Cold war propaganda, the installation of Reagan’s cruise missiles, death throes of the steel industry... For young hopefuls with the sheer audacity to be out of a job, Belgium in the early eighties is shrouded in a sombre mist. For TB Frank and Dirk Da Davo, however, this dreary background turns out to be an invaluable source of inspiration: for The Neon Judgement, all it takes to become one of the most relevant bands of its timeframe, is a minimum of instruments and a surplus of anger and frustration to vent. Motorik beats from primitive drum machines bounce against TB’s jerky guitar riffs, while Da Davo forces analog grunts and sweeps from his bad-tempered synths. Lyrics are sparse, and are shrieked or spat out like slogans of a restless heart. Songs are called ‘Factory Walk’, ‘TV Treated’, ‘Too Cold To Breathe’ or ‘Concrete’, and while scoring the soundtrack to this social ice age, the band also provides the foundations of a number of electro genres to come.
Later, TNJ’s output will become less glacial and more melodic, in spite of their ever present tendencies to experiment with form and technology. Musically, moods – be it a Johnny Cash country twang or a Serge Gainsbourg cafard – may colour the overall atmosphere, but the main building blocks remain: anger, love, beats, and songs that are written because they have to be. When TB Frank and Dirk Da Davo decide to take a sabbatical in 1999, it’s exactly that feeling of necessity that keeps on smouldering in the hearts of the many fans they’ve made along the way. Fans like Dave Clarke, Tiga or the Hacker, who’ve meanwhile become pivotal figures themselves in an ever expanding electro scene. But respect and kudos don’t limit themselves to a small incrowd: when the band take to the stage of the Ancienne Belgique in September 2007, the place is packed to capacity.
With “Smack!”, their first studio album since “Dazsoo” (1998), The Neon Judgement once again prove the relevancy of their presence on today’s music scene. Here’s a band that is still angry – song titles like ‘The Great Consumer’, ‘Leash’ and ‘’Smack!’ live up to their promise – and, most of all, still vintage Neon Judgement: recognisable yet firmly rooted in the new century, brawly and without compromise yet swinging and hopeful. Its good to know they’re there.
