seal

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

The possibilities for breaking through as a musician in Flanders are relatively limited. Some invest in social media in the hope of reaching an audience, while others hope that the algorithms of streaming services like Spotify will place them in popular playlists. Nevertheless, the most effective path to fame remains participation in one of our music competitions. One of the most important and famous, Humo’s Rock Rally, had its final yesterday, traditionally held in the box of the Ancienne Belgique. Of the more than 750 artists who initially registered, ten remained after the preselections and competed against each other live last night. It must be said that the standard of each act was exceptionally high, regardless of whether they won an award.

TJE

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

The afternoon was started by TJE, a trio that comes up with alternative, semi-electronic music. In principle, that was the perfect opener: TJE played layered songs and was creative with her synths and effects, not to mention the beautiful voice of Lindy Versyck – who would provide solo support for Johannes Is His Name five hours later. at the AB Club. The third track, “Days Exist,” unfolded into a compelling wall of sound created through echo and delay on the vocals and a pounding bass drum operated by guitarist Melvin Slabbinck. This even gave the whole thing a psychedelic vibe. TJE opened the final with a strong performance, which was even awarded a bronze medal at the end.

Edouard van Praet

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

Then it was Edouard van Praet’s turn. The virtuoso from Brussels was an outsider at the Rock Rally: in interviews he already indicated that he regretted that the Brussels scene is so far removed from the Flemish one, because he sees many similarities between his music and that of the other candidates. Actually, we can only agree with him. Last month he shone at the Brussels Ways Around festival and we considered him one of the best artists of that day, so expectations were high. During the sound check he already showed a preview of “Bigstar”, with which he would later close his set. During his performance he moved around the stage like a man possessed and even dived into the audience during the second song. A true born artist, and we haven’t even mentioned the excellent quality of his repertoire that he presented yesterday. When it became known that Van Praet had to go home without a prize, we were of course very surprised, but in any case he has won our hearts again!

Aaron Koch

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

After a short ten-minute break, Aäron Koch’s band took the stage. The man has already gained the necessary experience at Calicos, where he plays the pedal steel, among other things. For this occasion he dusted it off again and the group treated us to some folk rock that was sometimes a cross between Bon Iver, Balthazar and The War on Drugs. The spirit of the latter was particularly evident in the third song, the first few minutes of which were perfect Lost in the Dream had fitted. It could be a coincidence, but we caught the frontman playing some signature Calicos licks on his guitar. At times we doubted whether the songs that Koch played took sufficient distance from his other band. One of the biggest differences between the two remains the structure of the songs: while Calicos presents his songs more straightforward, Aäron Koch solo opts for a more climactic approach. Each of the three songs ended in a powerful outro that set the AB on fire. Koch and his band provided the most nostalgic sounds of the evening with their music and in this way certainly managed to distinguish themselves.

Those Who Didn’t

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

The quartet Those Who Didn’t was the only group of the evening to perform without singing. With their instrumental ‘post-everything, pre-nothing’, as they describe their music on their own VI.BE-pagina, the four of them fired an impressive wall of sound at the audience for sixteen minutes. Whether this was because one of the guitarists looked like John Dwyer, because the bassist seemed to evoke his inner Lambrini Girl with his T-shirt, or because the drummer pounded so hard on his percussion that the microphones of his left crash cymbal and kick drum the planks flew, let’s leave it in the middle. What is certain is that this act was the first of the evening where everything had to make way for the music. The raw energy that the band radiated was infectious, but the harsh reality is that instrumental music will always have to start from an underdog position. That’s why we feared that these four great musicians would not be among the three lucky ones. Still, we hope that Those Who Didn’t can use its experience at the Rock Rally as a springboard. For a band without a singer, the instruments speak enough.

Koala Disco

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

After the noise rock of Those Who Didn’t, it was the turn of the post-rockers of Koala Disco. The group from North Limburg already appeared on our radar three years ago when they participated in Sound Track, VI.BE’s biennial opportunity trail. We gave three and four stars to their first and second EPs respectively, and we also received most of the singles in a positive way. Our expectations were therefore extremely high. When the band arrived, it quickly became clear to loud cheers that they had the most fans in the room, which was once again evident given the fact that the group managed to win the audience award. The genres she plays lean towards the stoner rock of bands like All Them Witches, Kyuss and the earliest work of Queens of the Stone Age, and on the last song we even heard an echo of Osees echoing through the room – which made John Dwyer mentioned for the second time in this article. That echo became more and more progressive, to the point where we had to imagine Stu Mackenzie’s ‘woo’s’. Halfway through the set, the lead guitarist briefly left his spot; the band seemed confused by it for a moment, as did we. Fortunately, the rest of the band members already managed to start and extend the intro of the next song, so Koala Disco gave us a lesson in professionalism. A well-deserved audience award!

WASTE

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

A second time everything went to tatters with the neo-hardcore punk group WASTE. The five-piece from Antwerp claim that they combine experimental noise with dark post-punk. In short: noise. In our opinion, that is also the best way to describe the group’s music. With that noise she already managed to become a laureate of the aforementioned Sound Track and she also won smaller rock competitions, such as the Leuven Interfaculty Rock Rally in 2022. The band is also an artist in residence in Trix. So it’s no big surprise that she manages to distinguish herself in a competition like Humo’s Rock Rally. During the second song a large mosh pit was formed that would not close until the end of the set. Jef Jenaer was the second of the evening to walk among his spectators, but fate is never in your own hands: his microphone disconnected and he was forced to withdraw. Just in time for the pounding “If I Had a Gun”, where even the most pacifist monk would want to throw punches. Fortunately, the photographers had a good grip on their camera equipment, because those who stood at the front rail will still feel it in their ribs today.

Lizard

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

After a short break of 45 minutes, it was time for the post-punk group Lézard to perform. Lézard has also been praised several times by us and was recently selected as ‘Big Bear of Tomorrow’. So we expected some good, danceable music. You can imagine our surprise when David Gilmour showed up during the sound check to test the bass. Andreas Duchi can consider that as a compliment, because his bass lines always gave that little bit of extra dynamics and danceability to the set. This became immediately clear with the first song. Singer Myrthe Marnef’s ‘oh oh’s’ were also appreciated. On the second track, “Manifestique”, we noticed Nile Rodgers-esque guitar parts that got us dancing again, and on “Nothing At All”, a song ‘about smartphones’, we heard the essence of Squid echoing through the mix . The fact that Lézard was unable to secure a spot in the top three was a small disappointment for us.

SEAL

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

What do you get when you mix the post-punk of Koala Disco with the aggression of WASTE? The answer to that question is apparently SEAL. Together with drummer Stijn Stangl, Niels Tuijaerts and Jef Jenaer form an extremely energetic power trio that can be characterized as ‘psychedelic noise’. It should therefore come as no surprise that things were done from second to second. The sweat had barely evaporated from Jenaer’s forehead and his screams were again piercing his marrow. That from his vocal chords through his microphone, that from his guitar via a digital delay to his amplifier, causing the genre to fluctuate between garage rock and psychedelic. It was also during this set that the biggest mosh pit of the evening emerged; someone even started crowdsurfing at one point. Although ZEGEL delivered an energetic set, it lacked substantive value. Unfortunately, the group’s trademark turned out to be its only asset. In other words, the riffs were good and played tightly, and the drum parts were perhaps among the most catchy of the evening, but lyrically we were still a bit lacking.

TEUN

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

We cooled down with the enchanting voice of TEUN, the alias of Teun Truijen from Maastricht. During her set you could have heard a pin drop; the whole room became deathly quiet. That the Dutch woman managed to put on such an impressive performance was actually expected: after all, to vocally support someone like Eefje de Visser, you have to come from a good background. What was immediately noticeable was that TEUN sang very consistently in tune, especially with the charming “Give It a Chance”, while we got a warmer feeling with the second song “Floating”. Armed with only a synthesizer, a drum machine and her voice, she didn’t need much to almost move us to tears. Unfortunately, the last song, “Ready for You”, was lyrically weaker than the rest and was quite repetitive, but that did not detract from the quality of her voice. Do we think she belonged in the top three? The performance provided a necessary change of pace, but the other groups were able to please us just a little more.

Mary Iscariot

© CPU – Jan Van Hecke

It was extremely fitting that Maria Iscariot got to play last: not only did it look like a headlining show, but also because the built-up energy that the audience had to have contained after ZEGEL’s performance came out in an instant. Maria Iscariot only needed ten minutes to completely win over the jury. The group performed three songs that were not on its recent debut EP ONE/ONE were included, including “Tijm”, a translation of “Tame”, a Pixies song. It wasn’t even noticeable at first that it turned out to be a cover. The group turned it into something completely their own and it clearly caught on: at one point frontwoman Helena Cazaerck threw herself into the audience and crowd surfed as if her life depended on it. She jumped across the stage like a man possessed, which once again emphasized the raw energy with which the group presented itself. And then we haven’t even mentioned the powerful drumming of Sybe Versluys, which made us think of a young Dave Grohl. So think of Maria Iscariot as a mix of Nirvana and North Cape, with an extra dash of character.

The final of Humo’s Rock Rally 2024 was again a top edition with some promising groups. Although our personal favorites did not go home with a medal, we cannot deny that almost every band worked hard to give the best of themselves.

Our top three: