Bubblegum Club

Tag: red bull studios

  • Garage Rock Band Mouse Make a Rip Roaring Racket 

    Garage Rock Band Mouse Make a Rip Roaring Racket 

    I hate band origin stories. Fucking loathe them. “Oh, how’d you guys get together?” “Well, the lads and I were all friends in high school and we loved Foo Fighters so we decided to start a band,” or worse, “The label put us together.” But, I like Mouse‘s origin story. I fucking love Mouse, in general, but I think their Origin story is serendipitous and cute. They met, quite simply, because Damon (guitar, vox) put out an ad out on Gumtree. Chris (drums) found the ad whilst browsing online, hit Damon up, and now they’re travelling the country and, pretty soon, the world, making a rip roaring racket.

    Ok, that’s not exactly the most compelling story, but the thing is, rarely have there been two people so perfectly suited to make music together. Two good-natured but awkward, nerdy loners, equal parts naive and cynical, one, a guitarist, the other, a drummer, finding each other through the internet’s classifieds, and being such a perfect match, just seems like some sort of providence, or a statistical inevitability. Idk, either way, I’m stoked it happened because Mouse have by far been my favourite addition to the Durban music scene in the last few years.

    They’re on the garage/psych rock wave that’s been popular amongst white people who wear leather jackets over vests with skinny jeans and slops, but they themselves couldn’t give a single fuck about fashion or image. Like Black Math who came before them, Mouse fit in that uniquely Durban psych-influenced garage rock space that seems to have more grit and less pretension to it than many bands playing with similar sounds. What can I say? I’m partial to high pitched yells over distorted guitars and playful and experimental drum beats. Mouse hit that sweet spot for me and a steadily growing number of people who know what’s up.

    Mouse have been racking up the miles and consistently been getting booked around the country for the last year and a bit. With many trips to Joburg under their belt and a handful of ventures to Cape Town, as well as highly raved about sets at Mieliepop and Endless Daze, Mouse are starting to hit their stride as they get wiser to the game and more experience under their belts. They’ll soon be jetting off to play in Reunion Island, and they’ve been in talks with promoters in Europe about a possible tour, which I assume will lead to more tours because Mouse are one of those bands that once you’ve seen them live once, you’re hooked.

    In the last 4 months, Mouse have been on a tear with musical releases. We’re talking 2 EPs, a track on a hip compilation and a 12-minute song just for good measure. Serendipity had me at Red Bull Studios in Cape Town the same time they were recording Balaclava which just has this ferocious driving surf-rock influenced guitar riff that gets taken all over the place and is a trip to listen to. They recorded it as part of the Psych Night/Red Bull/Vans God Save The New Wave compilation and it’s the stand out track of the 5. No disrespect to the other bands, I just couldn’t get through their songs without going back to Balaclava and rocking the fuck out. I might be biased but I’m also 100% correct.

    I’ve also been bumping their Red Saint EP on repeat for the last month or so, mostly for the guitar riffage that kicks in about 30 seconds in on the opening track Eliminator. It starts out slow but turns into a real snorter that seeks to knock your block off. I suggest wearing a helmet to avoid injury.

    Their latest release, Wave, is a 12-minute monster that highlights the duo’s creativity and stamina. The drums sound a bit like they were recorded in a bedroom, because they were, but that’s the charm of “garage” rock. It’s over 12 minutes long but never gets boring. Like the title suggests, the song builds and breaks repeatedly like waves crashing on the shore/your face. Sure, it’s a bit indulgent, but all Chris and Damon want to do is make some noise together, and you’d be hard-pressed to find two people better suited to do it.

  • Music and Technology at Fak’ugesi Festival

    Now in its 4th year, the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is a celebration of technology, creativity, collaboration and innovation from across the African continent. The festival includes a range of seminars, talks, exhibitions, workshops, hack-a- thons, films, artists, games, innovation riots and music. With highlights including the Fak’ugesi Conference, Making Weekend as well as Fak’ugesi Beat, a new curatorial partnership with WeHeartBeat that focuses on beats, music and technology.

    The Fak’ugesi Beats program is multifaceted and includes the week-long Fak’ugesi Beats Lab workshop, the curation of panels at the Fak’ugesi Conference and the Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party which sees the festival outcomes come to life. Red Bull Studios Johannesburg at the Tshimologong Precinct will play host to the workshop which includes Soulection’s Hannah Faith, videographer Foxy Neela, French Soulection beatmaker Evil Needle, Swiss beatmaker Melodinsfonie, alongside the local Mante Ribane and the Dear Ribane collective working on a collaborative piece the result of which will be showcased at the Block Party and also see the work pressed to vinyl.

    Two of the panels at the Fak’ugesi Conference will be examining the influence of technology on music. ‘Future Beats’ features Joe Kay, founder of Soulection and pioneer of the Future Beats sound, Evil Needle and trap jazz pioneer Masego. The conversation will look at how the digital age as influenced new genres in music and what this means for musicians and artists as a whole. The second panel discussion ‘Sonic Visions’ will be an examination examination of collaboration between film, design and music. With a panel that features singer Nonku Phiri & Rendani Nemakhavhani who collaborated together on a music film, Foxy Neela, Hannah Faith, Mahaneela Choudhury-Reid of WeAreInBloom, and Benoit Hicke of the French F.A.M.E Festival the aim is to have a playful conversation that engages with the audience.

    The Free Workshop Program at the Making Weekend allows the public to gain hands on experience in areas from programming and creating gaming controllers, to robotics and music & film. Led by French/American artist Yann Seznec, the workshop ‘Room to Play’ explores the world of DIY musical controllers and instruments. Making use of everyday objects the workshop will challenge attendees to reimagine what a an instrument is and placing limitations on its function thus challenging the design strategy of commercial controllers. “How do you make a digital instrument that’s more difficult to play? And then thus what kind of questions does that open up?” asks Yann Seznec.

    According to Seznec DIY musical controllers and instruments have had a large impact on the performance of electronic music. “It means that you can do electronic music performances that are more meaningful to an audience. One of the big changes in electronic music in the last 10/15 years was that everything could be done on a laptop. With the downside of it being pretty uninteresting. I think what’s nice about DIY instruments is that it brings new methods of performance to the world,” notes Seznec.

    The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival will culminate with the Fak’ugesi Beats Bloc Party which will feature the outcomes of the festival’s various collaborations as well as a selection of some of the finest local and international artists including Masego, Joe Kay, MNDSGN, Melodiesinfonie, Evil Needle, Hannah Faith, Nonku Phiri, Christian Tiger School and Petite Noir. “We’re trying to setup an international beat festival and present artists that we feel are making headway internationally and deserve platforms and deserve to be heard. So we feel like we’ve put together a really beautiful lineup,” says Dominique Soma of WeHeartBeat. “We’ve worked with artists that apply the traditional analog way of music making in terms of playing traditional instruments but then creating it in a digital space or through a digital process,” she adds.

    Unique on the continent in its offering, the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival highlights the importance of the cross-over between culture, creativity and technology in Africa. With the addition of Fak’ugesi Beats the festival is examining the relationship between music and technology and this program will expand over the coming years. “We’re still looking to explore the relationship between the two spaces in the long term. Over the next few years you will see that crossover coming to life a little bit more,” notes Dominique Soma.

  • Langa Mavuso: seeping into the music industry with thick emotion

    Langa Mavuso: seeping into the music industry with thick emotion

    “Sometimes I sound like gravel and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream”, said the high priestess of Soul, Nina Simone.

    Like Miss Simone, Langa Mavuso describes his voice as possessing the capabilities of being both flawed, husky, and coarse as well as rich, sweet, and alluring.

    When I first pressed play, the smoothness of the guitar put me at great ease. Langa’s voice then boldly complemented the tempo set by the electric flex of the cords. There is a distinct masterfulness that Langa has over his voice. Every note is used to delicately sift through the song thick with emotion. Towards the end, I had been coaxed into singing along. I immediately listened to every other song, watched every documented live performance and experienced great satisfaction by the online feedback; I was not the only one with the knowledge of this gifted black boy.

    While Langa was singing along to Whitney Houston at the age of eight, Phumeza Mdabe muted Whitney so he could hear his voice. “I was like, ‘Shit, I’m hitting those notes’,” Langa exclaimed. After realising the magnitude of his gift, a significantly high pitched voice at the time, Langa kept it a secret because of juvenile heteronormative gender constraints that say girls should have high-pitched voices and boys the polar opposite. “I’m a boy who can sing like a girl, it felt embarrassing, especially at that time, when you’re in primary school…you just want to fit in with everyone.” Thanks be to the girl who heard Langa singing in the bathroom and reported back to their teacher, who insisted Langa share his voice with the entire class.

    Today Langa is a singer, songwriter and performer. He has appeared on television, featured on radio, had various live performances, released a noteworthy EP called Liminal Sketches and more recently a collaborative EP with Red Bull Studios in Cape Town called Home.

    However the route from childhood talent to a budding career was meandering. In high school, Langa studied contemporary music at the National School of the Arts (NSA) with his specialisation instruments being voice and piano. During his time at NSA, Langa’s interests branched out and he wanted to be a diplomat. So Politics, Economics and Mandarin were some of the subjects he studied at Rhodes University. After two months, Langa called begging his mother, who had been relieved that all musical aspirations had subsided, to transfer to study music at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Langa’s mother finally agreed but in his third year at UCT Langa suffered spiritually and mentally and came back home to Johannesburg. Here, Langa centred himself. He got a job as a writer and another as a content producer and social media manager. Then the faint whisper of his purpose began again and he responded accordingly. Langa left his job, finished music he had been writing for years and pursued his calling.

    “I don’t think the music ever stopped in every instance where I was trying to run away from it. It was there but I was just trying not to make it the light of my life, y’know? But eventually, it was just like, you know this is the one thing you can do without anyone having to wake you up in the morning, without a pay cheque, you’ll do it, so that’s how it just happened, it was a natural progression,” Langa explained.

    Nevertheless, the formal training that Langa went through enhanced how he brilliantly articulates and translates his thoughts, ideas and emotions into a three minute track. Langa writes about love in its different phases. In his first EP, he explored loss and heartbreak and in the other, Langa sings about infidelity.

    “I’ve never had someone come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I don’t like your music’”. Based on observation and personal encounters, Langa believes that his music resonates with different generations. The manner in which Langa utilises his voice and pairs it with either jazzy rhythms or an electronic beat is skilful and exciting. However, Langa is certain that he does not comfortably fit into the South African music industry.

    “I think I don’t fit in 100% but people appreciate the talent and they see something in it so there is an embrace of some sort but there are still people who are sort of, not reluctant, but like not too sure. It’s like the sound is a little too international. It sounds like very British Soul but then there is this African guitar and then there is this and that, which sort of brings you back to home and then you’re singing in Zulu, under this crazy electro beat by Spoek (Mathambo), like what is this?”

    Yrsa Daley-Ward wrote, “If you have to fold to fit in, it ain’t right.” Subsequently, Langa has found that a space is opening up for him to be incorporated with help from mainstream music producers, like Black Coffee and Tweezy. “I’m not trying to fit in. I’m not interested in fitting in. I think we’re living in a creative time where we can be whatever we want to be and sort of teach people to assimilate into the ideas that we have.”

    Langa has a cognisance of the power of human emotion. It is something that we innately share and probably why his music has a familiar comforting sweetness and light.

    After the collaborative projects on the way and multiple singles Langa is working on, he hopes to be a household name when he releases his debut album a year from now. For now stay on Langa’s Soundcloud page.