| Elektronik Dialogues | Haezer: the interview from one small seed on Vimeo.

Cape Town-based producer Haezer is steadily becoming a star of the local electronic scene while also making waves overseas, with his trash-electro swarming all over the internet and two top 30 Electro House Beatport singles to his name. He came to international recognition when his breakthrough single ‘Who The Fuck Is Haezer’ got popular and went on to be remixed by some of the biggest names in the business.

Haezer talks us through his upward spiral, from his early influences, through his previous career as a film editor by day and dj by night, to his current life as one of the city’s finest dance-music producers, headlining festivals alongside his idols. He also offers an insight into the current state of the South African electronic scene and music industry as well as how he and his contemporaries fit into it.

“The kids here are hungry the music needs to have substance to it.”

As Cape Town’s electronic music scene is growing and breaking out of its shell, Haezer is establishing himself as one of the leaders of the movement, touring the world promoting his music and the local scene that he represents.His latest 6-track EP, ‘The Wrong Kid Died’, is due for release in August, featuring collaborations with local vocalists such as Tumi Molekane from Tumi and The Volume, Francois van Coke and Hunter Kennedy, both formerly of Afriakaans rock legends Fokofpolisiekar, Evil Boy, known for his work with Die Antwoord, and Mike Zietsman of PH FAT. After returning from a tour of Europe Haezer is set to perform at Oppikoppi Music Festival and Grietfest later this year.

This documentary looks at online connectivity around the world. It dips into the memories of prominent people within the industry to highlight the challenges they faced before the public was sold on the notion of technological connectivity. Insightful interviews from Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr; Eric Wahlforss, co-founder of SoundCloud; and Ola Ahlvarsson, CEO of Keynote Media, give us an inside view on connectivity. The documentary also gets their opinions on where the connected world is going. (Length: 20:56)
 
 
 
 

TILT – Panic Room

TILT – PANIC ROOM from BIG ADDICT on Vimeo.

A unique piece on the creative power of street art in general and tagging in particular. ‘Panic Room’ began when the Au Vieux Panier hotel asked the graffiti artistTilt to design a room for them. He responded by saying that he wasn’t interested in merely decorating a room but rather in creating something that looked more like an installation piece. Tilt thought about how a specific composition could communicate the notion of chaos and saw the entire room as a massive blank canvas. His approach was to manipulate the empty white part of the room to play up the feeling of chaos in the other. This footage shows him and a friend, a hip-hop singer with an old-school tagging style, working on the room. It took them one week to complete the project. (Length: 07:45)
 
 
 
 
Petite Noir – ‘Till We Ghosts’

Petite Noir – Till We Ghosts from Petite Noir on Vimeo.

It’s rare for artists to cut through the humdrum of contemporary music. And rarer are artists like Petite Noir who can be different while appealing to a wider audience. They’ve said that they’re trying to pioneer a genre called ‘new wave with a hint of an African Aesthetic feel to it’. It is a chunky mouthful of a label but it accurately sums up their sound. What sets them apart from everything else on the airwaves right now is their distinctly pan-African sound: their rhythm, their guitar melodies and certainly Yannick Ilunga’s voice.

 
 
 
 
Camcorded – A Fashion Film

Conrad Roselt’s short black and white fashion video is filmed with a camcorder and plays with yours emotions. With the help of volunteers and friends, and set in diverse everyday locations, this is a personal project that Conrad has created for his portfolio. Take two minutes out to watch a sexy and unique take on interactive fashion. (Length 02:18)
 
 
 
 
All Hail The Beat | Nelson George

All Hail The Beat | Nelson George from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Even though stores haven’t carried the TR-808 since 1984, this drum machine has earned its place as one of the most iconic instruments in music history. All Hail the Beat sums up the Roland TR-808’s legacy in slightly less than three minutes. The device will be familiar to many music fans as the source of the percussion in Marvin Gaye’s ‘Sexual Healing’. It was also a great creative catalyst within the music business because its cheap price made it affordable to struggling artist around the world.
 
 
 
 

What’s Your Story? The faces behind ‘Brave’

The music video of ‘BRAVE’ – the latest song from Lark feat. Haezer – is a frantic animated journey into a surreal future. Forest elements and artificial transformation of our robotic impersonators create the fabric of a new and uncharted universe. This is a behind-the-scene exclusive interview with Tevan Baitz, Topher Henny and Wynand Lens, the creators of this anime-inspired music video.
 
 
 
 

‘This’ Music Video – Modeselektor ft. Thom Yorke

Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary are the Berlin electronic dance duo known as Modeselektor. They have been making music together since 1992 and, with the release of three albums, have been an unstoppable force ever since. Their latest album Monkey Town features a long-time fan of theirs: Thom Yorke. This music video for the track ‘This’ features a girl handling a marionette doll in a derelict toy room and is as eerie as it is unpredictable. (Length 04:17)

Animators of Lark ft. Haezer – Brave Music Video | Interview from one small seed on Vimeo.

Screenshot

Screenshot

Produced: one small seed productions
Shot: loyiso mzamane
Edited: loyiso mzamane
Location: jackal and hide
Music: lark ft. haezer ‘brave’

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?

ISSUE 20 FEATURES:

• THE CELEBRATE ISSUE: SPECIAL THEMED FEATURES
• SA ELECTRO MUSIC FT. HAEZER, NISKERONE, BISCOPE, DJ SASSQUATCH & JAM JARR
• MIXED-MEDIA ARTIST CAMERON PLATTER
• DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FEST FEATURE
• PALACE OF BONE WRITER-DIRECTOR CLAIRE ANGELIQUE
• FOLK SINGER SYD KITCHEN IN FOOL IN A BUBBLE
• VISA/VIE LEAD ACTRESS MÉLODIE ABAD
• CELEBRITY DRESS-OFF: CAPTAIN STU & THE PLASTICS
• SWISS ART DUO ALEXANDFELIX & THEIR 13 QUEENS
• SWEDISH ILLUSTRATOR LINN OLOFSDOTTER
• LOERIE AWARDS & CREATIVE WEEK CAPE TOWN
• SA ILLUSTRATOR MARCHAND & HIS HORROR-COMEDY CIRCUS
• SELECTED CREATIVES 02: SAMANTHA CHRISTY & RYAN ROAKE
• AFRO-BRIT URBAN FUSION SPREAD: PORTOBELLA
• PUMA ARCHIVE: WALT ‘CLYDE’ FRAZIER & THOSE FAMOUS KICKS
• UK DANCE: FAITHLESS ARE BACK
• DECK WIZARD LEON BOTHA, AKA DJ SOLARIZE OF DIE ANTWOORD
• T.H.O.T.S: BARRIER-BREAKING DURBAN HIP-HOP
• BAND OF SKULLS: NEW INDIE GARAGE ROCKERS