The fantastic Belgian band Arsenal and the majestic Ozark Henry have been added to the program of Suikerrock 2014!
A
rsenal, the Belgian duo of Hendrik Willeyms and John Roan, have never been afraid to look beyond their country’s borders for inspiration. Over the course of four eclectic, and critically acclaimed, albums they’ve travelled as far afield as the United States, Brazil and Puerto Rico to work with everyone from Mike Ladd and Shawn Smith to Brazilian Mario Vitalino dos Santos and Chinese rapper Chi Zang.
For FURU, Arsenal’s fifth studio album, John and Hendrik headed east to Japan, a country packed with as many contradictions as the band themselves, a place where centuries of tradition rubs shoulders with the cutting edge of technology and neon clad skyscrapers rise up amongst ancient cherry orchards. For a band whose body of work has taken in everything from dancefloor friendly electronica to blissful ambience via radio friendly rock and pop and Latin and African rhythms, the appeal of this unique country should be obvious.
Featuring another all-star cast including the likes of Irish post-punk legend Gavin Friday, avant-garde rapper Doseone, UK indie stars Post War Years and Tim Bruzon of Wave Machines and long term collaborators Shawn Smith of Pigeonhed and The Blood Brothers’ Johnny Whitney, FURU sees the band at their very best, seamlessly fusing disparate musical sounds and styles together as a coherent whole, joining the dots between the underground and mainstream.
Not that this is business as usual for the band and from the first beautiful moments of opening track Temul it’s clear that Arsenal are more ambitious than ever. From widescreen FM radio anthems, like first single Black Mountain, that scream to be blasted from open topped cars, to the taut punk-funk hip-hop of Woe Is Me or the heart breaking Americana of album closer This Is Your Home, FURU is Arsenal’s definitive statement to date, a decade’s worth of experience behind every track.
Accompanying the album with be a short film ‘Dance Dance Dance’, directed by Hendrik and shot on location in Japan, starring Japanese star actor Dean Fujioka, Ayumi Ito, who featured in a Michel Gondry film and upcoming talent Aoi Morikawa. Due to be premiered at the Gent International Film Festival later this year, the band are also cutting a longer version of the film that will be incorporated after summer into their already hugely successful live show.
Having headlined festivals, soundtracked films and TV shows at home and in the States (Six Feet Under), won plaudits from both the indie and dance worlds and picked up a few celebrity fans such as Kanye West along the way, Arsenal continue to search out new challenges and set themselves new goals. Ten years and five albums down the line Arsenal still sound hungry for success, which really is just the way it should be.
Ozark Henry
Over the last decade Ozark Henry, alter ego of Piet Godaer, blew us away with intelligent pop songs like "Sweet Instigator", "Indian Summer", "Word Up" and "Godspeed". But his biggest hits were his sixth album "Helvreki" from 2010 with the hitsingle "This One's for You", and last year's "Stay gold" with the chartbreaking single "I’m Your Sacrifice", which became a big hit in Italy.
The 28th Suikerrock takes place on Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August 2014 in the centre of Tienen.