Review Summary: An excellent official debut by the Belgian musician/producer who has already made a name for himself in his native country.
Belgian music scene is certainly one that has been constantly producing intriguing acts all the way back to Jacques Brel or Plastic Bertrand to name names from a different musical spectrum. In the Eighties, it was Hector Zazou and his Crammed Discs label that came up with some freaky music from strange beats to classical and World music. All that even exploded further later on with dEUS and its spin-off Zita Swoon. But it seems that some of the names that are producing intriguing music are yet to make a name outside Belgian borders.
Jasper Maekelberg has certainly made it back home. Although Night Funeral is considered his debut album, at least under the Faces on TV moniker, he has been a force behind a number of Belgian music projects (Bazart, Tsar B, Warhola, Warhaus to name just a few), so much so that a documentary has been made about him and his career so far.
Does Night Funeral give any clues to the reasons for his success back home? Sure does. The album is filled with off-kilter pop/rock/beat music like the title track itself. The album title in itself is a bit of a giveaway of the music that is to be found inside - like a soundtrack to a teen vampire story, recorded in the dark corners and clubs of Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent or Brugge. And the black and white cover of Maekelberg looks like he is sitting exactly in one such club.
Tracks like the opener “Suspicious” or “Same Thing” are always on the edges of shadow and light, showing not only that Maekelberg has a vast collection of good Crammed Discs output, and possibly albums of the Eighties artists like Lizzy Mercier Descloux and obscurities like Judy Nylon’s Pal Judy album but also a very keen sense of how to combine a good beat and melody and intricate details like the samples in “The Image Of Boy Wander”.
Over the eleven tracks, Maekelberg doesn’t lose that light/dark thread nor his sense of what a good pop should sound like, with or without some elements that only on the first listen seem not to belong there, but turn out to give these songs an element of complexity that raises them to another level.
No matter what some music critics might think, quality pop music is exceedingly hard to make since you have to respect some ‘rules of engagement’, particularly if you want to expand it with elements that might seem unexpected. With Night Funeral Maekelberg is able to come up with great pop and combine it with not so expected. We’ll certainly hear more from him.
