Markus Wormstorm’s “Not I, but a friend” Album Launch

Featured in Issue 23 – “Cult of Self” – of one small seed magazine, Markus Wormstorm is a name synonymous with all things electronic. Leigh Vermaak takes us through the night of February the 2nd; it’s the launch of Markus Wormstorm‘s latest album titled Not I, but a friend…

250 people wind through the leafy suburb of Bishopscourt in Cape Town on a Thursday night looking for the address on their invites. They park their cars and walk past enormous houses dwarfed only by the exterior walls. The walls open up and in the gap one of the houses stands looking like a construction team downed their tools months, years ago and never returned. There is gravel out front instead of grass and lanterns light the way to the front door that was designed for a family of giants.

We are ushered in by security and suddenly the construction gives way to the skeleton of a house made for presidents and dictators. Columns that reach past the outer atmosphere nod to the sounds we are about to hear, the reason we 250 are here. Tonight is the launch of Markus Wormstorm’s new 13-track album Not I, but a friend. Writer, composer, fantasy artist, tonight sees the man with 15 years behind him of making successful electronic music in this country, for music sake, for commercial sake, for creativity’s sake, collect a group together to take part in something utterly new. Tonight is a collaboration, but as conductor and musical seer Markus is the landlord of this plot, we his eager listeners.

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

With the reputation he has, Wormstorm could fill this deserted mansion 10 times over. But tonight is a special ‘invite only’, one-hour showcase performance for his chosen group of CT players, hell even the drummer from Queen is here. 30 minutes after arriving and milling around, sounds start emanating from the grass in front of what in a normal size house would be called the porch. Five black clad musicians take to the staged area, eyes do not meet audience, and it is as if a bubble of seriousness keeps them apart. Instruments are tuned; a violin, a clarinet, a standing double bass, and from the muddle of tones, Inge Beckman from Lark begins to recite words just too soft to hear and Markus, complete with facial hair straight out of Kevin Smith’s Clerks, begins to layer and add beats and the music swells and comes together. We have lift off; the launch has begun.

Photograph: (c) Sydelle Willow Smith

Photograph: (c) Sydelle Willow Smith

People are quiet, watching as much as listening, much like in a theatre. Three songs in and the atmospheric beats hold the balance between the players. People are overheard wishing Inge’s words were louder, clearer, as she hints at stories of beasts, of queens and of thieves. But using her as an instrument is maybe the cleverest part of the orchestration. If the front woman from Lark, maybe the most powerful female singer this country has ever seen in terms of both vocals and stage presence, was in the front of the stage, singing with full force, we would be watching ‘The Inge Show’. Instead, weaving her tales behind the snake charming clarinet, her voice adds tone and depth to the group, never overshadowing it. And Markus beats his head, drives his vision, onwards.
 

 

Not I, but a friend: Track Listing:

01 ‘Lillian’ Ft Magdaleen Minnaar

02 ‘Cine’ Ft DouIVtwo

03 ‘Eve’s Twin’

04 ‘The Bridge’ Ft Magdaleen Minnaar

05 ‘Uiltjie’

06 ‘Red Queen’

07 ‘Wit’

08 ‘Visitor’ Ft DouIVtwo

09 ‘Sleep Ali’

10 ‘Beautiful Malema’

11 ‘Thief’ Ft Inge Beckmann

12 ‘Vir’

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

The album we are all hearing for the first time is called Not I, but a friend, for Wormstorm’s own journey, the shift from one phase in life to the next, the growth it takes to get there, the newness of self expression upon arrival, and the inspiration we surround ourselves with for the trip, the people and the eclectic sounds they bring. 1000 copies of the album, with art by Elise Wessels [whose current work ‘Beast in Mind’ was also showcased in one of the empty lounges in the mansion], have been printed and there is a free download option available with an accompanying music video by Jannes Hendrikz.

A film by the multi award winning Jannes Hendrikz (see shythesun.tv) with music by Markus Wormstorm
 

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

With song titles like ‘Dissent Itself’, ‘Street/ kid/ glue/spell’ and ‘Beautiful Malema’, the album has much depth and texture to sink ones teeth into, whilst easily soaring along other tracks like ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Lillian’. The album strength lies in the collaboration between Wormstorm’s beats and the imaginative instrumentalists that use their tones to create cinescapes, more movie score than club tracks. With Ariella Caira [cello], Justin Carter and Maria Du Toit [clarinet], Magda De Vries [marimba], Frank Mallows [vibraphone], Magdalene Minaar [voice/ viola/ violin], Mareli Stolp [piano] adding the voices of their instruments to the mix, the album rises above what is expected in the genre, and jumps daringly into the darkness of the unknown.

I wanted to do something that is sophisticated without being pretentious.

Photograph: (c) Sydelle Willow Smith

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

Back to the moment we are in. People spilling off the stairs and onto the grass… it is the eeriness and the fantasy element that elevate this beyond. Kyla Rose Smith on violin adds a tone of haunting beauty, Brydon Boltons fingers cut through the air around his double bass like melted butter, the vocals and Markus’ man-possessed orchestration behind the decks, cause the sound and melody to rise like steam.

‘Deep within my fortress… I am’, the vocals state and we follow them in.

Photograph: (c) Rowan Pybus

Like a memory retold in a dream, this abandoned mansion, us serenaded by a troupe of story tellers from a surreal universe. Half an hour later it is all over. The stairs become lost in the standing ovation and for a full half hour after, people huddle in groups under the 3-storey columns reaching into the starred sky and discuss the art performance they saw tonight. They puzzle it out and try to understand what they were just a part of. The bar closes and people wander off, challenged, and rewarded.

As film director Bryan Little from Fly on the wall summed it up:

That was truly bizarre. I digged it.

And what does Markus have to say post-launch?

For the upcoming months my team and I will continue to stage invite only events throughout the city. I want to explore the relationship between architecture and sound. I want my audience to follow me into these unexplored spaces.  (Markus Wormstorm)

Take a look behind the scenes of Markus Wormstorms’ rehearsals at the Red Bull Studio’s in Cape Town. Also make sure you check out Issue 23 of one small seed – “Cult of Self” – for an interview with Markus.

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

(c) Makhulu Productions at Red Bull Studios

Words: Leigh Vermaak

Images courtesy of: Red Bull Studios. Photographs by: (c) Rowan Pybus, (c) Makhulu Productions, (c) Sydelle Willow Smith