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Dour Festival 2003

The Belgian alternative event - 10 to 13 July

Dour Festival takes place in the south of Belgium, near the French border. This year will mark its 15th edition and confirm its vocation to showcase the talent of as much quality independent artists as possible, in as much genres as possible over the course of 4 days.

Since we think Dour is a great festival, we are going to be there and try bringing you as much interviews as possible from the artists scheduled. To stimulate your imagination, we also decided to do this little special highlighting some of the bands that are going to play at the fest and that we, at musiquemachine, happen to appreciate a lot.

Thursday 10/07Venus, Miss Kittin, The Hacker, DJ Vadim & Russian Percussion, Herbaliser, Sofa Surfers (DJ set), Alec Empire (Gameboy Project), Andrew Weatherhall, Jamie Liddel, DJ Marky, Fabio, Peshay

Friday 11/07Clawfinger, King Crimson, Prong, Fishbone, Jaga Jazzist, Andy Fletcher (DJ set), Black Heart Procession, Daniel Johnston, M83, Mad Professor

Saturday 12/07The Melvins, Tomahawk, Femi Kuti, Black Dice, Bob Log 3, Maximilian Hecker, Trevor Jackson, Woven Hand, TTC, Kaspar Brotzmann & FM Einheit, Oxbow, The Ex

Sunday 13/07Stereo MC’s, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Rollins Band, Sparklehorse, Therapy?, 2 Many DJ’s, LCD Soundsystem, Yo La Tengo, Common, Beans, Cannibal Ox, dälek

Previous years have seen bands and artists such as Noir Désir, De la Soul, Young Gods, Therapy?, Blur, dEUS, Pulp, Rollins Band, Tool, Paradise Lost, Public Enemy, The Ramones, Asian Dub Foundation, Iggy Pop, Messhuggah, Ministry, Flaming Lips, Sisters of Mercy, Type O Negative, 16 Horsepower, Slayer, QOTSA, Einsturzende Neubauten, Fantômas, Alec Empire, Coil and George Clinton.

Many of them before they reached the height of their fame, proving that the people behind the event know how to spot the great bands of tomorrow. Scroll down to see what we think are the highlits of this year’s program.

Official website: http://www.dourfestival.be

- VHS Godfather – The VIPCO Story

VIPCO (Video Instant Picture Company) were founded in the late 1970s by a man named Michael Lee. During this first incarnation of the company, they would release a host of controversial movies on VHS in the UK market, including such legendary titles as Driller Killer, Shogun Assassin, The Bogeyman and probably most contentiously of all, the strong uncut version of Lucio Fulci’s undead epic Zombie Flesh Eaters. After the introduction of the Video Recordings Act in 1984, all UK VHS releases needed to be certificated by the BBFC (British Board of Film Censorship as they were at the time, Censorship has since been dropped in favour of the less controversial sounding Classification). Lee and his company were one of those most affected by this change and many of his titles were no longer deemed legal in the UK, the BBFC would cut or ban outright certain titles that had been released by VIPCO causing a whole world of trouble for Lee and many of the other distributors operating in the UK at the time.

- Scarred For Life Volume 2: Television in the 1980

Rolling in five years after the first Vol of Scarred For Life, here we have Vol 2- Television In The 1980s. The five hundred and the thirty-page book is a joy to behold, for those (like myself) who lived through the decade, or those wanting to study the darker/ troubling/ more bizarre side of British TV in the 1980s.

- - In Tenebris Scriptus - A dark aural tribute to H

The name of Howard Phillips Lovecraft is firmly inscribed in the mass culture. The works of the great writer, the inventor of the Necronomicon and the Cthulhu Mythos, inspire filmmakers, artists, and musicians. It is difficult to say how many musical groups appealed to the work of Lovecraft and how many tributes have been made.

- Theory Of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents

Here we have the DVD/Blue-ray release of Theory of Obscurity- the rather wonderful & justifiable praised/ celebrated documentary about the mysterious sound & art collective known as The Residents. And just to clarify I’m reviewing the DVD version of the release- so I’ll be discussing the extras etc of this version of the release.

- For Bunita Marcus

I have never enjoyed the music of Morton Feldman. His insistence on total emptiness and dissociated non-structures has never compelled me to attempt to find the meaning some would insist exists in his work. This recording of pianist Lenio Liatsou playing one of Feldman's particularly obscure later works, "For Bunita Marcus", is the first music of Feldman's I have put the time in to carefully examine.

- Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats?/The Census Tak

Here we have a 2014 reissue of two soundtracks from those mysterious sonic eccentrics & quirky genre mixers The Residents. The release takes in two OST from 1984, and they come in the form of Whatever Happened To Vilness Fats? (an edited version of the bands sprawling & never fully released film), and The Census Taker (a low grade black comedy/crime caper).

- Die Infektion Der Geburt

Einleitungszeit make dense & overloaded, but always atmospheric and nightmarish mix of; death industrial, noise, power electronics with grim cinematic undertones. This is this Slovakia five piece 24th releases in their 14 year career

- Suicide In Winters Moonlight

I’ve had a soft spot for Ensepulchred Mix of keyboard heavy almost guitar stripped Black Metal, Horror film synth grimness & electro noise since their excellent debut album in 06- So it’s a really treat to have another hit from them so soon.

- Descension

Descension is Aluk Todolo debut full length after a highly praised 7 inch and what a debut this is. For 37 minutes you tumbled through, get hypnotised and brutalised by this nightmarish, lo-fi , head-ripping and psychedelic black mind fuck.

- Submerged

Submerged is Phaenon (one Szymon Tankiewicz) opening shot of deep, heavy, and expansive dark ambience that as the title suggests is akin to being submerged into an vast underground space or falling down an endless tunnel.

- Outre'

Outre is a death metal nightmare with very gothic, Grand Guignol like & darkly theatrical surreal tendencies that bob like a headless corpse to the top of the audio water ever so often.

- Astral Orange Sunshine

Astral Orange Sunshine brings together four spacey and swirling electronic unfolds with a Merzbow favourite the EMS Synthi as the main sound generator here, but this for the most part stays noise free- with only the last track diving into noise matter towards it’s middle.

- A History Of Time to come

Following on from the reissue of Sabbat’s second album, this their debut album gets similar treatment. With an extended booklet featuring old flyers/artwork and interviews ect,and extra tracks coming in the form of live version of four tracks from the album.

- Collection

Collection brings together a 7inch split between Wiese and wolf eyes, along with the tow very ltd American tapes cdr from 2003/04. All digitally re-mastered by Wiese in colour inlay from the original artwork. More than just a fan curiosity, this stands as some of both parties best work as collaborators and solo entities.

- Super Roots 3

Super roots 3 is the next in the series of reissues of The Boredoms experimental ep’s from 1994 to 1999 on the Very Friendly label. This like the others in the series was a experiment in different sound, that didn’t really fit in with things they were doing at the time.

- Human Animal

Human animal sees Wolf eyes taking a more atmospheric and dread filled take on their sound; making an album that’s full of shadowy shades and tints of blood reds. Where their last full length release on Sub pop Burned mind, felt like a brutal and crazed audio hammer attack with slight breathers. Human Animal feels like been caught in some hellish dungeon unsure what lies in wait for you or possible awaking tied to a table unsure how you got here and all you can smell is blood and decay.

- Recorder out of tune

Recorder out of tune is a collection of shudder inducing nightmarish audio hiccups, gruelling stretches of bile inducing sound and sour tones. Which will have you teetering on the edge of sanity and sickness; this is prime noise for unhinging minds.

- Turmeric

This is harsh, even by Merzbow standards. All the safety nets like beats, melody and structure, staying in one places for anytime, have all but gone and we are left with a black encrusted grimy beast of an album.That from it’s first attack doesn’t , let go of your head and throat until near on 4 hours later.

Therapy? - Never Apologise Never Explain

With their tenth album Ireland's Therapy? are maybe even stronger now than they were a couple of years ago. Every album released has been compared to their intitial succes Troublegum from 1994. And honestly, none of them had the same impact on me as that one.

Black Dice - Creature Comforts

When they released their debut full-length two years ago, Black Dice emerged as one of the most talented bands around. Their subsequent tours made for mesmerizing performances, and they somehow found the time to record a few ep’s or 12”. Now, they are back with a new album, Creature Comforts.

M83 - DeadCities, RedSeas and LostGhosts

This galaxy is sometimes called the "Southern Pinwheel". It forms a small physical group with the peculiar radio galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) and the unusual galaxy NGC 5253 in Centaurus. R. Brent Tully also lists the following smaller and fainter presumable (or possible) members of this group: NGC 4945, NGC 5102, NGC 5164, NGC 5408, ESO 381-20 (MCG-6-28-017; 1243-33), ESO 324-24 (MCG-6-30-003; 1324-41), ESO 444-84 (MCG-5-32-000; 1334-27), ESO 325-11 (1342-41), and ESO 383-87 (MCG-6-30-025; 1346-35).

Tomahawk - Mit Gas

The attention Tomahawk got after the release of their self-titled debut album (reviewed here) was amazing. I went to see them live in Amsterdam and the place was packed.

Therapy? - High Anxiety

A couple of years ago I sold my old Therapy? albums, the classics Troublegum and Infernal Love. I still don't really know what I was thinking, I didn't need the money and the albums certainly weren't bad. Actually, over the years I've been thinking a lot about them.

King Crimson - The Power To Believe

King Crimson has been around, on and off, since 1969. They represent ‘prog-rock’, something which makes many serious (punk)-rockers shudder. Which is fine by me, they go shudder and listen to the White Stripes while I enjoy the second full length album by King Crimson ‘level five’.

Beans - Tomorrow Right Now

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the wonderful world of BEANS, aka Mr. Ballbeam. Hip-hop rebel. Wordsmith extraordinaire. Sonic architect. Fashion renegade. Published poet. Culture star.

Black Dice - Beaches & Canyons

Black Dice's Beaches And Canyons has been released already some months ago in the U.S. by DFA Records and if I just followed the enormous press response there, this album is bound to receive a high score. But I don't intend to follow Rolling Stone, The Wire, Pitchfork or the New York Times without an in-depth analysis of this disc.

Dälek - From filthy tongue of gods and griots

Discovered on a February night, Dälek brought some happiness in what had been a very bad 24 hours for me. Opening for Tomahawk, they caught me off-guard with a very heavy set and then revealed themselves as being very nice, down-to-earth blokes, deserving everybody’s attention.