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Ben Sharpa – 4DLS Album Review
Ben Sharpa charts specific enclaves as South African underground hip-hop figurehead-cum-electronic music practitioner. As producer, he is responsible for the dark, anti-pop leanings which marred both the Groundworx and Audio Visual’s output in conflicting shades of detuned classical music samples, clipped audio sketches, and down-tempo drum patterns. As emcee, he is always willing to speak […]
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Interview With Hymphatic Thabs
When I was coming up in Maseru Lesotho during 2001, I had no idea that ten years down the line I would be writing about an album that for months on end I struggled to even get a hold of a cassette version of. Even at the height of Napster (and the subsequent rise in […]
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UB 40 – Signing Off
UB40 is “the biggest reggae band of all-time and the fourth most successful group in the history of the British charts.” Made ubiquitous through cover versions such as Neil Diamond’s “Red, red wine” Sonny & Cher’s “I got you babe”, the band is as much a wonder as it is a source of irritation to […]
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Ts’epe: a new cultural awareness
On the way to Hlotse, capital town of Leribe (one of Lesotho’s ten districts), one passes a place aptly-titled Crossong – a T-junction that can take one to either of three places: Northward-bound (Hlotse, Butha Buthe, Mokhotlong), Southward-bound (TY, Maseru, Mafeteng), or Westward into the heartland of Maputsoe. Infamous for its youth’s rough living, muggings, […]
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Interview with Dplanet (Pt. II)
Focus then shifts to the artists on Pioneer Unit’s roster. All but one – Manqoba – had a firm following in Cape Town hip-hop before coming on board the label. Through time, Dplanet developed a vibe with artists whom he felt could contribute positively to the overall vision of the label. He tells me of […]
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Interview with Dplanet (Pt. I)
I meet with the subject of my interview by the roadside during a particularly subdued lunch hour in Cape Town’s CBD. On the other side of the road is what seems to have been a block of offices, now decrepit and torn down. All that remains of it is rubble – no form, just abstract […]
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Beneath the Underdog
Ask any jazz head of their favourite jazz musician and the name Charles Mingus is very unlikely to pop up. Sure, names such as Parker, Davis, and Ellington will appear as recurring features on everyone’s list, but one will be lucky to have ‘The Angry Man of Jazz‘ featuring. Yet Mingus had a chance to […]
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Who is Johnny Cradle?
I cannot recall exactly when it was that I became exposed to the music of Sakumzi Qumana, the Mdantsane, Eastern Cape-born vocalist/producer better known by his on-stage persona, Johnny Cradle. It could have been at a park jam in Gugs following the 2008 xenophobic attacks, or alongside Pravda 23, Eavesdrop, and Fungus the Mutated Lung […]
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Picking dreams among nightmares
Their stage act resembles an inside joke; they play tricks on the audience, a wry sense of humour underlying the whole scenario. The guitarist will sommer play a lick off of a well-known song of theirs (‘76’ and ‘People of the light‘ come to mind) before bouncing right back into material from their most recent […]
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Ill Skillin’
My interview with Ill Skillz was supposed to be a cosy affair, devoid of adjunct implements such as cheap microphones and below-average computer cameras. Due to artistic obligations on their part, a change of plan was in order; we had to do the ‘on-line thing’ Skype all over the Internet. I had known about their […]
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