Source: toypom (Scribd)
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.
