Belgian Trap-Jazz: Brussels-based Quartet ECHT! Unveils Bombastic 3rd LP ‘Boilerism’ [B.Getz on L4LM]
photo: ECHT! Facebook
originally published via Live For Live Music
The Brussels-based, genre-smashing squadron known as ECHT! is remarkably adept at reverse-engineering live electronic music. Employing an ambitious modus operandi of progressive arrangements tailor-made for traditional instrumentation, this fearsome foursome pushes the proverbial envelope beyond most machinations of our wildest imagination. On March 7th, ECHT! unveiled its highly-anticipated third full-length LP Boilerism via Belgium’s Sdban Ultra label, boasting ten tectonic tracks further blurring the lines on a fantastic voyage in search of fresh frontiers.
Since bursting onto the European scene in 2017, the idiosyncratic quartet of Federico Pecoraro (bass), Martin Méreau (drums), Dorian Dumont (keys), and Florent Jeunieaux (guitar) have steadily coalesced into a cannon-blast of inspired innovation. Thus far, the band has blessed a diverse smattering of stages across the continent, including Nuits Sonores, Lowlands, and Dour Festival, plus renowned rooms such as Brussels’ famed Ancienne Belgique and London’s forever seminal Jazz Café.
A polyjamorous anomaly all the way on the other side of the pond, these brilliant lads move as one organism, blending a malevolent concoction of “Belgian Trap-Jazz” that oscillates through full-spectrum soundscapes of psychedelic bass, acid, footwork, drum & bass, U.K. garage, and instrumental hip-hop, among other experimental lanes of intelligent dance music. With influences running the gamut from Aphex Twin to Flying Lotus, Skee Mask to Jonwayne, the squad’s latest diabolical document is focused, frenetic, and fierce. Boilerism is brimming with the bombastic unicorn magic that makes ECHT! [Brussellier for “the real thing”] such an explosive listening experience.
ECHT! — “Boilerbeek”
“As individuals, we see this music in the same way, conceptually. The intention is for ECHT! songs to sound like a produced track, as if produced by one person,” bassist Pecoraro said on a March ’25 Zoom call from the group’s basement studio in Belgium. “We all participate in other projects where we can have fun improvising; we love funk, we love jazz, not only just electronic. But for ECHT!, we collectively decided to have the musical mindset of a single entity.”
On the blazing Boilerism, these cats waste little time swinging the sledgehammer from jumpstreet. Opening salvo (and third single) “Boilerbeek” unleashes a trunk-rattling headbanger of mathematical trap madness, equal parts riot and riddle off the top rope. A dark and minimalist dirge, second single “Wacky Wave” deals gooey, elastic dub, a mean-mug mindf*ck that leans chopped n’ screwed. More titanic trap thunderclaps follow, when ECHT! turns up the temperature and the tempos on first single “Highed”, a merciless slab of Mephistophelian mayhem so thorough it might make TroyBoi blush.
The enigmatic “Mtwk Parts 3 & 4” authors vivid new chapters in “vrai de vrai” vernacular. Continuing a tale that can be traced way back to ECHT!’s embryonic efforts, the twin track finds these fellas traversing quite a bit of terrific topography. Pulverizing with slow deliberation, “Part 3” detonates obtuse and demonic, a wickedness akin to Prism in the Dark-era Dimond Saints. A Lunice-scented transition mixes ghetto-house with grime, “Part 4” deftly maneuvers into a juke joint, peeling off freewheeling footwork in the spirit of DJ Rashad (among the group’s biggest influences over the years).
ECHT! — “Highed”
Arguably the “jazziest” cut on this boiling plate, “Moxy” forwards future-bass electro-crunk embossed with ethereal psychedelia, recalling ECHT!’s radiant debut LP Inwane (2021). “Moxy” pulsates with libidinous low-end, riding sizzling high-hats, sexy stuttersteps, throbbing subs, and lysergic synths. Subtly oozing a similar steez to Pnuma Trio‘s Alex B., the sum of these parts produces a heavyweight heatrock suitable for any international dancefloor. The rugged “Razor” chases that vintage ECHT! vibe with a slightly demented dash of U.K. garage and a short jog through the jungle. The droning, bass-driven, big-beat bedlam chucks caution to the wind and raves ’til dawn.
“We really tried to embody the club culture we’ve become so fond of over the past two and a half years on the road. Most of the acts who were playing the same festivals as us, they happened to be DJs and producers,” Pecaroro explained. “On our earlier records, you can hear more of the jazz influence; for Boilerism, we raised up the tempos hotter and really went fully electronic. We wanted it to feel more like ‘second evening’ (late night) music.”
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The kaleidoscopic “Klaas Rescue” is possibly Boilerism’s magnum opus, cross-pollinating a hybrid strain of high art that flirts with a few fabulously furious styles. Early on, a runaway freight train of Roland 303 cacophony—think Phuture ate the brown paper then began bludgeoning techno ravers at Berlin’s famed Berghain nightclub—before these maniacal mobsters spiral even further into frenzied fireworks of raw physicality.
Eventually, the rage relents, and the back-end of “Klaas Rescue” mutates into some of the dopest drum n’ bass to bless these ears in several years. Sure to tickle the fancy of junglists worldwide, the second segment channels the ghost of primordial Cujo (Amon Tobin) juxtaposed with Jojo Mayer & NERVE. Méreau’s performance powering the breakbeats is particularly impressive, playing loose and lyrical – yet laser sharp with mosaic thump. Throughout the record, his infernal riddims run rampant, rich in nuance and texture, a surgical sorcery reminiscent of pioneering drummer Deantoni Parks.
ECHT! — Boilerism Album Release Show
Curiously monikered, relentlessly punishing “BK-hole” is downright unhinged, a squelching, acid-soaked four-on-the-floor fireball. The swaggering “Black Sablon” is another clinic in potent minimalism. The penultimate number meticulously coagulates effective elements of electro, dubstep, hip-hop, two-step, and beyond. Colossal subsonic rumble unspools into dissonant poly-grooves before drifting down into an atmospheric final passage a la early Random Rab.
Once again doing more with less, the stripped-down “Penguin Alfred” provides a formidable disembarkation port, as an ambient opiate haze gives way to patient—almost pensive—DIY DnB. This tender foray into future antiquity reveals a certain emotional elegance within the relative restraint, giving birth to just a bit of Benevento/Russo Duo energy before Boilerism gracefully bows out.
A mystifying masterclass in maximizing minimalism, Boilerism boldly shoves ECHT!’s avant-garde sound art skyward, bouldering toward new plateaus of experimentation, execution, and all-around wizardry. With this scintillating amalgam of nocturnal transmissions from the terrordome, the chromatic troupe trades its nascent explorations in dreamier meditations for subaqueous boomshots with more sinister intentions. Boilerism is a bulldozer of Belgian Trap-Jazz through the chest cavity and an abyssal baptism of the frontal lobe, with these bullies from Brussels delivering a heroic dose of sacrament for a searing safari deep into the darkness of night.
words: B.Getz
ECHT! — Boilerism [Full Album]