Source: Paul Blom (Muse)
Kopskoot!
While seeming inconsequential, Afrikaans speaking musicians have played a huge role in this country’s Alternative music scene.
Worldwide bands naturally opt for English lyrics often with the veiled hope that success will reach beyond their borders. Slowly but surely that perception has shifted here, as more bands are using their highly expressive mother tongue.
Afrikaans music has been stigmatized as cheap, sappy and tacky drivel, yet behind the commercial curtain, industrious bands with a sense of purpose and an aversion to dumbed-down mainstream non-sensibilities create music the wider public would not necessarily get to hear – unless they’re adventurous enough to go find these gems.
Those drawn to this ground-breaking phenomenon known as Kopskoot! (translation: Headshot!) will be in for more than a treat. This historic compilation album of heavy Afrikaans music includes living legends, new blood, SAMA winners & nominees across the Alternative spectrum of Hard Rock, Metal, & Hardcore, to Industrial, Grindcore, Electronic adventures & more.
This explosive 16 ton package includes everything from the first truly extreme Afrikaans song recorded by S.A. Metal godfathers Voice Of Destruction (V.O.D) in the mid-’90s, to the organic-digital fusion of new extremists André Van Der Walt. Another band which sent Afrikaans music into a whole new direction is K.O.B.U.S., with its core V.O.D & Springbok Nude Girls members. Expect the Fokofpolisiekar side-project Van Coke Kartel, Metal from Mind Assault, Insek’s Grindcore, NuL’s electronic revolution music, and F8’s Electro-Grind.
Not to forget Industrial stalwarts Battery 9 with their trademark flavour. This collection is also an inadvertent reunion of sorts for the original members of this legendary act – head cahuna Paul’s Breinskade rips it up while At’s Somerfaan
offers up an exclusive remix. Huyser and Arnaud’s Helsinki project also makes its global debut here on CD.
Other rarities include American Hardcore-Thrashers CFD, with a track especially recorded in Afrikaans, and a song in Flemish by Lion’s Pride from Belgium.
Amid the testosterone, the female-fronted Terminatryx adds some beauty with an extreme edge.
This is not where it ends though, as Kopskoot! will become a regular fixture bringing you alternative classics and the new breed of extreme Afrikaans music. But on top of that, each release will be followed by a DVD with loads of killer videos, live footage and extras (the first making its appearance early 2009).
Prepare to get your head blown off!
[For more info on this December release, and an Afrikaans version of this piece, go to: http://www.flamedrop.com/kopskoot ]
