Various ‎Artists – "From Brussels With Love" (Les Disques Du Crépuscule ‎– TWI 007) 1980

They say, 'You either love Brussels or Hate them', like marmite.
They are, of course, referring to the noble sprout rather than the capital of the  European Union.
Its a 50/50 split, not unlike the famous 'will of the British public', when it comes to loving or hating the European Union.A rather nietzchien statement from same pitiful twerps who formed the German national socialist workers party in the 1920's.
The stats on this compilation on Ian Curtis' ex-girlfriend Annik Honoré's(RIP) 'Disques du Crepescule' label, should be rather more clean cut than Brexit.
Showcasing the close ties between Brussels and with Factory records in Britain. Its a mixture of stuff from both labels and a smattering of highbrow artists from Eno's Obscure label.
As this post marks the end of our trip in the Belgian underground, and its flavour is distinctly British, it gives one the opportunity to segue smoothly into some UK synth, that was obvious highly influential to the Belgian scene and beyond. It wasn't just Kraftwerk and Suicide that shaped the near future, infact one of these influetial figures is on this tape,personified in John Foxx.Then of course we have Eno.....so godlike that we only refer to him reverentially by a single word......E Knows y'know, Eno does.
As for Brussels, the vegetable, I love them.....but Bollocks to Brexit.And if you support Brexit then Bollocks to you!
Any right wing post-truth propaganda in the comments section will be no-platformed and deleted, so don't fucking bother.

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Desmond Simmons ‎– "Alone On Penguin Island" (Dome Records‎– DOM 33.1 ) 1981

Just as Colin Newman records sound like Wire, but without Gilbert and Lewis, and Dome sounds like the stuff lurking in the background of a Wire album,but without Newman,Gilbert, Gotobed and Lewis. This album by Colin Newman band member,Desmond Simmons, on Dome Records Incidentally; sounds like a Colin Newman impression without any member of Wire involved at all!(although it was produced by Gilbert and Lewis,Colin Newman guests on a few Vocals,and Robert Gotobed Drums!)

Never having heard this until recently,(thanks to Rainier,can we call you 'Prince'?), I was surprised this made it to Dome Records? As Dome was set up to see how far one could go and still be able to call it music! I paraphrase Bruce Gilbert here, but there is no evidence of this objective on Desmond’s record. Its fairly straight forward post-punky experimental pop.....er....like Colin Newman's solo stuff; which this sounds almost exactly like,but not as good!? Still a fairly entertaining listen,(especially,”Caste from Hawaii”, “Phone Ringing (version 2)” and “To be Lost”), which is the primary objective of popular music anyway is it not?

Tracklist:

A Caste From Hawaii
To Be Lost
Beacon Hill Six
April Waits
The Gymnast
Bing Crosby's Hat
Man The Lifeboats
Phone Ringing
Counterpane
By Air Or By Sea
Panthenon
Tracers
Alone On Penguin Island

(With CD bonus tracks)

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Dome - "Will You Speak This Word" (Uniton Records ‎– U 011) 1982

For some reason Dome 4 isn't called Dome 4!? It's called “Will You Speak this Word”!What word they want you to speak isn't clear,but tribal could be one guess. Yes, tribal drumming is a major contributory factor on Dome 4;What for? Well, maybe as an interesting juxtaposition between modern electronics and the primal instruments of our ancestors. That along with a bit of free Jazz horn blowing,and lashings of ambience,the boys have thrown the experimental kitchen sink at this one. Coming out at a time when we had similar efforts from PiL and This Heat, the opening track could easily be from “Deceit”, and the next couple of tracks from “The Flowers Of Romance”. This yearning for the modern primitive was obviously in the air around 81/82, with all that industrial percussion, and Adam and the Ants/Bow Wow Wow Burundi beat stuff in the charts. Gilbert and Lewis were not immune to musical fads after all.

However, “Will You Speak this Word”, is probably the most rewarding and consistent of the four eighties Dome albums.

Ps,

it's official, Dome 5 is good!

Tracklist:

To Speak
To Walk, To Run
To Duck, To Dive
This
Seven Year
Atlas

 

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Dome ‎– "Dome 3" (Dome Records ‎– DOME 3) 1981

Gilbert and Lewis must have spent the whole of 1980-82 in the recording studio,narrowly avoiding a severe case of rickets due to lack of sunlight. They seemed intelligent enough to take an alternative source of vitamin D with them,and called it Vitamin Dome accordingly. If the four Dome albums from 80 to 82 were in fact vitamins, the first is B, feeding the central nervous system;Dome 2 is a fruity C,saving your teeth from sonic scurvy;and this one(3) is clearly the sunshine of the series.....Vitamin Dome, saving your Bones with their Drones. The forthcoming Dome 4,or “Will You Speak This Word”, is vitamin K, 'cus I don't know what it does, except aid the development of foetus’s. Apparently, embryo's(like what seems to be pictured on the album cover?) and upwards are supposed to enjoy a bit of Mozart? However, my unborn daughter had to endure a lot of Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle,Free Jazz and worse, to no great adverse effect. The now teenage Nancy(check out her blog), does not care for these musics, preferring Rammstein, Skrillex, and bloody Nirvana!?Proving they couldn't give two squirts of maconium what they hear through the uterine wall. It may have been different had I beamed some Dome in her gestating direction? Probably not!

Rhythms play a more prominent role in this murky party music from the padded cell next door. Even some vocal rhythmic patterns are employed,as “An-An-An-D-D-D” reminds me of Philip Glass's “Einstein on The Beach” somewhat(which,ironically,was played while Nancy was emerging from the womb!?). I can see this album as a soundtrack for the Michael Clark Dancers, or the Ballet Rambert; with the bourgeois art elitists in the arts centre audience, sneering behind stroked beards and reading glasses, at the fact that tonight’s composers used to be in a 'Punk Rock' group!

  

Tracklist:

A1	Jasz
A2	Ar-Gu
A3	An-An-An-D-D-D
A4	Ba-Dr
A5	D-D-Bo
A6	Na-Drm
B1	Ur-Ur
B2	Danse
B3	Dasz
B4	Roos-An

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Dome ‎– "Dome 2" (Dome Records ‎– DOME 2) 1980

Dome 2 sounds like Dome too, but better. There's less tracks than Dome on Dome 2,but Gilbert and Lewis were on a roll. Two albums in a year,and more to follow on their heels,they established a Dome sound swiftly. An intriguing cross-bred dark ambiance, with repetitive avant rock riffs drifting in and out of the smoggy reverb. Beats are allowed to occasionally provide respite for the casual avant-gardiste looking for Wire-isms,but there is no Colin Newman to donate a recognisable tune to the recipe; this cake does not rise. Its a flat lumpy Gateau,with an unknown gas escaping from the lumps;probably a Black Forest gateau due to the Krautrock ingredients folded into the mixture. The sweet black cherries represented by the Opening track(S) ,”The Red Tent parts 1&2”,part two being the closest we get to a lost Wire classic. The chocolate sprinkles,are “Twist Up”, where The Residents meet Glenn Branca. The creamy filling of the remaining tracks ooze into the half speed tape closer, so reminiscent of the indigestion one experiences after consuming this seventies classic dessert. This album is of course not a seventies classic,but ,unlike Arctic Roll,made the eighties its rightful home,as Dome grasped for the future. Yes, kids.......Pop Tarts!

Tracklist:

The Red Tent I
The Red Tent 2
Long Lost Life
Breathsteps
Reading Prof. B
Ritual View
Twist Up
Keep It

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Dome ‎– "Dome" (Dome Records ‎– DOME 1) 1980

Glbert and Lewis,the artier ones from Wire, complete quest to finally remove the rock form the punk. Not much here for fans of '12XU',as minimal as that was.Even though, proto-hardcore album,Pink Flag, has more in common with Dome than the other two Wire harvest albums;purely for its reductive qualities. This was rock'n'roll reduced down to its most basic form, a journey continued by the Dome project. Here the music is textural ambient echo's from a neighbouring room merging with the occasional beats,guitars and voices of conventional song structures, inevitably dissolving into the murk. There seems to be a German prog influence at work here, in a melange with post punk UK,with the Industrial scene rising to the surface of these turbulent , muddied, waters. There's something post-diluvian about this record,the moment when one exits a nuclear bunker after the all-clear siren,taking a moment to take stock before making something new from the wreckage. A down trip,after the exhilarating highs of the punk rock years; post-orgasmic depression captured as a dull thud.

Tracklist:

A1 Cancel Your Order 2:12
A2 Cruel When Complete 3:15

A3 And Then... 4:15
A4 Here We Go 3:04
A5 Rolling Upon My Day 3:40
B1 Say Again 3:30
B2 Linasixup 3:10
B3 Airmail 3:22
B4Ampnoise 4:17
B5 Madmen 3:29

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