DIGRESSING IN THE CRATES | NASCA – NASCA – CORTIZONA.

We’ve been fans of the Cortizona record label since we bought their Jean Hoyoux reissue when Meteor Musik gave a live interpretation of that album at the Brussels Planetarium. It was the start of a surprising and diverse string of releases usually digging deep into Belgium’s underground music history that strengthened our love with every new vinyl that ended up in our collection. We even had the pleasure to chat with Philippe Cortens in our radio show when the “Noises” reissue came out.

Their latest release is, again, right up our alley. Very much up with the slow exotic groove craze of late but through reissuing never released recordings from 1987. Men behind the music are Gerry Vergult and Gerrit Valckenaers and they are far more familiar to us than the group name Nasca.

Gerry Vergult aka Fred Angst is a member of Belgian post-punk dons Arome Di Amore. Their “Gorilla Dans De Samba” has been a regular in our sets ever since we heard it on Lieven Deridder’s The Word radio show. It’s got everything we like in a song, especially a killer groove and loads of nonsense.

Our first coup de foudre with the group though was through the Rock Rally 1982 compilation. Their energetic “Doe De Mafia” is our song of choice to get frustration out of your system through an expressive scream and dance burst, somewhere out of sight.

One of the reviews I read about the Nasca release namechecked David Byrne and Brian Eno’s early 80s experiments “My Life in The Bush Of Ghosts”. A connection a bit far-fetched to us but one much clearer in Adult Fantasies, Gerrit Valckenaers group from around the same period, their work.

So, big up to Cortizona, to make us discover forgotten, local music, joining the dots between some records already in our vaults and opening routes for further discovery with one release that’ll be in our box the months to come.