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Jim Neversink – Skinny Girls Are Trouble

August 25, 2010 – 8:38 am

skinny girls are trouble cover

JOHANNESBURG, 19 August 2010 – Itinerant alt-country rocker Jim Neversink returns to South Africa in September to launch his third album, “Skinny Girls Are Trouble”.

The album launch will be marked by Jim Neversink’s first performance in South Africa in nearly a year and will take place at The Radium Beerhall in Orange Grove, Johannesburg, on Saturday, September 11. It follows his recent signing to One F Music, the independent record company founded by Paul Riekert, who is also widely known for his industrial music project, Battery 9.

“Skinny Girls Are Trouble”, which was recorded over two weeks at Johannesburg’s SABC M5 studio in March 2009, with additional recording in New York City and Copenhagen, is the result of a rare and stellar combination of Jim’s songwriting skills and the production wizardry of New York-based guitar legend Richard Lloyd, who rose to fame as guitarist for the influential and pioneering punk/new wave band Television in the 1970s.

The launch brings together the same band that accompanied Jim in the Skinny Girls Sessions: Loandi Boersma (Cortina Whiplash, Rokkeloos) on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Kevin O’Grady (Famous Curtain Trick, The He-Shes) on drums. Other musicians featured on the album include author, journalist and songwriter Rian Malan, Lani Pieters, Laurie Levine, Timon Wapenaar, Riku Lätti and “guitar guru” Richard Llloyd, who contributed guitar and harmonium. “Skinny Girls Are Trouble” was engineered, mixed and mastered by Peter Pearlson.

Richard Lloyd says of the Skinny Girls sessions: “Working as the producer on Jim Neversink’s latest record has been one of the great joys and profound experiences of my life. I feel as if I stepped into a miracle – not only working with the band and the engineer, but being able to help Jim realise his dreams – songs that are so profound that reality resists the realisation of their truth in every possible way.”

Both Jim Neversink’s previous albums – Jim Neversink (2005) and “Shakey is Good” (2008) – have been celebrated by critics and by his growing legion of local and international fans.

Since late 2009, Jim has been living and performing in Denmark. His return gives fans and followers a rare opportunity to see him perform live, and also to get their hands on the highly anticipated album. While in South Africa, Jim and his band will perform several other shows, including at The Bohemian in Johannesburg and Rock Bottom in Clarens in the eastern Free State (watch the press for details).

South African tour contact is by Clair Cantrell of One F Music (contact details below).

CONTACT:

Jim Neversink: jimneversink@gmail.com
Clair Cantrell: clair@onefmusic.com / phone – 073-237-3012
The Radium reservations (essential): Andy Darlington phone – 083 542 1044
One F Music: www.onefmusic.com
The Radium Beerhall: www.theradium.co.za

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Ons Kerk Se Mense – Part 2

June 28, 2010 – 8:57 am

Source: toypom (Scribd)

Ons Kerk Se Mense

Various Artists

OneF1015

Distributed with ONS KLYNTJI magazine dated November 2007

FULL DISCLOSURE: The reviewer collaborates on three of these 22 tracks and will therefore make no value judgments on the content or his own vocals but will restrict his comments to the inputs of his partners. Two and a half years down the line, this extraordinary compilation has garnered only one online review. The reviewer-contributor is thus compelled to reveal the neglected rarity’s treasures & travesties.

Ons Kerk Se Mense (The Members of our Congregation or literally, Our Church’s People) was compiled by Drikus Barnard of the bands Slow, Brixton, Moord & Roof, Plank & Trike. Nine or ten of these were recorded and produced at his Lekkerrus Studios. (Mystery surrounds track 22). Paul Riekert of OneF Records produced 4 of them and mastered the album. Photographic credit: ‘Train and Trout’ by Mariska Ison.

Acts with more than one contribution include Buckfever Underground (2), Insek (2) and Drikus (under the moniker Brixton Barnard and with Slow).

Recorded in 2000, Slow’s Krismiswurm is the oldest as it would appear that all the others were recorded in either 2006 or 2007. Spoken poetry/prose comprises approximately one third of the work although some tracks straddle genres. Besides numbers 1 and 21 which are in English, the rest is Afrikaans through and through.

PART TWO

Drumbeats and a percolating keyboard line introduces Kokaïnekop Kosie by Nul before an analogue synth and guitars join the fray for the story of Kosie who schnorted substances to excess, narrated in a type of rap. A beautiful symphonic instrumental break is followed by a slower recitation, very atmospheric, then it reverts to the faster tempo. May Kosie’s disastrous experience serve as warning to us all. I like this track.

Die Kaalkop Waarheid by Stean en die Crankshafts blends guitars, cello and drums in an innovative way. This slow rock ballad has impressive bursts of guitar, poetic lyrics and major vocal variation, from the tender to the anguished, but it’s over before you know it.

Kabous Verwoed’s Sunnyside Hotel portrays urban Pretoria in a series of vivid vignettes of people & places in a voice that ricochets between indifference and empathy. The musical backing suits his narration like a Rizla around quality Omkyktwak. This is Beat Poetry at its best.

More traditional, Ronel Nel’s poem Elope is no less striking and memorable. Her recital is likewise enhanced by cinematic sounds and evocative samples in the right places.

Background voices in a foreign language – sounds like Western Slavic/Polish? to me – that weave over & under his narration lend a strange air to Moord Greeff’s Ballas, a slice of urban angst with edgy percussion.

Ah yes, Piet Pompies’ surrealistic & obscene excursions Die Motorhawe and Die Inryteater are expertly backed by the erotic Bullebak Blaasorkes. As for the themes… some things are best passed over in silence.

The enigmatic Poskaart Na Mars by Tannie Marie en die Biscuits sounds like a cross between The Residents and modern classical of the weirder variety, say Edgard Varèse*1 or György Ligeti*2. I kid you not. A minimalistic & hypnotic keyboard pattern constantly changes texture as a bizarre succession of percussion, chimes & drones bathe it in strange sonic hues.

Poskaart Na Mars is a fitting conclusion for this impressive array of cutting edge SA music. Ons Kerk se Mense encompasses rock, electronica, industrial, alt folk, goth and sadcore of astonishing power and variety.

My personal faves? Difficult, difficult…. But they include Esmé Eva Kwaad’s eerie tone poem The Heaviest Red, the anarchic Psalms & Gesange by Buckfever Underground, the melancholic singer-songwriter tracks by Bittervrug and Bacchus Nel, Nul’s cautionary tale of Kokaïnekop Kosie, Brixton Barnard’s ironic wail Barbara Ray and without a doubt, the grand finale by the Auntie Marie & her two friends from Linden.

*1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Varese

*2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyorgy_Ligeti

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Reconciling the past

June 14, 2010 – 12:48 pm

Source: Lloyd Gedye (Mail and Guardian online)

He may describe himself as a mere “blip” on the Afrikaans cultural scene but Andries Bezuidenhout’s new album Bleek Berus (One F Music) positions him as one of the country’s most significant songwriters.

This is evident on the poignant Dis Net Werk Toe Wat Ek Nog Deur Hillbrow Ry, a nostalgic lament, which poses the question: What happened to the Voëlvry generation?

Johannes Kerkorrel’s Hillbrow was an anthem for the youth that rallied around the Voëlvry movement, so Bezuidenhout’s confession that the only time he thinks about the run-down suburb is when he drives through it on the way to work is a severe indictment of how times have changed between 1989 and 2010.

Bezuidenhout acknowledges this in the liner notes when he describes the song as being about the Voëlvry generation who now drive BMWs and are too afraid to pick up hitchhikers.

In 1989 Kerkorrel was singing “gee you hart vir Hillbrow” and taking the piss out of racist South Africans behind the wheels of their BMWs voting for the National Party.

Bezuidenhout in 2010 is asking the questions: What has become of that punk spirit that fuelled Voëlvry? And what has become of those who were so inspired by Kerkorrel, Koos Kombuis and Bernoldus Niemand?

“En ek weet nie meer vir wie om my hart te gee nie/ en tog het ek nooit daai ou songs verleer nie/ dis net werk toe wat ek nog deur Hillbrow ry,” sings Bezuidenhout.

Addressed to a Laetitia who is living abroad, the song stands as one of South Africa’s finest pieces of social commentary in which Bezuidenhout reaffirms his commitment to South Africa through dialogue with his friend who has emigrated.

“Is ek deel van hierdie land met liefde en hart/ het ek te veel gegee en te veel gevat/ om die donker land nou te verlaat“.

In a recent interview on Litnet Bezuidenhout talked about the influence of Voëlvry. “It was sort of a collective ‘fuck you’ to the Bothas,” says Bezuidenhout. “I was 19 when Voëlvry happened in 1989.”

In this interview Bezuidenhout describes his band, the recently reformed Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes, as the “third wave”, the first being the Voëlvry musicians and the second including people such as Valiant Swart and Joos Tonteldoos.

“People know me more as a newspaper columnist than as a musician,” he tells journalist Fred de Vries.

Athough he describes this third wave as a “blip” on the cultural radar, the quality of the songs he has written on Bleek Berus disputes his self-deprecating attitude to his art. Songs such asDie Ritme van Chaos, which takes on the subject matter of white suburban fear, and Die Laaste Brandwag, which grapples with ecological disaster, are superb additions to the canon of South African folk music.

For, ultimately, that is exactly what Bezuidenhout is offering up on Bleek Berus — an album of contemporary Afrikaans folk songs, with their collective tongue firmly placed in their collective cheek. One only has to listen to the cheesy arrangements that invoke the spirit of Leonard Cohen circa 1988’s I’m Your Man and 1992’s The Future to see that Bezuidenhout is dealing with very heavy subject matter in a light-hearted way.

The recurring themes on the album are of drought and the desert, the Namib in particular, as the legacy of South Africa’s border wars are dealt with.

The last song, Vernichtungsbefehl, deals with the Herero genocide in Namibia and particularly how the desert dunes hide the skeletons — they are complicit in the cover-up.

As the title suggests, the album is fascinated with the idea of white people finding peace in the new South Africa, reconciling their troubled history and positioning themselves within the social fabric of South Africa — and the bleak dry landscape is the perfect metaphor for that history.

While friends emigrate and others live in fear, Bezuidenhout is looking forward — too much a part of this country to quit, but also disenchanted with the way most white people live their lives in the new democratic South Africa.

Is the Voëlvry message still relevant to white South Africans in 2010? Bezuidenhout doesn’t have the answers, but he is asking the questions.

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Ons Kerk Se Mense – part 1

June 13, 2010 – 2:41 pm

Source: toypom (Scribd)

Ons Kerk Se Mense

Various Artists

OneF1015

Distributed with ONS KLYNTJI magazine dated November 2007

FULL DISCLOSURE: The reviewer collaborates on three of these 22 tracks and will therefore make no value judgments on the content or his own vocals but will restrict his comments to the inputs of his partners. Two and a half years down the line, this extraordinary compilation has garnered only one online review. The reviewer-contributor is thus compelled to reveal the neglected rarity’s treasures & travesties.

Ons Kerk Se Mense (The Members of our Congregation or literally, Our Church’s People) was compiled by Drikus Barnard of the bands Slow, Brixton, Moord & Roof, Plank & Trike. Nine or ten of these were recorded and produced at his Lekkerrus Studios. (Mystery surrounds track 22). Paul Riekert of OneF Records produced 4 of them and mastered the album. Photographic credit: ‘Train and Trout’ by Mariska Ison.

Acts with more than one contribution include Buckfever Underground (2), Insek (2) and Drikus (under the moniker Brixton Barnard and with Slow).

Recorded in 2000, Slow’s Krismiswurm is the oldest as it would appear that all the others were recorded in either 2006 or 2007. Spoken poetry/prose comprises approximately one third of the work although some tracks straddle genres. Besides numbers 1 and 21 which are in English, the rest is Afrikaans through and through.

PART ONE
Slow’s edgy Krismiswurm opens with sampled male & female voices before the guitars & drums kick in. The complex arrangement encompasses shifting tempos, innovative guitar work and startling bursts of percussion over and around which Drikus steers his acerbic social commentary. Both of Buckfever Underground’s contributions come from their album The Buckfever Underground SAVES. Over a mix of what sounds like sax, cymbals, guitar, drums and drones, the first offering Psalms en Gesange (Psalms & Hymns) praises inter alia airmail, e-mail, roadblocks, alcohol abuse, community service, national parks, simplicity, various vehicles, giving birth, painkillers, the ability to urinate, the dreams of a child, a bank balance, seekers that find, strategic retreats and fellatio.

That wild parade emerges after the slow, ominous intro that lists a series of “iconic” politico-religious figures; the pace picks up for the praises that are interspersed with off-the-cuff observations. Finally the tempo winds down in a loop-like repetition of the jubilations alone.

A burst of textured feedback unleashes the only English song, I Want To Die On A Tuesday Afternoon. This passionate rant’s up-tempo beat supports the swirls and shapes summoned up by massed guitars, surging synths and sundry chimes, hums & buzzes.

Insek’s first track is the brief instrumental called Derrick on which trumpet- dominant segments alternate with screaming guitars & sax-like sounds. The maniacal Terug Van Die Dood (Back From The Dead) combines bellowed vocals & shrieks with 200bpm industrial beats.

Phew! In the name of sanity, let’s turn to the more conventional structures of the singer-songwriters. Ironically, Piet Planter’s blend of brooding vocals and jangling guitar deals with insanity (Niemand By Die Huis). A choir of electronic crickets at first subtly insinuates itself into the rich full sound, progressively infiltrates the matrix and finally fragments the psyche as it triumphs in the mix.

An interplay of symphonic synths and stirring guitar give rise to the beautiful autumnal tones of Bacchus Nel’s Ballade Van Die Vrou Wat Te Lank Alleen Gebly Het (Ballad Of The Woman Who Stayed On Her Own Too Long). His rich tenor narrates a tale of woe, something like Eleanor Rigby’s Afrikaans aunty who dwelt on a farm in the Karoo.

The third singer-songwriter (second in the segue after Bacchus) is Bittervrug with Ek Sien Jou In My Drome (I See You In My Dreams). Alas, the mood lifts not… grieving guitar embraces solemn orchestral sounds while a funereal beat provides the perfect backdrop for Charles’ anguished vocals as they spiral ever deeper into despair.

Feeling suicidal? Let’s jump 5 tracks for the love of life! Brixton Barnard saves the day with a Ween-like faux country send-up of 1970s country queen Barbara Ray. Not exactly humorous either, the song serenades the chanteuse within a framework of bitter irony, dark humor and apocalyptic imagery.

By now, Angst starts sinking its claws into my soul so I skip Moord Greeff’s Ballas for Monster Soek Sy Meester (Monster Seeks Its Master) by Willem Welsyn en die Sunrise Toffies. At least this one has chugging, buoyant rhythms, roaring guitars and soaring vocals. The music brings brief respite but the lyrics relentlessly push the mutant.

Jeez, dudes … feed me Effexor, Elavil, Prozac.

Singer-songwriter Roof Bezuidenhout’s tender Afrika Wat Wag (Africa Which Awaits) offers elegant melancholia in its acoustic simplicity which is atmospherically enhanced by the odd strategic bleep, exquisite percussive infusions plus some whirring effects that embellish the outro.

OK, bring on the poets then!

The double-tracked vocals (normal & delay) of Esmé Eva Kwaad’s tone poem The Heaviest Red create an echo that’s reinforced by the reference to “echoes of memories”. Conventional time evaporates as the voices spirit us into a dreamtime inseparable from the setting. Timelessness and disintegration exist and occur simultaneously: “nothing’s happening at all” versus “the ache is so beautiful it makes me tick.” The spooky superstructure, the sense of foreboding, rests on a bedrock of resignation. This juxtaposition of the sinister and the soothing resembles the unsettling yet hypnotic effect of the lullaby. Tick-tock percussion joins the eerie background rumble on the line “the clock is only correct twice a day.” Following the last word of the final line “and the sky drips the heaviest reds” this beat speeds up till the single ring of a bell swallows it.

Accompanied by church organ, Esmé Eva Kwaad delivers an equally other- worldly rendition of Ben Jonson’s “Song To Celia” (Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes) as introduction to the collaboration with Piet Pompies whose spoken vocal commences after her final note has faded, narrating a nightmare over the organ tune (no pun intended).

Filthy but fun! Dit Was Immers 1 January exhibits Paul Riekert’s scatological musings on the word “turd.” Claiming that women will go to any lenth to avoid using it, he examines the synonyms & circumlocutions and then narrates an encounter with the only woman who had ever articulated the word in his presence. On Retha Vermeulen’s lips it became a “bon mot,” expressed with conviction at just the right moment.

Well, that’s what Miranda claimed in the movie Picnic At Hanging Rock: “Everything happens at exactly the right place and time.”

TBC

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Interview: Bloedskande

April 11, 2010 – 1:31 pm

Source: Scarlet Tryst (Underground Press – 11 April 2010)

Bloedskande - Bloedskande album cover

Bloekdskande

After Having Bloedskande “Almal doen net wat hul wil” Music video on UNDERGROUND PRESS and watching the success of the view rates, we decided to catch up with the children of night and ask anything but the typical questions,

Firstly striking band name any connotations to the true meaning of the origin of “BLOEDSKANDE”? And If so can you transcribe or inherently translate to English for the fans definition of “BLOEDSKANDE”


The name Bloedskande is about being critical of the perceptions and social norms we all hold so dearly. It’s not a blatant controversial or antagonistic name, but one you have to think about.

Rebellion, like fire in the night, is there intelligence within the statement of describing yourselves as “intelligent Rebellions of middleclass”? Is that the correct interpretation I perceived?


I think there is both intelligence in the statement and in approach. For one, I think we are trying to show we are not ‘sheeple’, but recognise also that we are all subject to some form of control – ours is the middle class even if we are trying to break free from thinking middle class. At the same time, we are intelligent, especially after red wine.

You just had a successful launch with a lot of big names backing you, that’s rather a side-ways approach to the children of night, how was the launch?

The big names backing might be coincidental as a result of us being children of the night. The launches were incredible and a great success – a big thank you to everyone involved.

In a  society of mediocrity where would you say “BLOEDSKANDE” stands out or in?

Bloedskande fits in where ever you want us to, just perhaps not in the way you would want us to. I guess that’s how we stand out.

Multi diverged artists would you say that?

Not sure what this means exactly but we a comfortable with our differences and probably do have different backgrounds.

Inspirations – the almighty Typical question – let’s twist this – where do you NOT get your inspirations from?

As soon as any form of music, art or film forces itself into genre it is not inspirational. I can safely say I was not inspired by Billy Ray Cyrus, but his daughter is growing on me.

Day dream believer?

Dream much, wish much or just do what you want? “Almal doen net wat hul wil.”

So how long have the band been together and who is who in the band?

From 2007. Shaun ‘Dr. Khupcake’ Ruysenaar plays them drums. Siff dances, plays bass and vocals. Jan Smart plays the guitar and vocals.

Not meaning to generalise here but any band worth mentioning that may have brought you to your decision to become an artist?

According to Shaun, in terms of S.A. music the Nude Girls was his inspiration and internationally the rock solid Screaming Jets. Jan would like to thank Black Sabbath for their wonderful groove.

So where Do we get the albums from?

From One F Music – www.onefmusic.com , live shows and it will be in the shops soon.

(Interview by Scarlet Tryst)

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Bloedskande And Footnotes

April 2, 2010 – 10:02 am
Bloedskande

Bloedskande

Here comes a band of musicians to redefine the word and make it their own, or not?

When I asked how the band redefine words and what it takes to make it fit a concept which isn’t even remotely linked to incest – Jan Smart frontman of Bloedskande answered…

Lyric-wise we don’t redefine words. The power of the word is in sentences, we don’t try to redefine words, but redefine ideas in sentences. We make our observations of the ‘real world’ and that’s the extent of any attempt of redefinition. If you are referencing the name of the band, we have chosen the term Bloedskande as it is open to interpretation. We don’t aim to make it our own, but we want people to think about their interpretation.

So this is not a concept album in terms of the lyrics, like Pink Floyd for instance have done in the past. The name is the concept and it is open to interpretation.

Bloedskande are a group of artists who banded together to fulfil their personal ideals and to challenge the public and what they think – I suppose to test the market, its pabulum and its fickle nature.

I really had to think hard about what I thought of this band of young men hailing from a middle class, suburban setting and coming up with the idea of leaving their name completely open to interpretation, inevitably redefining words, and employing the use of sentences to enabling them to side-step the original meaning – obtuse, I was immediately intrigued.

According to Jan Smart their music is in most parts social commentary. In their approach to writing songs they needed to sit back and observe the social dynamics in the world – including their own interactions with people and situations. Some of the content (of the music) ended up dark, but isn’t a negative message. It’s a realistic observation about the life they are subjected to, said Smart.

I decided to get the opinions of the people they have worked with, the people who put this vision together.

And so my journey in to Bloedskande began: Firstly Bloedskande are Jan Smart – guitars and vocal, Siff – Bass and vocal, and Shaun ‘Dr Khupcake’ Ruysenaar – on drums.

The 9 track self-titled album is ‘n c.d vol ‘Wroeg’ (agony). In the cover booklet there are photographs of the band members in various locations in and around Johannesburg. Shadowy figures against alley walls and under bridges, stencilling their existence on our every day and how many of us noticed? I asked the band how these really striking paste-up’s were associated with the music.

Jan Smart commented thus: “The photographs and the paste-up campaign was used to emphasise the idea of observers…” So, the band pulled a Cassius (The Great Observer) on us. Did they presume to know what life was like for me, by observing me and writing my life? Okay I’ll take the bait, I am slightly paranoid.

So I went a spoke to another paranoid soul like myself – Drikus Barnard – as he is inextricably linked to the band. I asked him to comment on his experiences and his impressions:

“I recorded (Bloedskande in Lekker Rus Studios, Johannesburg) in the winter and spring of 2009.

Working with the band was fun, intense and at the odd interval, frustrating, strong wills came to the fore and, to quote Ian Curtis, “Our vision became a bit blurred”. My duties as a producer were suspended and (the result is) I simply recorded the guys, safe in the knowledge that it would end up in the very capable hands of Paul Riekert (One F Music). We (Drikus and the band members) managed to finish this with a firm handshake and the friendships remained intact.

The concept of the album to me (Drikus), is that of an Afrikaner staying in Joburg and having this love/hate relationship with the city. He explores the inevitable demise of his language and culture, and takes solace in rock and roll. He also aknowledges a universal feeling of loneliness, hence the stirring finale, Almal Alleen; my favourite track on the album. Reflecting this (concept) in the recording was easy: Make sure the angry young men don’t tweak the vocal mics.

I (Drikus) would describe Bloedskande as a classic example of the power trio filling the gaps with a lot of good old aggression. They have an excellent stage presence, and most importantly, they growl. If I see one more band that whines I’m gonna top myself.

With the right crowd bouncing the bands energy right back at them things will lead to a nice little moshpit and a partykie will be had by by all, but us South Africans, we love to just stare, dont we?

As for the content, some heavy shit is spoken so it may not be every baby’s chocolate.

Advice to artists: Be exactly who you want to be, audiences know if your faking it, and very important: your profession is no more or less important than that of a plumber, so save the god illusions to professionals like Mr Malema. Studios are not rehearsal rooms so be prepared, and become intimate with a metronome before you learn to walk. Oh, and fire your producer when your visions get blurred, it is your product after all.

I recorded Bloedskande because I believe in them, I saw them grow over the last year and it’s my sincerest wish that they continue to do so.

Can I go now?”

Last stop before the session with my friend the Ipod, a talk with Paul Riekert, head of One F Music Studio. Paul mixed and mastered Bloedskande from the tracks he received from Drikus Barnard.

Paul’s impressions of the music are, “At the core of Bloedskande’s debut album are rage and frustration.

Fortunately, they express this in an intelligent way, without surrendering any of the intensity. This album could only have come from Joburg, it couldn’t have come from anywhere else, that cynical fast moving culture, they sing about Joburg. There is a lot reference to urban decay and the beauty that comes with that. If you look at the photos they use for the cover and video that hints at that and ties it together, so you know what you are in for. What is nice is the ambivalence of opposing the culture of urban decay and praising it. The negativity expressed comes from exposure to this decay and they want it (Joburg) back. Also amidst all this negativity they crack some jokes, cynical but funny. ”

Bourbon? Check. Kitty Cat? Check. Ipod? Check.. Lets go listen then shall we?..

The first track Joburg Terug starts with a crack of thunder and proceeds to let us in on the secrets held within the album.

The visuals are that of a godforsaken glue-sniffing Joburg Child Of The Night who found his faith in an alley. An intoxicted body to still the soul and his life’s wishes are that which rob him of everything. Sleeping with the dead and dreaming with the gods, wanting nothing more than to have Joburg back tonight…. this Sodom so dark and bad.

Using author Daniel Levitin’s guidelines for bullshit-detecting I surrendered to Bloedskande, and smelt and felt the haunts and spaces I had all but forgotten, as I once again ‘missioned’ around Johannesburg’s inner city streets to the great libraries, sat in bars in Yeoville, danced and got wasted in the alternative nightclubs of the time, bought books and music in Braamfontein and Hillbrow and generally explored this Joburg information mecca.

Wandering thorough the album in the dark morass of my mind as I continued to decipher what they are on about conceptually and being completely immersed in their music, the penny finally dropped – when track 5; entitled Die Skip Wat Sink played. In this track the band speak of the Afrikaans language hanging on the gallows – “lets party while it dies”, they say. Suddenly I was able to interpret the name Bloedskande and it became a reality, Bloedskande to my mind was about all stigmas and strife of Afrikaans artists as well as Afrikaans youths especially have to live with in South Africa.

Drikus mentioned his ideas on the concept and by far that made the most sense to me. I am in the business of music and audio, so all the pretty pictures supporting music mean nothing to me if the music doesn’t hit me sonically or lyrically. What is the point of music then? I often say that when I close my eyes, pour a drink and listen to something that has passed my desk, I want a private audience with the band. THAT experience is the one that will sell me on the product or makes it fail, One F Music is a company based on listening to the emotions of others and not censoring these – I want to feel something gudammit, and I felt the Afrikaans language die in that song. I stood up to fight the fight to keep it alive, and I was surrounded by a great sadness for these boys and the truly innovative Afrikaans musicians I work with daily – the fear of falling in to the cracks was very real. So not only are we attending the funeral of the Afrikaans language, but so too have cultures changed, the X Generation has seperated itself from the Y Generation and we sit with a new breed of musicians and artists that aren’t hanging on to political timeline and yet they pay still for that political timeline. Their message is the same and vastly different.

I haven’t been inside the actual inner city for a good long while now, I am now miserable but comfortable living on the perimeter in suburbia and longing for the Yeoville days and its folk. It was great to walk those streets in my mind again with Bloedskande. If music’s role is emotional, I went through a rung of emotions listening to the music. I held in my minds eye the faces of the paste-up’s of the band members all over Joburg in random locations and they were familiar, like old hats and friends. I loved being manipulated in to visiting those memories again and experiencing universal truth through the eyes of another, for as much as The Observers observe us – we witness them – in my opinion they passed the bullshit detector test.

Get this album – for me they have redefined the meaning of the word through music that makes you sit up and listen, music that is both meaningful in its effect on ones psyche and a has within its lyrics sentiments shared by many who love Joburg and Afrikaans…These young men should be heard!

(the Album is available through all good independents and One F Music directly – www.onefmusic.com)

Footnotes:

* Daniel Levitin in his book This Is Your Brain On Music speaks of what music does to one physiologically and why is it so powerful a medium to use to penetrate the private world of the music fan (a must read for anyone interested in music). His concept is based in Neuropsychology, on how music affects our brains, our minds, our thoughts and our spirit.

* The role of music is emotional.

* Advertising agencies create the ‘look’ of music and the hipness. This is how we become aware of fashion in music, and it creates an idea of one being better than the other.

*Music is manipulation, and we enjoy being manipulated and ‘made’ aware of the need to feel things through the eyes of another.

*For the artist, the goal of painting or musical composition is not to convey literal truth, but an aspect of a universal truth, that if successful will continue to move and to touch people even as contexts, societies and cultures change.

*On the Bloedksande look and feel:
Marketing concept and graphic design – Eras Gous and Moira-Gene Sephton. Eras has been there right from the start with Bloedskande. I remember seeing an early Bloedskande poster designed by him. The design is easy on the eye, visually enticing and somewhat spooky all at once, he did a fabulous job on the logo. A bloodsack and a booze bottle, linked by a cord that reads on the left – ‘Bloed’ and on the right, ‘Skande’, the perfect image for the ‘Y Generation’.

* On Mariska Ison:
..and speaking of images… the photography was executed by Mariska Ison for the paste-ups, and so I thought I’d have a little chat with her too…
I asked Mariska how she created the visual moodiness of our voyeurs The Observers according to the brief she had received, she replied: “Bloedskande is a hard-rock band with a strong message. Using the brief, I decided to use strong sidelight to create contrast and mood, because they are all photogenic , it worked perfectly”, and indeed they are strong photographs to match the message, I thought. Mariska has been in the photographic world for a number of years, and has been involved with many interesting photographic artists and projects she says, “I qualified at the University of Technology in the Vaal Triangle. After which I assisted Nick Boulton full-time for a period of four years. Then I was a freelance photographers assistant to Shane Rowe, the late Crispin Plunkett, Francki Burger and other inspirational photographers”. Most recently she has had Die Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes under her lens and assisted Pol Ramalheiro shooting The Parletones, you can view her work on Facebook search her by her name ‘Mariska Ison’, her photo galleries are awesome.

* On Drikus Barnard:
The last we saw of him for two years was the end of Die Brixton Moord and Roof Orkes. Today the band is back on the map and ready to make waves once again. The frontman for the aforementioned band, Andries Bezuidenhout released his latest solo offering entitled Bleek Berus and Drikus had quite a bit to do with that album, for more on this read: http://www.facebook.com/notes/clair-cantrell/andries-bezuidenhout-bleek-berus-his-second-solo-offering/155652658420

* Alternative nightclubs of the time:

  • Le Club
  • The Doors
  • Alcatraz
  • Sub Zero
  • The Fridge

* Bloedskande launched their self-titles album at Prosound on the 17th March 2010.

They are included in the Prosound / One F Music sessions – live recordings done on world-class equipment by a world class sound company. What more could a band of cult-status ask for? Not much with such generosity….
Thanks Prosound – thanks Jon Penreath who mixed the band, set them up on the stage and engineered the recording -

want to know more on how to get these – contact lisa@prosound.co.za or myself on Clair@onefmusic.com

Words and Photo by Clair Cantrell

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Met Jou In My Kop, a page out of the book of Bittervrug

March 24, 2010 – 1:03 pm

Source: Underground Press (Met Jou In My Kop, a page out of the book of Bittervrug 24 March 2010)

Nick Cave said in his “Secret life of a love song”, “It is no wonder sadness is so sad, melancholy hates haste and sits in the back of the class”. He was referring to a state of mind that Garcia Lorca coined in his writings, and what the Spanish call “Duende” - ( Duende (art), a difficult-to-define phrase in the Spanish arts that connotes emotion and authenticity.)

Charles Badenhorst is duende personified. One cannot put this artist in to a box and label his music in genre specific terms. Very seldom in life does one come across artists like these for they are often denied their rightful place in the compulsive modernity of the music industry. True raw emotion is tamed for airplay and tamed further – to market an individual who will invariably slip through the cracks that are so well formed by industry-heads.

Bittervrug

Bittervrug

Charles Badenhorst aka Bittervrug is an artist that endures across genres and across linear marked selling-time. Charles Badenhort is an emotional artist, he speaks from a very personal view of the world around him and himself. Bloed Vir Ontbyt, his debut offering released by One F Music in 2007 saw Charlie jumping off the deep end and learning to swim in torrential waters. With Bloed Vir Ontbyt Charles immersed himself not only in the underground music scene, but also the visual side of Bittervrug. He is an animator by profession and his visual art through his animation company Fopspeeen Moving Pictures compliments his content brilliantly. You have to surrender to him or miss the point completely. Bittervrug’s music video Hoppelpertjie and the album Bloed Vir Ontbyt received a Huisgenoot Tempo-Toekenning nomination in the Kopskuif catagory in 2008. Check out the Bittervrug channel on Youtube.

Charles launched his second offering on the 4th of March 2010 in Johannesburg at Prosound – The Shop. Just before Daars Wolke Buite was to be born, it poured with rain, ‘soos die harde nat trane val’, the mood was set for a performance by an artist who hits you intimately with his emotional gestures. His falcetto voice weaves in an out of pain and love, and the concequence of those emotions, leaving you somewhat fixated on the humanity you see and hear before you upon the stage, likened to Tom Waits, who always sees the human behind the mask – you are stripped of your mask in the face of Bittervrug.

It was absolutely necessary to document this moment for it is a rare occasion to see this man perform. Prosound provided the sound gear to record his launch for digital media, and so too the Prosound and One F Music Sessions were born. Jon Penreath was so kind as to offer his services for the evening’s event as sound engineer and he also engineered the recording. Charlie got to use all of the best gear money can buy. You will get the chance to get your paws on these recordings in a bit – we’ll keep you up to date.

Charles Badenhorst aka Bittervrug

Charles Badenhorst aka Bittervrug

It is rather ironic that a multi-million rand company would take a chance on an artist like Bittervrug. One of the driving forces behind One F Music is to document rare quality music and the people at Prosound understand that. Check out the impressive list of gear at the end of this article used for the recording and the live performance. Oh the truth be told, I have it on good authority that you may book a session and go and try out the gear. Get a hold ofLisa@prosound.co.za and book your session now.
Oh and Charles did play. Daars Wolke Buite was born to the media, that unique and special moment captured for eternity, thanks again to Jon, and the rain you ask? We all thought that was the universe’s blessing in the end..
www.onefmusic.com
www.prosound.co.za
www.fopspeen.co.za/content/cv.html

Vocal Mic: Electro-Voice ND767 Dynamic super-cardioid
Guitar Mic: DPA 4099GTR instrument mic
Into a Midas Venice 160 mixing console

Front of House: Electro-Voice TourX 15” Loudspeakers
Run by Electro-Voice Q-Series amplifiers

Monitoring: Electro-Voice TourX 12” Floor Monitor

Processing: TC Electronic M-OneXL Reverb/Delay

Recording: TC Electronic Konnekt 24D interface (taking direct outs from Midas)

FOH Monitoring Headphones: Sony MRD7506 (recording) and MDR7509HD (FOH)

All cables made by Prosound.

Clair Cantrell onefmusic ©

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VAN COKE BO DIE GROND ROEP NA KOOS ONDER DIE GROND…

March 17, 2010 – 10:51 am

Source: Andries Bezuidenhout (versindaba)

van coke kartel - skop, skiet & donner cd cover

Die een ding wat my steeds van Koos du Plessis verstom, is hoe hy musikale grense in Afrikaanse musiek oorbrug. Dink maar aan sy lied “Gebed,” wat keer op keer deur gospelsangers gesing word. Die mees oortuigende weergawe daarvan, dink ek, is egter Dozi s’n. Sy stem dra iets van die ware kwaliteit van die lied oor: ʼn Desperate kreet om hulp van ʼn alkoholis wat ”elke afdraaipaadjie” kén – “elke keer het U my iewers kom haal, maak dit, Heer, die laaste maal.” Maar hy wéét dis nie die laaste maal nie.

Maar dis nie net skoolkore en gospelsangers wat deur Koos du Plessis betower word nie. Een van my gunsteling interpretasies van ʼn Koos Doep is Battery 9 se weergawe van “Kouevuur”. Paul Riekert gooi die wysie weg en werk net met die ritme van die liriek, een wat jy kan spoeg en grom. Absoluut asemrowend. Luister hier, sommer ook na “Lie if you have to”.

Dan het Johannes Kerkorrel ʼn hele CD met Koos du Plessis covers opgeneem. Hy het dit weer op sy manier geïnterpreteer, iets waaroor ek baie dankbaar is, aangesien Kerkorrel een van die groot geeste van een van die ander rewolusies in Afrikaanse musiek was. Ek is bly hy het op so ʼn manier hulde gebring aan ʼn voorganger.

Dan is daar natuurlik Gert Vlok Nel se pragtige afskeid aan Koos du Plessis – “Waarom ek roep na jou vanaand”… “Gert bo die grond roep na Koos onder die grond, kom in Koos, kom in, kom in…”

En nou voeg Francois van Coke ʼn nuwe generasie se stem by die res van die left field koor wat Koos du Plessis se songs laat aanhou sing. Nóg een van die voorlopers van ʼn nuwe rewolusie in Afrikaanse musiek. ʼn Nuwe interpretasie van “Skadu’s teen die muur” is te vinde op Van Coke Kartel se pas uitgereikte CD Skop, skiet en donner. Van Coke Kartel is die meer ongeskikte off shoot van Fokofpolisiekar, maar met hierdie album doen hulle amper wat die Fokofs met Monoloog in stereogedoen het. Hulle gebruik akoestiese kitare en minder aggressiewe klanke. In sommige gevalle gebruik hulle geprogrammeerde perkussie en ander klanke. Ek dink ek hou daarvan.

Benewens “Skadu’s teen die muur” is daar twee ander covers – vreemde keuses – “Maniac”, wat in die 80s in fliek Flashdance te hore was, en JJ Cale se “Cocaine” uit die 70s. Ek weet nie heeltemal hoe diep Van Coke Kartel se tonge in hulle kieste met hierdie keuses sit nie, of selfs in wie se kieste hulle hul tonge ingedruk het nie. Maar van een ding is ek seker. Ek hou baie van hulle weergawe van “Skadu’s teen die muur”. Hulle maak ʼn anthem van ʼn bitter siniese liriek.

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BITTER EERLIK

March 2, 2010 – 9:41 am

Source: Gulsig van Vraat (www.musiekvraat.com)


Bittervrug - daars wolke buite

Bittervrug is akoestiese musiek wat nie bang is om ‘n bloederige hart te ontbloot nie.


Bittervrug is gestroop, eerlik en sonder tierlantyntjies. Die band se tweede album Daar’s wolke buite het die lig gesien onder One F Music se vaandel. Bittervrug bestaan uit Charles Badenhorst en sy eerste album heet Bloed vir Ontbyt en het in 2007 verskyn.
Sy band se naam is heel gepas en beskryf die atmosfeer en lirieke van sy musiek baie goed.
Die dualiteit in bittervrug is ook teenwoordig op die jongste album. Bitter omdat hy dikwels die tema van verlore liefde na vore bring soos op Net toe ek jou vashou en die roerende Wat is ‘n hart. ‘n Vrug kan ook soms lekker proe en dis hier waar die bisarre dualiteit sy kop uitsteek. Vat maar byvoorbeeld Eet jou later. Daar’s twee temas wat hier na vore tree: Die seksuele betekenis van Eet jou later en ook die verhaal van die Duitse bra Armin Meiwes wat ‘n gewillige ou oor die internet gekry het en wat ingestem het dat hy geëet word. Op metaforiese vlak kan Charles se lirieke seker ook verskillend geïnterpreteer word.
Musikaal is Bittervrug gestroop. Dis Charles en sy akoestiese kitaar, met ‘n paar harmonieë en hier en daar ‘n kort solo. As mens Bittervrug in ‘n blik moet druk in terme van genres, sal iets soos aweregse folk seker gepas wees.
Die riff op Sit my af sit my aan is doelbewus staccato om tematies die song te versterk. Charles se harmonieë hierop laat ook iets van Gilmour en Waters van Pink Floyd deurskemer.
Dat ‘n bittervrug nie lekker gaan wees om af te sluk nie, blyk ook op ‘n song soos 2D Girl. Tweedimensioneel en sonder diepte is wat die girl blyk te wees. Bittervrug verkies dat sy eerder die hasepad moet vat. Die volgehoue klokkie-effek skep ook ‘n onheilspellende gevoel.
Ou Charles moes al duidelik so ‘n paar bitterpille(-vrugte) in sy lewe sluk, en dit lei tot emotiewe songs soos Met jou in my kop. Die riff op die song herinner sterk aan Diary of Dreams se Flood of Tears. Daar’s ook sterk lirieke in die liedjie, dink maar net aan: “Ek voel jou so skraps aan my lyf.” Bittervrug is doelbewus gestroop om klem te lê op die lirieke, luister maar net na Leeg met ons harte by die deur,
Dis ‘n aangename verrassing om Afrikaanse kunstenaars te hoor wat nie bang is om hul hart te ontbloot nie, al bloei dit ook hoe erg. Daar’s wolke buite sal nie vir Kurt Darren slapelose nagte besorg oor die moontlikheid dat dit sy nommer een op die treffersparade gaan steel nie, maar dit bevat die hartklop van ware alternatiewe musiek.

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Album Review: Andre van Rensburg

January 7, 2010 – 2:06 pm

Source: Scarlet Tryst (Underground Press – 07 Jan 2010)

Andre van Rensburg

Do we deconstruct the music in an elevator that’s the thought that occurs when I think of Instrumental albums, are we a gang of thieves who shun the non-lyrical content of an album that has no words but has meaning in the evanescence of a din that denotes an emotion that could have encompassing substance? When imagery comes to mind but only the composer can wield the illusive thought provocation that he has had in mind and the transference then onto the audience, I’m referring to Andre van Rensburg With his two solo albums layered with heavy cognitive breakdowns of constructs that could easily be on track with Angelo Badalamenti; this is an Odyssey.

Concrete

Concrete (2007)

On opening the beautiful encased disc “Concrete”; Black & White tones would lead one to believe that only misery would prevail but alas merry folk if one listens there is a sense of all sorts of yellow-and-blue and a hint of tender. Easy to the ear then at a leap a surprising opus will have at the core of your being jolted to the sensory that is a simulacrum of what is to be heard. After listening to the Album I have to say I found humour yes I did in all the beauty of the Strings, Horns, Piano, Life, Guitar, Was that a building falling? Yes industrial music for the restless soul my song from Concrete Is indeed “end credits (my funeral)”, then there is “lynchmop”. The titles versus the music can make you ponder or the notes and clamber can either way it’s thought provoking music.

Unfinished Cities

Unfinished Cities (2008)

Muted colour tones I stares at the cover that’s colour of the sleeve, the disc has chards of glass. Muted. Songs are titled as Parts 1, 2, 3, etc. The music is more technically and feels more organised than last album “Concrete” but the deconstruction is still to be felt forever being built and broken. Heartfelt, something missing something found. Some songs have a Danger element Part 6 in Particular I could relate the strings leave you feeling like a violin spider on a bass drum all shook and on edge. Then there are songs that one could use as a serenade very scattered very much in one’s mind’s eye a theatre of masking parades. This is Easy Listening Industrusial.

Scarlet Tryst.

To order any of Andre’s work contact Clair at clair@onefmusic.com

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