The Artist Known As Saul Williams

Jun 17, 2015 | ,

Saul Williams. His influence as a poet permeated the Joburg scene following the release of the film Slam. Many a young poet found voice out of his unwavering desire to share his voice. The power of his words force you to listen and his willingness to draw influence without boundary, speaking truth to power with a confidence that many of us wish we had. I listened to his first album Amethyst Rock Star repeatedly for a year and always found something new in the spaces between the words. And when I listen to it today, it still, at times violently, grabs at my beliefs and forces me to reflect on...

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Return Of The King: Tumi Molekane

Jun 16, 2015 |

The Poet MC The first time I heard Tumi Molekane was probably at Jungle Connection in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, circa 1999/2000, doing poetry. As he explored the various aspects of his creativity both as part of Tumi And The Volume and then as a solo artist, I watched and listened from the sidelines, enjoying the various creations and, occasionally sharing my thoughts: Tumi Traverses Whole Worlds. I have always felt that Tumi occupies a particular space in the South African (and global) musical landscape that is beyond the hype, the ‘turn-up’, the trivial wordplay that says nothing...

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Digital Crates: Brika

Jun 13, 2015 |

In an entertainment world where every detail of everyone’s life is put on display and everything is often over-marketed (seemingly at the expense of the actual music created) it was a bit alarming when I struggled to find background on Brika, and Art House Records, the record label that released her debut album, Voice Memos. What I could find is that Art House Records is a Miami-based independent label that spent three years on developing Briana Alexa Martinez, who was born and raised in Miami, and that 2014 was their first year of operation. There’s the standard Wikipedia page, which...

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The Art of Life With Steve Slotow

Jun 5, 2015 | ,

About two and a half years ago, two guys, who often bumped into each other at tech and other press events, decided to create a web series/vlog, which they called The Art of Life. They called in two friends to shoot the web series (for free) and proceeded to slowly churn out episodes - every couple of weeks/months. One of the guys is Steve Slotow. The other is yours truly. Our trusted crew consists of Quinton and Heine. We eventually shot and posted about 14 episodes, the last of which went up over a year ago. We are back with an approach that will continue to ebb and flow in response to our...

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Digital Crates: FKA twigs

Jan 28, 2015 |

If there’s one thing the Internet shows you, it’s that there is a multitude of artists out in the world building solid careers, creating great music. And there is no greater feeling than coming across an artist who resonates with a part of you in ways indescribable. Without fail, when I come across such an artist, there’s usually a couple of people out there who have been down but didn’t put me on. Randomly browsing, I came across a piece on Slate on the English singer-songwriter, producer, dancer and video director, FKA twigs, who started out in the industry as a backup dancer for musicians...

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D’Angelo And The Vanguard: Black Messiah

Dec 19, 2014 |

So, after a 14 year hiatus that has been well-documented, speculated on, dissected, frowned upon, etc, D’Angelo, with his band, The Vanguard, drops a new album without much ceremony. The Wait And close to two years after Questlove said, in a Billboard interview…"Right now, we're just tightening up the loose ends. But I still stand by, 99% of it is done….I would not be far off by saying this is probably my generation's version of Sly (and the Family Stone's) 'There's a Riot Goin' On.' It's potent. It's funky. It's an extremely hard pill to swallow. He's one of those artists that have, of...

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