New Music Review: Glenzito House Avenue V3
It’s clear – house music must go on and we’re still loving it. But every now and then, like most things, we believe it requires a little tweak, a little shift. That’s when it’s up to our dj’s, muso’s and producers to pluck the core of that ‘some’ing some’ing’ driving local house music, the soulful and appealing sticky parts of our favourite tunes, and repackage it into some fresh and juicy new beats and twists that inspire us and lift house music to the next progression…on and up. Dawn Penny gives yet another South African DJ Legend her once over and finds Glenzito’s new album infinitely pleasing and on another level… 8 beats out 10 The long-awaited, latest Glenzito House Avenue V3 CD is finally here! And just in time for the end of winter moving into spring. With DJs who’ve been mixing for some years now, there’s most certainly an expectation of brilliance or at least a one up from their last offering and Glen definitely sets a bar higher. As some of you might know by now, I’m a huge sucker for vocal house, the sing-alongs man the sing-alongs, so this was lovely for me to listen to. From the first track, DJ Pap feat. Cei Bei – It’s the Music, Glen lets you know what’s up. He prepares you and implies that this right here, that you’re just about to listen to, this is the music. He brings in a soulful/gospel song in track 4, Halo & Kemal feat. Arnold Jarvis – Lift me Up, which took me to church and lifted my spirits. He now starts to transform from the chilled house beats to the more get-on-the-dance-floor type tunes, and my shoulders are moving. There’s track 7 with vocalist Michelle Amador crooning Because of You. Wow! This track was most definitely my favourite. It was carried by the vocals, with this soulful, Sarah Vaughan-type voice – absolutely beautiful. This was also one of the dance beats but the voice gives it a sophistication – not to say that dancing isn’t sophisticated (when done right) but it’s sexy. And then right after that sexy track follows what sounds to me to be a pick up song. I imagine that when Mike Dunn – Freaky MF hits the speakers in the club, you’ll have plenty of flirting while dancing going on. It’s a good hook track though, it’ll be a hit for sure. He keeps to his dance tone with tracks like Kiko Navarro – Sonando Contigo adding a sultryness every now and then. It’s a good listen, it’s a good party CD and it most definitely...
What’s your Best Kept Secret?
What’s it all about? A little birdy told us it’s got to do with hot nights and pulsing shaking dance moves… Go and tell them your Best Kept Secret here to stay in the loop and stand a chance of winning some VIP treatment… Let’s hope the music will be as good as the funk on the...
Represent’s Loving: Madcon
These Norwegian hiphop heads are rocking the beats all the way from the lands of the northern lights, we reckon this song “Beggin’ ” released less than two weeks ago and already making BIG waves, is going to be HUGE! The one half of Madcon (Mad Conspiracy) is a South African homeboy Tshawe Baqwa born in Germany – he grew up in Oslo… NICE ONE MFO! K for some reason YouTube is not letting us embed this funky video, so please watch it here or on google video here. Sorry! Read about Madcon on Wikipedia here. Joburg’s The Star featured Madcon in 2005 already! Read about it here. You can also watch an interview with them here… or see Madcon‘s MySpace here. For more juice on the Skandinavian hiphop scene check out this blog Northern...
Get ready for the MAMA’s – MTV Africa!
Our dedicated scribe of the moment, Reuben ‘The Matrix’ Malema, attended the MTV press announcement of the ‘MAMA awards’, MTV’s pan-African music awards brought to you by MTV and their sponsor ZAIN (a telecommunications company…). He reckons healthy competition is the way forward to uplift and keep on diversifying and enriching our music scene, we have to admit, we agree! See our photostory at our RepresentFlickr set here. Read all about the event below – the official media release follows. Sharpile RTMM! It’s official, MTV Networks Africa is here! And if all the over-the-top hoo-hah of Tuesday night has any truth to it, then the end for the MTN SAMA Awards is definitely not nigh but rather in a very real way so resoundingly here. The setting of MTV’s “take-over-Africa” spectacle was the Japanese themed Tokyo Sky of Fourways, Johannesburg. Ja, the ambiguity was very clear: the guillotine’s blade has gut-gushingly fallen on the video-jockey controlled entertainment industry in this part of Africa! I have to admit though, with all the fine sushi, on the house liquor en masse (Double Remmie Martin and Lemonade…one more please sir!), the glitz and splendour that was blatantly flaunted, the Network has a lot of credibility and plenty to offer Africa’s musicians in sharp contrast to the MTN SAMA Awards that favours the same few artists all the time and only focuses on SA. Let us not forget the controversy-riddled quagmire of the recent MTN SAMAs which did not help the situation either, in fact if anything – this year’s SAMAs managed to quicken the event’s long awaited coup de grace. Competition is often a healthy thing and in this case it’s long overdue. The Media targeted event (Nou Ek Spog!) had the makings of a typical TRL show on MTV Base. The MC was as chirpy as all the free flowing video mouthpieces on the network’s channels. The program direction was lively with a twist of spring. The audience (le paparazzi!) was very receptive, although at one stage a tad disappointed (we’ll come back to this one…). Mr. Alex Okosi, a Nigerian born, American raised, British groomed and now South African Corporate Executive is the driving force behind MTV Africa’s no-holds-barred takeover bid. His passion and inspiring vibrancy is believable enough to prop-up one’s expectations of the fresh wave of reprieve that has at last beached on our shores. An array of Dj’s and musicians were bopping away, including Cleo, KB, boys from Skwatta Kamp and Brickz. One particular artist caught my attention, the 12 year old In-cha who is an ingenious (lest I be tempted to declare her a maestro) violinist....
Call for Entries: South – a travelling Expo.
Get your creativity seen in the innovative SOUTH travelling exhibition showing off the best of South African Creativity, kicking off at Design Indaba in Feb in Cape Town and then moving on to take over the world. The top three designs will win money, imali, moolah and by the way they’re looking for a range of creativity and design. Hurry up/Sheshani, entries close in November. SOUTH seeks to uncover the finest examples of South African creativity across a broad spectrum of disciplines and forms. And, for the first time on one platform, showcase a dazzling array of our finest creative produce. ART. ARCHITECTURE. ADVERTISING. CRAFT. DESIGN. FASHION. FILM&VIDEO. JEWELLERY. MUSIC. NEW MEDIA. PERFORMANCE ART. PHOTOGRAPHY. The kind of creative excellence that will best infl uence the judges is neither black nor white, nor ethnic, nor neutral, nor euro, nor west, nor east. It’s a harmony out of contradiction. A balance of extremes. That fine line between order and chaos. SOUTH seeks executions that capture the soul of this mystique. Design Indaba has collaborated with the Creative Circle and The Loerie Awards to launch the Creative Alliance. Dedicated to promoting South African creativity on an international front, the alliance will be initiating a travelling exhibition sponsored by the SABC. The exhibition will debut at Design Indaba 2009. Entitled South, the exhibition is a celebration of the gloriously positive, ridiculously naïve and relentlessly spontaneous creative industries inherent in our country. Seeking to encapsulate the bold, lawless, cheeky, crossover, politically incorrect flavour of the South African imagination, the exhibition is a celebration of the home of high-class ashtrays made out of elephant dung and pap served with sushi. The exhibition will comprise of existing local and international designs which best encapsulate “South”, as well as the award, open to participation from creatives across all industries including advertising, design, film and video, music, performing arts, fashion design, new media, publishing, radio and television, industrial design, visual art, architecture and crafts. Three prizes will be awarded. * The overall winner receives R100 000. * Second place receives R50 000. * Third place receives R25 000. Onwards… upwards… southwards… viva! For entry forms and more information visit: www.designindaba.com/south Enquiries: Michael Purdham at Interactive Africa Tel: (021) 465 9966 Fax: (021) 465 9978 south@interactiveafrica.com Onwards… upwards… southwards…...
Creatives take note: Behance Network
Behance is a superb new beta platform/community for showcasing your work as a creative designer, photographer etc online, but even better, it’s a place for you to soak up your peers talent around the world, get inspired by outstanding creativity and observe the global trends in design and visual art in real time. Behance Network calls itself a place for “creative portfolios, projects and collaborations” to be displayed stylishly and in a user-centric way, artists, get your work on there! They put it best: Showcase Your Work Build a dynamic, multimedia portfolio of your latest projects, open to all or shared selectively. Gain Exposure Many thousands of visitors come to Behance every day to view your work. In addition, projects are streamed through other sites across the web. Discover Job Opportunities Behance’s JobList features great work opportunities. Creative industry leaders use the Network to find, track and hire top talent. Connect and Collaborate Form groups (“circles”) gathered around interests, share content, get feedback. Share tips and access resources Behance’s Tip Exchange provides insights for creative professionals, and throughout Behance one can access knowledge, services and products for the creative...
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