Signed to sSHADOWORKSs, Steve Elsworth aka Audiophile021 is an unquantifiable music powerhouse. one small seed spends a bit of time with Steve, from his base at the Red Bull Studios to playing live at The Assembly on the 11 May 2012 and at the Cape Town Electronic Music Festival on the 31 March 2012. Turn up the volume – here’s a taste of Audiophile021. (Length 02:37)

The head sound engineer of Red Bull Studios Cape Town by trade, he spends most of his life enveloped in chords and rhythm. A DJ and producer – he perfectly marries solid production steeped in pure quality and original style, all the while making and playing tracks that rock a crowd to the floor boards. Initially rooted in rock and metal, Audiophile021 quickly began flirting with electronic music, and his love affair with crunchy basslines and body-thumping drums rapidly grew into obsessive passion.

Picture by Adriaan Louw Taken At The Assembly

Audiophile021 – The Frown – Metallic Kiss (Audiophile 021 Remix)

Picture By Adriaan Louw Taken At The Assembly

 
Photos: Adriaan Louw

Source: sShadworksS, SoundCloud, Facebook

image: berniechase.com

New York City’s Symbolic Collection gallery – one of the world’s greatest collections of 20th Century pop culture – presents a collection of fine art works by legendary music icon and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. The exhibition – Faces, Time and Places - premiered on Monday 9 April and will run until 30 June 2012.

Ronnie Wood. A name most of know as being the lead guitarist to legendary rock ‘n roll band Rolling Stones. What we might not know is that Ronnie Wood is an artist and has been practicing painting, drawing and printmaking for over 35 years.

I apply musical theory to his art. I build limited edition silk screen prints in much the same way as studio overdubs, the more defined ones are things that stand out in the mix. (ronniewoodexhibition.com)

image: hungree.com

image: timesofmalta.com

image: cbsnews.com

noun
1.
an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions insignificant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and colour.

Music is ‘an art…’ This could not be truer for Wood. His subjects are his friends, his family, and his music. In many mediums, he has captured legendary rock n’ roll, pop and rhythm & blue performers including Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, John Lennon and Madonna.

Lots of musicians happen to be artists because you find, especially if you’re a Gemini like me, that you’re blessed with two things: music and art (Wood, CBS News)

 
Ronnie Wood’s current art exhibition, entitled Faces, Time and Places, coincides with this weekend’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where Wood will be celebrated for his pioneering influence as a guitarist for rock band The Faces. It was in 1989 for The Rolling Stones when he was first inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

image: blog.joshwongphotography.com

It’s a great honour. It’s a great time for The Faces. It’s a great time for me. It’s a great time for my art. (Wood, CBS News)

With assistance by Brandon Coburn, the art exhibited was selected by Wood himself and will take the viewer on a voyage that is both intimate and full of rhythm. A candid rock ’n roll retrospective, Faces, Time and Places is Wood documenting the evolving world of popular culture, a world that is often centered on fame and music – from the ’60s until the present.

The exhibition includes paintings, drawings and limited-edition prints available for sale, many of never having been showcased to the public. One of the gems is a 1979 drawing of Woods, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

About this, Wood says: ‘Jagger is very hard to capture… I like the challenge.’ (CBS News)

image: cbsnews.com

image: zimbio.com

image: cbsnews.com

Talking about challenges, and liking them, the Stones’ studio days are not yet over. According to Wood, ‘the band is heading back to the studio this month to toss around ideas and try new material.’ (CBN News)

In fact, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary for the Stones. Wood’s been voicing his hope for a tour – one that would not only celebrate this half-century milestone, but also pay tribute to the fans worldwide.

Be lovely, wouldn’t it? That’s what we’re on the verge of. I dunno what the hell is gonna happen yet but we all feel we owe it to ourselves and to the people to do something. Basically, get the boys feeling comfortable with each other, ’cause we’re all ready to go individually. It’s just a matter of tying up loose ends and coming together as a unit. (fansshare.com)

It would be lovely indeed. 2012 is already seeing The Cult and The Stone Roses touring, let’s hope The Rolling Stones will be added to that list.

image: aceshowbiz.com

Source: artnet.com, cbsnews.com, hungeree.com, ansshare.com, timesofmalta.com, aceshowbiz.com, berniechase.com, cbn.com,

blog.joshwongphotography.com, ronniewoodartexhibition.com

one small seed made it to RAMFest 2011 in Cape Town, but barely made it out alive! Check out the footage to see what went down at South Africa’s only REAL Alternative Music festival.

RAMfest – The Cape’s Ultimate Rock Festival – spanned 3 venues this year for the first time, bringing Real Alternative Music (spells RAM, get it?) to South Africa’s metropoles. The main 3-day fest was held once again in the Cape, at the idyllic Nekkies Resort in Worcester, also home to  hippie-fests like Earth Dance. Following that, two more day-long festivals were held at the Wavehouse in Umhlanga in KZN and at Riversands Farm in Fourways in Jozi (who knew there were farms in Johannesburg!).

RAMfest 5 brought music fans more genres to enjoy than ever before, a bigger dancefloor, and hosted three equally awesome stages. There was the main carnivalesque rock stage, a grungy tented metal stage by Metal4Africa and the glowing Electronic Pyramid by Griet Events & Artist Management – all back to back with killer tracks.

The main stage hosted two international headliners: Welsh rock band Funeral for a Friend and American punk rockers Alkaline Trio… who, to be perfectly honest, were a load of shite if you’re not a 12-year-old boy.

But with the host of amazing South African acts to pick from, no one really minded the well-timed beer breaks. Without a doubt, the South African stars on the lineup stole the show, as RAMfest fans witnessed stellar worldclass performances by bands like Die Antwoord, Van Coke Kartel (below), Gazelle, Zebra & Giraffe and more

One of my personal highlights of the festival was a very warmly welcomed return of Pretoria band Not My Dog.

Just prior to RAMfset in early March, Not My Dog reunited with their original vocalist, Hanu de Jong of The Narrow, and have graced the stage together for the first time in around ten years, bringing back their notorious brand of hard rock that South Africans back in the day grew to love. Back when ‘Toxicity’ was at number one, a Black Label cost R5 and you painted your nails black… Well, I did anyway.

Back to RAMfest, Hanu and the gang put on an epic show, and if you happened to miss them, make sure you check them out out and about on their month-or-so-long SA tour.

Other big names on the main stage that can’t not be mentioned were the angel-voiced (and faced, come to think of it) Isochronous, indie band Desmond and the Tutus, the awe-inspiring, internationally acclaimed Blk Jks, Cape Town kids Ashtray Electric, Tumi (of the Volume), Sowetan rockers Ree-Burth (one of whom I got a nice little snap of below) and Cape Town electronic act Mix N Blend.

Artists on the metal stage included Sabretooth, The Dead Will Tell, Enmity, Mind Assault, Contrast The Water, Knave, Haggis & Bong and Juggernaught.

Think electric saws, Slipknot t-shirts, loads of sweaty, greasy headbanging and that move the kids call ‘the windmill’.

Down at the electronic stage were French act Tom Deluxx plus South African favourites Haezer, B-Team, Double Adapter, Niskerone, Toby2Shoes, Jam Jarr, P.H.Fat, Counterstrike, FunaFuji, Sedge Warbler and more. See the pic below for why it was called The Electronic Pyramid.

In addition to the great lineup, festivalgoers had fun in the sun in the river, splashing in the pool, browsing through the market, jamming in the Mercury tent, chilling at the cocktail bar and beer garden, and tripping mildly on space cookies. Plus there was a host of live entertainment in the form of fire spinners, dancers, stilt-walkers and half-naked performance artists all dressed to fit the festival’s really well-designed carnival branding.

(Carnival meets Chinese circus more like it – I’m pretty sure I even saw a fire dragon. If you think I was tripping, see below.)

(That’s totally a fire dragon.)

One thing is for sure, RAMfest5 really outdid itself, bringing South Africans a truly first-rate rock fest. For those who made it out alive, who knows what next year’s festival will hold?