The concert to go to: Boots Electric

There’s no point denying the soft spot we have for Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes. The self-proclaimed hillbilly and endearing sleazebag extraordinaire has taken some time off from the cock-rock band he shares with bestie Josh Homme to embark on a solo journey as Boots Electric. Cannot wait.

Watch the album trailer:

17th September

TRIX, Noordersingel 28-30 - 2140 Antwerp

Get tickets here

The show you can’t miss: Raw Edges, from flat to full

Design dealer Victor Hunt brings Israeli-born, London-based designers raw edges to town for an extensive overview of their most recent work, the lot to be exhibited in the city’s favourite style boutique Hunting and Collecting.

8th to 25th September

HUNTING AND COLLECTING, Rue des Chartreux 17 Kartuiserstraat- 1000 Brussels

The night out: Indie Club

You don’t have to wait for a weekend trip to London or Berlin anymore to dance to indie tunes: Brussels finally has caught up and hosts its own indie rock/pop party every month in the The Wood. Expect an eclectic mix ranging from Blur and Arctic Monkeys to The Doors or Metronomy. The season’s opening party is this Friday and we wouldn’t miss it for a thing.

16th September

THE WOOD, Avenue de Flore 3 Floralaan – 1000 Brussels

The walk to take: Design September’s Open Doors

You’ve always wondered how and where designers work? Now you have the chance to find out, thanks to Design September, the Belgian capital’s biggest design festival stretching out over four weeks. This weekend the two-day Open Doors event invites everyone interested to come visit Brussels-based artists’ workspaces and have a look behind the scenes. The perfect occasion to stroll through the city and discover its hidden creative laboratories.

For an overview of all participating studios have a look here.

The exhibition to go to: Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972

Coinciding with the Polish EU presidency Wiels hosts one of the first large-scale exhibitions of this pioneering and provocative artist outside of Poland. Focusing on her experimental period, the show gathers more than a hundred of her works, among which the tinted polyester casts of her lips and breasts transformed into everyday objects like lamps or ashtrays.

10th September to 8th January

Wednesdays to Sundays 11h00 – 18h00

WIELS, Av. Van Volxem 354 Volxemlaan – 1190 Brussels

www.wiels.org

(first published in the blue album)

The store to drop by: Atelier Solarshop

A mix of playful yet modern aesthetic objects and items fill up the space of Atelier Solarshop in Antwerp for the third edition of their Pop-Up project. The selection of exclusive, limited and numbered works by international young talents is only available until 8th October – so make sure not to miss out.

ATELIER SOLARSHOP, Dambruggestraat 48 – 2060 Antwerp

Wednesdays to Saturdays until 8th October, 11h00-18h30

www.ateliersolarshop.be

(first published in the blue album)

The night out

Los Ninos is throwing another one of their memorable nights. This time they have Hot Chip‘s Alexis Taylor with his new super band About Group lined-up. Concert, visuals, and some of Belgium’s finest DJs will make sure you’ll dance till dawn and enjoy a proper Sunday hangover.

The movies to see: Ecran Total

Ecran Total, a film festival organised by Cinema Arenberg, is going into its last week. The concept: Give movie enthusiasts the opportunity to see motion pictures on the big screen that usually are rather hard to catch – including  classic and out-of-the-ordinary pieces or even recent films you might have missed first time round. This weekend the selection includes Frederick Wiseman’s celebrated documentary ‘Boxing Gym’.

CINEMA ARENBERG , Galerie de la Reine 26 Koninginnegallerij – 1000 Brussels

www.arenberg.be

The walk to take: Bookshop Days

A group of young booksellers from Brussels organises for the first time the Bookshop Days – an event that intends to showcase the bookshops of the Belgian capital including exhibitions, encounters and (re)discoveries. Grab the chance to take a walk around the city and rummage through piles of publications. Not just for bookworms!

Take a look here to see a list of the participating stores

And not one, but two parties. One in Brussels on Friday 20th May. And one in Ghent on Saturday 21st May.

In Brussels on Friday, 20th May from 19h00 onwards.

Address – L’Epicerie Fine de la Senne, Rue de Bon Secours 4-6 Bijstandstraat 1000 Brussels (a 2min walk from Prive Joke). Find it on Google Maps here

With music by William (Uphigh Collective) and JustNathan

In Ghent on Saturday, 21st May from 19h00 onwards.

Address – N°13, Sint Pietersnieuwstraat 9000 Ghent (a 1min walk from the Vooruit). Find it on Google Maps here

With music by Judo Club, Ping Pong Tactics (live set), Dynooo (Surf Kill), Tino and Fred Nasen

Join the Facebook event here

Sponsored by Schweppes and Dolce Gusto

Photography Joke De Wilde

Special thanks to Wilfried for making sure the camera safely got back to us.

(Scroll to the end of this post for your chance to win two pairs of return Eurostar tickets to London).

© Ulrike Biets (www.ulrikebiets.com)

Lovebox Festival, 16-18th July, Victoria Park

For the first time in the seven years of the festival’s history, the Lovebox will be held over three days. Alongside wild DJ sets, catch the smaller performances from up and coming acts as well as the big names like British Grime superstar Dizzee Rascal; the aging glam rock dandies of Roxy Music; the fiercer than ever Grace Jones; geeks turned dance-floor killers Hot Chip; synthpop neo-hippies Empire of the Sun; and obviously, Lovebox founders Groove Armada. The festival’s festive yet unthreatening vibe makes it the perfect place to catch your oldies but goodies, invite your mum for her birthday, hear her rave about how hot Brian Ferry was in the day, then ditch her to dance the night away.

The Lovebox 2009 round-up

1234 Festival, 24th July, Shoreditch Park

Keeping track of the plethora of decent acts emerging from the UK is not an easy mission. Fortunately, the edgy 1234 Festival‘s line-up offers a perfect glimpse of all the good names to follow. Other acts you can’t miss include lo-fi 60′s inspired girl bands Dum Dum Girls and Vivian Girls; two-piece fast-paced rockers Comanechi, whose singer/drummer Akiko Matsuura gives Meg White a run for her money; the post-punk darkwave of S.C.U.M; or British superband The Silver Machine, featuring The Sex Pistols‘ Glen Matlock, The Who‘s Zak Starkey, and Primal Scream‘s Bobby Gillespie, Andrew Innes and Barrie Cadogan. Attention Ian Curtis mourners: this year will see New Order‘s Peter Hook perform Joy Division‘s debut Unknown Pleasures and it will be “the only time and the only place I will be playing it in England”, says Hook. With about a dozen or so after parties scheduled all over Shoreditch, this will be the hipster event of the year. Don’t forget your Clubmasters.

Watch Har Mar Superstar’s sleazy, sweaty, greasy yet hilarious performance at the festival

Field Day Festival, 31st July, Victoria Park

For its fourth year, the six stages of the eclectic Field Day Festival will be gathering more than 80 live acts and DJs in Hackney’s Victoria Park. Headliners include the Grammy-winning Versailles quartet Phoenix; cult post-punk band The Fall, whose charmingly mad frontman Mark E. Smith‘s onstage rants are not to be missed; the pioneering electronic psychedelia of Silver Apples; catchy electro-house duo Simian Mobile Disco; ex-Test Icicles Dev Hynes‘ solo project Lightspeed Champion; the 9-piece brass band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble; and art-rockers These New Puritans. The closest London gets to its very own T in The Park.

The Horrors ripping it at last year’s Field Day

LED Festival, 27-28 August, Victoria Park

The giants of live dance music, Cream, Goldenvoice and Loudsound, join forces to give you the first ever London Electronic Dance Festival with music from the biggest names across the genres of Dance, Electro, House and everything in between. Held over August Bank holiday in London’s Victoria Park the festival is heralded to be the next big thing on the London festival circuit. With a solid line-up to back it up, the LED managed to score one of the very rare live performances by electronica legend Aphex Twin, David Guetta‘s chart-topping Eurotrash, Leftfield, Goldfrapp‘s sexy synthpop, the Dewaele brothers’ Soulwax, and British dance-punk sensation Friendly Fires. An absolute clubber’s delight, the LED will be the destination of choice for those who can’t make it to Ibiza this year.

Aphex Twin’s mental laser show at this year’s Rockness Festival

Offset Festival, 4-5th September, Hainault Forest Country Park

The festival season ends with the low-key Offset Festival, who has been offering the best alternative line-up since its conception in 2008. Showcasing more than 180 underexposed and emerging bands in two days only, the choice will be difficult, but here are some of the sets we’ll be sure to catch: the long-haired Japanese progressive-punk combo of Bo Ningen, rightfully heralded as London’s best live act of the year; the synth driven mathcore virtuosos of Rolo Tomassi, whose tour bus we invaded for our Breakthrough Issue’s showstoppers; Kap Bambino, that one could describe as France’s answer to Crystal Castles (even though they were around first); indie rockers of Mystery Jets; the incendiary garage of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Guy McKnight’s onstage antics – which include ripping his shirt before diving in the audience or dropping to the floor for a series of push-ups mid-track; and New York based Liquid Liquid‘s post-disco for their second ever UK performance in three decades. Not for the faint-hearted, the Offset promises to be once more the ultimate freak-fest where no matter how trashed you get, no-one will raise an eyebrow.

Bo Ningen’s apocalyptical finale at last year’s Offset

Giveaways.

We have two pairs of return tickets to London to giveaway, courtesy of Eurostar. All you need to do is email your answer to the following question to wewrite@thewordmagazine.be to enter the draw:

What is the name of the Eurostar station in London?

Competition closes Thursday 8th July at midnight. Winners will be notified Friday 9th July by email.

The Modernettes - Photography Melvin Kobe

We exchanged a couple of emails with Radio Modern PR girl and fellow fifties fiend Jill to get the lowdown on the who, what, where and when. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of it though, a little raunchy call to action. As part of its new Vuilen Avond concept, Radio Mordern wants all you budding burlesque beauties to send an email to schoonmadammen@radiomodern.be with your name, age, email and phone number. Add some glamourous pictures and tell them why you need to be in this contest. (Note: This is a girls only contest and miladies and you need to be over 18). Workshops will be held on 13th and 20th December as well as on 17th January in Vooruit, Ghent (with Miss Mama Ulita, pitcured below, teaching you the ropes). There will be a big finale with a jury and an audience in February (exact date to be confirmed soon). The first Vuilen Avond will be in CC Mechelen on February 6th, the next is on March 12th in Vooruit, Ghent.

Now back to the nitty-gritty…

On Radio Modern – “We’re a team of seven people. Ben Mouling is the main man, he initiated the concept. Hannes Dewit is his right hand, taking care of all things business while Ben concentrates on the artistic side and looks for bands and venues. Jan Fack does the website and helps out here and there. And then there’s the four of us girls known as the Modernettes. We wear green uniforms at every RM party and we do girls’ hair and make-up fifties style in our Beauty Boudoir. There’s Ellen Denaeyer (responsible for production of every RM party, we’d be dead without her), Dorith Govaerts (Ben’s girlfriend who does everything behind the scenes and is in charge of The Modernettes), Sofie Huybrechts (responsible for costumes and soon leader of the Schoon Madammen Burlesque Troupe) and myself doing press and everything communication related. Together with the rest of the Radio Modern crew, we’ve been dwelling from one ballroom to the next, organising fifties parties. From De Roma in Antwerp to Vooruit in Ghent, we’ve been all over the country with our fifties blend, even hosting a whole evening at Pukkelpop.”

Photography Melvin Kobe

Photography Melvin Kobe

Photography Melvin Kobe

On Vuilen Avond – “Early 2010, we’re rolling out a new concept called ‘De Vuilen Avond’, simply translated as ‘A Naughty Night’. Imagine a cabaret revue like the ones in the twenties and thirties, in a festive palace, with magicians, humour and – last but most certainly not least – some titillating ladies.”

On why burlesque should hit the nation – “It’s great that burlesque is whipping up quite some stir in London, Paris and Amsterdam, but why isn’t anything happening around here? We’re pretty sure we’ve got burlesque talent out here, so we need to go out there and find these girls”

You heard? Now all they need is for you to join the party and submit your application…

Mama Ulita