Discophilia Belgica: Next-door-disco & Local Spacemusic from Belgium 1975-1987 (2LP) [Sdban]

Format: 2x12".

Tracklist:
A1. La Bush - Disco Bush
A2. System Love - System Love
A3. Cora Corona - Jungle Love
A4. The Diskery - Star
B1. The Rogers - Cosmos 81
B2. Rendez-Vous - My Blue Bird
B3. Raymond Joniaux - All' A Bi Bi

C1. Manuel Ferrero - Fela
C2. Rayon Laser - Funky Meteor
C3. Autumn - The Third Autumn
C4. Afro-Disiak - Chant Vaudou
D1. Patrik - The Joymaker
D2. Roland Delys - Love
D3. DJ Bert & Eagle - I Am Your Master

Patrick, Raymond, Marianne, Roland, Kevin and Bert. These are some of the most common and ordinary names in Belgium. Yet, they are also the names of some of the artists appearing on Discophilia Belgica, a 30-track compilation from the groove-laden SDBAN label. No sophisticated alter egos here.

Compiled by cratediggers Loud E & The Wild, Discophilia Belgica is released on November 16th and brings together next-door disco and local space music from Belgium between 1975 and 1987. The tracks on this deliciously obscure collection originate from everyday folks. Most holding down day jobs. But as musicians, they delve as far as they can into the disco universe and come back again. Nothing too serious or ambitious, and definitely nothing overproduced. This is space music in its purest form. This is next-door disco.

The musical selection does not reflect a “scene” per se. In fact, most of the bands here probably never performed live. The 30 pieces on this compilation are the result of a decade of digging through flea markets, charity shops and record fairs, picking out what could appeal to both a contemporary dance floor and our somewhat deranged, perhaps adventurous, ears.

That said, there aren’t many countries capable of providing the diversity and rarity of sounds found here. Belgians have a real passion for music and boast an abundance of recording studios, entrepreneurs, local radio stations, and pressing plants. Bars and clubs co-exist, providing the soundtrack to our daily lives, and it is here that Patrick, Raymond, Roland or Marianne found the inspiration to step into the studio and pick up a mic, a bass or a synthesizer, creating music to dance, feel sexy and be free to. You are your own boss.

From the French pop-inspired Ethero-Disco of R. Roland and Carl Watson’s King Kong with its dirty jazz flute, to C.C. Band’s floor-filler Be My Love Tonight, Discophilia Belgica is a collection of rarities and treasures, the odd and the wonderful.

A special mention goes to the uncrowned king of next-door disco: Artibano Benedetto. This discrete Italian, working from a garage in the less-than-glamorous town of La Louvière, is one of the only ‘professional’ musicians on the compilation. After a successful career with late seventies/early eighties band i dragoni, he started producing music for local artists and musicians in need of a studio or technical know-how. The result? Dan Davis’ soul, The Diskery’s overflowing synth bagpipe, Rayon Laser’s Holger Czukay-esque spaced out grooves and the Arabian sultriness of Alabibi. And yes, Benedetto is still at it. His DIY ethos in music is the embodiment of next-door disco and provincial space music.