spawned his 2010 debut as Perfume Genius, Learning, which was striking in its fragility and brutal honesty. On his sophomore album, the overall tone is still somber, the arrangements still spare. However, the somewhat lusher instrumentation and reassuring lyrics give you the feeling that with his demons exorcised and a hit under his belt, Hadreas seems to have found a measure of peace. He has said, ‘being emotional might not be innovative, but it’s definitely not wimpy.’ This is empowerment for the fragile in musical form.

(Kranky)

(Matador)

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Music Reviews

continued

Black Dice Mr. Impossible

Tanlines Mixed Emotion

Brooklyn’s Black Dice originally hail from the same Providence, Rhode Island School of Design noise punk scene that birthed Lightning Bolt and key noise label Load Records. Their sixth full-length is billed as a ‘soundtrack to a substance-fuelled teen basement show on Mars.’ To my ears, this translates to a sort of extraterrestrial electronic jazz punk I could imagine playing at a druggy afterparty of the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in Star Wars. Fifteen years of damaging ear drums and the need to balance music with real-life shit thankfully haven’t dampened these veterans’ innate enthusiasm for fucking around with weird noises, and on Mr. Impossible they sound as uncompromising and vital as ever.

This Brooklyn duo of Eric Emm (ex-Don Cabellero) and Jesse Cohen (ex-Professor Murder) got their start as a production project, releasing a well-curated slew of remixes of groups like The Tough Alliance, Telepathe and El Guincho. Though none were particularly remarkable, they did provide a medium for Tanlines to cultivate their sound, and getting evicted from their studio inspired Emm to evolve as a songwriter. These developments finally bear fruit on Mixed Emotions, the duo’s long-awaited debut - mixed fruit, that is. Most songs forge a link between house music and ’80s worldbeat to delicious and danceable results, but a handful of bad apples feel stylistically out of place and kind of kill the album’s momentum. Given the title, perhaps that was the point?

(Ribbon Music)

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(True Panther Sounds)

concerts

10 -21.05.12

the rapture (11.05) • u.s. girLs (12.05) • django django (13.05) • prinzhorn dance schooL (15.05) • pLanningtorock (15.05) • Yacht (15.05) • friends (15.05) • c2c (16.05) • generaL eLektriks (16.05) • housse de racket (16.05) • ghostpoet (16.05) • perfume genius (16.05) • mariee sioux (16.05) • grimes (17.05) • woodkid (17.05) • baxter durY (17.05) • ewert & the two dragons (18.05) • king kruLe (18.05) • esmerine (18.05) • mireL wagner (18.05) • charLotte gainsbourg

Les nuits

«Stage Whisper» with connan mockasin

(19.05)

siskiYou (19.05) • bLood red shoes (20.05) …

more @ botanique.be

•

Horoscope

By Brenda Bosma

Taurus

VIRGO

In your social life, you feel the pressure to perform at a level that seems to be rising above your head. Quite often you find yourself in a weary mood where you wish a simple ‘like’ would be sufficient rather than a carefully constructed comment drenched in postmodern cross-cultural references.

Religion bores you.

Your universe is within the walls of your work and home. The rest can non-exist for all you care. But what’s that stain doing on your sleeve right before your big presentation? Could that be God, or Something, punishing you?

21 April – 21 May

GEMINI

22 May – 21 June

Your milkshake brings all the boys/girls to the yard. You’re worried about your lactose intolerance, but as long as all this shaking doesn’t give you genital intolerance, we think you’re safe to indulge.

CANCER

22 June – 22 July

You are increasingly acting like a Sagittarius. Is your sign Air? We don’t think so: it’s Water.

You will fall like Icarus, sweetie pie.

Don’t you think otherwise.

LEO

23 July – 22 Aug

Yes, of course you are the most beautiful and unique snowflake of the world. We say: act like it and make us all proud. They and we will follow. Now, look what you’ve made us do! Paraphrase U2. May spring melt you.

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23 Aug – 22 Sept

LIBRA

23 Sept – 22 Oct

It’s either this way or that way. It’s plain and simple. One and one is never three, so just pick a colour of Crocs already!

SCORPIO

23 Oct – 21 Nov

You can shove it under the bed, but you know it’ll just attract dust and other garbage and pretty soon you’ll have created a monster that dictates your every move. Be careful with the Untruth this month.

Sagittarius

22 Nov – 21 Dec

I’m just gonna take the direct approach with you. You need to stop what you’re doing immediately, or else you will be hit by an anvil. Life can be a Road Runner sometimes. Let’s hope coyotes can think with their brain for a change.

Illustrations by Kathrin Klingner

CAPRICORN

22 Dec – 20 Jan

That’s a serious outbreak of the grumpies. It’s evacuating time this month. We still love you, but come back to planet Smiley Face soon please.

Horoscope

ARIES

21 March-20 April

Aquarius

21 January-19 February

Lately Heather Locklear seems to be dominating your thoughts. You wonder if she was so thin because of that curious garlic diet or because of the competition with all the skinny models that acted in Melrose Place. Either way, you’ll start eating lots of garlic.

pisces

20 February-20 March

Damn you hikikomori!

Go bother someone else with your whining about BMI and pressure to come up with quirky animated gifs of drowsy looking sloths in a human context. What-e-vah!

You’re not the kind to wait around for something to fall out of the sky. You are actiondriven and if you wanted thousands of frogs falling from heaven, you would personally throw buckets of them with a decisive stare in your eyes. You’ll squeeze those little bodies with your firm hands like real men crush empty beer cans. This month you are in charge of your own course. We know you would want to manoeuvre a little to close to the ledge, to pump up that adrenaline level, but just know that although broken bones always heal, broken hearts are a bit more fickle in that regard.

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Shows in December and January

Agenda

Agenda On the following pages:

Subbacultcha! concerts, totally free for members Page 48

Other shows Page 53 Free tickets Page 60

These people are Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland, also known as Hype Williams, who play on Monday 09 April at De Kreun in Kortrijk. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.

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See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.be.

Dark Dark Dark + Matt Elliott

03 April - Vooruit, Ghent 20.00 | €11 | Free for Subbacultcha! members Folk music doesn’t inherently equal ambition. The genre is way too humble for that, and typically, anyone attempting otherwise deserves a kicking. Yet there’s something delightfully ambitious about the tunes of this Minneapolis folk band (who are essentially a collaborative ensemble). Sharing the complexity of arrangements of My Brightest Diamond and the raw but powerful simplicity of Mazzy Star, Dark Dark Dark are both enchanting and full of surprises. Their second album Wild Go saw the light of day in North America back in 2010, only making it across to Europe in 2011 thanks to Manchester-based label Melodic. Now they’re finally hitting the road here too.

Support by Bristol folk all-rounder Matt Elliott (The Third Eye Foundation).

Memoryhouse

04 April - Charlatan (Democrazy), Ghent 20.00 | €11 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Though this Canadian dream pop duo/couple take their name from an album by contemporary composer Max Richter, memory does actually play a key role in their creative process, in that they normally use photographs as starting material for their songwriting. After some healthy incubation time, Page 48

Shows in December and January

Agenda

As a member you will also receive this magazine every month plus a stylish tote bag

they’ve just released their first full-length album The Slideshow Effect. Singer Denise Nouvion’s vocals are more prominent on their new material, which they jokingly compare to ‘Taylor Swift with Built to Spill as her backing band.’

Film: Terror of Tiny Town + Dead Man 05 April - KASK Cinema, Ghent 20.00 | €5 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Another top night of exciting and unusual cinema at KASK Cinema. This double bill brings together Terror of Tiny Town, a 1938 musical Western with an all-midget cast, and Dead Man, Jim Jarmusch’s psychedelic Western starring Johnny Depp, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, John Hurt, Michael Wincott and Robert Mitchum.

Hare Akedod II

ft Razen, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Hellvete, Niels Voaals and H&H Slaughter 06 April - Scheld’Apen, Antwerp 20.00 | €6 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Another one of those nights that will start one way and head off into unexpected territory. It pitches up an impressive array of experimentalists from home and abroad: Steffen Basho-Junghans is a master of the acoustic guitar, producing hypnotic finger-baffling compositions in a similar way to James Blackshaw; there’s experimental electronics by Milan W, drone-doom

by Hellvete and many more sonic wonders and weirdnesses.

Hype Williams + Brns

09 April - De Kreun, Kortrijk 20.00 | €tba | Free for Subbacultcha! members

This London-born, Berlin-based duo are named after the American filmmaker best known for directing rap music videos, though given their extremely lo-fi home recordings and penchant for irony-laden hip-hop and ‘80s referPage 49

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Agenda

Shows in December and January

See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.be.

ences, they may have been more inspired by his feature film debut Belly, a nihilistic and sloppy mess of a film starring Nas and DMX.

Teen Daze + Brothertiger

12 April - JH Den Eglantier, Antwerp Berchem 20.00 | €6 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Teen Daze is Jamison, a relentlessly positive producer who hails from a small mountainside town outside Vancouver. When he’s not making what he describes as ‘postmodern collage wave’ or remixing others’ tracks as Teen Daze, he’s busy with his ambient-folk-postrock side project called Two Bicycles. His debut full-length drops in May and represents the most unified blend of dance and ambient music he’s released yet. Ohio’s Brothertiger offers up a prototypically chillwavey take on ’80s synth pop.

Cheap Satanism Records Evening 13 April - Magasin4, Brussels ft Chelsea Wolfe, Unison, Cercueil 19.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Hailing from Los Angeles, Chelsea Wolfe provides lusciously grim folk experimentalism. Also labelled as ‘doom folk’, Wolfe’s spacey lo-fi ambience and contrasting bouts of dissonant noise tend to draw comparisons to early PJ Harvey, but Scout Niblett may be a more suited comparison. For this Cheap Satanism special, she’s joined by the dark French electro pop of Cercueil and good ol’ witchy house house from Unison.

Islet

16 April - Botanique, Brussels 20.00 | €11 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Playful indie poppers from Cardiff. Fans of Pavement and Deerhoof will lap up their debut album Illuminated People, but it’s worth noting that their moments of down-to-earth grandeur owe as much to fellow Welsh outfits SuPage 50

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Shows in December and January

Agenda

As a member you will also receive this magazine every month plus a stylish tote bag

per Furry Animals and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Oh yeah, and despite any of their cutesy indie pop grooves on record, the live incarnation comes with plenty of jagged, percussive freak-out fire that we think you’ll adore.

2:54

29 April - Cactus, Bruges 20.00 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

London-based sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow look back to older times, combining the ’80s atmospherics of Cocteau Twins with the sharper production and moodier moments of Garbage (or Curve) - it helps they have Alan Moulder and Rob Ellis working behind the scenes. Course, they also fit comfortably alongside more modern peers like The Big Pink, so we can’t help but think that they’re going places.

U.S. Girls + Miaux

30 April - DOK, Ghent 20.00 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Though U.S. Girls’ Meghan Remy has declared her love for pop music and her desire to make some, in the past her ability to do so has been held back somewhat by shoddy recording equipment and also by a disconnect between her definition of pop and that of the outside world. On her third fulllength, U.S. Girls on KRAAK, she’s dealt with the two factors nicely, polishing away the excessive distortion and ramping up her love of ’60s girl group and ’90s r&b melodies just enough to make the experimentalism that’s at the core of her songs easier to appreciate. She signed to FatCat in late 2011, so another step towards polished pop may be in the works.

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Shows in April

Light Asylum

Ursula Bogner 03 April - Les Ateliers Claus, Brussels Who is Ursula Bogner? One interpretation is that she was born in 1946 in Dortmund, started studying pharmacology at 19, got her degree and quickly became a quiet housewife. Far from any music scene, she experimented with modular synths, creating deliciously original works. Another is that this is the music of Jan Jelinek, armed with a house full of analogue synths and a seemingly endless supply of patch cables.

We’d like to believe in the former version, but either way, Jelinek and his buddy Andrew Pekler will be recreating these dazzling compositions live in Belgium for the first time. Dope up on tripped-out beats and eerie synths that sound like they’ve escaped from the Forbidden Planet. Support from Pimmon (Aus) and Rafael Anton Irisarri (USA).

Dark Dark Dark 03 April - Vooruit, Ghent 20 April - Le Grand Mix, Lille (FR) 21 April - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels Minneapolis folk band Dark Dark Dark share the complexity of arrangements of

My Brightest Diamond and the raw emotion of Mazzy Star. Read more on page 48.

Los Campesinos!

03 April - Botanique, Brussels This indie pop band formed at Cardiff University back in 2006 and have been making a sardonic but joyously cathartic racket ever since. Their latest album, Hello Sadness, features their darkest and most mature material yet.

The Strange Boys 03 April - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels The Strange Boys are a young group from Austin, Texas whose musical garage features not only rock, but also bits and bobs of country, punk, doo-wop, r&b and blues.

Their newest material finds them occasionally exploring more low-key territory, but they’re at their best when they pick up the tempo.

Memoryhouse 04 April - Charlatan (Democrazy), Ghent This Midwestern duo’s influences include visual arts such as film and photography, as Page 53

06 APR

JACUZZI BOYS

11 APR

MOTORPSYCHO

22 APR

BEN CAPLAN + THE CASUAL SMOKERS

17 MEI

FACTORY FLOOR

27 MEI

CLOUD NOTHINGS

netwerk-art.be

Netwerk /

centrum voor hedendaagse kunst

Festival za. 07.04 × 2030

HAUNteD INBOX Curated by AudioMer

Daniel Higgs × Ancient Battery Hiccup (Pawlowksi & Die Urpf Lanze) × Jacques Beloeil × Stare Case × the Away team × Mauro Antonio Pawlowski × dj endeavor Foundation × dj Doorricone

Agenda

Shows in April

well as modern day dream pop aesthetics.

Read more on page 48.

Crash Course in Science 04 April - La Zone, Liege 07 April - REWIND-easter-FEST, Ghent Got first-hand experience of 1979? No? Well, it was exciting times, birthing new sounds that were branching out in all directions. Back then, these Philadelphia/New York boys and girls were first-wave post punks just releasing their first single. Three decades later and their analogue-driven noise pop dance music is as vibrant as ever.

Neptune 05 April - Magasin 4, Brussels 07 April - Scheld’apen, Antwerp This Boston-based noise band have earned a reputation for their brutal-looking custommade instruments, which are crafted from scrap metal and found objects. Neptune’s origins are in a sculpture project undertaken by artist/musician and founding member Jason Sanford way back in ’94. Seven line-ups, 23 releases and hundreds of instruments later, the band continue to confound audiences with a calculated madness that has earned them tour slots with fellow experimentalists Liars, The Ex and Mission of Burma.

HARE AKEDOD II 06 April - Scheld’Apen, Antwerp Another one of those nights that will start one way and head off into countless unexpected areas, pitching up an impressive array of experimentalists from home and abroad. Read more on page 49.

Dunk! Festival 06-08 April - Bevegemse Vijvers, Zottegem On most weekends at the Bevegemse Vij-

vers, you are most likely to see football matches and swim events, but every April this sport park gets too cool for school.

Dunk! Festival has been on the go since 2005, and with its heavy postrock bent it just keeps getting better. This year’s threeday event brings in the likes of electro postrockers 65daysofstatic, Chicago postmetalists Pelican, the atmospheric This Will Destroy You, If Trees Could Talk and a bunch more.

Drum Eyes 06 April - Magasin4, Brussels Noise freak-out alert. Drum Eyes are a monster! An immensely loud monster that twists and snarls and rants and raves (sometimes literally). Imagine the sonic intensity of Fuck Buttons but with a dub metal facade and an indecipherable viola. It’s an utterly thrilling live experience.

Haunted Inbox 07 April - Netwerk, Aalst AudioMER curates this contemporary experimental music festival. The label typically specialises in avant-garde sounds, pairing its music with beautiful artworks. Expect sonics without borders from Daniel Higgs, Ancient Battery Hiccup (Pawlowksi & Die Urpf Lanze), Jacques Beloeil, Stare Case, The Away Team and Mauro Pawlowksi.

Hype Williams + Brns 09 April - De Kreun, Kortrijk Hype Williams combine hazy lo-fi electronics with groovy 1980s synth patterns. Read more on page 49.

Child Abuse 10 April - Magasin 4, Brussels When it comes to writing about this NYC trio, puns are half the fun. Child Abuse is Page 55

T 31 MR R 06 AP 20 APR 26 APR 10 MEI 18 MEI 19 MEI 25 MEI 07 JUN

SON IE LAW EUWIS CK V I A T D R : E LE ED DE INVLO ATHIJS ONDER FONZ III + M EE SHOW) OPLE LUCKY ODONIS (FR P PARTY PE S E O D O N I O I Z U + S L E O M BS T N U E K H T PIN M T FRO LASK E K C O GONS F R O DRA & HIS LARRY AND THE TW SHOW) E T EWER MAGIC (FRE G N U YO AK I AM O

DIT IS MIJN

Agenda

Shows in April

great! I hereby heartily recommend Child Abuse! And so on. Presumably on purpose, the fusion of noise, death metal, grindcore and free jazz these degenerates generate is every bit as reprehensible as the societal ill after which they’re named. Don’t be a namby pamby, let Child Abuse change your life for the better. You’ll thank us.

Daniel Johnston 12 April - Vooruit, Ghent 14 April - C-Mine Jazz Festival, Genk This outsider art legend has built an impressive cult following over the last three decades with his awkwardly childlike, direct and occasionally ingenious songwriting.

This spring he’s touring in support of his debut graphic novel and interactive comic book experience SPACE DUCKS: AN INFINITE COMIC BOOK OF MUSICAL GREATNESS, which features Johnston’s first new album since 2009.

Chelsea Wolfe 13 April, Magasin4, Brussels 14 April, 4AD, Diksmuide While often labelled as doom folk, Wolfe’s lo-fi ambiance and contrasting bouts of dissonant noise tend to also draw comparisons to early PJ Harvey. Read more on page 22.

Blanck Mass 14 April - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels 15 April - De Kreun, Kortrijk (+Walls) Fuck Button’s Benjamin John Power released a stunning debut album with his solo project Blanck Mass in 2011. Listening to it is like putting your ear up to a snowy television set as a kid and listening intently to the static electricity nibbling on your cheek. Devoid of rhythm, the music surges and pulsates with beautiful ease as Power layers organ and synth patterns to create an intergalactic map of sound.

Islet 16 April - Botanique, Brussels Playful indie poppers from Cardiff with a particularly percussive bite. Read more on page 50.

Xiu Xiu 17 April - Botanique, Brussels 18 April - Vooruit, Ghent The line-up of Xiu Xiu has changed frequently since the project’s inception in 2002. All the implied interpersonal drama suggests that frontman and sole permanent member Jamie Stewart might be a pretty uncompromising dude. Stewart & co have released a steady stream of full-lengths, splits and collaborations comprised of an evolving mix of experimental art rock, postpunk and synth pop. Sounds pretty tame, till you factor in Stewart’s sometimes almost violently confrontational singing style and subject matter, which focuses on despair, politics and his personal life.

Motel Mozaïque 19-22 April - Various locations, Rotterdam The 12th edition of this music and arts festival will feature performances at extraordinary locations around Rotterdam. Highlights include Light Asylum, Bowerbirds, Django Django and Cold Specks.

Light Asylum 21 April - Wiels, Brussels This ultra-hip Brooklyn duo seem set for massive things. Sonically, their electro pop manages to play it both softly and sharply, mixing up chilled synths with direct, edgy beats. But when you see them live, the vocals of Shannon Funchess take this outfit to a whole other level, as she’s more than capable of duelling with Annie Lennox or Grace Jones.

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Shows in December and January

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Shows in April

Hayvanlar Alemi + Pinkunoizu

Red Bull Event

22 April - De Kreun, Kortrijk

26 April-1 May - Studio Herman Teirlinck, Antwerp

Sublime Frequencies is an amazing label that tirelessly tries to open up small pockets of the global music scene to broader audiences. Tonight, that means shining a light on Turkish guitar heroes Hayvanlar Alemi, sparking a fiery riot of psychedelic rock ’n’ roll. Support from Pinkunoizu, whose loops are infinitely laidback, with hypnotic harmonies reminding of early Animal Collective.

Odonis Odonis 22 April - Magasin4, Brussels The furious surf-gaze this Toronto band unleash sounds like Big Black shagged The Jesus and Mary Chain in the alley behind a bar, and they’ve given birth to a baby with a hungover scowl and a cigarette dangling out of its mouth. In other words: don’t miss!

And if you do... catch the surprise gig!

The Antlers 23 April - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels Insistently lulling Brooklyn indie folk by Peter Silberman, which, when at its best, reminds of The Shins slowed down to a crawl.

2011 saw the release of Burst Apart, his most successful album to date.

Sleep Party People 23 April - Magasin 4, Brussels 25 April - Cafe Video, Ghent This Danish quintet have just released their second album, We Were Drifting on a Sad Song. As if Donnie Darko wasn’t reason enough to link bunny masks with almostcreepy, dreamlike scenarios, Sleep Party People are here to cement the association with their otherworldly electro dream pop and, yes, bunny masks. At the Brussels show, they’re joined by explosive improv/ math rock duo Ahleuchatistas.

From April 26 to May 1, Villanella and Red Bull are presenting a six-day festival of arts, design and music. Ladda and Topo Copy will set up a utopic print centre, where they will be hosting lectures, exhibitions and workshops as well as a free Subbacultcha! night on April 27 that includes performances by Austrian punk duo The Happy Kids and a surf-gazing surprise act that’s just released a compelling new album called Hollandaze.

Blues Control & Laraaji 28 April - KC België, Hasselt After Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse had played new-age music together for some time under the name Watersports, they formed Blues Control back in 2006 to try their hand at experimental psychedelia.

Laraaji Nadabrahmananda studied composition and tried out various instruments before making his greatest impact with the electronic zither. In December 2010, RVNG Intl. brought them together for their FRKWYS series, resulting in an album that’s surprisingly organic and effortless-sounding, especially given that it was entirely improvised and recorded in a single day.

2:54 29 April - Cactus, Bruges London-based 2:54 combine the ’80s atmospherics of Cocteau Twins with the sharper production and moodier moments of Garbage. Read more on page 51.

U.S. Girls + Miaux 30 April - DOK, Ghent Meghan Remy’s sound collages make for melodic yet distorted, off-kilter pop-songs.

Read more on page 51.

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Free Stuff

Free Tickets and Goodies

To win, sign up to our mailing list on www.subbacultcha.be 2x2 tickets The strange boys

2x2 Tickets haunted inbox

2X2 Tickets chiLd abuse

03 April Ancienne Belgique, Brussels

07 April Netwerk, Aalst

10 April Magasin4, Brussels

2X2 TICKETS walls + Blanck mass

2X2 Tickets Motel MozaĂŻque

2X2 Tickets light asylum

15 April De Kreun, Kortrijk

ft Light Asylum, Bowerbirds, Django Django and more 19 April - 22 April Various locations, Rotterdam

21 April Art Brussels Afterparty

We’re also giving away free tickets to Los Campesinos!, Soap&Skin, Neptune, Barn Owl + Blanck Mass + Ensemble Economique, Xiu Xiu, The Antlers and White Rabbits, as well as passes to the Break The Krash Festival and day passes to Dunk! Festival.

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Submitted photos

AFTER MIDNIGHT

Send photos that were taken after midnight to aftermidnight@subbacultcha.be If your photo gets published, you win a good goodie This month’s photo was submitted by Hervé Dieudonné Page 61

Overview of all Subbacultcha shows in April

03 April

13 April

Dark Dark Dark + Matt Elliott

Cheap Satanism Records Night

Vooruit, Ghent 20.00 | €11 | Free for members

ft Chelsea Wolfe, Unison, Cercueil Magasin4, Brussels 19.30 | €8 | Free for members

04 April

16 April

Memoryhouse

Islet

Charlatan (Democrazy), Ghent 20.00 | €11 | Free for members

Botanique, Brussels 20.00 | €11 | Free for members

05 April

Film: Terror of Tiny Town + Dead Man KASK Cinema, Ghent 20.00 | €5 | Free for members

27 April

Topo Copy ft.

Subbacultcha! at Redbull Space

ft. The Happy Kids + Surprise Act Studio Herman Teirlinck, Antwerp 20.00 | Free for everybody

06 April

Hare Akedod II

ft Razen, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Hellvete, Niels Voaals, Milan W (Mittland Och Leo) Scheld’Apen, Antwerp 20.00 | €tba | Free for members

29 April

2:54

Cactus, Bruges 20.00 | €8 | Free for members

09 April

30 April

Hype Williams + Brns

U.S. Girls + Miaux

De Kreun, Kortrijk 20.00 | €tba | Free for members

DOK, Ghent 20.00 | €8 | Free for members

12 April

Teen Daze + Brothertiger JH Den Eglantier, Antwerp Berchem 20.00 | €6 | Free for members

Coming up:

Lower Dens, Group Bombino, Porcelain Raft

See all these shows for free. Join at www.subbacultcha.be Page 62

DE KREUN VZW · CONSERVATORIUMPLEIN · 8500 KORTRIJK MUSIC, INFO & TICKETS WWW.DEKREUN.BE OF 32 56 239 855 HYPE WILLIAMS 09.04 BRNS

MICHAEL GIRA (SWANS FOUNDER) 11.04 KRISTOF HAHN

OSAKA MONAURAIL 12.04 SOUTH OF THE BORDER

GAZZOMIND (CD RELEASE) 14.04 DAYTONA

WALLS · BLANK MASS 15.04 CHRISTOPHE VEKEMAN 19.04 ON STAGE WITH …

HAYVANLAR ALEMI 22.04 PINKUNOIZU

SCOTT KELLY (NEUROSIS) 24.04 OLDSEED

JG THIRLWELL (FOETUS) 26.04 PERFORMING AS MANOREXIA

MOTORPSYCHO 27.04 WARRIORZ VS DUB-UP 28.04

PINCH · KILLAWATT · BIOME · MATE VS DUBGROW · BLUNTSTEP

RUSSIAN CIRCLES 03.05 DEAFHEAVEN

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS 05.05

Union européenne - Fonds Européen de Développement Régional

Europese Unie - Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling Union européenne - Fonds Européen de Développement Régional

Europese Unie - Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling