JADE 4U
Possibly the most sought after New Beat artist, Jade is currently
tussling with the advances of a number of major record companies, all
eager to create the new Piaf, Marlene Dietrich or Madonna. Jade is no
puppet though: "I don't want to be used -- I want to do what I
like. I don't want to become like Rick Astley or Kylie Minogue -- my
producers are not telling me what to do."
Quite so -- Jade has a lot of respect amongst her peers. Not only was
she the first artist to release a New Beat album -- "Jade's
Dream" on Integrity -- she's also been involved in countless
other projects. Moments Of Ecstacy, Lords Of Acid, Dirty Harry and
Electric Shock all owe something to Jade.
"She's the queen of New Beat," waxes Maurice of Subway. Her
background of strenuous touring, church singing, punk and jazz,
alongside her involvement with the Indian-influenced Shakti sets her
apart from the Beat pack.
"Although my record may be New Beat, it's still a little more
than that. It has a structure to it; I still write lyrics, I find them
important. Normally New Beat doesn't have soul in it -- what they are
trying to say is we live in a technological century, so the music
should be alike. I feel there's soul in my album."
IN-D
It took Subway's Maurice Engelen almost a year to entice DJ Marc
Grouls into a recording studio. The result, In-D's 'Virgin In-D
Skies', is one of the best slices of New Beat available. He cites film
music as a big influence ("because of the atmosphere") and
creates hardcore mood mosaics.
Success has been hard to take in:
"It's very difficult for me to consider myself as an artist or a
musician because I don't have the musical knowledge -- I only have a
feeling to make people move and dance, the feeling I create as a
DJ."
Marc notices a change in dancefloor attitude since the rise of New
Beat. "The same amount of people are going to the clubs, but
they're having a different kind of good time. They used to go and get
drunk, maybe have a good fight -- that's gone. The tension is
gone."
Marc is now in demand as a producer as well as a DJ; he's
had faxes from Jellybean, remix offers from ffrr and Jive. He hopes
this won't damage New Beat.
"I think New Beat is still in kid's shoes. We have to grow. I
hope the media doesn't arrive too early -- we still have to learn a
lot. This is the first time something like this has happened in
Belgium. Hopefully New Beat has a longer life than punk because we can
use influences from everywhere, recreate them around the beat. With
Acid you need that sound; with New Beat you just need the beat -- you
can do anything over it. An Eastern sound, an Indian sound, a British
sound, an Italian sound...."
NUX NEMO
Jo Bogaert's musical path changed when he heard 16 Bit's hit 'Where
Are You'. "It was like a revolution to me," he recalls.
"It made me free from conventional ideas about dance
music."
In May 1987 he released 'Hiroshima' under the name Nux Nemo, which
became the first national New Beat Number One. Jo runs Clip Records
and has worked on many projects by Acts Of Madmen, Kash In The East,
Zerrocks and 4 For 4. He's even collaborated with Leicester
16-year-old Rock Smith on the New Egypt project.
Despite New Beat's chart success, Jo still thinks it is a
minority. " 'Hiroshima' was a hit only through the
discotheques. It still feels marginal despite the controversy."
T-99
Patrick de Meyer lives in the sleepy Belgian town of Den Der Monde,
where he runs a clothes shop with his wife. Up in the attic, however,
is an array of equipment perfect for the New Beat Creator --
Oberheims, Akais and Rolands are stacked all over the place.
Patrick released his first Turbo 99 track 'Amore Me Amore', a parody
of Italian romance, with the help of a rich cousin. "We did it in
a very drunk situation," he remembers.
The second release, 'Don't Steal My Joy', reached Number Twelve, but
after a couple of flops and line-up changes the name was slimmed to
T-99 and the nucleus paired down to Patrick and collaborator
Guy.
The first T-99 release, 'Invisible Sensuality', displayed the strength
of Patrick's classical training, whilst his 'Iuhaha' disc (as Tragic
Error) rates as one of New Beat's biggest floor fillers.
"The art of being a good New Beat producer," according to
Patrick, "is to find a hypnotising beat. Some people say New Beat
is rubbish, but I'm working from nine to five in the studio and it's
difficult to find something of interest, something that's
hypnotising."
His influences range from Zappa to Stravinsky, Bartok to Front 242.
"I think that you can make New Beat with some culture in it,
something that it's possible to listen to at home. New Beat has its
qualities -- it simplifies all that busy universal dance music,
condenses it into a very small area. It is simple but it has something
to say."
MORTON SHERMAN BELLUCCI
This year alone the production trio of Morton Sherman Bellucci have
produced over 30 New Beat 12-inchers. Names have varied from Fruit Of
Life, Taste Of Sugar, Mission Impossible to the Erotic Dissidents and
an armful more, but all bear the undeniable MSB stamp. Many have
charted, just like the Stock, Aitken & Waterman set-up they
initially set out to ridicule.
"We think what they're doing is really dreadful, but we thought
it was funny to make that link."
Their favorite projects are The Brothers, a Tackhead-influenced sound
collage that scores with 'Brotherhmn', even if they can't spell, and
the globally slanted releases on the World Today label. These cuts,
from El Mori and Bulgarka, are "the most difficult ones",
they say.
"They have a certain special atmosphere, sometimes gothic and
huge, sometimes smooth and soft or oriental. It's difficult to create
those atmospheres on a dance beat -- we don't want the beat to be
prior to the atmosphere."
They've just released an album of Techno-related sounds, due here
soon; production offers are rolling in. Their risque Erotic Dissidents
show, which recently played to 12,000 people in Hassalt, can be seen
regularly throughout Belgium.
