Ro Maron - Collected #1

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  • If Belgian New Beat is remembered at all in 2015, it's mainly as a precursor to UK hardcore. As the smiley euphoria of acid house faded, a wave of mid-paced, monolithic New Beat tracks ushered in a darker era in British and European clubbing. On this collection of vintage tracks by the prolific artist Rembert De Smet, AKA Ro Maron, that evolution is clear. Produced quickly under numerous aliases, De Smet's tracks fused EBM's brutality with the groove of Chicago house to produce salvos of suffocating bass pressure and fire-alarm synths. Today they sound theatrical, if not camp, but in 1991 they were utterly terrifying. As Collected illustrates, however, there was more to New Beat than proto-rave histrionics. Chronicled in the 2013 documentary The Sound Of Belgium, this huge, late '80s scene was in fact a vibrant confluence of genres and ideas. It encompassed everything from synth pop ("Something Scary") to romping electronic disco ("I Got You"). Ro Maron in particular sought to merge electro pop, burping acid loops and a bleak post-punk aesthetic with a hip-hop-derived sense of funk. In 1987, such tracks were defiantly weird. Today, their hard-edged eclecticism seems oddly contemporary. You could easily imagine Ben UFO or Joy Orbison breaking-out "Brain Killer," the Art Of Noise-y "SM" or "Taste My Acid Fruit," especially as a bit of end-of-set fun. Most of that essential material is on CD1 (or on the eight-track vinyl release). The first half of CD2 is dominated by mellower dub versions and dated ambient material. Ripe tracks like "Tickle Me," meanwhile, prefigure hardcore rave's cheesier tendencies. Nonetheless, in this compilation's best moments, you can understand why Optimo's JD Twitch ranks De Smet as "one of the top five best users of a 303 of all time."
  • Tracklist
      01. Zsa Zsa La Boum - Something Scary 02. Edwards & Armani - Acid Drill 03. Phantasia - Welcome To My Acid House 04. Reject 707 - Brain Killer 05. Kaos 007 - ..ck On Acid (Instrumental Mix) 06. Miss Nude - Taste My Acid Fruit 07. Mr White - Gimme Some Acid 08. SM - SM 09. 2 Body's - Body Drill 10. Air Of Gloom - Meditation (Astro Mix) 11. Agaric - Tiled Room (Reversed Mix) 12. Sleepwalker - I Got You 13. Little Little - Just The Way Like This 14. Trance Trax - Give Yourself 15. Trance Trax - Odd Flute (UK Mix) 16. Le Mystère - Opus 303 17. Sleepwalker - Pink Zone (Sax Mix) 18. Le Mystère - On The Beat (Dub) 19. Sleepwalker - Sleepwalker 20. Sleepwalker - All Jazz 21. Beat Beat Beat - Beat In The Street 22. Alpha Beta - Games For Boys (Instrumental) 23. Little Little - It Just Makes We Want To Dance (Instrumental Dub) 24. Believe It Or Not - I Like It (Instrumental) 25. Zsa Zsa La Boum - Tu Veux Ou Tu Veux Pas (Instrumental) 26. Rhythm Kings - A La Recherche Du Temps Perdue 27. 2 Body's - Astoria 28. Agaric - I'm Gonna Beat This (Instrumental Acid Mix) 29. Agaric-Bhab - Cute Acid
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