Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Click here for an overview of the upcoming Wildgedragconcerts

COEM and V.O. are two Belgian bands that have been undeservedly ignored by the mainstream. Yet they excel in fine, if slightly unusual, pop tunes. A double bill with two underestimated but enchanting bands from Belgium! Listen to them

COEM (Coin Operated Entertaintment Machine) was created ten years ago in a rehearsal space in an old gelatine factory in Hasselt, Belgium. We’ve Got Speakers on the Outside of Our Spacecraft is the fifth release by singer Marc Wetzel and his comrades. Coem stands for indie rock with echoes of noise and jazz, shrouded in fine horns and even accordions, arranged by Han Stubbe, who plays the clarinet in DAAU.

With bands like Girls in Hawaii and Sharko, it needn’t be said that Wallonia has produced an equal amount of musical talent to Flanders. V.O. (short for Version Originale) is another band that deserves more attention this side of the language border.
V.O. is a project by Boris Gronemberger, drummer for Soy un Caballo, Chacda, Raymondo, ¨Stars of the Lid, etc. His layered acoustic songs often have an electronic feel and were described by Flemish newspaper De Morgen as “attractive melodies that effortlessly gain a place in your memory”. V.O’s second album, Obstacles, was called an intimate and unique masterpiece by the press.