From Brussels with Love (again)

In case you missed it, here's an interview the Phantom did earlier this year for Up Front magazine with James Nice of LTM recordings. James kindly answered some questions about the reissued From Brussels with Love compilation, originally released on Annik Honore and Michel Duval's les Disques du Crepuscule label. The photo is of the former Crepuscule HQ in Ixelles.

From Brussels with Love (again)
Flashback to 1980: Brussels venues such as the Ancienne Belgique, Plan K in Molenbeek and Klacik in Place St. Job regularly play host to some of Europe's coolest bands, from Echo & the Bunnymen and the Cure to U2 and Germany's Der Plan. Ties between the concert organizers at Plan K and Manchester's Joy Division and Factory Records become particularly strong, as Control, the forthcoming biopic of the band's troubled singer, Ian Curtis, will show. These links lead to the founding of two record labels (Factory Benelux and les disques du Crepuscule - both run from the same flat in Uccle). The first release by les disques du Crepuscule, which continued putting out great music till 2004, is From Brussels with Love in November 1980. Released as a limited edition cassette in innovative packaging designed by Benoit Hennebert and Jean-Francois Octave, the album features a diverse, international cast of performers, including future pop star Thomas Dolby, and the first recorded works of New Order and of award-winning film composer, Michael Nyman (The Piano, The Hours). Throw in interviews with Brian Eno and Jeanne Moreau and poetry by ex-Skid and future TV presenter, Richard Jobson, and you have a podcast ahead of its time. Writing for the UK's NME, critic Paul Morley is moved to describe the album thus: "This is a reminder – without really trying, without being obvious – that pop is modern poetry, is the sharpest, shiniest collection of experiences, is always something new." Returning to the present: From Brussels with Love has just been reissued on CD by LTM Recordings. Justin Toland catches up with LTM founder and former Crepuscule employee, James Nice, to find out what made the compilation and the label so special.

Q: How would you define the ethos of les disques du Crepuscule?
A: Back in 1980, founders Michel Duval and Annik Honore wanted to set-up a boutique label for modern music, with an international outlook. That was a necessity, because the Belgian market alone was very small. In this ambition they were supported by Factory Records of Manchester, who joined them in founding Factory Benelux. The first Factory Benelux release was Shack Up by A Certain Ratio in August 1980, and the first Crepuscule release the compilation From Brussels With Love in November of that year. Multi-media was also an aspiration, as with the early Plan K concerts in 1979-81, which Honore and Duval helped arrange.

Q: How did a tiny independent label in Brussels come to have such an eclectic, international roster of artists for its first official release?
A: For the same reasons as above, plus Crepuscule had fantastic designers in Benoit Hennebert, Jean-Francois Octave and others. Also, the world and the media was much smaller then, so working with a continental label seemed far more exotic and flattering [to British bands] than it might today.

Q: The album is called From Brussels with Love and it really was a labour of love: With such elaborate packaging and retailing at "the price of a 12-inch single", how much money did the label lose releasing the original cassette?
A: I should think it broke even, though later editions lost the booklet and plastic wallet. Tracks were donated, rather than Crepuscule paying advances or recording costs. Crepuscule registered as an asbl in August 1980, so initially profit wasn't the main concern.

Q: As well as music, the cassette included interviews, poetry and jingles. Was les disques du Crepuscule the first or only record label to be pushing the limits of what constitutes a 'rock album' in this way?
A: Crepuscule certainly was not the first label to mix genres, but they had far more style than most, and far more of a popular touch than more arid, avant-garde imprints. Most 'art' labels tend to be abstract, but Crepuscule was always representative. That said, it was still an elitist label by any standard.

Q: In your sleevenotes you describe les disques du Crepuscule as the most "culturally significant" modern independent record label in Belgium. Why?
A: Other early Belgian indie labels such as Sandwich were more serious, less international, and paid less attention to packaging and mystique. Crammed is also a great cosmopolitan label, but it came a little later, in 1981.

Q: Which of the many releases in the label's 24-year history do you consider most significant?
A: I can't answer that question: it's too subjective. The main reason I moved to Brussels in 1987 was Tuxedomoon [Nice lived in Brussels from 1987-1991], so I guess they had the biggest impact on me personally at that time.

Q: Which current bands or record labels have been influenced by les disques du Crepuscule?
A: I think it is more the case that Factory generally, and Peter Savile in particular, revolutionised the way records are packaged and designed. But in Japan, Benoit Hennebert is recognised, I think.

Q: The growing popularity of digital downloading and software such as iTunes seems to be turning the entire history of recorded music into one giant eclectic compilation album. Yet, it is also transforming (killing?) the traditional notion of the compilation and severing the link between music and its packaging (cover art, record sleeve, CD case, etc). What are your thoughts on this, particularly given the importance of graphic design in the whole les disques du Crepuscule experience?
A: You are entirely correct, but I think most Crepuscule admirers will still want to obtain a/the physical artefact. Did photography kill painting? No.

From Brussels with Love is out now on LTM Recordings.