Bubblegum Club

Tag: Red Robyn

  • Missu’s ‘An Education’ is the Soundtrack to your Next Summer

    Missu’s ‘An Education’ is the Soundtrack to your Next Summer

    Missu makes music for the summer. Feel-good synthy grooves that are just as much a jam cruising with the windows down or sweating it out on the jol. Which makes his debut EP ‘An Education’ well timed since it’ll take South Africans a month or 2 to pick up on the dopeness at hand.

    In a weird way, it reminds me of Gateway Drugs’ self-titled EP. Not that it sounds the same although there’s plenty of 80s pastiche weaved into ‘An Education’, but in that it’ll probably be the cult-hit soundtrack for those who find it. Those who do find it will love it and make it blow up amongst an ever-growing fan base. Missu is already a rather popular chap in Durban with his fun live shows that are just straight up impossible not to dance to. Both his energy and songs are infectious, the dude is a multi-instrumentalist who puts effort into making each live show a unique experience.

    ‘An Education’ has five tracks and 4 features, most of whom you should probably recognise. Red Robyn, Costabesta, Robin Thirdfloor and Moonchild all add their unique personalities to the tracks. Each song suits the vocalist and feel like they were made closely together, making the EP a well-rounded release.

    ‘Dilemma’ is the opener and features Red Robyn. It kicks off as a dreamy synth pop number and then diverts into a sci-fi rap breakdown for a bit, only to then kick into this section that feels like you’re playing Space Invaders. It has so much depth and commands multiple listens. It’s fun, it’s cheeky, it’s sardonic, it’s honest. Oh, and the Luke Nelson directed video will have you feeling some type of way.

    Costabesta comes through with a grime flow on ‘Coast’ which might have you mistaking him for Dizzee Rascal rapping over a beat made using cups and spoons. I can’t tell if the “You and you and you” line is a Max Normal reference, because it’s said with a similar cadence, but either way it’s a vibe.

    ‘Engojeni’ features Robin Thirdfloor and it’s an up-tempo feel-good dance track that’s all about the art of thrift shopping drenched in Kavinsky-like synths with a thumping beat. No Macklemore vibes here though as I know for a fact that Robin’s style comes from living that thrifty life.

    Moonchild does her thing on the closer, ‘Popcorn’, which is a song about the pains of wearing high-heels and has a chorus about popping the corn on your foot. I shit you not. It’s amazing. Moonchild has a penchant for providing earworms and this one encourages on the jol footcare, although the imagery makes me think of Dr Pimple Popper which means this is either gonna gross some people out or turn them on.

    ‘An Education’ is a solid offering from a musician who really should be on your radar by now. There’s plenty of weirdness that’s held together by pop sensibilities, collabs that accentuate both, and a love of synths that would make Robert Moog proud.

    Listen to Missu’s debut EP, ‘An Education’ here.

  • Umaah’s Sheila EP is Vulnerable and Experimental

    Umaah’s Sheila EP is Vulnerable and Experimental

    Before the current wave of soulful songstresses from Durban who blend R&B with hip-hop and jazz, like Red Robyn, Victoria Raw, and Rhea Black, I used to be enchanted on the weekends by Umaah Khumalo, or as she was affectionately known then, Apple. Umaah mostly used to kick it with Ex-Con (Existing Consciousness), a high energy free-flowing new age act that would blend hip-hop with jazz, rock, soul, R&B and whatever else tickled their fancy. Even though she was the smallest member, she never came across as such on stage.

    Umaah has always felt bigger than her surroundings. Like she couldn’t be contained, although, for a while in Durban, she was a bit. I’ve had a few conversations with her over the years. About the struggles of being a young musician, of balancing work with being in a band. About whether or not that band would make it. It didn’t. But that doesn’t mean Umaah won’t. Her debut solo EP as Umaah is a massive step in a direction that could see some success for her.

    Produced by Jozi’s experimental electronic music genius, Micr.Pluto, Umaah is given plenty of space to shine on the Sheila EP over sounds I’m not used to hearing her on. No acoustic guitar or big band behind her. Instead Umaah gets to pair her voice with some good-old fashioned boombap (with Micr.Pluto’s modern touches, of course), trip-hop, and even a few dubsteb wubs.

    The opening track, ‘Baptist‘, is my favourite. The beat kinda reminds me of Nas’s ‘Represent’ and coupled with Umaah’s soulful vocals, it takes me back to the 90s, driving around in my mom’s Uno Fire whilst she’d play R&B compilations with the likes of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill on them. There’s a good chance Umaah grew up on Erykah, as she’s the artist I can most liken her to. She’s experimental with her vocals, although she keeps things relatable with an ever-present layer of vulnerability.

  • Musician RHEA BLEK : The Goddess of Finesse

    Musician RHEA BLEK : The Goddess of Finesse

    Rhea Blek calls herself The Goddess of Finesse (aka Finessa). It’s apt because she has an impressively delicate touch and skillful use of her voice, which is pretty in line with the definition of ‘finesse’. Rhea is singer/songwriter born and bred in the city of Durban, which you can kinda tell if you’ve been paying attention to the sounds coming out of the 031 lately. Although she says she creates genreless music, Rhea is part of a growing group of brilliant young women in Durban, like Red Robyn, Nipho Hurd, and Victoria Raw, who are making incredible neo-soul, R&B and jazz influenced songs that touch the soul. And I don’t even believe in souls.

    Rhea is firmly her own woman though, and while she may be playing in similar spaces, she’s doing it completely in her own way. On the opening track of her debut EP THIIIRD WAV, ‘Terms and Conditions‘, she opens up by confidently asking if she can shoot her shot and get down to business with a fine-as-hell man, with no strings attached, terms or conditions. Although, she also admits that she wouldn’t mind a little l-o-v-e, she’s happy to just get what she wants if the fine-as-hell man is down with it.

    Track 2, ‘Clyde‘, is a take on Bonnie and Clyde, but, as Rhea explained on Facebook, “this time, instead of Clyde running around and doing the crimes and Bonnie being down for it, it was Bonnie being the boss and Clyde being a loyal lover and partner in crime. That’s why the hook says ‘ride or die, sink or fly with me’”. Apparently a friend was supposed to do a verse but “the niggas were like ‘what you wrote is too hot, the song is yours, just write for the whole song’”.

    ‘Clyde’ is actually what inspired the whole EP, or, as Rhea puts it in another Facebook post, “After that, we decided – you know what? We’re making an EP, that’s what the fuck we gon’ do!” She also explains the concept for the album in her candid post, “I thought about centering it on love and on a love story with someone that started since we were kids, that’s where ‘TEENAGE DREAMS’ comes in.”

    ‘Teenage Dreams‘ is the last track on the EP and it’s a cute love song. According to Rhea, “That song is a story of how and where the love began and how long its sustained to the present. It’s just a big thank you to the dude and appreciation for the love. And it’s called ‘TEENAGE DREAMS’ because the love is so amazing it feels like we’re teenagers in love and we’re dreaming.”

    Rhea has been racking up the gigs around Durban and has even made a few Gauteng trips of late, and now that she’s put out some music, she can’t wait to put out more. She’s actually working on a follow up EP already and will be part of the We Are One Festival in Joburg alongside the likes of Moonchild, DJ Doowap, & Nonku Phiri on the 31st of March. Make sure you look out for The Goddess of Finesse, you’ll be impressed.

  • Red Robyn – The Sweet-voiced Songbird from Wentworth

    Birders of Durban feel shame no more. No longer shall Durban be known as the city with the world’s most annoying bird, the Indian Mynah, but instead, as the city that produced the songbird Red Robyn. Okay, so, Red Robyn is not red, or a Robin, or a bird at all. Obviously, why would I be telling you about an actual bird? Sorry Durban birders, you still have nothing to be proud of.  She is a songbird, though, or a songstress, I should say, and one you wouldn’t mind hearing at the start of each day. Or during the day. Or at night even. Like, literally any time is good.

    What are you doing right now? Here, listen to this…

    How nice was that? How playfully and succinctly does she just cut down the immature boy the song is aimed at. “I’m too old to play with toys, flowers in my hair, ain’t got time for do or dare, oh the shit you’re giving me is just too much and I don’t care, boy”. It would be brutal if it wasn’t wrapped in such vocal sweetness.

    The 21-year-old from Wentworth has a way with words and deftly uses cadence to back them up. This could be because of her background studying drama and music at UKZN, but Red Robyn, real name Ashleigh de Gee, has been musical her whole life. She’s been singing since she was a kid in the choir at church and with both her mother and father being musicians and her grandfather being in a band when he was younger, it’s safe to say that music is in her family.

    The singer is not just a singer but an academic too. She’s currently working on a research paper in deconstructing the coloured identity. Well, she’s currently taking a break until next semester, with this semester being spent on making music. I got to interview Red Robyn a few months ago but it never got published. In our chat, she explained to me what lead her to her topic,“For me, it came from a point of searching for my own identity. People would always ask me, especially in high school, “What are you?” I feel like that such a weird question to ask someone, “What are you?” It came from my own sort of searching within myself to try and find my own identity.”

    I followed up asking her what was the most interesting thing she’d come across in her research? She told me, “The thing that fascinates me is that this generation of coloured people is starting to ask questions. For a long time, I think that coloured people have just accepted the way things are and there’s a generation that’s come out now who are asking questions about their heritage, and they want to know more and do better than the last generation. They want to succeed. There’s a lot of good coming out of being displaced. Just claiming our heritage and claiming our culture.”

    As a white dude, I obviously don’t really know anything about coloured identity. I know that representation matters and that the work that Red Robyn is doing, both on-stage and off, is important. With coloured Cape Town artists like Youngsta, Patty Munroe, Dope Saint Jude and Isaac Mutant getting well-deserved national and international recognition, it’s time for young, fresh coloured artists from Durban to also get some shine.

    Red Robyn will no-doubt get the recognition she deserves soon as she’s fast making herself the queen of collaboration in Durban. The groovy track you heard above is with shit-hot producer MISSU (I interviewed him for Noisey if you’re interested), and they recently teamed up again, along with trip-hop producer Tre Flips, on the deeply romantic and heartbreaking ‘Colours’. Last week she dropped a soulful number called Taekwon with her boyfriend and bandmate in the phenomenal jazz collective Blvck Crystals, Jaedon Daniel. You can hear it below. Her soundcloud is littered with cross-genre collaborations, and last night she let her Facebook fans know that she and Jaedon will be putting out a mixtape, and that she’ll be dropping collabs with Skata, Taylor Made, Easy Freak and Joe Music soon.

    I recently wrote that Red Robyn and Jaedon Daniel are part of a new wave of “young, independent, forward-thinking Durban musicians building themselves, and each other, through collabs with like-minded individuals.” But more than that, I think Red Robyn could be one of the prominent faces of this new wave. I guess time will tell, but for now, keep an eye and an ear out for the sweet-voiced songbird from Wentworth.