USA Import Music

21/12/2023

Day by day 50 years ago USA Import opened its doors at St-Jacobsmarkt in Antwerp.

Due in 2024: the book!

Stay updated, follow the newsletter at usaimportrecords.com

Anything to share? [email protected]

31/10/2023

Thank you VICE Belgium for the nice talk we had about the history and future of USA Import!
Full article through link below.

L'histoire d'un lieu unique, à la fois label et disquaire, qui a importé et exporté des milliers de disques, dont une flopée de morceaux de Liza N' Eliaz, probablement l’un des secrets les plus précieux de la scène hardcore belge.

31/10/2023

Richie Hawtin talking about the beautiful memories of hanging out with the USA Import crew and doing business together (around minute 3). 🫶

Lors du festival Nuits Sonores & European Lab Brussels, l'émission Boom Tschak a été diffusée en direct de Bozar pour une édition spéciale de deux heures. Du...

06/06/2023

Get your copy of this wonderful book soon!

Launching my own publishing house AfterClub is both the most exciting and most nerve-wracking thing I have ever done in my life. It feels so good, so close to what I love doing most. I'm a full-time entrepreneur now, publishing books next to records with Hi Scores.

You might have noticed a common thread in my recent work. Lot's of what I'm pushing forward has to do with the history of nightlife and electronic music in Belgium. Whether it's the intruiging story of the legendary Brussels label SSR Records through a 9-tracks compilation album (already released digitally, vinyl coming soon) or this book about the career of Antwerp finest DJs Smos & Baby Bee, I love shining a light on those who have had a pivotal impact on our scene and giving them the place in history they deserve.

Last Sunday we presented the book in Antwerp, now it's out there, out of my hands. I truly hope you like it. Through the long interview with Baby Bee, the 25 testimonials by befriended DJs, colleagues and promoters and the hundred of party flyers, the story of a scene is recreated including artwork from the first events of institutions such as 10daysoff, Café d'Anvers, Fuse, Laundry Day, Tomorrowland and so many more

To get the party started, we offer free shipping in Belgium on our webshop:
HTTP://AFTERCLUB.BE

📷 Elias Derboven

28/03/2023

ABOUT LIAISONS D.

“Pour les gens supercool.” This slick tagline caused a commotion among Belgian electronic music fans in 1985 as a jingle in Liaisons Dangereuses, the infamous radio show on local station S.I.S. Antwerpen. Hosted by Paul Ward and DJ Sven Van Hees and playing an exhilarating mix of EBM, house, new beat, acid house, Detroit techno, synthpop and more, the transmit was without a doubt trendsetting, presenting music on the radio that before was only to be witnessed in dark clubs or underground record stores. Listeners needed to make an effort though, since the S.I.S. waves only reached about 10km out of the city center. But a network of copied tape recordings and a fast growing bunch of fans - some of which even driving their cars to parking lots inside the broadcast area to hear the show - created a buzz that would easily exceed the limits of the transmission signal.

In 1989 Ward and Van Hees formed their own band named after the radio show, but to avoid confusion with the eponymous German new wave band, they signed their records with Liaison D or Liaisons D.
Assisted by Jan Van Den Bergh (Mappa Mundi, Kumulus, Buzz), Marcos Salon (Outlander), Frank De Wulf (B-Sides, World Party II) and J.P. Ruelle, Liaisons D released a solid string of EP’s and the album “Submerged In Sound” on USA Import Records between 1989 and 1992.

Text: Koen Galle
Picture 3: Gert-Jan De Baets
Press & PR: Telex Agency

MOM051 OUT NOW.
Buy at every decent vinyl record store,
on https://usaimportmusic.bandcamp.com
or at your favourite digital provider.

28/03/2023

OUT NOW.

*** BELGIAN 90S FORMATION LIAISONS D RELIVES ON USA IMPORT RECORDS WITH SELECTED WORKS EP***

USA IMPORT presents a new EP featuring selected works from Liaisons D, the Belgian group centered round Paul Ward and Sven Van Hees. It's a must-have for fans of their unapologetically rough and ravy sound, testimony of a unique era in Belgium’s electronic music history.

USA IMPORT Records now shines a light on the legacy of Liaisons D juxtaposing four timeless tracks taken from the album “Submerged in Sound” on a brand new EP.

It is the second release on the recently rebooted label, following a reissue with early work by Liza N’ Eliaz, the late Belgian hardcore producer and DJ.

Get your copy at your favourite record dealer, through https://usaimportmusic.bandcamp.com or other digital provider.

MOM051
A1. STRESS FREE
A2. SUBMERGED IN SOUND
B1. HE CHILLED OUT (REMIX 92)
B2. ASTROGOD

Artwork: Tom Tosseyn
Distribution: Above Board Distribution
Press & PR: Telex Agency

27/03/2023

Please meet the Original MOM000!

She is still the same magical powerhouse she was when selling records by the tons back in the days. And as you can see she still works hard for the love of music 😉.

+++ BREAKING: both MOM050 and MOM051 are fully approved by The Original MOM! 😅

27/03/2023

Looking back on a satisfying family trip to Brussels last week:

1. A nice chat about USA Import's 50th anniversary and the relaunch of the label on national radio Studio Brussel. Thanks Rik De Bruycker for the invite! 🤩

2. USA house party in the Kiosk Radio shack.
Relisten here https://kioskradio.com/episode/2023-03-23/usa-import-records-w-nicolai-and-daphne-pascual !
Track list:

Jingle 1: Check up de radio
Mike Anthony - Why Can’t We Live Together
Freddie Mc Gregor - Reggae On It
Tony McKenzie - Take a Little Action
P. Sellinger - Ca-Va
Max Berlin - Elle & Moi
Boucherie Le Touquet - Ferme Ta Geule
Spiritual Sky - Ecoutez et Répétez
Solar Year - Lines
Jingle 2: USA Import explosion
Gimmix - Telefoon
Liza N’ Eliaz - Blue & Red City
At-Moz-Fear - The Atmosfear
Serendipity - It’s Just A Feeling
Mindmovies - Dusk Till Dawn
Liza’N’Eliaz - Sexcess - Tolouse Low Trax Remix
Mappa Mundi - Serendipity part 1
Anton Price - Jazzdub Ice
Jingle 3: Music is the only form of life

23/03/2023

At 14:00 CET we will dig into the USA Import Music catalogue. Tune in .radio

24/02/2023

Thank you Oli Warwick at Juno Records for such nice words! 😍

Read review through link below and get that record while you are there!

The essential tracks currently on rotation SINGLE OF THE WEEK D&B Productions aka Delano Smith/Brawther - Symbiosis (Sush*tech) Detroit maestro Delano Smith has been a regular c

24/02/2023

Get your vinyl or digital copy now!

Through bandcamp,
Wally's Groove World,
Music Mania Gent,
Clone Records
Juno Records,
Phonica Records,
and more more more.

5 track album

14/02/2023

ABOUT LIZA N’ ELIAZ.

Nicknamed “The Queen of Terror”, Liza N’ Eliaz was a well respected DJ, producer and label owner born
in Ostend in 1958 and sadly passed away in Antwerp in 2001. As a DJ, she mastered an incredible technique of mixing simultaneously on three or four turntables. And as a music producer she took part in changing the rules of electronic dance music in a new and booming global scene in the mid nineties: hardcore and speedcore.

Liza N’ Eliaz was a prolific producer working solo and with artists such as DJ Dano, Laurent Hô and
The Prophet, releasing on labels such as Atom, Mokum and Bonzai. In 1997 she founded her own
label in collaboration with USA Import Records dubbed Provision Records.

Growing up in a family of musicians, she studied classical music. Later she discovered the
synthesizer and cassette recorder and joined new wave and industrial bands in the recording studio
and on tour. During a concert in France in 1985 she met Yvette Neliaz, who became her companion, muse and partner and whose surname inspired her
pseudonym. Liza was added as a reference to the byname given to tr*******al persons in Flanders.

In Amsterdam the couple became enthralled with the burgeoning acid house, new beat and techno scene
centered around the club Roxy. Soon Liza N’ Eliaz started to make a name for herself, among others
in the Parisian underground scene and as a regular guest at French Radio FG.

Text: Koen Galle
Picture: Koen Roggen

14/02/2023

OUT NOW.

*** ‘INITIAL GAIN’ EP FEATURES EARLY WORK BY BELGIAN PRODUCER LIZA N’ ELIAZ (1958-2001) inc. two reworks by Tolouse Low Trax***

First up: a reissue of the 1991 ‘Initial Gain EP’ made by Liza N' Eliaz, the Ostend hardcore DJ and producer. Liza N’ Eliaz found a musical home at USA Import and became close friends with José, Frie and the rest of the family.

The EP previously released on its sublabel Atom Records in 1992, the second in the Molecules of Music series. Today, her music receives two remixes from adventurous German producer TOLOUSE LOW TRAX(Salon Des Amateurs).

Get your vinyl copy through https://usaimportmusic.bandcamp.com/album/initial-gain or your favourite record dealer.
(Digital release follows on 23th of February)

MOM050
A1. Sexcess
A2. Sexcess (Tolouse Low Trax Dementos remix)
B1. Space Split
B2. Initial Gain
-- Sexcess (Tolouse Low Trax Dementos version) (digital only)

Artwork: Tom Tosseyn
Distribution: Above Board Distribution

09/02/2023

We are beyond thrilled to -after years of dreaming, planning and plotting- finally share the news that we are relaunching USA Import Music record label, 50 years after our parents got off on their adventures in music.
Please join us on this sonic journey through our personal past & future of dance music. Happy to have you on board!

Molecules of Music,
Nikolaï and Daphné

***Belgium's iconic music label, is getting a relaunch.***
From the Sint-Jacobsmarkt in Antwerp, the label and equally named record store played a vital role in the Belgian and international music scene from the 1970s to the 2000s. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023, USA Import looks back on a huge catalog of underground classics in genres such as disco, house, techno, gabber, trance... and released several hits such as Elle & Moi by Max Berlin, Drumattack by Jambo & Acid Hysteria by Push.

The store and label were run all these years by the Antwerp based José Pascual and Frie Verhelst.
Exactly 50 years after founding the store in 1973, their daughter and son Daphné Pascual and Nikolai Pascual are re-releasing USA Import's music on vinyl and in digital form.

Thank you Telex Agency, Koen Galle and Tom Tosseyn to join us on this ride!

04/02/2022

Something nice from those days by nowadays magazine.

Nowadays Magazine

https://www.nowadaysmagazine.com/magazine/archives-usaimport

In our Archives series we scroll through the history of our favorite record labels. Because discussing the whole USA Import archive…