SA Rocks

I have a friend, he can rap. He has a friend, he can play guitar and loves to loop. This is them:

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I have a friend, his name is TRAK. He raps and it’s wicked. He plays with a guy called Jeremy who does some insane stuff with guitars and loop effects and such. Together they make up Jeremy Loops and TRAK and they gig in Cape Town, often. They also, very often, pack out the venues that host them.

For a few months now I’ve been asking TRAK to lay down something and put it out there. He’s eventually done just that and I love it.

I’ve heard TRAK rap this live and it’s sick:

My Shoes – Jeremy Loops by misha-teasdale

This year for my birthday not only did TRAK buy me a book, but he rapped about inanimate objects on our table at dinner. I got lucky!

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Some of you might know that once upon a time I played music, in a band, on stage and even recorded an album. [see below for songs]

Now the reason I bring this is up is as follows; The lead singer of the band I was apart of, Bevan Lynch, has started his own band called Stereo in Flight. They are playing their very first gig in Durban.

Here are the details:

You can also head over to the Facebook event and get involved.

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I don’t ask a lot from my readers very often, but today is one of those days where I’m trying to crowdsource some information about South African culture, subculture and all-round coolness.

Here’s a list of questions:

- Are there any cool or emerging forms of dance going on in SA? For example in the USA there were two styles that were called krumping and jerkin’… do we have any hot emerging dance genres?

- Do you know of a young Pro Social organization doing anything amazing or different in how they approach a solution to a problem?

Those are the questions, please email me or post comments if you have any info on any of the questions above.

Thanks!

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Thanks to the guys over at Ideate blog I’ve discovered Shannon Hope for more reasons than just the sound of her voice.

The song below is written from Facebook status updates. I think it’s a fantastic idea and she executed it brilliantly. Pity about the average round of applause she receives at the end of the video.

You can find out more on Shannon Hope at her website.

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This video was created by the incredibly talented Mike Scott.

Another rocking production by Goldfish and colab with Mike. Fantastic work.

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What. A. Party.

That’s all that I can really say about the incredibly well-organised event, Rocking the Gardens in JHB, Emmerentia this past weekend.

The bands were spot on time, every hour on the hour a new band started from 12:00 – 23:00. There was food, drink, eco-conscious causes, cancer causes, smoking stands, gift stores, VIP areas (Thanks Mango-OMC and Cath!) and tons, tons more.

This is without a doubt one of the best rock festivals that I have attended in a very, very long time. It might only have been one day, but let me tell you that I made it worth while staying for the entire event.

The highlights in terms of musical performances were:

aKing

– without a doubt aKing is the leading live band in the country right now. You may not agree with me, but I cannot see how that would be possible. I have yet to be disappointed by this phenomenal South African group. Their stage bravado is epic, their command of lyrical brilliance is sublime and their musical prowess is just astounding.

Just Jinger

– an oldie but what a goodie. They played the headlining spot at 22:00 on Saturday evening which I believe should’ve/would’ve been reserved for aKing had they not had to leave to play another gig in Potch.

Gang of Instrumentals

– this group is without a doubt one of the tightest, happening acts in the South Africa. They got a crowd filled with rock-lovers to jump up and down to more hip-hop/rap based tunes and were brilliant all the way through.

Overall this is an event that I will most definitely go back to next year. There was not a single problem or issue. No overly drunk morons, no irritatingly tall people blocking our line of sight, no parking trouble, no lack of food, booze or drink, no wanting for anything.

I will go so far as to say that I think that Rocking the Gardens will very soon overtake Joburg day as the rock event of the year. Easy.

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Yes it is that lovely time of year again. When the grass turns to a deep shade of green, the sky rolls over to a luminous blue and the clouds move along just enough to provide with comfortable amounts of shade.

This all means that it’s the perfect time for Rocking The Daisies and Rocking The Gardens to descend upon us and blow our minds.

It’s Summertime, in a nutshell. I am normally a Wintertime person but who can deny that the cooler things definitely happen in Summer.

So let’s cut to the chase.

Rocking the Gardens

is taking place at Emmerentia Dam in JHB on October 3rd, 2009.

The lineup is as follows:

Black Hotels
Ashtray Electric
340ml
aKING
Tidal Waves
Freshly Ground
Bed on Bricks
Just Jinjer

Brilliant. Now on to

Rocking the Daisies

The Lineup is sick –

Sunday
10:00 The Little Kings
11:00 Simon van Gend
12:00 Son of a Thousand Blues
13:00 340ml
14:00 Bed on Bricks

There is a Red Bull Studio and a Lemon Tree Theatre this year and RTD is always eco-friendly and rocking conscious.

This year at RTD there will be some very kick-ass, old school with a nu-twist, Photo Booths present at the event. Sponsored by The Grid. Make sure to pop in to the booth, get your photo snapped with your insane mates and post them to your various profiles, albums, social networks or wherever.

As per usual there is nothing left unturned at The Daisies event, Join The Grid Group (www.thegrid.co.za/rtd/home on your phone browser), follow them on Twitter, hit the Facebook event and so be sure to get your rock out.

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At least it was declared a monument according to the organisers. But let’s be honest, who could possibly argue?

Klaus Bauer over at Zoopy did an absolutely sterling job of his coverage of Oppikoppi this year. If you can believe it, I actually watched a 6 minute video online, maybe we aren’t the 30second generation after all?

I love the fact that everyone shares a common understanding of why they attend the event and it is very simple: Music, boose, music and a couple of drinks. Simple, effective and jovial fun.

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Very strange that Jason Von Berg over at the times has produced a story about Mpho, the British (South African) artist. I saw her music video last week on MTV and wondered how a British sounding artist ended up with a name like Mpho. Now I know and if you watch the video below, so will you.

South African born singer songwriter Mpho is climbing her way up the UK charts with her debut single, Box n Locks. The star, who’s famous father is none other then Sipho ‘Hotstixx’ Mabuse, will follow up the single with a full length album called Pop Art in October. Jason Von Berg caught up with in London to find out more.

– source.

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