Das Pop

Bent van Looy, Reinhard van Bergen and Niek Meul were 16 when they met at a Waldorf school in their Belgian hometown of Ghent. One day they started to play and just didn't stop. Not only did they have the talent, but also that certain chemistry required for a 'good band' to becoming a truly great one. After three classic albums (I Love, The Human Thing and Das Pop), Das Pop's fourth and latest release, The Game, has already earned a righteous spot in pop heaven.

It's all in the name. Das Pop can rock but they don't make rock. They are shameless in their creation of 'white' power pop full of supple references to 1960s hit bands, 1970s singer/songwriters and 1980s new wave. But their music never feels retro. They combine the old with the new in a way that only makes perfect sense for a band that developed a few bar stools away from the sample mayhem of 2manyDJs.

The Game was recorded after an enforced five year break. Due to 'the usual record company bullshit', their third album Das Pop, which was recorded in 2004 and produced by Soulwax, did not appear until 2009. So while walking around with an unreleased masterpiece up their sleeves, Bent moved to Paris to dive into the world of fashion and art, Niek moved to Stockholm to open a studio, and Reinhard stayed in Ghent to produce such records as the highly-acclaimed Goose debut.

Of course they never expected they would have to wait so long to record a follow-up. So when in November 2009 they finally entered Niek's studio, it was as if a cork exploded from a bottle of champagne that had been shaken for half a decade. Starting from scratch and self-producing for the first time, they recorded a song a day over four three-day sessions. They then went to New York to fine-tune the results with the legendary Stax and Ardent engineer Terry Manning, before mixing it at Manning's Treehouse, near his legendary Compass Point Studio in the Bahamas. The cork just kept popping...

 

Even though it was recorded over two weeks, The Game sounds so tight and rich because Das Pop played more shows than ever during their 'waiting years'. For a time they played as a trio with Bent, on vocals and drums, following in the best tradition of Karen Carpenter, Fleetwood Mac and Dave Grohl. But finally after 16 years they decided to bring aboard a new band member: the young New Zealand drummer Matt Eccles. Together in 2009 they played over 200 gigs across the planet promoting the Das Pop album. The Game now stands as their first studio album as a foursome.