101 was a Belgian New Beat project, which had life for a couple of years between 1988 and 1990.
Little is known about whoever is behind 101, except they released a slew of largely forgotten singles which were distributed amongst the clubs of the underground dance scene of Belgium at the time. New Beat had stylistic origins in electronic body music (or EBM for short), synthpop and acid house, and is claimed to be a forerunner to the later sounds of euro-house. The two songs that make up
Rock To The Beat sit comfortably somewhere in between, the slick grooves of the title track opening with the words "
Ecstasy, Ecstasy". A male vocalist sings "
Rock to The Beat" over and over, whilst you can't fault 101 for experimenting too much the song develops as an exercise in minimalist dance music which is repetitive but not gratingly so. B-side
Saigon Nightmare is the real highlight here though, with it's infectious melodies and acidic bass hook it is certainly a forgotten old school electronic music classic if there ever was one. Both tracks are good, but
Saigon Nightmare is the superior one I feel, if only for the lack of vocals.
Rock To The Beat is a short, but memorable release from a project nobody remembers from a electronic subgenre nobody cares about. There is not much else to say about it.
