Image: facebook.com

John Wizards are new kids on the block but their Arabic-hinted sounds promise to seize control of the whole nation’s alt lovers’ music tastes. Steady Vampire Weekend-vocals over exotic melodies create clear cut ‘sound crystals’ reminiscent of the dustier and more temperamental parts of this world. Nonetheless, the music is mind-bogglingly hard to categorize. African swing-hinted funky-ish synth reggae?
 
 
 
Christian Tiger School – ‘Clay Pidgeons’

Image: we-are-awesome.com

Christian Tiger School are bringing a sea of LA chill waves to our shores and creating a refreshing storm on the CT music front. We found out that they were also very flattered to have the opportunity to record at Red Bull Studios Cape Town at the beginning of their career when we interviewed them last year. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

When and how did you realise that people liked your music?
Luc: We bought all our Likes on Facebook. (loud laughs)
Sebastian: When we got to make something at Red Bull Studios in Cape Town for the first time that was a tiny bit of an indicator. And just sharing with friends and getting nice feed back from them.
Luc: There were also a lot of people at the album launch and it was weird to think that they’d come to watch us. In Pretoria people knew the tune and were singing along. That was just weird because Cape Town and Pretoria are so far away from each other. I think that’s when we realised that it wasn’t just people who we know that like our stuff.
 
 
 
Maramza – ‘Smoke’

Image: facebook.com

‘Untraditional Healer DJ Doktor (100% Guaranteed Chance of Working)’ and he ‘will make your beats harder, better, faster, stronger’ says his ‘about’ section on Facebook. Hear for yourself.
 
 
 
Expansion Electronic – ‘Formidable’

Image: redbull.co.za

Expansion Electronic (aka Exel) is a 24 year old DJ / Producer from Italy whose sound is a finely crafted concoction of nu-skool and ol-skool Breaks.

Originally a keyboardist for the band Phinx and 50% of the now defunct electro duo Pitch2Decide he has shared the stage with artists such as MSTRKRFT, Shitdisco, Mixhell, Drop the Lime, Punks Jump Up and Subsonica. Recently in Cape Town he stopped by the Red Bull Studio to produce some exclusive tracks. Take a listen to and download his first offering, ‘Formidable’ which sounds like it could be a great Red Bull Beat Battle / BC One accompaniment this year.
 
 
 
MK Ultra – ‘Brotherhood’

Image: facebook.com

MK Ultra is one of the many South African artists championing the filthy sounds of hardstyle electro, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass. Over the past couple of years this style of head-banging electronica has been popularized by likes of Haezer and Grimehouse and become an essential component of peak-hour dancefloor sets both at festivals and in clubs around the country.

Probably the best and worst thing about hardstyle is that all you really need to make it is a laptop, some music software and (preferably) some decent monitors and / or headphones. Best because it means that anyone with talent and tenacity can master the sound with minimal expense. Worst because there aren’t many people with said talent and tenacity, but many who believe they’re the next Skrillex because they’ve figured out how to use the modulation controls in Native Instruments Massive.

In any case, MK Ultra certainly isn’t a deluded wannabe and these three tracks he produced at the Studio are evidence that he’s on his way to truly establishing his own brand of thrashing electronic music, more suited to the mosh-pit than the dancefloor.
 
 
 
Damascus – ‘Salmon Pockets’

Image: redbull.co.za

Damascus is part of a new breed of fantastic South African artists interpreting a unique blend of stripped down beats and sample driven hip-hop. His approach to production is simple – music above all else. We hosted Damascus at the studio in early December 2012 and the result was a plethora of sounds out of which these four tracks were born. His work rate was astounding and refreshing, and its not every week an artist brings out such good quality stuff so quickly. We expect great things from Damascus to come.
 
 
Links:
Red Bull Studios – website
Red Bull Studios – Facebook
Reb Bull Studio – SoundCloud

250 people wind through the leafy suburb of Bishopscourt in Cape Town on a Thursday night looking for the address on their invites. They park their cars and walk past enormous houses dwarfed only by the exterior walls. The walls open up and in the gap one of the houses stands looking like a construction team downed their tools months, years ago and never returned. There is gravel out front instead of grass and lanterns light the way to the front door that was designed for a family of giants.

We are ushered in by security and suddenly the construction gives way to the skeleton of a house made for presidents and dictators. Columns that reach past the outer atmosphere nod to the sounds we are about to hear, the reason we 250 are here. Tonight is the launch of Markus Wormstorm’s new 13-track album Not I, but a friend. Writer, composer, fantasy artist, tonight sees the man with 15 years behind him of making successful electronic music in this country, for music sake, for commercial sake, for creativity’s sake, collect a group together to take part in something utterly new. Tonight is a collaboration, but as conductor and musical seer Markus is the landlord of this plot, we his eager listeners.

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

With the reputation he has, Wormstorm could fill this deserted mansion 10 times over. But tonight is a special ‘invite only’, one-hour showcase performance for his chosen group of CT players, hell even the drummer from Queen is here. 30 minutes after arriving and milling around, sounds start emanating from the grass in front of what in a normal size house would be called the porch. Five black clad musicians take to the staged area, eyes do not meet audience, and it is as if a bubble of seriousness keeps them apart. Instruments are tuned; a violin, a clarinet, a standing double bass, and from the muddle of tones, Inge Beckman from Lark begins to recite words just too soft to hear and Markus, complete with facial hair straight out of Kevin Smith’s Clerks, begins to layer and add beats and the music swells and comes together. We have lift off; the launch has begun.

Photograph: (c) Sydelle Willow Smith

Photograph: (c) Sydelle Willow Smith

People are quiet, watching as much as listening, much like in a theatre. Three songs in and the atmospheric beats hold the balance between the players. People are overheard wishing Inge’s words were louder, clearer, as she hints at stories of beasts, of queens and of thieves. But using her as an instrument is maybe the cleverest part of the orchestration. If the front woman from Lark, maybe the most powerful female singer this country has ever seen in terms of both vocals and stage presence, was in the front of the stage, singing with full force, we would be watching ‘The Inge Show’. Instead, weaving her tales behind the snake charming clarinet, her voice adds tone and depth to the group, never overshadowing it. And Markus beats his head, drives his vision, onwards.
 

 

Not I, but a friend: Track Listing:

01 ‘Lillian’ Ft Magdaleen Minnaar

02 ‘Cine’ Ft DouIVtwo

03 ‘Eve’s Twin’

04 ‘The Bridge’ Ft Magdaleen Minnaar

05 ‘Uiltjie’

06 ‘Red Queen’

07 ‘Wit’

08 ‘Visitor’ Ft DouIVtwo

09 ‘Sleep Ali’

10 ‘Beautiful Malema’

11 ‘Thief’ Ft Inge Beckmann

12 ‘Vir’

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

The album we are all hearing for the first time is called Not I, but a friend, for Wormstorm’s own journey, the shift from one phase in life to the next, the growth it takes to get there, the newness of self expression upon arrival, and the inspiration we surround ourselves with for the trip, the people and the eclectic sounds they bring. 1000 copies of the album, with art by Elise Wessels [whose current work ‘Beast in Mind’ was also showcased in one of the empty lounges in the mansion], have been printed and there is a free download option available with an accompanying music video by Jannes Hendrikz.

A film by the multi award winning Jannes Hendrikz (see shythesun.tv) with music by Markus Wormstorm
 

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

With song titles like ‘Dissent Itself’, ‘Street/ kid/ glue/spell’ and ‘Beautiful Malema’, the album has much depth and texture to sink ones teeth into, whilst easily soaring along other tracks like ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Lillian’. The album strength lies in the collaboration between Wormstorm’s beats and the imaginative instrumentalists that use their tones to create cinescapes, more movie score than club tracks. With Ariella Caira [cello], Justin Carter and Maria Du Toit [clarinet], Magda De Vries [marimba], Frank Mallows [vibraphone], Magdalene Minaar [voice/ viola/ violin], Mareli Stolp [piano] adding the voices of their instruments to the mix, the album rises above what is expected in the genre, and jumps daringly into the darkness of the unknown.

I wanted to do something that is sophisticated without being pretentious.

Photograph: (c) Sydelle Willow Smith

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

Back to the moment we are in. People spilling off the stairs and onto the grass… it is the eeriness and the fantasy element that elevate this beyond. Kyla Rose Smith on violin adds a tone of haunting beauty, Brydon Boltons fingers cut through the air around his double bass like melted butter, the vocals and Markus’ man-possessed orchestration behind the decks, cause the sound and melody to rise like steam.

‘Deep within my fortress… I am’, the vocals state and we follow them in.

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

Like a memory retold in a dream, this abandoned mansion, us serenaded by a troupe of story tellers from a surreal universe. Half an hour later it is all over. The stairs become lost in the standing ovation and for a full half hour after, people huddle in groups under the 3-storey columns reaching into the starred sky and discuss the art performance they saw tonight. They puzzle it out and try to understand what they were just a part of. The bar closes and people wander off, challenged, and rewarded.

As film director Bryan Little from Fly on the wall summed it up:

That was truly bizarre. I digged it.

And what does Markus have to say post-launch?

For the upcoming months my team and I will continue to stage invite only events throughout the city. I want to explore the relationship between architecture and sound. I want my audience to follow me into these unexplored spaces.  (Markus Wormstorm)

Take a look behind the scenes of Markus Wormstorms’ rehearsals at the Red Bull Studio’s in Cape Town. Also make sure you check out Issue 23 of one small seed – “Cult of Self” – for an interview with Markus.

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

Words: Leigh Vermaak

Images courtesy of: Red Bull Studios. Photographs by: (c) Rowan Pybus, (c) Makhulu Productions, (c) Sydelle Willow Smith