The Roots — EBM, Industrial & New Beat

Belgian electronic music begins in the early 1980s — the cold machine-pulse of EBM and industrial (Front 242, A Split Second), the electro-pop of Telex, and the late-80s invention of "New Beat": EBM and acid records slowed to a hypnotic crawl in clubs like Boccaccio. The sound that started it all.

Part of The Belgian Sound

77 moments in this segment.

1. 1979 — Telex — "Moskow Diskow" (1979). Brussels trio Telex (Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman, Michel Moers) made deadpan, fully-electronic pop years ahead of its time. "Moskow Diskow" is a founding record of European synth music — Belgium's electronic story starts here.
2. 1979 — Telex — "Rock Around the Clock". Telex's minimalist electronic reinventions defined early Belgian synth-pop (1979).
3. 1980 — Telex — "Eurovision" (1980). Telex famously entered Eurovision with a deadpan electro song, years ahead of its time.
4. 1982 — Arbeid Adelt! / the Flemish new-wave electronic fringe. The Flemish new-wave and minimal-electronic scene of the 80s sat alongside EBM (1982).
5. 1983 — The Neon Judgement — Belgian EBM. Leuven's The Neon Judgement were pioneers of Belgian EBM/electro-punk, a key early-80s act in the lineage that runs to New Beat and techno.
6. 1984 — Parade Ground — Belgian synth/EBM. Brussels' Parade Ground were an early Belgian electronic act admired by Front 242 and the wider EBM scene.
7. 1985 — Poésie Noire — Belgian dark wave/EBM. Poésie Noire were part of the dark-electronic Belgian wave of the mid-80s, a sibling current to EBM.
8. 1985 — The Klinik — industrial/EBM. Antwerp's The Klinik (Marc Verhaeghen, Dirk Ivens) were among the darkest and most influential Belgian EBM/industrial acts of the 80s.
9. 1986 — Bene Gesserit / the Belgian experimental fringe. Belgium's electronic underground had a deeply experimental fringe in the 80s, feeding the industrial/EBM mainstream.
10. 1986 — A Split-Second — "Flesh" (1986). A Split-Second's "Flesh", played at the wrong (slower) speed by Antwerp DJs, is often cited as the spark of New Beat — the moment Belgian EBM mutated into a new genre on the dancefloor.
11. 1987 — From Popcorn to New Beat. Belgium's earlier "Popcorn" oldies-dance scene fed directly into the new beat tempo and sensibility.
12. 1987 — Nux Nemo — "Hi-Lite". One of the records that, slowed down on Belgian dancefloors, helped define the New Beat tempo and feel.
13. 1987 — Front 242 — "Masterhit". A Front 242 EBM classic, the Belgian machine sound at its most precise.
14. 1987 — Front Line Assembly-era Belgian EBM. The wider EBM movement that Belgium's Front 242 set in motion.
15. 1987 — A Split-Second — "Rigor Mortis". A Split-Second's harder EBM/new beat sound was a cornerstone of the early Belgian electronic body music canon.
16. 1988 — New beat — "Acid Rock" & the acid crossover. New beat met acid house as the Belgian sound mutated at the end of the 80s.
17. 1988 — La New Beat : le phénomène electro belge !. New Beat from the Belgian scene — La New Beat : le phénomène electro belge !. (c. 1988).
18. 1988 — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Panorama Jambers. New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Panorama Jambers. (c. 1988)
19. 1988 — Boccaccio — the birthplace of New Beat. The Boccaccio in Destelbergen, with its mirrored temple interior, is where New Beat was born — DJ's spinning EBM at the wrong speed to a packed, hypnotised floor.
20. 1988 — NEW BEAT FRUM BELGIUM - Boccaccio Remix. New Beat from the Belgian scene — NEW BEAT FRUM BELGIUM - Boccaccio Remix. (c. 1988).
21. 1988 — New Beat - The Sound of Belgium. New Beat from the Belgian scene — New Beat - The Sound of Belgium. (c. 1988).
22. 1988 — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Discotheek Empire (silent recording). New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Discotheek Empire (silent recording). (c. 1988).
23. 1988 — Belgian TV reportage discotheek Boccaccio heropening. From Boccaccio, one of the temples of Belgian club culture — Belgian TV reportage discotheek Boccaccio heropening. (c. 1988).
24. 1988 — Front 242 - Headhunter (Official Video). Belgium's Front 242 pioneered EBM (electronic body music); Headhunter is one of the Belgian electronic scene's defining tracks (c. 1988).
25. 1988 — talking about belgian new beat ... New Beat from the Belgian scene — talking about belgian new beat .. (c. 1988).
26. 1988 — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Vlaams Muzieklandschap Panorama Jambers. New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Vlaams Muzieklandschap Panorama Jambers. (c. 1988).
27. 1988 — Belgian New Beat TV reportage & Miss Nicky Trax – Acid In The House - FR video from VHS. New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat TV reportage & Miss Nicky Trax – Acid In The House - FR video from VHS. (c. 1988).
28. 1988 — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Live video hits from VHS. New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat TV reportage Live video hits from VHS. (c. 1988).
29. 1988 — The Maxx — "Cocaine" / New Beat hits. New Beat's dark, mid-tempo throb produced a wave of 1988 club records that briefly dominated Belgian nightlife.
30. 1988 — The new beat sound — slowed to 33rpm. New Beat's signature trick: playing EBM and acid 45s at 33rpm, creating a darker, hypnotic mid-tempo groove that swept Belgian clubs.
31. 1988 — Rrose Sélavy / In-D — "Virgin in-D Sky's". In-D's "Virgin in-D Sky's" is one of the most iconic New Beat records, a Belgian club staple of 1988.
32. 1988 — Lords of Acid — early new beat. Praga Khan's Lords of Acid emerged from the new beat scene before going international.
33. 1988 — Front 242 — "Headhunter" (1988). Front 242, from Aarschot/Brussels, defined "Electronic Body Music" — the militant, machine-driven sound that gave the whole genre its name. "Headhunter" is its anthem and a direct ancestor of techno.
34. 1988 — Front 242 — "Quite Unusual". A Front 242 club staple, the militant EBM sound that the Belgians invented and exported worldwide.
35. 1988 — The Belgian new beat compilations. New Beat compilations like "This Is The New Beat" gathered the sound into a national craze.
36. 1988 — New Beat is born — Boccaccio (1988). In the late 1980s, Belgian DJs slowed EBM and acid records to a hypnotic crawl. Born in clubs like Boccaccio in Destelbergen, "New Beat" became a national craze and the foundation of Belgian techno.
37. 1988 — Morton, Sherman, Bellucci — "Music" (new beat). A Belgian new beat project typical of the genre's studio-team approach and deadpan hooks.
38. 1988 — Erotic Dissidents / "Move Your Ass" — new beat hits. New Beat threw off a stream of one-off club hits and novelty smashes in 1988-89, a genre that briefly took over Belgian charts and dancefloors.
39. 1988 — From EBM to the dancefloor. Front 242 and the EBM pioneers gave new beat its machine-driven DNA, the bridge from industrial to the club.
40. 1989 — Front 242 — "Never Stop!". FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY THE IMAGES BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS
41. 1989 — Belgian TV reportage discotheek Boccaccio Razzia. From Boccaccio, one of the temples of Belgian club culture — Belgian TV reportage discotheek Boccaccio Razzia. (c. 1989).
42. 1989 — Belgian New Beat Video Hits - Part Two: Acid Heavy Tracks (Miss Nicky Trax, Tribe 22, Boy Toy, etc.). New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat Video Hits - Part Two: Acid Heavy Tracks (Miss Nicky Trax, Tribe 22, Boy Toy, etc.). (c. 1989).
43. 1989 — Belgian New Beat Video Hits - Part One: The Introduction. (Jade 4U, A Split Second, Liasons D, etc.). New Beat from the Belgian scene — Belgian New Beat Video Hits - Part One: The Introduction. (Jade 4U, A Split Second, Liasons D, etc.). (c. 1989).
44. 1989 — Prestige, Ancienne Belgique & the New Beat clubs. A circuit of Flemish clubs — Prestige, the Ancienne Belgique nights — spread the New Beat craze across Belgium in the late 80s.
45. 1989 — The Klinik — Belgian industrial. Antwerp's The Klinik, cornerstone of Belgian industrial/EBM.
46. 1989 — Front 242 — "Welcome to Paradise". A Front 242 EBM anthem, the Belgian machine-gospel at full power.
47. 1989 — The Klinik — "Moving Hands". Antwerp's The Klinik, the dark heart of Belgian industrial/EBM.
48. 1989 — Snowy Red / the Belgian minimal-synth wave. Belgium's late-70s/80s minimal-synth pioneers fed the electronic lineage.
49. 1989 — Amnesia — "Hysteria". A defining late-New-Beat / early-house Belgian record, bridging the genres on the cusp of the 90s.
50. 1989 — Jade 4U / Miss Nicky Trax — New Beat's women. Producers and vocalists like Jade 4U (Nikkie Van Lierop) shaped the New Beat and early-rave sound from the inside.
51. 1989 — Confetti's — the New Beat dance craze. Confetti's turned New Beat into a televised dance craze, complete with choreography, taking the Belgian sound to pop audiences.
52. 1989 — Confetti's — "The Sound of C" (1989). New Beat went pop with Confetti's "The Sound of C" — a chart hit, complete with the hi-NRG dance craze, that carried the Belgian sound into living rooms across Europe.
53. 1989 — Technotronic — "Pump Up the Jam" (1989). Belgium's Technotronic took the new beat / hip-house sound to #1 around the world with "Pump Up the Jam" — the country's biggest electronic pop crossover of the era.
54. 1989 — New beat goes to TV — the video hits. New Beat invaded Belgian television with dance shows and video-hit compilations in 1988-89.
55. 1989 — Acid house arrives in Belgium. As new beat peaked, acid house's 303 squelch crossed into the Belgian clubs, pushing toward rave.
56. 1989 — New beat's provocative pop hits. New beat threw off provocative novelty hits that briefly dominated the Belgian charts.
57. 1989 — Rhythm Device — "Acid Rock". Frank De Wulf's Rhythm Device "Acid Rock" bridged new beat, acid and the coming techno.
58. 1989 — Tragic Error — "Tanzen" (new beat hit). Tragic Error's "Tanzen" was one of the bigger new-beat-era Belgian club and chart records.
59. 1990 — Technotronic — "Get Up!". Technotronic followed "Pump Up the Jam" with another global hi-NRG/hip-house smash.
60. 1990 — Technotronic — "This Beat Is Technotronic". More hip-house from Belgium's biggest new-beat-era pop export.
61. 1990 — Lords of Acid — "Rough Sex". Praga Khan's Lords of Acid pushed acid-house provocation to the international stage.
62. 1991 — Lords of Acid — "The Crab Louse". Lords of Acid's provocative Belgian acid-house.
63. 1991 — 2 Unlimited — "Get Ready for This". The Belgian-produced (De Coster/Wilde) 2 Unlimited became a global rave-pop juggernaut.
64. 1991 — Front 242 — "Rhythm of Time". ".
65. 1991 — Front 242 — "Tragedy for You" (1991). At their commercial peak, Front 242 — the inventors of "Electronic Body Music" — brought the militant Belgian machine sound to international audiences.
66. 1991 — Lords of Acid — "I Sit on Acid". Praga Khan's Lords of Acid took Belgian new beat and acid into provocative, club-smashing territory and broke internationally.
67. 1992 — Boccaccio Life Destelbergen 4. From Boccaccio, one of the temples of Belgian club culture — Boccaccio Life Destelbergen 4. (c. 1992).
68. 1992-06-15 — Boccaccio — the mixtapes. A row of hand-labelled Maxell cassettes — "Boccaccio 1" through "6" — recorded at the club that gave birth to New Beat. The kind of original tape the Out Soon archive preserves.
69. 1992-06-15 — Telefacts Belgian House Music VTM, 1992 A "Boccaccio Life" Tribute.. From Boccaccio, one of the temples of Belgian club culture — Telefacts Belgian House Music VTM, 1992 A "Boccaccio Life" Tribute. (1992)
70. 1992-06-15 — Boccaccio Life Destelbergen (1992) 35min. From Boccaccio, one of the temples of Belgian club culture — Boccaccio Life Destelbergen (1992) 35min. (1992)
71. 1993-01-01 — Front 242 — Religion. Front 242's industrial-EBM, one of Belgium's most influential electronic exports.
72. 2010-10-11 — DJ springer-the magic flute. dance
73. 2011 — The Klinik — "Moving Hands" era. The Klinik's cold, clanking industrial-EBM from Antwerp (2011).
74. 2013 — The Neon Judgement — TV Treated. Belgian EBM pioneers The Neon Judgement (2013).
75. 2013-06-15 — New Beat mix 1 - The sound of Belgium. New Beat from the Belgian scene — New Beat mix 1 - The sound of Belgium. (2013)
76. 2014-06-15 — New Beat Megamix The Boccaccio Mix. New Beat from the Belgian scene — New Beat Megamix The Boccaccio Mix. (2014)
77. 2020-06-15 — The Sound of Belgium - New Beat mix X (MEGAMIX) / All classics in one mix !!!. New Beat from the Belgian scene — The Sound of Belgium - New Beat mix X (MEGAMIX) / All classics in one mix !!!. (2020)