‘IT'S NOT IN OUR NATURE TO BE J REPETITIVE'
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The win powers
David Pollock talks to Belgium’s other cut-up dance kings THE GLIMMERS
extravaganza Death Disco will already be well
used to the party-starting versatility of Belgium’s Glimmer Twins. although they may not realise that there’s been some reductive action going on with their name of late. Just to make it perfectly clear. the Glimmer Twins are now the Glimmers. but otherwise it‘s business as usual as far as their floor- filling technique is concerned.
‘We were using our own names when we played a house and techno night on Saturdays at Fuse in Brussels a decade ago.’ explains (ex-)Twin Mo Becha of he and musical partner David (Benoelie) Fouqaert’s origins under their current guise. ‘But on Fridays we also had a residency there playing Mo’Wax and trip hop. and the owner wouldn’t let us use our names for that because of the Saturday residency. So he actually went away and thought of the Glimmer Twins moniker.
‘Fast forward almost ten years and we decided to come back to the name when we released compilations and played outside of Belgium, because our own names are too difficult to pronounce and are always misspelt. But then we started fooling around in the studio producing our own music and that’s really the same thing as they’re doing. so we thought it would be stupid to work so hard and then have some stupid lawsuit spoil it.’
‘They‘? Who’s this ‘they‘? Why. it’s Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. of course, who originally used the name Glimmer Twins as a joint production credit on Stones albums. ‘Yeah, look at what happened with the Verve's “Bittersweet Symphony". exclaims Becha. ‘They have a big bunch of lawyers and we don’t want to go there. Will the Glimmer Twins ever be back? Well. the originals are still about . . . they never left.’
F ans of the Arches’ monthly electro-chic cut-up
You could say the same about Becha and Fouqaert. because they may be relative newcomers to the UK scene. but they're long-standing fixtures of Belgium
clubbing. Meeting at school in the early 80s and thrilled by the deceptively simple mastery of
Grandmaster Flash. they attempted to emulate his skills to the point where they were DJing in the bars of their native Ghent before they could even drink legally. Graduating from period classics like Prince and Madonna to what Becha calls Belgian New Beat (“cosmic wave music' in his clear yet ever-so-slightly
broken English). the pair were inevitably seduced by .
the explosion of Chicago house.
‘It was an interesting period because it was more about choosing tracks by feeling than by genre.‘ says Becha. “You could play a crazy country track or some obscure French house at any time. as long as they fitted together. And if you threw a party in Ghent you had to be diverse. because it‘s not very big and all the students from different subcultures would come along. You had to improvise to get things going.‘
It’s an eclectic training which has stood the pair in good stead for their now utterly contemporary style.
as evidenced by their latest contribution to the DJ _
Kicks series. Volume 7. from Bis to Two Lone Swordsmen by way of Peaches and . . . Chicago. ‘It's our 805 compilation.‘ says Becha. ‘It‘s just taken us 20 years. But I think these albums are the main
reason we‘re now recognised so much outside of
Belgium.
‘In the end, they prove it’s not in our nature to be
repetitive. Every few gigs we empty our record box and start a new one. just because it‘s a challenge. It's good to feel like you’re on the edge.’
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' THE BEST DANCEFLOOR ACTION
=i< A362 Saturdays Each and every week resident DJ Gerry Lyons will take over this great new club venue with an eclectic music policy. Lots of live acts and big name DJs are being promised fOr the future. We have high hopes. A802, Glasgow, weekly Sat.
>i= Bentonic A great new funk. soul and jazz night from DEK and the gang. Craig from Streetlife lends a hand this month. The Riverside Club, Glasgow, Sat 9 Jul. Messenger Sound System Summer is just perfect for reggae and dub, and here the best in the capital show us once again why those deep vibes hit so right. The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Sat 9 Jul.
>i< Saturday Night Fish Fry Erik Da Viking (Trouble) and DJ Astroboy (Departure Lounge) take control and guarantee the quality of this new danceiloor jazz happening. with plenty of live acts to keep things moving. The Jag Bar, Edinburgh, weekly Sat.
2i: 'I' In the Park The Siam Tent just takes T in the Park to the next level in terms of club appeal. with names like LCD Soundsystem. Dave Clarke. Mylo and Richie Hawtin. Plus. there’s the Bacardi Bbar and the likes of the Prodigy, James Brown and Dizzee Rascal across the weekend. Furious festie beat heaven. Ba/ado Airfield, Kinross. Sat 9 & Sun 70 Jul.
=i< Mungo’s HI FI Dancehall. reggae dub and roots from the finest purveyors of such things in Glasgow. MC Kenny Knots (pictured) and Kwasi Asante guest. The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 75 Jul.
>l< Monox Consistently providing quality techno and acid from a plethora of great guests. This month they’ve got Adam X and DJ Funk. You beauty. The Soundhaus. Sat 76 Jul.
3“ .Ju 300:5 THE LIST 35