De portables (BE)
After the release of Girls Beware! (2003), the Portables were called one of Belgian rock’s best-kept secrets on the Radio 1 programme Cucamonga. Suddenly – out of seemingly nowhere – there was a domestic band ready and able to quasi effortlessly unite the best of Tortoise, Pink Floyd, Can, The Notwist, Boards of Canada and Pinback. The group has been active for over a decade now, but their sweet-melancholic songs still impress as much as ever because of their multifaceted structures. Even at concerts, they are masters at creating open, stereoscopic post-rock sound.

Myspace
www.studiomuscle.com

Toman (BE)
Tomàn recently released their debut Catching A Grizzly Bear, Lesson One (in a mix by Jürgen de Blonde a.k.a. Köhn / the portables). Barely a year later, the follow-up is already here: Perhaps We Should Have Smoked The Salmon First. Tomàn’s music is indebted to that of Pinback (the guitar riffs), the portables (the riffs, the keys) and American Analog Set (the variation within the repetition). Their record will also be released in the States (via Graveface) and in spring 2007 the quintet will leave on a European tour with Madensuyu.

Myspace
www.toman.be

Madensuyu (BE)
‘Madensuyu’ means as much as ‘natural sparkling water’ in Turkish. The healing spring is a remarkably driven two-piece, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Pieterjan Vervondel and drummer/vocalist Stijn De Gezelle. As a duo, Madensuyu unleashes a pretty imposing noise rock sound. Their CD, A Field Between, intrigues from the very first intro. Songs hook under the skin with barbs; broadly meandering between subdued and boisterous, the musicians like to let life float along in an at times unstoppable wave of musical prowess. The Madensuyu concert already announces itself as an incantatory experience.

Myspace
www.madensuyu.be