New Music Review: Tamarsha v Imbube
Oh yes, it’s a live and kicking music review battle on Represent as our resident reviewer, the delicious Dawn Penny, puts two new South African releases up against each other… RnB meets HipHop… We did warn you muso’s, don’t mess with Dawn, she knows what she likes and of course readers, what she believes you’ll like and what’s worth spending your hard-earned dosh on… Read all about it: Tamarsha – I ain’t givin’ up vs Imbube – Hip Hop Theatre Tamarsha – 4 beats out of 10 Imbube – 7 beats out of 10 I’ve decided to introduce something new to my music reviews and that’s “Battle of the Beats”. This will basically consist of a head to head between two genres and our first one is Hip hop vs R&B. The songstress Tamarsha going against the gutter rappers, Imbube. My criteria for this battle is Talent, X-factor, Sound and Favourites. Let the battle begin… Tamarsha – I ain’t givin’ up Talent: Before receiving this CD to review, I had never heard of Tamarsha before. I must say off the bat, she is talented. I mean she has an amazing voice and takes the time to write her own lyrics, which is always refreshing of an artist. Tamarsha has a beautiful voice and sounds like she knows how to use it. With so many males dominating the R&B scene in South Africa, it’s quite refreshing to hear a female vocal in the mix. But then a beautiful voice is only a mere fraction of what makes an artist. X-Factor: Um, this is a hard one because either you have it or you don’t. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck in suckville with no passport to leave. If you do, you will remembered – or at the least be sung along to. I have no doubt that Tamarsha has talent, she just doesn’t move. She doesn’t stand out, she doesn’t have her sound but rather a quilt of Destiny’s Child, Keyshia Cole or any such artist – but the 90s sound of that. I think she just needs more experience and more time spent finding that thing that sets her apart from the next girl. Sound: The production on Tamarsha’s album is not quite something that’ll make the short list in demos sent to producing greats. It’s mediocre at best. I mean it’s not bad, it’s just not good. It’s a sound that’s been heard before and doesn’t do much for her X-factor strife. Oh, she does her own rendition of Humpty Dumpty, ‘cept there’s no story behind it, no depth to it, just Humpty sitting on that wall and...
Young Guns Remixed final days!
Producers, DJ’s, muso’s remixers, we hope you got amongst the Young Guns Remixed competition and sent your remix in. It’s the last few days of the competition, move fast if you missed it, R10k could fund a lot of spring fun: Levi’s® is once again offering aspiring young producers the opportunity to remix the bands for the second annual competition. Last year, producers from across the country were invited to take part in the first-of-its-kind campaign. Entries were of such a high standard and have raised the platform for the competition this year. To all aspiring producers out there: ‘If you think you’ve got the rhythmic ability to twist Howard Roark’s music into a house style, or you’re convinced that you’ve got just the right beats to lay under Siyamatic’s hypnotic guitar riffs and rhyme style, then you need to enter this competition and prove to the music world that you’ve got what it takes to take the Levi’s® Young Guns sound to the next level’. The choices are endless. The producer will decide which tracks they want to remix from any of the Levi’s® Young Guns artists, then get in touch with Matchboxology at music@matchboxology.com and request seperates of the band and the song that you want to remix by end September 2008. The producer will then be sent the actual separate tracks requested on a disc, to do their remix and bring on the magic. Once this is complete, the producer is to upload the final remix back onto the www.myspace.com/levisyoungguns for people to listen to. Then the judging begins, with all remixes competing for the sought-after first prize of R10 000.00. The judging panel includes musical maestro, supreme funk selector DJ Kenzhero and Miss H (from Shadoworks), Young Guns representative. So, if you’re all about reworking sounds, and you want to be involved with the most progressive groups on the local music scene, then show your skills and remix the Levi’s® Young Guns. It’s your chance to make your mark. For more information, go to...
Represent Review: Road to V Launch party
Short, and oh so sweet, that’s the tone that was set at the launch party for the first ever Road to V festival thats taking place in December in South Africa. We’re hoping the heat may still be turned up artist-wise, ‘coz ever since Snoop stood us up at his Joburg concert, we’ve been sulking. He’s cool, but he’s come and gone and we think there’s fresher, edgier artists than Snoop and Maroon 5 for a brand like V. Anyway, let’s see what happens, we’re sure the party will rock either way, as every summer party does. They’re looking for South African bands for the mix – our team Reuben ‘The Matrix’ Malema tells us what you need to do to enter below, as well as what went down at the launch, and photographer Nkateko Siweya shares a photostory of the party with us here : Wednesday night, Melville – Johannesburg. The Brits are here in full force! Well, that’s my view of Sir Richard Branson’s Empire: The Virgin Group. In this case a division of it which resides in leafy Sandton called: Virgin Mobile. This year the Virgin conquest has its eyes firmly set on ZA. A kick-butt and cash flush team made up of Sony Ericsson, Edgars Music Series, MTV and of course, Virgin Mobile will be granting a selected few South African bands (music groups) a chance to share a huge blingin’ stage with Snoop Dogg at the (already UK and USA staged as V Festival) Road to V World Music Concert in Johannesburg on 15th December 2008. The Catch The prospective band/s must upload an MP3 of their well made track on the Virgin mobile website for the scrutiny of the good people at Virgin. Yes, it’s that easy and yes it’s that difficult too, because chances are you may be amongst the selected few and chances are you might not make it at all – but then again if you do not try you may never know, right? So, go right ahead and be a good sport! Take the chance! And what a chance… The biggest prize of all is a guaranteed opportunity to perform at a sequel of the event with some of the world’s greatest musicians in the United Kingdom and the United States of America in 2009. This thrilling opportunity for South African bands to crack the extremely competitive international market was announced by Nicholas Maweni – Head of Corporate Affairs at Virgin Mobile South Africa on the night. A lot of nice to know stuff was also shared, we were blessed with good music from Jozi, KoldProduk, Cassette, Zebra &...
We like going 2 by 2
Oh we love nothing more than a good get down tswalatsa, tsipatsipa, manyisa or kwasakwasa… especially on payday weekend. Check out the classic moves on the Rhythmic Elements ‘2 by 2’ hitsong below. Wola wops!...
Call for Entries: Rockers get on this RADAR
New and emerging bands here is your chance to Advance and Release with a bit of Development and Assistant thanks to Red Bull and SpeakerBox… Represent supports as many initiatives that promote and assist South African music that we can, by telling you all about it. So muso’s, don’t miss all the opportunities we fill you in on! Rock on! You’ve only got three weeks to get amongst this Western Cape Festival: Rocking the Daisies presents Red Bull RADAR*(*Research, Assist, Develop, Advance & Release) What is Red Bull RADAR? South Africa’s sonic terrain is extensive and it is often easy for the many musical soldiers to get lost in the haze of murky bars, dimly-lit nightclubs and out-of-reach garages. Red Bull RADAR seeks to scan SA’s landscape in search of this undiscovered musical talent and once identified offer a platform above the mist of obscurity so that all those bands, musicians and artists have a chance of making their mark on the local music scene. It’s difficult enough for bands and artists to get the right gigs to expose their musical might, let alone actually recording a demo to open the doors of prospective venues, record-labels and fan-bases. Those bands and artists that are selected will get to record and produce a demo in the Red Bull Studio in Cape Town, RADAR’s musical equipment laden head-quarters. The Search Begins: Taking place from 3-5 October, Rocking the Daisies is fast becoming one of the highlights on SA‘s live music calendar. Rocking the Daisies and Red Bull RADAR, in partnership with Speakerbox, are offering four talented emerging bands the opportunity to play on the main-stage at Rocking the Daisies 2008, simply by submitting a basic recording demo! The best of these four bands will win five days in the Red Bull Studio in Cape Town to record themselves a 4-track demo while living it up like rock stars! So here’s a step by step recap of how it works: 1. Send us your band profile, a pic and a demo recording (MP3) to Radar@speakerbox.co.za to upload to the Rocking the Daisies / Red Bull RADAR page on Speakerbox. 2. Create a band profile for your band on the Speakerbox / Blueworld Bands section and include the profile link in your email to Radar@speakerbox.co.za. 3. Beg, bribe or blackmail your friends, family or random people on the street to vote for your track on the Red Bull RADAR page on Speakerbox. 4. The top four bands, as voted for by the community, will compete in a battle of the bands on the main-stage at Rocking the Daisies on Friday, 3 October. 5....
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