Muse Magazine - AUG-SEPT 2008 Edition by Muse Mag

w w w. m u s e o n l i n e . c o . z a

EPT’08 AUG/S

FREE

Management Issues

JOHNNY CLEGG THE HEART OF A DANCER

LEGEND OF THE WHITE ZULU

LUCKy FISh MUSIC FESTIVAL is born

GOING GREEN WITH

ROCKING DAISIES THE

Powerpop with

The

MOcHines Witchfest 2008

and there’s more...

music reviews dvd reviews gaming reviews music news and views

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From the Desk of Our Intrepid Music Editor ...

IT’S A

es dear reader, it is! Last month I drank in and passed out on the doorstep of this sexy lil’ magazine’s older, bigger, more experienced sister BPM Magazine. And awoke several days later to find myself in the arms of a fresh, clean and sunny place, smelling like almond-scented room deodoriser! And hark, not an electronic blip, bleep or bloop to be heard – this is the new shit – this is MUSE Magazine, where you will be getting to read about the new, NEW music FIRST and as it happens, not just from ‘neath the global toilet seat but (more importantly) from ‘neath the shiny cistern of music lokaal as in that which is made, mashed, munged and murdered right here. You might be wondering, at the outset, why the good peeps at BPM MAG would want to go to all the fuss and hassle of rustling up another FREE music magazine, when they could just as easily have made their existing book even phatter and bigger? Well, and herein lies the magic

folks – they did it because we need it! (And I don’t just mean that as in, I need it, to ensure a steady supply of beneath the counter tabs and nonlabel prescriptive hoes medisyn either!) South African print magazines that make virtue of dedicating themselves to furthering the cause of local music, or who even just deign to include local music between their shiny covers, have a somewhat shameful history of wanting to be seen to be doing the right thing; but then not being too sure, exactly, just what the right thing means to do. Does it mean selling your pages to the highest major record label bidder to promote their latest offerings, or giving space to unsigned bands who, let’s face it, have less money (in most cases) than they do fans, at the outset? It is a conundrum and which Muse Magazine hopefully will never have to ponder further than the next round of shooters. You know it, we know it; we have all but allowed our culture to be claimed by accountants, hijacked and held hostage by the mainstream. Muse Magazine is about reclaiming our musical culture, for ourselves. And we don’t give a fcuk about celebrity, which is why you won’t necessarily read about the latest prime bands in the circle on these pages, in this magazine. Not that there’s anything “wrong” (Satanic, maybe, but not wrong) with all of that, it’s just about having alternatives. Which is why we may not even put a band on the cover. It’s just so … been done and we are all about doing differently. You will, however, meet and read about bands you may never ever have heard of before, from places you only know exist from watching the weather report on breakfast TV while your coffee grows a skin across it. So that will be Muse Magazine then. An alternate-monthly (meaning out every second month) guide to what’s new and why! So feel

completely free to join us as we glibly toss about words like ‘iconoclastic’, ‘anti-consumerist’, ‘anti-hype’, ‘anti-sell out’, and that favourite mantra of Vida E Caffe coffee drinkers everywhere: ‘anti-mainstream’. Please now, don’t come and ask me what any of those terms necessarily means, or how we think they apply to us, we’re just putting them out there, for you to use when mentioning cutting edge (cringe) South African music and Muse Magazine in the same sentence. It’ll make people think you’re smart. And we like to think our readers are the smartest! (Although reading this page doesn’t automatically qualify you for free membership into MENSA!). But nay, rather think of those words like as if they were those little wordy fridge magnets you get. You arrange them however you best see fit and try make them apply to your everyday lives, just so as to be in balance with all the opposites of those words, because we know how dangerous they can be! Yes kids, it’s a new day. Come on and celebrate it with us! Or celebrate something! Heck, we’re not fussy here - celebrate the musical diversity we share in this mad country of ours, celebrate the fact that it’s nearly summer and that means almost 180 reasons to wear less clothing! This one’s for the fans! Write in and tell us all about it. Bands - send us your damn demos (we know you have them, even if they’re kak quality). Fans – go watch bands and if you feel inspired enough by their performance – write to us and review the show. Brands – if you feel it, you know it. And as for everyone else – if you see us at the bar, make it a double. Enjoy the free ride! (We certainly plan to …) Viva la Vida! (Coldplay stole it from us!)

JON MONSOON IS DELIRIUM TREMENS

NEW DAY!

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PROUD SUPPORTERS OF SA MUSIC!

EDITION 1 - VOLUME 1 / FREE tech | three

JON MONSOON’S DT’S - THREE MGMT - FIVE THE MOCHINES | LUCKY FISH FESTIVAL - SIX JOHNNY CLEGG - HEART OF A DANCER - EIGHT “SHORT SHOTS” MUSIC NEWS & VIEWS - TEN ROCKING THE DAISIES - TWELVE MUSIC REVIEWS - FOURTEEN GIG GUIDE - FIFTEEN

PEAVEY MIXER, SPEAKERS & AMP REVIEWED - THREE GEAR NEWS - FOUR

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tech | twelve

PLAY BETTER BASS WITH ALISTAIR ANDREWS - SIX MY PRIVATE UNIVERSE - JONATHAN PIKE - TEN NI GUITAR RIG | TUNING TIPS FOR GUITAR - TWELVE GAME REVIEWS BY PAUL BLOM - FOURTEEN COVER PHOTO: Loedi van Renen - Taxi Violence - My Coke Fest’07, CPT Photographer: Craig Kolesky - SanDisk Published & Distributed by:

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Coalition : Tel: (021) 913 8423 | Fax: (021) 557 1549 info@museonline.co.za | www.museonline.co.za

Magazine Publishers: Dave McKinley, Thomas Whitebread Managing Editor: Dave McKinley - dave@museonline.co.za Music Editor: Jon Monsoon - call@itall.co.za Sales Director: Thomas Whitebread - thomas@museonline.co.za Contributors: Paul Blom, Mickdotcom, Lynette Rix, Paul Martin, Jon Monsoon, Damien Albetto, Larry Scivous, Sean Olsen, Nancy Hillary, Dino Denton, Blaise Janichon, Carl Matender, Vusa, Johan Schreuder, Alistair Andrews, Dawid Fourie, Brian Little, Darren McKinley, Adri du Plessis, Johnathan Pike,

Creative Director: Thomas Whitebread - info@museonline.co.za Design & Layout : Terri Love - terri@terrilove.co.za

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Thomas Whitebread - thomas@museonline.co.za

SALES & ADVERTISING ENQUIRES: Thomas Whitebread - (021) 913 9443 | 082 889 2047 Dave McKinley - (021) 557 1459 | 084 209 0168 SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE: subscribe@museonline.co.za Never miss a copy! Receive your personal copy SA’s only FREE magazine dedicated in promoting Live Music, FIRST!

Magazine enquiries: info@museonline.co.za MUSE is published six times per annum in SA only

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tech | fourteen

DISTRIBUTION: info@museonline.co.za MUSE is nationally distributed to over 300 carefully selected outlets ranging from: Retailers of Musical Instruments Gear & Equipment, Studios, Colleges & Varsities, selected live music venues and more... To Find your nearest outlet email: info@museonline.co.za To become an Outlet email: info@museonline.co.za

No part of this magazine may be imitated or reproduced in whole / in part or online, without the permission of MUSE Magazine. Any views, opinions & visual material expressed in MUSE Magazine by contributors are not necessarily shared by MUSE Magazine or its staff. We do not accept responsibility for any omissions or mistakes, as we do everything possible to make sure all information published is accurate. All rights reserved.

MUSE Magazine 2008

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MGMT

ord of mouth New Artists of The Year. Best New Artists with Album Of The Ye a r. D o e s n ’ t happen often. Unless the band is really good. For us to buy into that kind of word of mouth speak they had better be Led Zeppelin for our age. They had better be ten times better than The Rolling Stones ... were! Hopefully we, the music listening public , are not so easily fooled by major record label marketing hype these days, maybe (again, hopefully) we’re wiser since being made to suffer through the embarrassment of buying into and electing generational train wrecks like … Britney Spears and that plastic Jackson creature before her. Our track record in awarding New Artists of The Year has not been great. So much so that pop music circa 2008 has a lot to answer for. We cannot let the Spice Girls happen again! No, the kids aren’t alright. Radio has killed the video star. MP3 beats M.TV. Originality is a clothing label. Come back Kurt Cobain! We need some new management. Whilst everyone and their mums jump around to the new sound, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that this band is six years old already, having originated early on in 2002 when band members Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, like all good originators, challenged themselves to beat the odds and create something new, something extraordinary. Obviously they didn’t get it right straight away because it took 2008s album

Management ISSUES Oracular Spectacular (with the right record company logo on the back) to get them well and truly noticed. And noticed they certainly are, by people not just “into” one particular type of musical sound either. And that’s where they’re perhaps most interesting. Not sure where to place this band on the musical compass? Look beyond the fashion trend of indie rock or the whole ‘electro’ tag (because they could certainly schmooze comfortably in both of those genres) for a moment and consider that if our ears (and not the major label marketing department) can still be at all trusted, then Brooklynbased band MGMT (and that’s not

“I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I think it’s a combination of radio play and live shows that go beyond the typical” pronounced ‘Management’, if you’re hanging with the cool kids) – might just be the pop saviours we’ve been looking for. Well, at least if your ‘pop’ is of the unconventional, post-apocalyptic, postshoe gaze, funky trippy neo-hippy variety (and heck, in this day of future-retro everything, one tag is as good as the next, so don’t bother writing in to tell me I’ve got it wrong.) And what’s fun is that they seem slightly more mystified than everyone else does as to the reasons for their sudden thrust into the limelight after six years of relative obscurity “I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I think it’s a combination of radio play and live shows that go beyond

By Jon Monsoon

the typical," explained Goldwasser in an interview. And certainly their earlier live shows were powered by little more than a laptop and record player plugged into some guitar pedals, an old radio and a tape deck. So it’s no wonder then that they’ve been able to apply this mix ‘n blend ethos to their new music (given that they can now afford to buy some better toys thanks to an album deal with SonyBMG). And in the end, it is all paying off, swimmingly. Which is of less concern to the art school album Americans who are buoyed by their latest album’s global reception, taking it all to be a sign that they are not alone in “wanting to hear rock and pop reshaped and relevant.” And that’s perhaps all it is really about and why they are important, for at least five seconds, if at least for today, in changing perceptions and pushing music forward just a nudge, whether you agree with it or not. A page from their August 2008 diary reads like a modern day band wet dream: 2nd: Chicago, IL - play Lollapalooza festival 4th: Montreal, Canada - play Osheaga Festival 5th: Fly to Japan 7th: Arrive Tokyo 8th: Tokyo promotion 9th – 10th: Japan – play Summer Sonic festival 11th: Tokyo promotion 15th: Spain – play Ola Festival 16th: Belgium – play Pukkelpop festival 17th: Holland – play Lowlands festival 22nd: Reading, UK - play Reading festival 23rd: Leeds, UK - play Leeds festival

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by Jon Monsoon

he Mochines: it’s a sad fact that some of this country’s best musical talent will never be commercially viable (as in: make enough money for its makers to survive off purely doing what they love to do: which is making music) - a symptom of just not having enough exposure points for bands? Not having enough things like radio, television and print mags like the one you’re reading right now. For some bands, this state of affairs is critical if not often fatal. For other bands, they’ve gotten real with the situation and learnt how to deal with it. Cape Town rock ‘n roll stalwarts The Mochines are just one such band. The brainchild of ex LaDonnas frontman Ross “Dirty Sanchez” Kersten (Colorado was way too cold so he moved to Cape Town); they’ve been around since 2005 and have released two albums worth of classic material. (They are also one of the few South African bands in recent times to have released an album on vinyl!) “High Noon Records in Germany put that out for us for our first European tour. We did 500 but they’re all gone.” It’s also a little know fact that The Mochines are way bigger names overseas than they are likely to ever be over here. They tour Europe and the United States every year routinely, playing in packed bars and sold out festivals to audiences that know, understand and love, and appreciate their music. The Mochines are unique in this

Meet

half 'n half country – there is no one else like them! “It's great,” drawls Ross in lazy American twang “it gives people here an opportunity to open up their rears and minds to a different style of music that is from somewhere else in the world”. “We sing songs about chicks, life, personal experiences and some other funny shit … and drugs,” informs the singer about what it is greases their wheels. “Every song as a concept is completely clichéd, so don't worry about it.” Not called “Cape Town’s loudest band” for nothing, their music is intense, full-front rock ‘n’ roll. Like Elvis on crack cocaine. Singer Ross’s vocals burn white

hot alongside big, blistering basslines with rib-cracking rhythms rattling your skull and thunder struck drums rocking your soul. “We just like to play rock n' roll music,” stares Ross. “Hard rock 'n roll music has always been made from passion by people with very little expectation of financial reward,” he smiles. It’s infectious, pure rock ‘n roll, baby. Get with it. Website: www.themochines.com/ Http://www.myspace.com/themochines Discography: 2006: Hire The Losers (issued on vinyl) 2008: The Eagle Has Landed (Landspeed Records)

uthentic Ideas director, Nancy Hillary has been a fixture of the South African Live Music Industry for over 15 years now and it’s fair to say she knows just a thing or two about the multiple aspects of this game we like to call the ‘music biz.’ Together with Clint Mckeon they’ve been the creative team behind the Woodstock festivals for several years, a commission they terminated after last year. The good news is that this has freed them up to pursue a Music festival idea that was actually conceptualised but not acted upon (they did not want to create any conflict of interest with Woodstock) three years ago. Says Nancy, “We feel that we are

*&^*%$*&^, You Lucky Fish!! in a unique position to be able to provide the right mix entertainment and to create a festival that’s exciting, clean, secure and unlike any other in the country. There are so

by MuseNews many things we have wanted to do in the past but have never had the opportunity. Now, the platform is ours for embracing and we plan to make this the most incredible weekend ever!” At time of press the following bands were confirmed; Crossingpoint, Cutting Jade, HiKaToRi, Holly and the Woods, Lonehill Estate, New Found Disorder, Redhouse, Running with Scissors, One Day Remains, The Hellphones, Unlisted and Walt. They plan to cover genres from acoustic rock, contemporary rock, rock, pop, hip hop, hardcore, metal and punk. (just like Muse Mag , heh heh ... ED). Located “just 50km South of Johannesburg in Westonaria, Gauteng,” at the Route 28 Resort, they promise four blissful days brimming with plenty entertainment and facilities incomparable to anything done before. They say all the bands will be presenting unique and exciting shows. “Lucky Fish is a festival of

Music Festival is born.... excitement and authentic opportunities, and in that each band will provide a distinctive show that incorporates elements you have never before seen! This includes a variety of guest performances, unplugged shows, additional musicians, and exciting stage props. These are performances that will never be recreated, never be seen anywhere except at Lucky Fish!” I love the closing statement on their press release; “When you return home; dirty, happy, smiley and tired; when your friends gather around you to hear your adventures of the weekend; they will all stare up at you in awe and say, “*&^*%$*&^, You Lucky Fish!!”

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HEART OF A DANCER - Legend of the White Zulu by Mickdotcom

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I got a real sense of being connected to life in a powerful way.â&#x20AC;?

ohnny Clegg's has been a long and extraordinary journey into music, one which has seen himself and his bands, Juluka and Savuka, become both globally successful and iconic ambassadors of the Rainbow Nation before she was even conceived. Dancing and singing the fruits of cultural exchange. To say that Clegg is something of a mythic figure is not pushing the envelope. In the midst of Apartheid's increasingly vice-like hold on the country - when the segregation of cultures and races was as explicit and as given as traffic regulations - the teenage Clegg was being taught Zulu guitar by an African man who could speak no English, and learning traditional Bhaca dancing directly from the source, a dance team at the Hospital Hill hostel: "For me it was an honour to be able to dance with these warriors. That's what they were. They weren't shop assistants or cleaners, they were warriors. I didn't see them at work; I only saw them as dancers." Considering the time and place, late 1960s South Africa, it was inconceivable, the stuff of urban legend: the young Clegg was experiencing first-hand, and being embraced into a world beyond the imagination of most White South Africans - the romance and mystery of an ancient, proud warrior race. Born in England in 1953, Clegg's family moved to Zimbabwe in 1955. In

1960 they immigrated to South Africa, where the young Jonathan Clegg was to find his destiny. Clegg's primary school career took place between three countries and six different schools: a year spent in Zambia when he was ten left a huge impression: "[Clegg and his African school friends] used to go out with our 'catties' for whole weekends, shooting birds and eating them and generally living off the land. We were like wild savages. [..] The thing for me that was very powerful was that there were little, traditional villages just outside the main town [..] as night fell you could hear the cries of the people shouting to each other across the valleys. The smell of a particular wood burning would drift across to us. I got a real sense of being connected to life in a powerful way." The extent of the rumours about the White boy playing Zulu guitar led to a meeting with another young Zulu-guitar slinger, an event that would directly shape Clegg's future, and that of popular music in SA. Returning home from school one day in 1969, Johnny saw a young man with a fascinating guitar, decorated with bits of mirror and toy soldiers and other peculiar paraphernalia, leaning against the wall of his flat. The man, Sipho Mchunu, his future brother-in-song, challenged him to a guitar duel. The rest, as they say, is history. Some years into their musical correspondence and gigging, Johnny and Sipho founded Juluka. Their 1979

debut album, aptly (and to the government, provocatively) entitled Universal Men was denied airplay: the phenomenon of Clegg and Juluka, however, could not be silenced. It is perhaps ironically appropriate that Clegg and his successive bands were forced to focus on touring abroad rather than in SA - this inevitably raised global awareness of SA's (otherwise blanketed) musical riches, and represented the virtues of curiosity and exchange across supposed cultural divides, real and imagined. Clegg and his extended musical family's greatest contribution to South Africa and her popular music lies in their embodiment of protest-throughexample: Record sales generated awareness of SA's traditional music, and their more explicit political songs raised awareness of Apartheid's nature, but their greatest gift was to embody the beauty and wonder possible in what Apartheid considered to be perverse the Rainbow mentality. Clegg's 2008 Heart of the Dancer show focuses on celebrating the role of dance in Zulu tradition and history - for the first time audiences are given insight into the significance of different styles of dance, and how they informed specific Juluka and Savuka songs. You can catch the spirit of Zulu dance at the Cape Town ICC 12-13 September! [Background info and quotes sourced from www.johnnyclegg.com]

short shots

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who, what 'n where By Jon Monsoon

FOTONADANS MAKETH A VIDEO

WITCHFEST RETURNETH! Thursday 25 - Sunday 28 September 2008 South Africa’s best alternative music and lifestyle festival marks its sixth year running with an all-star line-up of heavyweight bands, including International metal legends CARCASSl! “This year we aim to create the most well-rounded alternative festival in our six-year history and so take Witchfest to the next level,” affirms founder organiser, metal head and Witchdoctor Records label boss Shaughn Pieterse. Festival goers keen on exploring the heavier and the slightly more alternative side of local music will have ample opportunity to indulge their every musical fantasy with a line-up showcasing this often ignored segment of music and the attendant alternative lifestyle. Some of the incredible bands confirmed for Witchfest 2008 include the following: Carcass (UK), Sacrifist, Taxi Violence, Van Coke Kartel, Fokofpoliesiekar, Chief Rebel Angel, The Horror Cast, The Warinsane, Juggernaught, Fire Through The Window, Martin Rocka & the Sick Shop … The festival takes place on the Southern Cross Farm outside Mooi River in Kwa Zulu Natal. www.witchfest.co.za

Southern Ink Exposure International Tattoo Convention

In Cape Town

Friday 23 – Sunday 25 January, 2009 You heard it here first - South Africa gets its very first proper international tattoo convention in January ‘09 when SIX: Southern Ink Exposure arrives on our shores. The brainchild of local company SixLove Events and international tattoo website tattoos.com, Southern Ink Xposure will see some of the world’s best tattoo artists at work in the Mother City over a weekend of events that include conventions, talks by legends, demos, art exhibitions, documentary screenings, live art collaborations, top-notch concerts and some well wicked parties, all celebrating global tattoo culture. Following the success of Northern Ink Xposure (held in Toronto earlier this year and celebrating its 10th anniversary), which draws artists from 25 countries and four continents, Southern Ink Xposure promises to be a fixture on the International tattoo calendar for years to come. Join the Facebook group for running updates including participating artists, band line-ups and ticket prices and look out for posters and flyers from November!

Best Group at the 2007 MK89 awards Fotonadans got to look and feel like proper rock stars recently when British music video director Ryan Kruger (who has filmed stuff for big name bands such as Juliet Lewis and the Licks, Black Flag, The Misfits, Slipknot and others) stepped behind the camera to direct their latest music video. Kruger’s unique conceptual shooting style (which has been critiqued by Quentin Tarantino himself), brings a freshly needed take on South Africa’s stale music video trend. The concept of the Foto’s new vid involves the band playing inside an instrument called a Zoetrope, while Lisa Marie Schneider (only one of FHM SAs Top 100 Sexiest Women and aspiring actress) looks over them as she holds and plays with a small scale model of the Zoetrope. Sounds well cool, we think! The music video is abundant in young talent, cast and crew, and has the quality to take a step forward for the local music industry. FotoNaDans will be kicking off an international tour in September starting off in England.

White Mountain Folk Festival ahoyeth!

24 - 28 September 2008 For five days of laid-back acoustic music in an awesome setting, don’t miss the annual White Mountain Folk Festival which runs from 24 to 28 September 2008. Held near Giant’s Castle in the rather pretty Central Drakensberg region of KwaZulu-Natal, the festival offers acoustic performances by some of the country’s finest established and up-and-coming artists, as well as other outdoorsy things like hiking, boating and bass fishing, abseiling down a 45m cliff face, arts and crafts, a beer market (our kinda fun! - Ed), food stalls and fun kids’ entertainment. A choice of camping, caravanning and chalet accommodation is on offer for when you have to sleep. For more information, visit www.whitemountain.co.za or contact Pedro at 082-892-6176.

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party hard, tread lightly www.rockingthedaisies.com

Definition: rock-ed, rock-ing, rocks; Verb: To move back and forth or from side to side, especially gently or rhythmically Music: To play or dance to rock 'n' roll. Noun: A rocking motion/the act of rocking/ Music Rock 'n' roll Definition: dai-sy, daisies; Noun: any of various composite plants the flowers of which have a yellow disk and white rays, as the English daisy and the oxeye daisy. Slang: One that is deemed excellent or notable.

O by definition at this year’s Rocking the Daisies festival you should find yourself ‘rocking rhythmically back ‘n forth from side to side amongst a field of white and yellow flowers while listening to rock n roll all of which we can deem a most excellent experience.’ Indeed. Two years back a new festival was born; Rocking the Daisies. Seemingly to appear out of nowhere, little was known about who, what, where and why anybody would be crazy enough to want to launch an outdoor music festival in Cape Town. “But like isn’t Cape Town like the psytrance capital of South Africa, my bru? Like who goes to rock festivals? Aren’t bands like so last millennium, dude?” Brian Little, founding member of Complete Events, the events and promotion company responsible for RTD chuckles, “Yeah we were fully aware of how massively popular the outdoor trance scene was in Cape Town but we wanted to offer an alternative. We wanted to create a platform for the really, really good bands in

by Dave Mac South Africa to perform in an awesome and natural environment.” The culture of partying outdoors, in nature, and having a really fun weekend of camping, music and gleeful shenagans is not a new one – but it is one that Capetonians revel in and so RTD was born. It may seem an unlikely assumption now but 3 years ago when they got close on 1500 festival attendees it surprised many of us and was a clear sign that they’d read the climate right ... an annual Music festival up the West Coast would work! Brian (ex art-director by profession turned events co-ordinating guru and music loving supporter of SA music) is quick to add that they actually sat down and brainstormed a concept ... even deciding on the West Coast as the area to use before having a venue. “Finding our venue so quickly was actually the sort of sign we needed to bolster our belief to go ahead with this.” So onto to 2007 and their second Rocking the Daisies... and their attendances leaped from under 1500 the first year to 5000 in their second. A massive jump by anybody’s standards, it was also then that they decided to fully embrace the ‘Go-Green’ concept of using sustainable resources and recycling all their waste. Heck they even planted trees to reduce the carbon footprint such events can leave behind. In chatting I add that it would be easy to cynically assume that they are simply jumping on the ‘green conscious’ band wagon. It’s a

clever ploy to use a cause for an event and environmental issues are very now ... very 2008! “It would be a clever ploy if all we were doing is talking about it,” says Brian tersely. “It’s a lot more work to run a festival this way, at present,” he adds. “The fact is we are doing it. Not talking about it. It took a leap of faith and a shift in mindset to run all our power off bio-diesel and ensure that the waste is properly sorted, so whichever way you look at it... we are doing it and we’re committed.” Although their first festival was not a completely ‘Go-green’ initiative, through their friendship and association with Tony Budden from Hemporium, they realised the only way forward for them was to ‘simply go for it.’ Brian promises this year’s festival will have some big surprises in store and he is sure will impress. With 26 bands the likes of which includes; The Dirty Skirts, Bed on Bricks, Goldfish, 340ML, Farryl Purkiss, Fire Through the Window, Goddessa, Tidal Waves, Napalma, Aking, Plush, Taxi Violence, Unit R, Kolo Novo Movie and many, many more, it is a really good cross representation of styles from all over South Africa. And of course since the ‘Kaapies’ like to party hard they’ve also added the ‘Electronic Tent,’ featuring 22 of Cape Town’s hottest DJs, once again varying the styles thoughtfully. If you can’t wait until 3rd October don’t forget ‘Sowing the Seeds’ on August the 24th at the Old Biscuit Mill in Salt River, their pre-festie warm up gig. Brian smiles mischievously, “it’s a good excuse for us to have a party before the main event.”

MUSIC

Lock & Load II the DVD Music video compilations are a dying art form. When you’ve got things like M.TV (shudder) and YouTube on tap. Well, M.TV doesn’t really play music videos anymore, or at least, not the sort of music videos that we’d like to see and YouTube is taking down all the good stuff. So, anyway, that’s why rock music video compilations are still things that are cool to have. Even if it is just for that one odd video that you like to watch again and again whilst vegging on the couch after a SpongeBob Squarepants marathon. Happily, the good people that make the Lock & Load compilation series know a thing or two about good music videos and on the latest edition, have certainly spared none of it, giving us 30 massive rock videos; - Muse, Serj Tankian, Modest Mouse, Bloc Party, Hard-Fi and and, and ... 4/5 | WRG

Prime Circle - All or Nothing

REVIEWS

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Iron Maiden – Live after Death Double DVD set Iron Maiden on their World Slavery Tour in ’84-’85 was probably when they were at their absolute prime. Powerslave had been released shortly before that and they were filling stadiums across the globe. Live after Death is also one the best live metal albums of all time in my opinion so it’s fitting that they have finally released it all on DVD. It includes absolute classics like Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Wrathchild, Aces High, Revelations, Flight of Icarus, 22 Acacia Avenue, Children of the Damned, Phantom of the Opera, and Die With Your Boots On, as well as the anthemic Running Free and others. They may not be that in fashion now, but fuckit ... who cares! Any selfrespecting metal-head should add this to his collection. It’s a classic and it’s Maiden at their best! 4/5 | DM

After a lifetime in the game (ok, so 7 years), SA’s favourite white, American-sounding English rock band are still bringing their brand of Rand Show, feel lekker rock vibes and this one, their third studio album, seems to be the one that will ultimately make it or break it for the boys from Witbank (and Middelburg). All or Nothing? Aah, clever. Plush - Rage On They have ditched their wannabe major record label (new Refusing to become the victims of cruel circumstance, Plush the band album bears EMI logo branding, so we must assume have emerged from the ashes of doubt and disaster and reformed. they’ve traded up) and can now afford to hire things like … a real producer. And Empowered by a new sense of purpose (that being to keep the Plush they have gone for the best in Theo Crous and the results, local music fans, are name alive and take the band to its ultimate destiny) and emboldened telling! Testament to his abilities (and patience!), Crous takes a well trained band by the unison of some finely talented musos, they have returned to the and allows them to get loose (or at least looser, than they have ever been) over at musical stage and bring us this offering as a token gesture of what has his place, and free of the yolk of corporate rock (if for even just a few songs); the passed and undoubtedly what still is to come. Iconic SA singer/ band positively roars where previously they have only whimpered. 3/5 | WRG songwriter (and guitarist) Rory Eliot together with bassist Emelio Gassibe and drummer Ben Peters has crafted an album that is eleven bits of stunningly fresh musical niceness filled with Coldplay - Viva La Vida (or Death and All honest emotion, total passion and sincere determination that fans both old and new will be able to get something out of. Look out for this band as they embark on national (and His Friends) international!) return tours. They are important. 3/5 | LS The band that doesn't quite have it in them to be Radiohead, but might actually one day be U2, return mid 2008 to give us an album that has been billed both as their "experimental record" as well as their "political record." And listening through the tracks contained herein, I'm not too sure which it is, or which it is meant to be! Perhaps then it is both of these with opening riffs to first song Life in Technicolor plucked out on a Persian santur and first single Violet Hill, sings of priests clutching onto Bibles hollowed out to fit their rifles. Elsewhere through the tracks we equally face images of war, religion stuff, and of course, death (and all his friends). But despite the dramatizations, is it any different to anything else they’ve ever done? Well, no. Not really. Still, if you’re a CP fan, you could feel like this album is a progression. 2/5 | JM

Radiohead - The Best Of The title of this record should probably read “Major label makes last desperate attempt at shameless cash in by releasing hit band’s Best Of”. But it might not sell as many copies, or then again … Well, whatever the reason behind Radiohead’s now former-record label releasing a Best Of at this time, we can’t really be too introspective about it – heck, at least it gives those of us who were never really serious enough fans of the band to have gone out and bought every album, an opportunity to own all the good bits, minus the drek and that’s exactly what they give us, so spare no time in rushing out to purchase this (or at least download it, legal like) double disc package of Radioheaded goodness. Essential bits for any collection. 4/5 | JM

The Low Lows - Shining Violence Discovering new music that makes your skin tingle is such a rare vibe these days. Tingling my skin is this band: The Low Lows. Formed from the dreamy pop ashes of New York band Parker and Lily sees remaining members Parker Noon, Daniel Rickard and Jeremy Wheatley moving to Athens Georgia to create music with many textures. This is already their second album and it makes you want to know what the first album (put out in 2006) was like, if only to see if this is how they’ve always sounded! This one is all modern minimalistic, lo-fi noise harmonies with distorted steel guitar and trashy, off kilter drum climatics inserted at loud right angles adding texture to Noon’s distinctive, Neil Youngish, dream-state vocals that ooze from the speakers in a warm countrified narcosis. At times it gets a bit uneasy listening but it sure grows on the ear like a rabid tick and reveals different facets at each repeated listen, which is exactly what it calls for. If you’re needing to refresh those ears, go Low.

5/5 | JM <<EDITOR’S CHOICE >>

Portishead – Third It’s quite hard to think that Portishead last released an album a decade ago. This, their third offering, aptly titled Third is a great example of how not to appeal to the masses. It’s definitely their most ‘difficult’ album to get into. They’ve canned the whole triphop genre that made their first two albums the massive classics they are and opted for a darker, more unsettling sound. This is almost certainly a deliberate attempt by Burrows and Co at giving the music industry the middle finger. And Burrows does have a well-documented history of distaste for the industry. The irony is that the album has become the bands highest chart entry in the US, as well as equaling its previous two albums position in the UK, at #2. They still create music that is completely original and void of anything that would be considered musically fashionable or just a passing phase. 3/5 | SO

The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath Excuse me a minute while I catch my breath … I’ve just finished listening to the new Mars Volta album, The Bedlam in Goliath. It’s their fourth and definitely most restless and chaotic offering. Sonically, it’s their heaviest too. This is largely due to the fact that these prog rockers have a new drummer, Thomas Pridgen. His skill and speed is something to behold, but he seems to have skipped a step in the evolutionary process of drumming, namely playing a drum beat. The pace is frenetic with creative time signatures and trumpet freak-outs. It basically doesn’t let up until the end of the album. This leaves you with one option and that’s to listen to it again, just to try and make a little bit of sense of what you’ve just heard. Compared to previous Mars Volta I’m a little disappointed. Compared to the majority of tame, lukewarm, flaccid music this album is a rocking, refreshingly intense, creative head-bender. 4/5 | SO

Perfect – Born Dead With Life What would the world of music be without reggae riddims? A poorer place I tell ya. Problem is like every music genre the fat-cats got hold of it and turned it into an overproduced watered down generic shadow of its former self. Sure we still have the likes of Winston Rodney and the Marley boys, Stephen and Damien gave us pleasant enough pseudo reggae type offerings. But Greg Rose, aka Perfect ... now here is a real rootsy fella. Harking back to the days of Steel Pulse (when they were good) and Aswad (before they wussed out) Perfect delivers a nice collection of songs in the old-skool tradition of reggae by singing about hardship, suffering, inequalities and the odd lovers riddim too. I like it ... if only because it’s not sellout. The songs are not that strong, nonetheless I like it. He reminds me of Mutabaruka. Nice but not deadly. 3/5 | DA

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