70 pages Edited by Signal Zero Text(s) by Jean Bruce Designed by Michaël Kawiecki – Konk Studio 21 x 14,8 cm Language: French Paperback Publisher: Signal Zero Editions 2024
Few musical genres can claim to have been born from the bold experimentation of club DJs. New Beat is one of those rare exceptions. At the dawn of this movement, visionaries such as Marc Grouls, Olivier Pieters, Dikke Ronny, and John Van Looverenhad the brilliant intuition to play records of eclectic styles—New Wave, Cold Wave, Italo Disco, Synth Pop, Electro Boogie, EBM, industrial music—by slowing 45 rpm maxi-singles down to 33 rpm, while pushing the turntable pitch up to +8%. This technique, nicknamed “Ancienne Belgique” or “AB Sound,” gives the tracks a striking heaviness and a spectacular, hypnotic dimension. Producers and DJs quickly seized upon this trend to create their own music, thus forging an entirely new genre. New Beat set Belgium and neighboring regions ablaze between 1987 and 1989, becoming a true social phenomenon, often portrayed controversially by the media. But two factors hastened the rapid decline of New Beat: the mass production of tracks—often uneven and overly commercial—and, above all, the explosive arrival of Techno and Dance Music, which ushered in the beginning of a new musical and party-driven era. To retrace the essence of New Beat, whose peak spanned just two brief years, here is a selection of 60 tracks among the most emblematic and diverse of this essential musical genre—one that continues to inspire many contemporary artists.
