Bubblegum Club

Tag: electronic music

  • Bubblegum Club Mix Volume 12 by Nandele

    Maputo based beatmaker drops an exclusive mix for Bubblegum Club while on a South African x Mozambican collaborative residency with Felix Laband and others.
     
    Nandele is one of 6 artists currently participating in a cultural exchange residency between South African and Mozambican artists called Colagem Co! The collaborative residency is funded by Pro Helvetia JHB and kicked off on 26 June in Maputo. All the participants arrive in Johannesburg this weekend, where you can catch Nandele’s South African debut show at Kitcheners on 1 July.  The event will be a real culture clash between MZ & ZA. Nandele will be playing alongside Felix Laband (post his Maputo-based residency), Mozambican born Dub Rui (WEheartDUB) and DJ Danger Ingozi. There will be live visuals provided by the artists on residency.
    I had a quick word with Nandele Maguni to find out a bit more about this mix, his other work and what he is busy with at the moment.
    Please tell us a little bit about this mix?

    This mix its part of series I’ve been doing, the first one I launched on my birthday last year, so this one is the second one on the series and it was recorded live at a hip hop festival called “Amor a Camisola”. This mix its all about I’ve been listening to during the times, beats and songs that I listen in small get together with friends, its a great way to test new tunes so I can see how my friends react to the tunes.

    How do your mixes/DJ sets differ from your live productions? Does this mix comprise of sounds that inspire your productions?

    My mixing or dj sets are quite different from my live shows, it’s all music that I am listening to at the time and I want to share with the crowd. My live shows are more energetic and aggressive, it’s mostly driven by how I feel on the day of the performance. My dj sets are like compilations of artists that inspire me.

    What will you be doing in Johannesburg this Saturday? What can we expect to hear at Kitcheners?

    In Johannesburg I’ll be performing new material for my new album ‘Likumbi’ that is coming out this year and some new edits I’ve done so far.

    At Kitcheners this Saturday the crowd should expect a performance inspired by Makonde initiation rites which is the meaning of my album title ‘Likumbi’, so it’s going to be a very dark and a heavy experience.

    This album was actually built on the fear I felt during the time I was initiated at Mueda village when I experienced Likumbi, so this will be the atmosphere of my music during my live performance.

    When did you start producing?

    I started producing 5 years ago, but I wasn’t sure of the music i was doing. When I was introduced to Ableton then everything changed. I don’t know why but I started to share my music on Soundcloud with odd names and with friends, sometimes on DJ sets at Dolce Vita, which is a pub in Maputo where I had a residency. It was just to see people’s reaction to the music. So I had positive feedback and then started working on my first EP Argolas Deliciosas (available at nandele.bandcamp.com).

    What are your influences regarding your music and how would you describe your music?

    My music is influenced by my country and everything that has had an impact on my life, whether positive or negative. My Makonde tribe for example was the main influence for my new material. But in terms of artists I am mainly influenced by Pretty Lights, Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing.

    You mentioned you have an upcoming album called ‘Likumbi’. Can you give us a little bit of information on that? 

    ‘Likumbi’ is a very personal album. It’s about the initiations rite I went through when I was 12 years old, and the Mozambican political climate.

    Its an album that has a different dynamic to my previous EP. It is more experimental and it draws on all of my musical influences from drum and bass, ambient music, big beat, trip hop, hip hop, trap, heavy metal and tribal chants.

    Please tell us about your collaborative work with visual artist Ricardo Pinto Jorge.

    Ricardo and I have been working together since his first exposition during a residency I curated for a spot called Arte no Parke. From that point forward we’ve been working together ever since. He is the designer for most of my projects, and at this moment I am creating the music for his upcoming exhibition Bits of Maputo which is going to be launched this year.

    What else are up to at the moment?

    At this moment I have been working on a project with different artists in the Maputo hip hop scene, working on my project The Mute Band – we’ve done some big festivals this year like Azgo and Bushfire, and at the moment we are working on our Rumble in the Jungle Tour. The Likumbi tour is also coming soon. But I am working actually right now on the Colagem Co! project which is a collaboration between Mozambican artists and South African artists. It’s like a dream come true because through this project I am able to collaborate with Felix Laband who is an artist that I admire very much.

    Whats next for Nandele? 

    I am working on The Mute Band debut album, and the second installment for the Argolas Deliciosas. But I would like to tour in South Africa and the world so I’ll be working very hard to make that happen. I see myself collaborating a lot through the next years, and working on projects like making music for short films and contemporary dance pieces.

    Stream/buy Nandele’s Argolas Deliciosas EP over at his bandcamp page, and find out more about the Colagem Co! project over here and here.

     

  • Exploring the ambiguity of winter with Ribongia

    As winter descends upon the Southern Hemisphere and days become colder, a longing for companionship and the warmth that it provides emerges. It is often the casual partners that fill this void and it is this ambiguity of feelings that is explored on Sydney-based producer Ribongia’s latest release ‘Before the Winter’.

    Playful, with tropical rhythms and an infectious groove, the track features the signature melodic raps of Sydney emcee and long time collaborator Jannah Beth, and a tempo-flipping verse by our own YoungstaCPT. The two met after Ribongia watched YoungstaCPT perform at a friend’s insistence. “I was a bit dubious at first, but once he started performing I was hooked. The next day we were in the studio!” he explains of their collaboration.

    Born in Italy, Ribongia moved to Sydney in the early 2000’s. Starting his music career as a drummer, he produced electronic music as a hobby and only took the electronic path by chance. “It was thanks to a local radio station here in Sydney. They showed support for my music early on so I decided that I was going to drop the band that I was in and concentrate on production.”

    His music includes a wide array of indigenous sounds which are inspired by his travels. “I think the world has so many amazing sounds, cultures and traditions that often are overlooked. This inspires me deeply.” On tour Jannah Beth joins him as vocalist. Explaining how they met Ribongia says “I saw Jannah perform for a local collective and was blown away. She’s a good rapper but I think there’s something real special in her voice.”

    Jannah Beth – Photography by Adam Scarf Photography

    Speaking of the writing process for ‘Before the Winter’ Jannah Beth says “that [the] first version was very different! I’d say we developed a lot of the structure, melody and mood of the song together” with the lyrics driving the concept. “The concept of the song was born through the lyrics and became a very relatable topic! I went for more of a singing approach on the track, so it was perfect to have Youngsta come in to drop the rap vibes.”

    With both ‘Before the Winter’ and it’s b-side, the instrumental but equally playful ‘Sonder’, both appearing on Ribongia’s yet-to-be named upcoming album, he hopes his music will have a positive effect on those who hear it. “[In the early 2000s] multiculturalism was celebrated and I feel the people of Sydney where proud of this stance. These days things have changed and unfortunately for the worst. I hope the music I make will inspire younger people to keep an open mind and be curious about foreign cultures.”

     

  • Bubblegum Club mix Vol 11 by Lost Lover

    Lost Lover has recently released a song on Wet Dreams Recordings new compilation, ‘Work Not Hype’. The exclusive mix that Lost Lover made for us will take listeners on a sonic journey through dark electronic beats. For a little more insight I interviewed Lost Lover about the inspiration for the mix.

    Can you please tell us more about yourself?

    Lost Lover was conceived in Johannesburg about 3 years ago and born in December 2016, inspired by the city’s infamous advertisements to retrieve lost Lovers.

    Everybody remembers a Lost Lover and with remembering also creates one every day. Memory is not stagnant. It changes with every present moment and inevitably adapts for the sake of necessary projections of the future. Your Lost Lover(s) shapes future Lovers and the lives with and without them.

    Lost Lover will tell stories, wear faces, speak tongues and dance in languages of many within a world inhabited by Animals, plants and Spirits. We will exoticise each other in ways and stare only through kaleidoscopic lenses of all colours, except White and Black.

    Lost Lover is a projection space, a piece of Art created by many.  Lost Lover is generally not one person and if so then tomorrow it would be someone else.

    What are your influences regarding your music and how would you describe your music?

    The music is influenced by a need to shed over-self awareness, or imagined and assumed outside views of self. A search to find a calm relationship based on embrace and capitulation and trust. To have the freedom to speak powerfully through beauty and fight with affirmation.

    This hopefully leads to a sound that is forward and playful, patient, angry, committed. Embracing and dramatic at times.

    Your sound has a pretty distinct, refined darkness about it; to what extent do you think these hypnotic dark elements and atonality are part of the whole aesthetic of your music?

    Darkness is not intentionally there but maybe it is a strong part of the aesthetic. Time will tell.

    There always has been an affinity for dissonance on many levels and Atonality is a result of focus being set on rhythm and sound more than harmony based on a musical school or tempering.

    Tell us your inspiration behind this Bubblegum Club mix.

    The main idea was to make a long set. In the past years people have been uploading sets of 30 minutes, sometimes even less and rarely playing sets longer than one hour. This approach ignores the potential and force a set can have with enough time and only with enough time. Some of the strongest tracks in the set are over 10 minutes long and  they need space around them.

    It is a challenge to listeners to trust and give themselves into something deeply for their own sake and to encourage a listening culture which promotes patience and  concentration and which embraces depth.

    When you produce and mix, do you go with the flow of what you are feeling or are the tracks conceptualized before they are produced or included in a mix?

    A mix like this is very conceptual and carefully selected. There is a reason for each track to be in the set. Flow comes into play in the transitioning between the tracks.

    In Production it is slightly different. It is not a concept but a state and a sound. A state of being is the equivalent of a concept in a sense that it connects everything together but it is different because it is not an intellectual but a spiritual and emotional child.

    How were you first introduced to electronic music and have you had a formal music education at all?

    Lost Lover has only existed digitally so far and is only a few months old. Education is still to come and nobody knows if it will be formal. What has been created so far are results of what was brought along from previous lives, genetic programming and ancestral conditioning.  No questions have been formulated yet.

    Where do you draw the most inspiration when producing music and what are your primary tools for building your sound?

    As mentioned earlier, Inspiration is really a state and very rarely a reference. A inspirational state is reached through being alone and finding a pure state not digested through any human beings reflection.

    The tools for the sound are mainly very processed field recordings, especially most of the complex textural sounds. Different kinds of syntheses also but more important is sequencing and through that how sound moves in relation to time.

    Can you tell us about some of your future projects being released soon and your work on ‘Wet Dreams Recordings’ new upcoming ‘Work Not Hype’ compilation?

    The Only released so far has been one track on ‘Wet Dreams Recordings’ titled ‘Your Lost Lover’ Which was the first Lost Lover track finished, It is intense, someone on soundcloud commented with ‘Yoh this is cold’.

    The ‘Work not Hype’ compilation is very different to other South African Releases. The courage in the curation should inspire many.

    There is an EP and an Album Ready to find a home. Future projects will be in many different forms and energy through sound will always be a companion to it if not always in form of Music.

    What was your creative approach on these up and coming releases and what was the process of creating these songs?

    The Album was inspired by 24 hours in a far eastern city and the approach to composition was almost rigidly conceptual. The main ideas were laid down on a song per day basis whilst inspiration was fresh, then refined later.

    The EP is more recent and probably more mature sounding, The track ‘Your Lost Lover’ is part of it.

    What are your current thoughts on the growing South African scene? Who are some of your biggest inspirations at the moment and why?

    South Africa is a country which keeps on giving birth to new and pure cultural movements and Artists. It is a privilege to witness and share a time with them. There are lots from different directions but my favourites at the moment are:

    Jazzuelle, Vukazithathe, Hlasko/Kaang, Nonku Phiri, Jakinda, BCUC, Urban Village, TheGooddokta, Big Space, Sibusile Xaba, Stiff Pap, Jumping Back Slash.

    All mentioned are pioneers. Some in music and some also in a life besides music. They all are working with the world in their very own unique and powerful way. They symbolize a strong curiosity and courage to explore and experience.

     

  • Spoek Mathambo – Mzansi Beat Code

    Spoek Mathambo’s fifth solo album, ‘Mzansi Beat Code’, is both a culmination of years spent trying to find his own voice and sound, as well as a celebration of collaboration. Of the thirteen tracks on the album only two feature Spoek on his own. “Music right now is a bit more individualistic in an egotistical sense. I think some of the best music that I’ve enjoyed from the last hundred years is always based on a group. Be it how amazing hip hop releases are, they’re always collaborations. To the great rock, jazz, punk, funk it’s all based on really great groups. So for me it’s natural.” By collaborating with others he is able to tap into human skills that he or a machine does not posses, “I can reach them the best not through MIDI but through a human being who’s got their own rich concept based on a lifetime of playing that instrument”.

    Rather than curating the sounds of South Africa, Spoek takes elements from the diverse sound spectrum and reinterprets them through his own lens, hence the name ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “They’re ideas, concepts, codes, ways of doing things, but for the most part I’m deconstructing it and reconstructing it in a different way.”

    While the album is Spoek’s solo production he does not view his role as that of a conductor leading an orchestra. “It’s lowkey just friendships and chill sessions for the most part. Demos that we share and just playing around and experimenting with some friends and some strangers that have become friends.” Still the album has Spoek’s energy. “I guess because I’m there from the beginning up until the end it leans towards what I want out of it.”

    When asked if he sees himself as a rapper or producer first his answer is unequivocal. “I really hate rapping right now. I see myself as a beatmaker at the beginning of their career.  I see myself as a producer.” From his Future Sound of Mzansi Mixes to the documentary of the same title and Fantasma’s ‘Free Love’ there is a clear path that leads to the release of ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “It has taken me a long time to get to this point. It has taken me a really long time to get this ability of putting things together. I’ve been doing things since 2006, even before that with different stuff, trying to articulate certain ideas and just not having the required skill set . So this is the first project, well I’d say Fantasma ‘Free Love’ is the first project where things came together”.

    By deconstructing and rebuilding the ‘Beat Codes’ of South Africa, Spoek is creating a sound and aesthetic that is familiarly South African but excitingly innovative.

  • Sibot dishes out an “L”

    L is for love, or in the Facebook era, a like. If you’re a Scott Pilgrim fan, L is for lesbians. L is for lush or libations if you’re a bit of a drinker. To a cartographer, L is for latitude and longitude. For social media managers looking to hit that millennial market, L is for lit. L is for the lavish lifestyles presented to us by pop stars. L is whatever you make it, but in Sibot’s case, I think it probably stands for legend.

    I remember the first time I heard a Sibot track. It was on one of the old SL compilation CDs from back when print wasn’t dead. Those CDs held a lot of gems back in the day, even if they did put out Candice Hillebrand’s first single they also put out a version of Sibot and Watkin Tudor Jones’ ‘Super Evil’ that, to my knowledge, was never officially released. I’d never heard anything so fresh. While Waddy’s “kreepy-krawly” line still cracks me to this day, that beat is infectious and experimental as fuck. This was like 12/14 years ago. A year or so later, after a late night LAN party, I found myself with a folder labeled “the fantastic kill” with no track titles, but after clicking play, I immediately knew who I was dealing with. It was on that album I was introduced to Spoek Mathambo and it was from there that I’d follow everything Sibot, Watkin Tudor Jones and Spoek Mathambo did.

    Sibot has continued to grow as a producer, putting out an impressive body of work and developing one of the best live shows in the country. With Toyota on visuals, it’s an unrivaled onslaught of sight and sound. Mswenkofontein was probably his biggest track in recent years but he’s put out a few noteworthy releases, 2013’s “Magnetic Jam” was put out by Mad Decent, Red Bull Music picked up “Arc-Eyes” and last year he dropped “new age kwaito 2010” on his ace. Each release unique in sound and direction, each still coated with Sibot’s signature bass tones.

    His latest project is an album he’s releasing as four EPs called “V.L.D.T”. The tracks on the EPs are numbered where they are on the album and once all four are out, you can piece them together as one body of work. It’s a unique way to put out a project and gives Sibot an opportunity to highlight the different aspects of the album before people get to hear it as a whole. The first was put out a few months ago, It’s called “V” and it’s mostly in the Arc-Eyes/Magnetic Jam sphere, we’re talking heavy beats broken up and smashed together, but his upcoming EP, “L”, is closer to “new age kwaito” and sees Sibot playing in the 4/4 realm as he flexes his techno and house skills.

    The new EP, or the second part of the album, is notably different from what we’re used to from Sibot. Instead of flinging my body around the room and getting whiplash from whipping my hair back and forth, I find myself swaying from side to side, head bopping and shoulders shrugging to the hypnotic beats. “L” feels like a futuristic throwback that reminds me of sliding around club dancefloors in the mid-2000s. I’ve often prefered the heaviness and discombobulating beats behind Sibot’s music, but “L” is welcome relief to the usual chaos and an expertly crafted release that shows the production range the pioneer is capable of.

    “L” comes out on the 11th of April and adds 3 dynamic tracks to any adventurous house/techno DJ’s arsenal. It’s certainly not what you’d expect, or at least, not what I expected, but by now we should know to expect the unexpected from the local legend. I’m intrigued to hear the next 2 releases after “L” and see how the whole album fits together once it’s all out there. We’re only half-way through it’s release but V.L.D.T is shaping up to be Sibot’s most dynamic and diverse project to date. If you’re looking for something different from one of SA’s stalwarts of electronic music, check out Sibot’s soundcloud on the 11th of April.

  • Ikonika’s Dancefloor Disruption

    “I always had headphones on and I always knew I wanted to make music”, Ikonika told me. I sat down with the London-based electronic musician, producer, and DJ last week at KCB Braamfontein, where she and the Pussy Party posse were embarking on a nation-wide dancefloor revolution: a series of femme insurgencies to shake up club culture, forge new sound, and nurture emerging talent. With Ikonika as guest mentor, Pussy Party is launching a series of DJ and production workshops for femme-identifying artists in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

    Alongside the workshop series, Ikonika will be pouring her bass-heavy, off-kilter rhythms and oozing synths over our urban dancefloors. In the process, she will be engendering a sonic dialogue between two parallel generations — across continents — each seeking to make a life radically different from that of their parents. Each born of collisions between multiple times and places.

    As a kid growing up in London, Ikonika listened eclectically: metal and punk, alongside RnB and grime. “All the different tribes, I was hanging out with all of them”. Like many producers before her, Ikonika (Sara Chen) crafted her early sound from late nights and Fruity Loops.  She remembers starting out as a DJ: a dingy Sunday night residency with an audience of five. Today, Ikonika has given us more than a decade of genre-bending, progressive electronic music. She has released two albums with Hyperdub Records (Contact, Love, Want, Have 2010; Aerotropolis 2013) and produced four EP’s (Edits 2010; I Make Lists 2012; Beach Mode 2013; and Position 2014). She has toured widely in Europe, Asia, Australia, as well as North and South America — all the while shifting between her roles as DJ/Producer.

    “When I DJ, it’s about making people move and feel something, but when I produce my music, that’s really personal to me. That’s my own little world I wanna create. And if I can play those tunes and people feel them too, that’s really special to me. To be able to share my music, and music I’m feeling, my friend’s music”.

    Dub-step holds special place in Ikonika’s origin story as a DJ/producer. “The sound systems were incredible. Mad Jamaican sound systems in places like Kitcheners. I’d never felt music like that physically.” In small basement clubs like Plastic People and parties thrown by DMZ, Ikonika was taken by the new dub sound. “The music would just shudder in your chest and you couldn’t swallow anything apart from bass.” Those were the days when Ikonika learnt the importance of sound systems and started infusing more base into her music.

    Since these early days, Ikonika’s sound has broadened, spanning grime, RnB, dancehall, footwork, house and techno: spinning soundscapes at the underground’s most progressive cusp. Her sound is a testament to her love of nightclubs, to the dialogue between DJ and dancer, and to music itself. When I asked Ikonika about the supposed ‘death’ of London’s club scene, she said:

    “We still keep it underground and we still find basements. Chuck sound systems down there. Could be a fire hazard, I don’t know. We always find a way to have our music because music means so much to us, and clubbing means so much to us. Dark room and a sound system is all you need right?”

    In the club, Ikonika’s focus is on the dancer/DJ dialogue. I asked about the extent of improvisation in her sets:

    “I used to plan a lot and that never worked out. You just don’t feel the room as much. If you’re just sticking to a set, it becomes very cold. You’re not watching people. For me it’s about interaction. It’s a team effort between me and the dancers. I’ll try not to plan too much. Maybe I’ll decide on the bpm range and take it from there”.

    That magic that happens, when all of us collide in a dark room, with bass flowing down our throats needs to include women: especially behind the decks.  

    That has been the fuel for facilitating femme-focused DJ’ing and production workshops. “I would want women to feel a bit more comfortable in this industry”, Ikonika says. I’d never felt real sexism till I started in music.  I’ve had a lot of guys come up to the mixer, and I’ll have like two faders up in the mix. They don’t believe that I’m mixing so they’ll come up to the mix and pull the fader down. Or like on a day I’m playing vinyl, they’ll put their hand on the vinyl to make sure it’s actually coming out of the vinyl.”

    Alongside fellow artists E.M.M.A, Dexplicit and P Jam, Ikonika has co-facilitated a series of workshops in London, titled Production Girls. “We teach production at a beginner level. People are scared to try the software. They can’t navigate around it. We show them how to make drums, how to mix down, how to use the synths and that kind of stuff”. It’s no wonder then that Pussy Party, which provides ongoing mentorship for Johannesburg’s femme DJs, would partner with Ikonika on a femme-oriented club-culture intervention.

    “Women as tastemakers is the best thing you could ever have. Cos if the girls aren’t dancing on the dancefloor, what’s the point?”

     

    ‘This article forms part of content created for the British Council Connect ZA 2017 Programme. To find out more about the programme click here.’