Tag: south african electronic music

Drop Shop – A workshop & live techno mix from Markus Wormstorm & friends

The brainchild of South African electronic music stalwart, Markus Wormstorm, Drop Shop is a week-long incubator that brings together established and more up-and-coming producers to create a thirty-minute mix of original techno. “It started with this feature film which I was commissioned to do called ‘Sounds of Animals Fighting’ which takes place in South Africa and São Paulo, Brazil. To enrich my creative process I thought I’d set up a system through which I could collaborate with an artist from São Paulo and get to make some stuff in the studio with them and then use this music in the film. When I started putting it together I thought why don’t we go further and get a whole bunch of electronic producers together.” explains Markus.

Meeting in April 2018, the week featured Narch, Maxime Alexander, Felix Laband, D_Know, Whosane and Paulo Tessuto from São Paulo. The latter is known for his Carlos Capslock squat parties thrown in São Paulo as well as his record label MEMNTGN. He has established himself on the Brazilian and Berlin underground, playing the likes of Mezcaleria Lupita, Tresor, Golden Gate, Sisyphos, Chalet, SchwuZ. Describing them as ‘X-Men-like’, each with their own speciality, the week saw each producer bring two original loops which were then remixed and developed by the rest of the team. A stark contrast to the usual conditions in which electronic producers usually work, alone with minimal input from outside sources, Drop Shop saw them crammed together in a room packed with synths and drum machines at Honeymoon Studios working on tracks together and playing these live together as a unit. “When we got together each day was dedicated to a certain amount of tracks, we’d sit down and play each other what we did for a loop and then I’d choose which parts we’d use and then we’d come up with a sequence to play it live.”

From Narch’s bass-heavy Arp Odyssey to Felix Laband’s mysterious vocal samples, D_Know’s driving rhythms, the creative melodies of Maxime Alexander and the curious rhythms of Paulo Tessuto, the various elements were brought together by Markus. Ensuring that everything flowed together rather than clashing. Jamming and recording the tracks live meant that the group was able to record more than 8 tracks over the course of 3 days, which ultimately resulted in a 30-minute mix of original techno that drifts from dark and driving to melodic and uplifting. With a raw sound, it’s clear the mix was made live on machines rather than produced within the neat confines of a computer.

Aiming to continue the concept for the next few years, Markus hopes to bring in producers from other countries. “Maybe Argentina, Mexico, something from the east, Japan would be amazing. People come, play some shows and we make some music with them. What would we be great is if they, in turn, could do Drop Shops there.”

14 June 2018
The Emotional Electronica of Rose Bonica

Rose Bonica is a relatively new name on the 4/4 dancefloor but one that is steadily building, beat after beat, layer after layer. She hasn’t had much press (until now) but she’s been put on by artists who know their shit, like Jumping Back Slash, and has put out some enchanting and hypnotic releases worthy of your time (One of which is the live mix she did for JBS). I got to Skype the producer/quite-a-few-things just after she returned from the from the Wet Dreams compilation launch in Jozi (in association with this fine publication). “It was a cool turn out, the bar didn’t have a card machine though.” She jokingly nitpicks when I ask how it went.

Rose Bonica, real name Natalie Rose Perel, is a bit of a perfectionist and comes across as hyper-aware, but also candid and open. She’s dabbled in a few things, like, she has her honours in video editing and learned to code so she could work on her dad’s company’s website, but it’s with music that she’s finding a way to express herself. “I’m an emotional person,” she explains, “But only in the last 2 years have I really been a bit more open. Although I’m emotional, I’m very, you know, just put a smile on my face and move on. I guess not a lot of people very close to me know what I’m feeling, but music’s helping me with that.”

Personally, I find it harder to connect emotionally with house and techno music, but Rose explained how she expresses herself through sampling,”I think it’s the sampling aspect of music, how you can use samples and how that can be your story. I always found in editing, what always carried a film or a video or anything was the music behind it. You could change the mood by changing the music behind it. When I was watching Montle make music, which is what made me want to try, he’s also very expressive, the way he makes his songs is storytelling. Chopping samples together you can literally show someone who you are, and I think that that’s what I want from Rose Bonica.”

Montle aka Big Space is Rose’s boyfriend and watching him create music is what sparked her interest in music. “I didn’t even really listen to music before I started making it,” she says jokingly, but not as a joke. Montle is also the reason why she has had some doors open for her. “I definitely was lucky in that I had a jump start being with Montle and having access to his connections that he already had. Nepotism, for once, has actually worked in my favour. But I do know that the people who have been backing me and what I’ve been doing- most of them are 40 year old men who, if they didn’t like something, wouldn’t support it.”

The thing is, whilst Montle has helped open some doors, others have closed because some people think Montle is making Rose’s music. “I know a lot of people, at least in Cape Town, think Montle is my ghostwriter, which kinda blows my mind seeing as I’ve used computers all my life. It’s not actually that hard, most electronic “musicians”, producers, aren’t musicians, they’re not trained, like, at all. I think that could be something else. It’s quite a common thing I think, with women, is men are always waiting for you to be exposed by playing premixes.”

Now I can’t tell if Rose is making her own music all the way from my flat in Umbilo, but if she got booked to play live more, she could show what she’s made of. “I was booked over woman’s day week,” she tells me when I ask if she plays live much. “That sounds like tokenism,” I reply. She laughs, “And by female bookers. So I played 3 gigs in 1 week, it was quite amazing, it was really fun, I would love to play again.”

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for Rose since she’s started making music. Whilst jaded 40-year-olds are putting her on, cynical youth are blocking her from making moves. That just means that Rose will have to find ways to change things and put herself on, which, after the Wet Dreams launch, is exactly what she plans on doing “I’m thinking of actually trying to make a change because I know in life that you can’t expect things to change unless you change them yourself.”

(more…)

2 June 2017
Wet Dreams Recordings presents Work Not Hype

With the launch of their first official compilation Work Not Hype, South African underground electronic label Wet Dreams Recordings is coming out of the bedroom and announcing itself as a real label. Featuring artists such as Rose Bonica, Jumping Back Slash, Dion Monti, Lorenzo, DJ 909 Clap, Yezzah and vGrrr. Altered Natives will be the final artist to feature. Label founder and producer Big Space is proud of the release. “This is the first one that’s actually going to be mastered. I paid lots of time carefully selecting the tunes. It’s very well curated.”

Wet Dreams Recordings started off as a high school fantasy for Johannesburg based Big Space. “I guess I always wanted a place where myself and my friends or like-minded people could release stuff because it was different and there was never anything like that in South Africa except for say African Dope.”

While the music on Wet Dreams Recordings spans a variety of electronic genres, the common thread running throughout is that they all take a different form of expression. “Aesthetic wise in South Africa it’s very hard to find people that think about music outside of cash or just pushing the levels of ideas. So I just look for that.”

Wet Dreams Recordings’ first release, Night Sweats Vol. 1, featured a handful of artists that shared this mindset. “Apart from Jumping Back Slash, who’s a friend, the other guys are just guys that I met on the internet. Either I contacted them or they came up to me and just said they like my stuff and vice versa.”

Work Not Hype will be available online as well as on CD. “We’re going to do a limited run of some CDs with some very nice art to accompany it so you don’t just feel like you’re buying a piece of plastic that you’ll never use. It’s gonna have a nice story, just talking shit about everyone, because people like that. There’s something for everyone I guess. If you don’t like music there’s some great gossip. Me shitting on people. Pictures of dicks. Pictures of dicks shitting on people. You know, art.”

When it comes to how his approach towards the label has changed Big Space is frank. “Shit, it’s a bit fucking scary because now I have other people’s careers in my hand not just mine. It’s just basically following strategy, something I never did before. I guess playing the game of the game, but on my own terms. The way I plan to infiltrate the game is literally by just putting out consistently good quality stuff, because it’s not just gqom and Goldfish and Freshlyground. There’s tons of other stuff that’s coming from here.”

With their aim to be a platform for different yet high quality music, Wet Dreams Recordings is carving out a niche locally at a time when the focus on South African music is greater than ever and the need for such a platform even more so. “I’m tired of trying to impress South Africa because they don’t even care about anything different unless it’s a copy of international stuff. So I want it to be heard by the right people that want to hear different music.”

13 April 2017
Fela Gucci’s ‘Diphala’ – archiving black sonic magic

Multifaceted black queer wonder, Fela Gucci’s fascination for South African electronic music led to a reliable music store in Jeppestown in early 2016. Since then Fela has been building a collection of interesting sounds that you will probably not hear on your favourite radio station.

Thankfully, Fela created a harmonious mix called Diphala and we can now all indulge in the vibrant sounds of DJ Cee, Mujava, Bojo Mujo, DJ Call Me, Halata na titlakuseni magaza, Nozinja, DJ Leostic, DJ Target, DJ Epic and Illumination Boyz.

“These artists go undocumented and what I’m trying to do with my mixes is create some sort of archival project and hopefully by me sharing this music with people, some sort of awareness could be made to their work”, said Fela.

It is the magical music produced from these artists and how their music is testament to the resilience of the black spirit that captivates Fela.

“I feel the resilience in the sound”, said Fela, “I would like to emphasize that this music is created often times by disadvantaged black people who create magic from the little resources they have and through this music they are able to empower and express themselves.”

Check out the mix on Fela’s Soundcloud

10 March 2017