Sonar 2014 – Image: mixtopia.ro

Sónar Barcelona

Constantly on the pulse of the current electronic music landscape, the festival offers a wide variety of balanced cultural entertainment and is thus divided into two main locations: the recently premiered Sónar by Day, located in Fira Montjuïc with concerts, DJs and showcases. The recently added Sónar+D area — which is about discovering and tracking new talent and enhancing professional activities — will also be part of Sónar by Day. And, of course, there’s Sónar by Night in Fira Gran Via de L’Hospitalet where the main action will go down with some of the biggest names known to the international music scene. Click here to view the full line-up.

New: Sónar+D

Launched in 2013, Sónar+D aims to unite creativity, technology, mobility, innovation and business in a transparent and accessible manner. Through bringing together experts from all over the world, the event’s goal is to shape future creative experiences (technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, companies and researchers) in the area of music, image, interactive content, and transmedia platforms. There will be conferences, workshops, an exhibition featuring 80 projects in the MarketLab and AppCafé areas including demos and product presentations, a networking area as well as Sónar Cinema designed for performances.

Among the 100 companies present will be Kickstarter (USA), Fabrica (IT), the Design Fictions group from the prestigious MIT Media Lab (USA), Universal Everything (UK), Sedition (UK), CANADA (BCN) and littleBits (USA). But most importantly, Sónar+D exclusively presents the European premiere of ‘CLOUDS’ an interactive documentary that predicts the future of cinema for Oculus Rift, as well as the world premiere of cult instrument and music controller Oval, a digital alternative to Hang. Click here for more info on Sónar+D.

New: Sónar Cape Town

As Cape Town has recently acquired World Design Capital 2014 status, it seems suitable for the city to host their own version of Spain’s most prestigious arts and culture festival. Award-winning agency Seed Experiences will bring the festival to South Africa annually, with the inaugural event planned for 16 December 2014 at the iconic Good Hope Centre in Cape Town. With top electronic local acts and two international big names as headliners, the SA installment promises to be on par with its international counterparts in Barcelona, Tokyo, Reykjavik and Mexico. Follow Sónar Cape Town on Facebook for further updates.

Lykke-Li – Image: billboard.com

Massive Attack – Image: oncetv-ipn.net

Woodkid – Image: purplesneakers.com.au

Spoek Mathambo – Image: thestarvedblog.co.za

spoek mathambo - father creeper

Pomrad - Vlotjes

flying lotus - until the quiet comes

we sink - marooned

Giraffage

maths time joy - lightyears

Maths Time Joy – Lightyears feat. Thai Matic
This EP will blow your mind. The ttle track, Lightyears featuring Thai Matic is the perfect intro, showing off some amazing vocals with tiny little details that come together incredibly beautifully. You’ll thank us later. Remember, you heard it here first!

 
 
 
 
 

Yeasayer- FragrantWorld

oby-nine - weightless

quadron - average fruit (iamnobodi remix)

Quadron – Average Fruit (Iamnobodi Remix)
A sexy track if there ever was one, German producer Iamnobodi dropped this uber-bounce-worthy retake on one of Quaron’s gems. Chock-full of attitude, we like it louder, most definitely!

 
 
 
 
 
Compiled by Shiba Melissa Mazaza

Image: Sara Gouveia

There’s something about the melancholic synths and the pitter patter of the hihats building into the drop just before the distorted high voice sings stay, stay, stay glitched out into a non-sensical arrangement of words where a barely audible I’m sorry comes in, only to repeat the stay. A crash bass and multiple kicks later we’ve dropped into the world of alien electronica. Reaching levels of almost ethereal austerity as it switches up without warning yet stays on the same path of discovery and unravelling the layers in which the song is comprised. It’s more of a journey than an actual song and takes its own voyage leaving the traveller subject to its choice of route before reaching the destination.

OSS: The difference between Card On Spokes and Shane Cooper is…

COS: It’s like Iron Man and Tony Stark, but not really. Card On Spokes is a pocket on my jeans where I keep a bag of nyum-nyums that I only indulge in for electric-hootenannys and deep space synth voyages.

Does that leave Shane (Tony) as an instrumentalist?

Ja, when I play as a bassist I go by my given name. When I make music at the mercy of a functioning powerpoint I am COS. Then I can pass the buck if shit hits the fan.

Have you ever found yourself having to do that, passing the buck? Has shit ever hit the fan?

My laptop crashed during a show just before Felix Laband and PHFat once. I had to rinse out some mad delays on my synth till the laptop started up again. I sweated so hard in those few moments. I think the psycho-delay trick worked.

Did anyone notice? Assuming being PHFat fans the kids were already way drunk so they don’t count at this point…

A few kids in the front row started shouting for Dubstep. Some friends said they thought I did it to build tension. Tense it was.

Image: Sara Gouveia

Gotta love the moments of improv right? So how would you say that you’ve stylistically progressed from In You Go? which was your last EP drop…

In You Go was a collection of tunes that I wrote over two years that I felt represented some of the different sounds and beats that I was delving into. It was also closure for me from that period of writing, and gave me a chance to start fresh with a clean canvas. The new EP has a lot of similar colours and characteristics, but I feel my sound is a lot more focused on this EP. I know how to express my ideas more clearly now, and I have better techniques of creating more detail and widening things sonically, which was something I wanted to work on for this release. I learnt a lot from the process of finishing In You Go, and working with Sibot and Dank on the post-production. It informed a lot of the kind of opening moves I made when starting sketches in the studio.

I think a lot of the magic in a track has to happen in the first few hours of writing.

I also have a lot of new sounds and instruments to play with now, so I’ve been recording and manipulating some acoustic instruments on this record. Less is more, but sometimes more is more.

Having greater clarity in the expression of your ideas do you find yourself satisfied in their execution? How do you handle the collaborative efforts you have to undertake for instance in the post of each joint you make, seeing as the process is quite personal? And with the upcoming video how do you think it’s gonna aid the realisation of a tangible idea for the music made? Are you trusting the director’s vision or are you making sure the song doesn’t get lost in the translation that is the video…

Image: Sara Gouveia

Well, I’m happier with the delivery of my sounds than I was before, but I’m always trying to improve on the way I make music, while being true to the initial idea that seeded the song. In terms of the post-production, I only work with people whose opinion I trust and input I value as a quality perspective to help me be more objective about the sound. That’s why I worked with Sibot and Dank on the last EP. I really enjoyed having them hear the stuff and give me feedback. I hear things differently as soon as I’m in a room playing it to someone else. The post-production can be really tricky, it’s like putting a magnifying glass on everything, and at that point you don’t want to back track too far, so you have to be confident in what’s been written. Those guys also know when or when not to to make any comments on the creative aspects of the track, which is key. What it really comes down to though, is if the post-production guys can add the right juice to your song. I had Matthew de Nobrega master In You Go as well, and he’s a wizard for that.

Nocturne 1 from noël labridy on Vimeo.

For the video the director told me about his rough idea and then I sent him a song I thought would work. I had full faith in what he would come up with, cause I’m a fan of his work. He called me with an edit one day, and I was completely stoked with the outcome. I think the video suits the track perfectly, and it’s funny as well, which is great. A sense of humour in music and music videos is important.

And what does ‘Disguise’ mean to you? What are you saying with it?

Well, the title was the first word that came to my head when I wanted to name the song, so I can’t claim there is a deeper meaning behind the title. I’m generally more into the shapes and colours of a song than a specific meaning. When I wrote this I was listening to a lot of dark UK stuff, and it was winter and pretty cold in Cape Town, so I guess that influenced me. I also have to credit Earl Grey tea.

Catch the rattling Card On Spokes at Earthdance and Rocking The Dasies and expect to have your brain melted and legs hurt from the sway you are sure to enjoy, you masochists.

Interview by: Phumlani Pikoli

An interview conducted a while back. Enjoy…

Sarah Claire: So Spoek, tell me a bit about yourself.

Spoek Mathambo: I’m an Ndebele prince, rapper, dancer, DJ, dreamer, illustrator and graphic artist. I live between Johannesburg and Malmö Sweden. I work as various art/music collectives… Namely: MSHINI WAM, SWEAT X, PLAYDOE and DJ as HIVIV. You can get my township-tech sothocore world bass mixes on the net. My favourite one is called ‘Devil House Mafias 2.’

What are you all about?

I am about absolutely nothing specific. More than being an identity based on content, I am interested in the world.

What inspires you?

Everything. The latest thing that has inspired me is Red, the homeless G-funk beat box and Gou Miyagi the Japanese skateboarder. I usually document everything that inspires me on my blog ZOMBO (http://2faced1.com/zombo). For a long time I made a specific point of making Africa my central inspiration…but I think I am trying to transcend petty nationalism and ‘isms.’

What’s the first album you ever bought?

The ‘Above The Rim’ original soundtrack featuring H-Town, Lady of Rage and Tupac.

Do you even bother buying albums?

Yes… It’s f%*king important to my life! I spent my entire teenage period developing my concept of ownership based on my records and CDs.

What’s your all-time favourite track?

Tough to say… changes ever day…today it’s Doneao – Be Mine.

Describe Sweat X in a sentence.

Markus and Spoek having fun.

What’s next… ?

More world tours, more boobs…onward and up.

Your partner-in-beats, Markus – what three things come to mind?

Literary genius, Musical genius, lying son of a bitch!

Favourite festival?

Valtifest in Amsterdam…Oslo live in Norway. Sibot and I played a great festival in Metz in France. Le Printemps de Bourges in France was great… It was amazing to watch The Brian Jonestown Massacre. They also had a huge SA contingent with BLK JKS, Gazelle, 340ml, Die Antwoord and PLAYDOE.

Is improvisation important to you?

A show with no improvisation is a schitt show for us. Routine is schitt.

Why do you dress so funny?

Your mother dresses funny.

What about bringing out a clothing label? What would you call it?

I am currently doing some collaboration designs with label called Doe out of Cape Town. I work on prints under the name Zombo and am working on some knitwear pieces at present.

If you could MC alongside someone – anyone – who would it be?

Iggy Pop, Sun Ra, Prince, Fela Kuti.

What’s the most insane thing you’ve ever done?

Eaten a box of cigarettes.

What’s next for Spoek?

“%^&%@$”And I will be breeding…little Spoeks.

So from myself and Spoek, “don’t be a f#*king dinosaur…use the Internet and talk to your counterparts all over the world.”

Check out the latest album review of Spoek Mathambo’s Mshini Wam in the latest issue of one small seed, issue 22 – the “Hi, my name is Joburg” edition – or right HERE on onesmallseed.com!