Recording at Red Bull Studios is often considered a firm foot in the door of the music world by many South African artists. It’s also the place where many an international artist arrived in South Africa would find a connection to the country’s music scene through talks and discussions hosted by the studio’s team. So, for this week’s #bottomrightcorner we handed the tune-choosing authority over to Richard Rumney (aka Richard The Third) and Jake Lipman (aka JakobSnake) from Red Bull Studios. It’s a selection of the best tracks produced in 2013 at the studios so far, and tracks of artists who they this year will belong to.
John Wizards – ‘Welcome Cape Town, Cape Town welcomes you’
Image: facebook.com
John Wizards are new kids on the block but their Arabic-hinted sounds promise to seize control of the whole nation’s alt lovers’ music tastes. Steady Vampire Weekend-vocals over exotic melodies create clear cut ‘sound crystals’ reminiscent of the dustier and more temperamental parts of this world. Nonetheless, the music is mind-bogglingly hard to categorize. African swing-hinted funky-ish synth reggae?
Christian Tiger School – ‘Clay Pidgeons’
Image: we-are-awesome.com
Christian Tiger School are bringing a sea of LA chill waves to our shores and creating a refreshing storm on the CT music front. We found out that they were also very flattered to have the opportunity to record at Red Bull Studios Cape Town at the beginning of their career when we interviewed them last year. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:
When and how did you realise that people liked your music?
Luc: We bought all our Likes on Facebook. (loud laughs)
Sebastian: When we got to make something at Red Bull Studios in Cape Town for the first time that was a tiny bit of an indicator. And just sharing with friends and getting nice feed back from them.
Luc: There were also a lot of people at the album launch and it was weird to think that they’d come to watch us. In Pretoria people knew the tune and were singing along. That was just weird because Cape Town and Pretoria are so far away from each other. I think that’s when we realised that it wasn’t just people who we know that like our stuff.
Maramza – ‘Smoke’
Image: facebook.com
‘Untraditional Healer DJ Doktor (100% Guaranteed Chance of Working)’ and he ‘will make your beats harder, better, faster, stronger’ says his ‘about’ section on Facebook. Hear for yourself.
Expansion Electronic – ‘Formidable’
Image: redbull.co.za
Expansion Electronic (aka Exel) is a 24 year old DJ / Producer from Italy whose sound is a finely crafted concoction of nu-skool and ol-skool Breaks.
Originally a keyboardist for the band Phinx and 50% of the now defunct electro duo Pitch2Decide he has shared the stage with artists such as MSTRKRFT, Shitdisco, Mixhell, Drop the Lime, Punks Jump Up and Subsonica. Recently in Cape Town he stopped by the Red Bull Studio to produce some exclusive tracks. Take a listen to and download his first offering, ‘Formidable’ which sounds like it could be a great Red Bull Beat Battle / BC One accompaniment this year.
MK Ultra – ‘Brotherhood’
Image: facebook.com
MK Ultra is one of the many South African artists championing the filthy sounds of hardstyle electro, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass. Over the past couple of years this style of head-banging electronica has been popularized by likes of Haezer and Grimehouse and become an essential component of peak-hour dancefloor sets both at festivals and in clubs around the country.
Probably the best and worst thing about hardstyle is that all you really need to make it is a laptop, some music software and (preferably) some decent monitors and / or headphones. Best because it means that anyone with talent and tenacity can master the sound with minimal expense. Worst because there aren’t many people with said talent and tenacity, but many who believe they’re the next Skrillex because they’ve figured out how to use the modulation controls in Native Instruments Massive.
In any case, MK Ultra certainly isn’t a deluded wannabe and these three tracks he produced at the Studio are evidence that he’s on his way to truly establishing his own brand of thrashing electronic music, more suited to the mosh-pit than the dancefloor.
Damascus – ‘Salmon Pockets’
Image: redbull.co.za
Damascus is part of a new breed of fantastic South African artists interpreting a unique blend of stripped down beats and sample driven hip-hop. His approach to production is simple – music above all else. We hosted Damascus at the studio in early December 2012 and the result was a plethora of sounds out of which these four tracks were born. His work rate was astounding and refreshing, and its not every week an artist brings out such good quality stuff so quickly. We expect great things from Damascus to come.
Links:
Red Bull Studios – website
Red Bull Studios – Facebook
Reb Bull Studio – SoundCloud
