Writing about The Weeknd’s new album After Hours on the grey, overcast Day 5 of the national lockdown feels deeply incongruous. Everything about The Weeknd’s music – its hedonism, its cinematic decadence and its alienated depictions of drug abuse and twisted relationships – feels the very antithesis of this plague. Since the release of the…
This year has been quite something already and no, I’m not talking about all the disasters that you can read about in the newspaper or on your social feeds. I’m talking about all the remarkable, progressive, creative, genre-breaking sounds that have been coming out of the Southern tip of Africa in 2020. More and more,…
Darkie Fiction sound like they were destined to make music together. They’re one of those acts where everything just seamlessly clicks and you can tell that there exists between the duo, a bond that expands beyond your typical musical outfit. Before rapper Katt Daddy and songstress Yoza Mnyanda came upon each other by chance in…
Three years have passed since the release of Bongeziwe Mabandla’s second critically acclaimed album, Mangaliso. It won the Best Alternative Music Album at the 2018 South African Music Awards, and fans have eagerly been awaiting its follow-up. Having given us a taste of his upcoming album with the release of singles such as “Zange” and…
It goes without saying that the global landscape is currently so peculiar, that it feels more like a fever dream than reality. Amongst the masses self-isolating, existentialist thinking drives both fear and hope and today I’m here to report on the album that could very well soundtrack this detached dystopia we currently find ourselves within….
How long is someone an up-and-coming artist for? Probably until they’ve come up? Right? The journey of the ‘come up’ is a treacherous path that few artists manage to navigate to ultimate fruition, with few succeeding as they had initially imagined they would. It takes endurance, willpower, struggle and sacrifice. Something Durban songstress Nipho Hurd…
Living, working and playing in France, Dj Zazu recently compiled the first of her series of mixes specifically and uniquely curated for Bubblegum Club under the name Bubblegum Mix Vol 20. True to the multiplicity of Dj Zazu’s own embodied experience and the wide cast net of her artistic and sonic influences, the mix’s cup…
From the vantage point of retrospect, one could say that Is’Xaxa: A Communal Practice is a natural step in Mushroom Hour Half Hour’s forward trajectory. Since the pirate radio show-turned-independent music label began its sonic journey back in 2012, Mushroom Hour Half Hour has fostered a spirit of spontaneity and collaboration which seems to underpin…
Aptly described as “one of the most influential wom[x]n in UK music”, Jamz Supernova is truly paving the way for the future of DJing. Heralded as one of the most prolific trail blazing next generation DJ’s in the UK, Jamz’s passion for her craft burns in abundance. Inspired by the likes of Nina Las Vegas,…
Over the last couple of years the sounds of Amapiano have been a mainstay in the South African house scene. Its unbelievably smooth rhythms and elements of jazz and kwaito bringing a sense of familiarity ultimately making the genre accessible across the board to lovers of electronic music. With this saturated splash of Amapiano filling…
“A lot of it starts with a thought and feeling that eventually develops into some magical realism: a song – that can become a truth peppered with some lies and myth, or the other way around,” says BŪJIN in response to my question about the process and (un)positioning of her sonic craft as a musician….
Starting a record label is an ambitious task to say the least. Even more so in 2020 when independent artists have direct access to their fans and when major labels still control a lot of the airwaves and literally own stakes in streaming platforms such as Spotify. Countless labels have started up over the years…
