IT’S DAISIES WEEK!: It’s that time of year again where the young adults of Cape Town are about to congregate in the small town of Darling for a weekend of good music, good company and the reckless consuming of contra bans. Here’s Alt-J performing “Buffalo” live in Montreal to get you frothing.
Sunday Choon: Bored Nothing- Let Down
Perfect tune to wind down from the weekend and mentally prepare yourself for the work week ahead.
“I’m not the best at speaking, but through music, it’s completely comfortable. Music – It takes up a lot of my time, it drives me, it makes me who I am.” Matthew Mole is a Cape Town based South African artist steadily acquiring his claim to fame in a rapidly growing semi-underground indie scene. Over the past couple of months, he has performed at some of South Africa’s biggest music festivals like Rocking the Daisies and Splashy Fen and got the opportunity to be whisked away by Converse South Africa to London to play at the 100 Club, home to England’s veteran music artists. He has picked up a relatively young indie fan base around his age through his quirky/endearing persona and his indie folk tunes playing regular shows at Cape Town’s hottest venues like Assembly, Zula Sound Bar and The Waiting Room. He has embarked on a mini-tour to Joburg and Durban, and regularly plays gigs with his indie musical counterparts (and very good friends) Shortstraw and Al Bairre.
Matthew Mole and his music are one in the same thing. He’s a very down to earth and subtle guy with a firm set of beliefs and a good head on his shoulders. For Matthew, music is not just about the enjoyment of playing instruments and putting together a unique sound for the pleasure of others, it’s his identity and an expression of his values and what he aims to achieve in life. “I try to live my life a little differently to the way most people think it should be done. For me, music is very closely linked to that. I like to try and bring my hopes and beliefs through that.” If you listen to his various tracks on Sound cloud (http://www.soundcloud.com/matthew-mole) you can see the strong correlation of his light and uplifting banjo/guitar playing and the subtle electronic elements in the background with his humble personality and happy persona. When asked about what he wants to achieve with his music, he had an inspiring account for it: he wants to affect people in “a way that will make them think about where they’re at.” A musical adventure that he wants his listeners to take with him and relate to. He interacts with his fans over various social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr adding to his perception of being just a regular recent university graduate exactly like his student and young adult following. When looking at his Twitter bio, it reads: “ Jesus Christ. Music. Illustration & Design.” In today’s secularized music industry, it’s refreshing to see an artist try and incorporate his own belief system into his music without coming across as overbearing to non-religious people.
The indie music category is incredibly broad as it entails a variety of branches and sub-genres that involve many alternative sounds and appeal to the non-conformist masses. What comes with the territory of being an independent music artist is always being asked to “describe your sound” as not all indie music sounds the same. “If you had to force something out of me, I’d tell you that I play Folk music. Folk music with an Electronic back bone.” Matthew says his influences stem from very well-known artists like Mumford & Sons (who have a predominantly folk sound) to Gold Panda (a heavily progressive electronic music artist). He is a very talented individual having studied Music Production at the SAE Institute (School of Audio Engineering) and using his skills to their full capacity by producing and recording all of his music. He plays a variety of instruments like the banjo, guitar, piano, drums, the ukulele and the odd hint of the xylophone to proud a light but captivating sound. He performs with his friend Jack Straw who plays the drums for him as well as uses a synth to playback the electronic elements while he plays his banjo or guitar (relatively similar to Jeremy Loops). His choruses are easy to sing along to and he makes his performances intimate, relatable and enjoyable with close up audience interaction and playing some covers of popular indie tunes.
For Matthew Mole, one of the greatest things for him is hearing people singing along to his songs at festivals and concerts. 2013 is panning out to be a great year for this young artist with his first official album being recorded at the moment. Commenting on the progress of the album, “We’re more than half way with the album recording. It’s sounding so nice! It’s such a blessing to finally do this stuff in a rad studio” With over 90 000 plays on his Sound Cloud page, his anticipated first album The Home We Built is bound to skyrocket to success when it’s released later on this year. He was also invited to the MK Awards earlier on this year, played at live music festivals Splashy Fen and Park Acoustics as well as did a big show at the Barnyard Theatre alongside ISO and one of South Africa’s most successful and well-known bands, The Parlotones. Matthew Mole is rapidly emerging to join the ranks of South Africa’s veteran musicians and is definitely an artist to look out for this year.
The Caterpillar said to the Mouse, “May I step into your House?” The Mouse said “No, for I must go” “Go?” asked the Caterpillar, “Go Where ?” The Mouse replied “Why … Continue reading
Things have been really looking up for South Africa in recent years when it comes to international music acts. Usually, many artists embark on these epic world tours promoting their latest albums and visit pretty much every continent besides Africa (which techinically means, they can’t call it a World Tour) but in the very recent years (2010 til now) people have finally started to take notice of what a great place South Africa really is…and surprised at the fact that we have die-hard-sing-along-super-loud-in-the-front-row fans just like everywhere else in the world.
Of course I can’t remember all the artists that have come in the past 2 or 3 years or so, but I guess I could try my best: The Killers, Fall Out Boy, 30 Seconds To Mars, ColdPlay, U2, Kings of Leon, Rammstein, Deadmau5, David Guetta, Imogen Heap, Kelly Clarkson, The Script only to name a few. 2012 and 2013 are the years I’m really going to focus on, because they include some of the biggest names in artists respective genres.
Pop: Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber and Adam Lambert…Now of course each of these artists are mainstreamers however they each obtain a lot of credibility in the pop industry. I dislike Lady GaGa a lot because I don’t like her music, however her performances at various music awards I have watched and what not have always been elaborate, extravagant and entertaining. Lady Gaga represents an obscure fashion pop culture icon and has said to shape the face of pop music. She’s set to perform this weekend sometime in Joburg and Cape Town (I’m not going though)
Justin Bieber is set to touch down in 2013 (either March or May).The exact dates haven’t been confirmed yet, however, It has been confirmed that South Africa is a definite stop off destination for JB’s Believe tour. Justin Bieber is legitly one of the most influential teen idols in history, he could probably take over an entire country with all his crazy beliebers who would literally do anything for him at a drop of a hat. His performance quality as well is quite good, you don’t get bored when he does. His new image has aided his transformation into a more “Serious performer and musician” (although many people will disagree with me on that) and he is swiftly making head way in the pop music industry (more like he’s fucking shit up actually). Now the question is, am i going to go?…YES, yes I am. This blog post is my official coming out that I am a closet Justin Bieber Fan (well not anymore- I wouldn’t take it as far to call myself a belieber though, let’s slow down here for a sec). So of course I’m a little biased, however, success is success, it’s a fact, and Justin Bieber is probably one of the most successful music icons of all time.
Rock: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Linkin Park, Bloc Party and Bon Jovi.
I’m quite excited for RHCP next year. I’m watching them in Cape Town. So they’ve been around for a while now and their music is absolutely amazing. Most of the concerts I’ve attended I have normally gotten Golden circle, but for this one in particular, i deliberately chose the general standing option. I didn’t want to necessarily pay like an extra R200 just to be uncomfortably squished up in the front and judged by the die hards because I didn’t know all the lyrics to every single song of theirs. Metallica is also set to come next year. I don’t know much about them actually but all I know is that they are a huge deal and that they are rock legends. I think it definitely shows in the expensive ticket prices. Linkin Park just recently came and apparently they were ammmmaaazzing…some woman even died at their Cape Town concert (granted, that had nothing to do with the actual performance but rather a malfunction with some scafolding). Bloc Party was an absolute riot at Rocking The Daises 2012. They really stepped it up this year as opposed to last years “main act” Civil Twilight (don’t get me wrong, they’re great but they’re still South African). It got a little mosh pit vibey especially at the front of the stage, but the energy and vibe was great. Lastly Bon Jovi. Okay so they’re quite old and they’re kind of dying out. But still probs to Big concerts for bring them here.
Indie: Two Door Cinema Club, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Drums.
These indie bands were brought here in 2012 by Adidas and the tickets for each of them were kind of hard to get (because they’re just that indie and shit). Two Door Cinema Club involved an application process even, but it proved to be worth it. It ended up being in some sick warehouse somewhere in Cape Town, no one knew the location beforehand. Majority of their set consisted of “old songs” with a new track here and there from Beacon which was only released a few months later. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was definitely the least publicised out of the 3. They also came at an awkwardish time because i think it was quite close to exams? Or maybe not, I’m probably just fishing for an excuse as to why I didn’t attend. Ahhh, The Drums, I went to their concert just under 10 days ago on a rooftop parking lot which was pretty sick. It’s weird though because I have no idea what adidas has to do with Indie music. I understand if like vertigo brought these bands here or converse south africa, but adidas? That is the most chav/ghey thing i can think of actually (Flat caps, coloured tracksuit pants, wife beaters and mullet type oaks? yeah…) but anyway, they did, and they’re awesome for putting SA on the radar. OH! How could I forget, MUMFORD & SONS! Pretty much been dying for this since 2010. There were rumours like every year that they were coming, and then they just didn’t until now. Of course, they’ll be a lot of pretencious wannabe hipsters and people who think they’re just so cool because they’re at a mumford & sons concert, but that can be addressed on another blog post. Defs going to this one.
Fuck, need to wrap this up. Electro acts: Avicci, Dimitri Vegas and Swedish House Mafia. Ahhh the Avicci hype. Endless status’ about being excited for Avicci and how so many people were huge fans (even though they knew like one song). I always imagined these type of concerts to be one huge ass party but they always end up disappointing (like deadmau5) because they just get messy and horrible. But I’m pretty sure people still had a jam. I’m really looking forward to Swedish House Mafia’s one last tour. I really dig them actually (#LittleBitofMainstream), and I’m pretty sure their song greyhound is going to be SICK live!
Okay I’m actually over this. Basically what I’m trying to say is that SA is rapidly climbing up on the radar, and it must continue to do so. I want to see everyone here. Kay meh.
Oh yeah, Keep It Quirky.
This past Saturday, I experienced the epitome of the “conventional hipster” concert at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. The vibe was awesome- oh so exclusive and Indie, I’m sure there wasn’t more than 300 people there- The music was of course golden as always and the locations was prime. Jamming (which in my case involves turtle-like arm movements) to some indie/beach pop tunes with a hunters in hand, the Atlantic Ocean views under the stars was absolute bliss. Definitely the best way to end off a sick first year in Cape Town.
Here’s a picture I took while The Drums were singing Me and The Moon.
Keep It Quirky.
The Drums- How It Ended Feel good, happy-go-lucky indie music <3…awkward turtle dancing. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
One more Matthew Mole photo for the road. (Taken with Instagram : defendingthequirky)
Justin Vernon- Can’t Make You Love Me/Nick of Time (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Defendingthequirky 