Belgium: Country Week

One country and a week of contrasts: bare theatrical chanson, wiry funk rock, gleaming stage pop, pounding hip house, brushed jazz pop swing, violin driven art rock, orchestral trip hop, minor key electro chanson, sunset deep house and bright French piano pop with a rap handoff.

Belgium packs an unusual number of sound worlds into a small map, and this pack walks through them one production at a time. It moves from a whispered theatrical chanson that swells into one long crescendo to wiry funk rock with a shouted communal hook, then into gleaming synth brass stage pop, hard sampled hip house with a commanding female rap, and a brushed swing shuffle with a wordless hook. The back half turns volatile with scraping violin art rock, sinks into slow orchestral trip hop, loops an austere minor key electro chanson, drifts through sunset tropical deep house and lands on bouncy French piano pop that hands its airy hook to a laid back rap. Each style zooms in on a single recording's production fingerprint, and the pack keeps growing as future Belgian styles join the library.