calebt (Curator)

Recently, the Belgian record label Kraak gave the FMA the green light to go ahead and plunder their website for whatever sample mp3s they could find. Within a few days, a veritable Kraak pu-pu platter was made available through the FMA's burgeoning server.

One of the most attractive features of the catalogue is the glimpse it offers of the rise of the Belgian collective known as Studio Muscle. It started as the tape-label brainchild of Ingwio D'Hespeel, who in 1992 began putting out countless lo-fi pop tunes as Wio (coincidentally, it seems, Polish for "Giddyap!"). He soon drew comparisons to songwriters like Nick Drake, and Kraak happily released a full-length CD of carefully crafted songs, shoegaze fuzz-rock tinged with sentiment and humor.

Featured on many of these tunes were some of Wio's soon to be Belgian supergroup co-stars like Jurgen de Blonde (aka Köhn). De Blonde, for the most part, makes pop-sensible electronic soundscapes and glitch music. He lends an eerie, industrial edge that complements the warmth of Wio's fleshy pop melodies. Thrown into a blender with a couple other Bruges phenoms, De Portables was born in 1996, crooning electro-pop "post-rock" (as they lament being labeled) in impeccable English. All the while, Kraak was keeping tabs on Köhn and his various collaborations with Wio, and glimpses of their courtship are now preserved on the FMA. Köhn continues to produce solo albums, and Kraak continues to package and churn them out - a new LP entitled "We Need More Space In The Cosmos" is actually his first solo production since 2003, and Kraak is calling it "The comeback we were all waiting for!"

Presently, the Studio Muscle blog serves as the internet outpost for the now Belgian rockstars, offering images from the life and tracking the musical and visual output of the collective. De Portables are set to release a new full-length, and the Muscle is offering a preview track, alongside an outtake inspired by a beaver. Keep an eye on the flickr.