Since the genre first screamed to life from the frozen wastelands of Norway in the early 90s, black metal has accrued a number of stereotypes. There are the associations with church burnings, Satanism, shady political views and misanthropy. More benignly, there is the cartoonish image of ridiculous poseurs, dressed in corpse paint and running around…
A lot of 2016 releases have been underpinned by a sense of profound dread, of something terrible slouching its way into reality. The cosmic horror alluded to in David Bowie’s Blackstar, the inner horror of Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition. Fatima Al Qadari`s riot porn, ANOHNI`s bleak portrait of environmental collapse Gaika’s paranoia, the witch burnings…
Just over a month ago we featured Hlasko on the cover of Bubblegum Club. He described music as “a calling” and even a process of divination. Today he opens up a portal into his future through a stirring 11-track mix which includes 5 new Hlasko productions. For a little more insight we spoke to Hlasko…
Faka, the dynamic duo of Desire Marea and Fela Gucci, are proudly representing black and queer creativity with potent sound and vision. Along with their glam imagery and performance pieces, they make music which combines the brute force of Gqom with the optimistic ghost of bubblegum township pop, kwaito and gospel. Their artistic manifesto is…
DJ Okapi’s Afrosynth Records, possibly the only record store in the country specialising in South African and African music, recently opened up in Jeppestown and is challenging the cultural imperialism and that sets us swaying to American or British trends before acknowledging the innovative vitality of music from the continent. The store, like the Afrosynth…
Johannesburg based Givan Lotz is a prolific musician and artist, who has just released his new EP MAW. The title alludes to the vicious mouth of a dangerous animal. Appropriately then, there is subtly feral quality to the work. With skeletal guitars and synthesizers that crack like broken leaves, it is the soundtrack to being…
British artist Gaika has been gaining a lot of attention for his enticingly dystopian style. On 2015’s Machine and this year’s Security, he blowtorched mutant grime, toxic industrial and subterranean dancehall into incendiary sonic devices. His dread-soaked worldview has often been compared to the trip-hop of Tricky who, exactly 20 years ago, unleashed the apocalyptic…
In her bio she is described as an “internet sensation” we wouldn’t argue with that. K-$ (real name Kalo Canterbury) is a young dj on the rise. We first noticed her for a carefully curated Instagram feed and her very delicious OG-streetstyle looks but its through her sound that she is really starting to make…
On Saturday October 8, I tasted the first offerings of Summer 2016: sand between my toes, the smell of sunscreen in the breeze, a crowd of floral dresses interspersed with multi-coloured umbrellas, beach balls bobbing overhead, and in the periphery a group of friends dancing around a volleyball net. But rather than an ocean…
When asked to describe the sound of the Gqom subgenre, DJ Lag doesn’t hesitate- ‘it’s raw and hype.’ Since the beginning of this decade, it has become the defining electronic music to come from Durban and it’s surrounding townships, like Lag’s home Clermont. Gqom takes SA production to a new extreme of brooding intensity. It’s…
Cape Town based producer Thor Rixon has blessed us with an eclectic mix, filled-to-the-brim with deep melodic gems and beautifully textured soundscapes, all his own original productions. The mix was originally performed live at Churn Festival where Thor performed alongside other local and international acts pushing the boundaries of electronic music. Thor revealed that most of…
More music is being produced today than ever before. Cheaper software and production costs; the ferocious circulation of sound and imagery on social media; and increasing online access to a kaleidoscope of spaces, politics, and texts from across the world, have all contributed to this cultural revolution. “Music”, ethnomusicologist Thomas Burkhalter tells us, “is changing…
