In the late 1980s, a small team of Belgian artists—armed with samplers, analog gear, and an irreverent sense of humor—flooded the underground with a staggering number of releases. At the center of this creative explosion were Jo Casters, Roland Beelen, and a self-described “tech-nerd in a basement,” whose drive to experiment and produce helped define a formative era of electronic music. From pioneering New Beat to crafting club hits under dozens of aliases, their story is one of speed, spontaneity, and raw innovation.
Author: Joeri Bruyninckx
Swagger Life :: Purity, innovation and constant improvement
Otis Cox is a DJ, producer, graphic designer, visual artist and photographer now based in Hasselt, Belgium. As Swagger Life, he released “Hyperfake,” a deconstructed […]
Lefto Early Bird :: For midnight drives
Seamlessly weaving together the pulsing rhythms of house with the atmospheric textures of electronic jazz, Highway Project unfolds like a cinematic score for nocturnal wanderers—a sonic companion crafted for midnight drives and the open road’s quiet mysteries.
Antler Records :: The early years
Antler Records, the iconic label born in 1981 from the vision of Roland Beelen, rose anew in 2024—reborn, recharged, and resonating once more. Delving into its vaults, the label unveils a treasure trove of rare sonic artifacts, painstakingly compiled by Lieven De Ridder of Walhalla Records. But this revival isn’t just about the past—retrospective (and new) releases are on the horizon. The legacy lives on as history spins forward—until 2026.
Cratje :: Osmosis, discovery
Joeri Bruyninckx engages in a brief yet insightful conversation with Jonathan Cant—better known as Cratje, the Brussels-based sonic alchemist and co-founder of the transmedial electronic label Montage—to delve into the latest chapter of the evocative Songs From The Gutter series.
Jairus Sharif :: Find energy in exploration
“I’m enthusiastic about so-called distortion, noise, blur, etc. and began to find energy in the exploration of signal-to-noise ratios and what true clarity of signal means to me. Accuracy, as I had previously understood it, is of little concern to me, and I’ve found that clarity in spirit has a high level of distortion as one of its most desirable traits.” ~Jairus Sharif
Giulio Erasmus :: Low-tech electronic music
Son of Alan Erasmus—Factory Records co-founder—Giulio carries forward a legacy of boundary-pushing sound, drawing deep inspiration from the raw energy of early ’80s UK counterculture and the immersive spirit of sound-system culture, blending both in a uniquely modern way.
Luc Van Acker :: Claustrophobia at its best
The daily overwhelm of incoming stimuli and the paralyzing consequences thereof.
Russell Haswell :: Never stop
Russell Haswell is a 55-year old electronic musician and visual artist, most well-known for his extreme computer music. He currently lives in Glasgow, having worked together with Aphex Twin, Florian Hecker, Merzbow, Mika Vainio, Yasunao Tone and Peter Rehberg and released on labels such as Warp, Editions Mego, and Diagonal.
Kroppskännedom :: Body Awareness
Andreas Malm describes what he does with Kroppskännedom as an amateur rock-oriented continuation of the more abstract and tape loop-based work he did before, or as an attempt to make song-based music that somewhat got lost along the way.















