Onderstroom presents Box, a compilation of early material by Siglo XX. In 1978 a few friends started rehearsing and playing music together in a garage in Genk, an industrial and former mining town in Belgium. They called themselves Siglo XX. The group's name is Spanish for "Twentieth Century" and refers to a Bolivian mine named Siglo XX, where there was social unrest, so the link with the city of Genk was obvious. Genk also had to cope with social issues as unemployment, poverty and drug related problems after the closure of the coal mines. Siglo XX were Erik Dries (vocals), Antonio Palermo (guitar), Dirk Chauvaux (guitar, bass), Klaas Hoogerwaard (drums), Chris Nelis (synthesizer 1980-2), and Guido Bos (bass 1978-1984). Under the influence of the punk spirit coming from England, they wanted to make their music that expressed their feelings, emotions and views on society. Technical skills on musical instruments were only required to a lesser extent. In 1980 their debut 7" The Naked And The Death was released on their own independent label Straatlawaai Records. This single was followed by the release of a self-titled cassette in 1982. Shortly after they signed to Antler Records; this was the most important and prolific era of their existence. In the time span of a few years the band released two EPs and one mini-album: The Art Of War (1982), Answer (1983) and Dreams Of Pleasure (1983), containing 13 songs, which constitute the heart and soul of their oeuvre. Produced by label owner Roland Beelen, Siglo XX linger between cold wave, new wave and post punk. They were often named the Belgian Joy Division, which makes sense listening to their dark and gloomy sound, but they also experimented with strange sounds and incorporated these cleverly in their songs. "Listening back to the tracks such as 'The Art Of War', 'La Vie Dans La Nuit', 'Youth Sentiment', 'Autumn', 'Until A Day', and 'Endless Corridor', it still moves me and brings up memories of that exciting period in the eighties, when we were younger, living the life and listening to music that we associated with our life, our dreams, plans and expectations. That's the essence for us in the music of Siglo XX. That's the reason why these songs mean so much to us, and why they always will." --Marc Vos. Remastered by Martin Bowes, with artwork by Tone Loenders. Includes replicas of the original inserts.
Released November 2018 on Onderstroom Records.
English