Archive for the ‘SA Music’ Category

Incase you didn't pick up your free copy of SA Promo recently (you can read the online version here) you might have not known that someone who's possibly just a little 'Cooler as Ekke' is coming to London town… Yes, my china's! Jack Parow is finally pulling in… and he's bring some maaitjies with him, Die Heuwels Fantasties to bust it out at Clapham Grand.

If you don't know who I'm talking about then you've probably been living in a village somewhere up norf with no interweb connection (which you obviously have now since you're reading this)  and not had any contact with a Saffa for a very long time now. If you need a little catch up session on what I'm talking about, then check this post I did some time ago about him.

Since then Jack Parow has released his self titled album and pretty much sky rocketed to fame in SA. He even sat in on an entire show with Seth on his 2OceansVibe Radio show the other morning which has also just recently seen the likes of the legendary John Smit, so you've kinda really gotta be a bit 'Cooler as Ekke' if you wanna be sitting there. Jack Parow has become quite the household name these days. Thankfully he's taking the time out of his busy schedule to come over to London to spiel us a few lietjies and let us Saffa's dominate good old Clapham Grand once again… I think the last proper domination was my birthday there last  year

One word of advice, you should know the drill, Clapham Grand is not exactly Wembley Stadium so do yourself a flavour and get your tickets ASAP, because don't say I didn't warn you, this is going to be a one time sell out.

Jack Parow and Die Heuwels Fantasties are tjooning it for one night only on the 8th July… yes, thats just around the corner..

Tickets cost a mild £18 each from SA Tickets and doors open at 7pm and show starts at 8pm.

Make sure you check out SA Promo for updates

Here's a little something to wet your taste buds…

Jack… haal gaat, ons kannie wag nie bra! haha

I hear Parys Potgieter is frickin dying to meet him

- Marky Mark

You know, what is it with South African Hip Hop lately?… you'd swear we're being served with something new and excellent on a weekly basis… SA Music is definately on the rise with international proportions!

On my recent trip to SA, I popped into my usual Durban jol, namely Frankies in Hillcrest, which hosts my good friend DJ Sausage perched in what is quite well known as "The Sausage Box". I was having a chat to Sausage the one night and he told me to listen to this new track that is quite honestly taking the country by storm, I pretty much experienced this storm first hand from all the requests he was getting for it, even straight after he'd just played it…

The track is by an increasingly well known artist who goes by the name of JR who is fast creating a South African anthem which I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches the epic proportions of Mandoza – Nkalakatha as it was back in the day, not to mention it still is massive. The track is called "Show Dem" featuring HHP. Its frickin brilliant!

For those in SA who think they haven't heard the track yet, trust me, you definately have… for those of us in London who haven't heard it yet, this is about to burst into every South African stronghold club such as Joe Cool's in Fulham if not already…

If you wondering what the hell I'm talking about… take a listen to this!

There's a little joke going around SA at the mo…

During the stand off outside the courthouse where the suspects who murdered Eugene Terblanche were, whites stood on one side singing "Die Stem" while blacks stood on the opposite side singing "Kill The Boer"… and there right in the middle of the pack, were six coloured okes bouncing around singing… MAKE THE CIRCLE BEEGA! haha (thanks Lurie!)

- Marky Mark

Now this is something that you are going to be hearing quite a bit of, its got VIRAL written all over it… and quite possibly the best thing to come out of Secunda, Mpumalunga … Am I the only person who actually knows where that is? I think these guys are about to put it on the map… Take it away boys, "My Prezidents a Pimp" by Gate Khahlela, namely Pava Gunz, Hoodsta and Enspektah

Just like it says, this here song is based on Jacob Zuma's habit of impregnating everything that he touches… and then marries it…

one word… AWESOMENESS!

Have a good listen to the lyrics… shear brilliance!

Love it! Well done guys!!! Say it like it is, now that my friends, is DIe Antwoord!

"Have a baby by my President and be the first lady!" bwahhaa!

Nice to see this come out just after JZ made an absolute tit out of himself in front of the Queen of all people… 

I guess the "PharSide Epic Fail of the Year Award" so far goes to, JZ, for providing One with a gift, namely a chess set…. just like the one Madiba gave her a few years ago… wah wah wah wahhhhh!
Which one do you reckon is gonna land up in her car boot sale?

- Marky Mark

For a little while now I've seen Jack Parow and his song "Cooler as ekke" popping up all the time. So I decided to find out a bit about this dude and his seriously catchy tune that is now playing over and over in my head.

I first noticed Jack on 2OceansVibe a little while ago where he did "Cooler as ekke" in the back of a taxi for Taxi Jam (awesome idea btw, check it out) and my initial thoughts were, its rap, its afrikaans and its relative, how the hell did this oke get this mix right and make it sound frickin good at the same time? It's brilliant and if you actually listen to his hilarious lyrics you'll find yourself smiling the whole way through the song because we can all relate to everything he says

Jack from Belleville near Cape Town, got his name when he was a little tipsy one night, as most people are when they come up with highly enlightening thoughts, he was watching Pirates of the Caribbean and just somer tjooned, " fuck Jack Sparrow the pirate of the Caribbean, I’m Jack Parow the pirate of the caravan park". Apparently he was pretty stoked that he remembered it the next day because as you now know, the name stuck.

He started messing around rapping in 2000 just for shits and giggles but rapped in english up until 2004. One day he rapped about getting mugged, but did it in afrikaans which made him realise it actually sounded pretty schweet and he couldn't understand why he'd never done it before, so it was from then that he started rapping in afrikaans. He's influenced a lot by boozed people because of the shit they come up with and thinks that drunken conversations are the best thing ever. (don't worry Jack, me too) I reckon it would be pretty schweet to interview Jack Parow over a few bottles of Klippies, I'd just have to remember to take a tape recorder though cause EISH!

This oke seriously has a good thing going here, especially with the release of Cooler as Ekke which like I said, after a few listens you'll find it popping up in your head all the time, even if you don't understand a word of Afrikaans… so you'll even find all the Durban North locals will be busting to it in their heads

Rumour has it that Parys Potgieter is his number 1 fan

Check out the video for Cooler as Ekke below

"Jy's die ou met die new fresh look, ek's die ou met die Pep stores broek!" Love it! haha

One thing that seriously made me laugh in the video was, check at 1:45, my ma used to have an ornament dog exactly like that in our lounge

Jack, ek schmaak it bra! dis Poes lekker!

Check out his MySpace here

- Marky Mark

Last night I was invited down to the legendary and world famous 100 Club down on Oxford Street, Central London to see a band that I’ve been hearing a lot about for a while but not had the chance to see them live, until now…. and I will say this in every expressive way imaginable and in all absolute sense of the word….WOW!

My friends, it is my great pleasure and honour to present to you…STARSEED!

I say that because I feel privileged to be writing this and to have seen them live while they are still playing in the smaller venues. This is a band that I can honestly say, are definitely going to be up there with the big boys in the not too distant future.

These guys are big band material all the way and from what I heard last night, I am actually quite amazed that they are still playing small venues. Now I’ve heard that they have been getting some 4/5; 9/10 rave reviews in big label rock magazines such as Kerrang, and rumour has it that they are on their way at becoming the next Seether, which correct me if I’m wrong, is to date, South Africa’s most popular and successful South African Alternative Rock export, however saying that, it is rather difficult to compare the two when it comes to musical style as Seether being more of your Grungy Alternative, for example, Nirvana, Puddle of Mudd, Silverchair, whereas Starseed are a little heavier with Alternative Hard Rock, if you think more on the lines of a Metallica feel. So they definitely aren’t something for all you closet Sugar Babes fans as you can imagine.

Now I won’t lie, I arrived expecting to see a good South African band, don’t get me wrong, no disrespect to the SA bands out there, I’m in full support and behind you all the way, but the UK aswell as the US I imagine, has a lot more competition. You need to be at the top of your game in every second of every set, it’s a ruthless scene that is quick to dismiss those that don’t cut it. Back in the day I used to practically live at the Buzz Bar and Churchills in Maritzburg supporting SA Music with the likes of Arapaho, Squeal, Wonderboom, Sons of Trout, Amersham, The Springbok Nude Girls, Sugar Drive, the list goes on. These bands were all brilliant, they were the pioneers of SA Rock. The music was great, it was new and it was happening but there is one thing that I’ve always said and I’ll say it again, apart from Just Jinger who seemed to nail it on the acoustic side, it was a bit thin and lacked the fullness with serious punch that you’d hear on most internationally recorded albums. Nobody was at fault for this; SA Rock was in its infancy and building itself up to the standard so this was acceptable, however the reality of it was, that it was what it was. When Starseed belted out their opening song, “Shine” which is their current single, I stood there with eyes wide open and stunned, because this was not your usual South African band, it was punchy and it was full, these guys were exceptionally tight, probably one of the tightest live bands I’ve seen in a small venue ever, which is why I said in the beginning, I’m amazed that these guys are still playing small venues. The performance as a whole was very truthfully a studio quality performance, you’d have thought they’d been rehearsing the same songs for the last 20 years over and over non stop because they were performed that well. Starseed appear to be extremely serious about what they are trying to achieve here, and that’s a quality you really see in top rock bands, although saying that, if you take a look at the guys on an individual basis you can see each off them loves what he does. Andy the drummer looks like he’s a baby having a party in a paddling pool behind the drums; you can see the enjoyment from a mile away. Russell has an extremely wide range on the vocals which I found really impressive, Dale on bass is totally swimming in his vibe, Peter on lead guitar cradles and speaks fluently to his guitar as if it was a language that only they understand but sounds amazing, and last but not least, Gerald on rhythm guitar plays and really communicates with the crowd on a musical level which even gets the statues moving.

I left the venue last night still quite stunned and taken back by what I’d seen, these guys are good, and when I say good, I mean frickin good, completely going well beyond what I was expecting. If you enjoy your Rock, then this is one band I suggest you take the time to go and see, because you’ll probably leave there as taken back as I was with their performance.

Take my word for it, I don’t get paid to write this, I’m not just saying all this because they are South African (although it was the initial reason I went to see them) and I’m not gonna try sell you hot air, but I wouldn’t be sitting here writing a 1010 word review if I didn’t think they were that great. I guess you could say I was pretty much blown away.

I do feel sorry for any band that Starseed open for because they’d have a lot to live up to. As my friend Justin Badenhorst will tell you, as he’s witnessed, it’s not every day that the support act completely blows away the main act, but it happens.

Yours truely hanging with Starseed after their gig.

This is the video for their latest single “Shine”… enjoy

Click here for the official Starseed website

Excellent guys! Can't wait to see what you come up with in the future, its looking to be massive!

- Marky Mark