Orlando says DANCE!

Check out the latest mix from Orlando Doom. Its large, but well worth a listen. It features a little Muse and the latest from Bloc Party mixed in there along with many others. If you enjoy cutting edge electro, you will enjoy Daydream Mix!

Keep your eye out for Orlando at a club in the Cape soon!

A is for Awesome

This Friday, the party pix boys from We Are Awesome team up with clothing specialists astore to put forward A is for Awesome. This party promises to be a monstrous night out.

One of the novel features at this party is the use of the pre party request playlist. If there is a song that would make your night, you can mail the organisers and let them know what it is. Pretty sick.

Be sure not to miss this, the launch of the astore and We Are Awesome party combo, this Friday (29 August) at Reception (129-131 Hatfield Street). Doors open at 9pm so be there early so we can get the party started.

For more information and the Facebook invite, click along to the event's page. Also, check out the new fan page.

See you there Cape Town...

It's the Strike of the Tiger

[photo by Zahra Robertson]

Check out the first single from Tigerstrike's EP (still to be completed) called Disappear. Look out for them this summer. They promise to be playing some awesome shows. Also have a look at what they did at Daydream Nation this last weekend.

We are the dream

Once a month a team of music geniuses get together and present to the public, DayDream Nation. A mix of electro-indie-rock beats, laser lights, smoke machines, lighting bolts hanging from the ceiling and a whole lota dancing.

The regular venue, LBs (above Joburg bar in Long Street) proved to be too small to contain this massive party, so where to from there? The hottest music venue in Cape Town, The Assembly. (Even though the period of closure put a slight damper on things, they still reopened at the top of their pile.)

Nevertheless, we had a venue, we had the music, the décor and the date (16 August). All we needed were the coolest kids in town to attend, and true to form, they arrived. Let’s get the party started. As if in a lucid dream, Hipless Couples (Len Cocroft, co-creator of Daydream Nation) begun the laser light party and bodies streamed onto and fill the dance floor, illuminated in neon lights and engulfed in smoke. The Assembly had once again morphed into a different shape, always new never dull.

[Unfortunately, due to restrictions put on The Assembly by the city council and the cops rocking up on Saturday night, the sound and bass had to be turned down a touch, which is sad at any party.]

Next up was Orlando Doom (Jonathan Muir, owner of Baseline Studios in Long street and creator of Daydream Nation), no stranger to the Assembly Dj line-up, mixing, spinning and dominating. The Assembly filled up to a comfortable amount of people, all united as a Nation (even though we lost the rugby) of partying Day dreamers. Let your inhabitations fly and let the music control your mind and soul.To keep us dancing until the early hours of Sunday morning, Backtrack (Loucas Polydorou, guest Dj) knocked out some bass beats with killer synth to round of the night and send us off to dreamland one more time before reality struck and it was 2am closing time.

But no fear, because the dream shall continue with the memories created that night and hey, if you missed it, there’s always next month. Keep the dream alive!

Post by Kate Roux
Photography by Zahra Robertson
Flyer by Jono Waldburger

The Members, #1: Dangerous Douglas

I had this idea a long time ago, but I only am getting my act together now. The Members is a series that I will be running on Smack Talk to get help us learn a little more about band members.
First, we have Douglas MacGregor, the electric guitarist from Desmond & The Tutus.

1. Douglas, are you a student?

No ways man, studying is for people who know what they want out of life. I am more like, "Life, what have you got, I've got a knife and some rope." I love rope and knives.

2. If you studied, what would you be studying?

If I were it would be something like how to make money by fooling people into believing you are working. Like a spy or something.

3. What do you want to be when you get big (besides a muso)?

I thought of becoming a director. It looks like a cool job, and I've got some good ideas.

4. What band are you listening to a lot of at the moment?

I have been listening to far too much Black Keys, I am going to start smoking Gunston if I am not careful.

5. How did you get involved in Desmond & The Tutus?

I played the guitar with Shane and Craig for long, but not serious, Nick and I also used jam a lot. He taught me to play. I am kind of the glue as it were a certain catalyst.

6. What are you hoping to achieve with the release of Tuck Shop?

World fame. People take us quite seriously now that we are a real band and all.

7. Shane getting married, you see this as good, bad or neutral for the band? (Obviously, it is awesome for him!)

Well it is cool for him, but it sucks for me. I have to find a job that can support my lifestyle, Angie won't let me move in with them when they get married so I'll have to find a place to stay too.

8. What dreams have you had for the band that you see being fulfilled in the next five years?

We want to go overseas and play for those bastards there, we'll see though. It looks good. I want Desmond to buy me a house.

9. I remember Craig saying something about you guys wanting to go to Japan. Is that still a dream? Any other long term goals for the band?

No other long term goals. I think those people will flipping dig us. I love watching Japanese people get amped and flip out and kill people. Karate is the coolest art.

Sweet. So that's the first installment. The more we know, the better I reckon. Any band members you want on here, let me know.

Back from the Wilderness

Dave certainly looked like he was back from some sort of time out as he appeared on stage looking a little like I would imagine Jesus looked 2000 odd years ago as the New Loud Rockets whipped out the new material.

I missed the opening two acts, but my friend, Luca said I didn't miss much. Sad, but true. The opening acts were the New Holland and the Pretty Blue Guns. I have seen the Pretty Blue Guns perform, and I enjoyed, but I was quite sad to miss one of the new exciting talents on the scene (ie the New Holland).

The reason I supposedly didn't miss much was down to a couple of reasons. The turnout was poor and the sound mix was awful which obviously lead and leads to poor sounding bands. Having said that, the Assembly is doing things that other gigging venues can only observe and dream of. During their closure, they installed arcade machines, lights above the foosball (finally) and huge amounts of sound proofing. They are pretty unique in that way. Big up! The next step will be to fix the sound.

Anyway, the NLR whipped out some oldies and some newbies, some went well, others, not as well. Unfortunately Bleeding in a Cab is still a crowd favourite (and so they will keep playing it!).

John (the lead boytjie) said in an unofficial interview afterwards, that the band is looking at going places musically that they never imagined. This means, experimenting with a different sound, and (I can't avoid the cliche, because he said it), their music is still a work in progress. I guess that's a good thing though. No one wants to hear a band that is struggling to evolve and mature. Am I right?

Later this month the boys will be playing with Desmond & The Tutus in Joburg, if you are there, check it out. They play really well together!

CD Review: Tuck Shop

Desmond & the Tutus have just launched their debut album, Tuck Shop, featuring all their greatest sing alongs like Saggy Bottom Speedo Swimmer and Peter (I can't love you, the way you need me to). They were recently in Cape Town launching the new album. The album (and all of Desmond's songs) prove that lyrics don't have to be all "arty" and "deep" to be enjoyable or accepted. Songs focus on themes such as girls with boys names, hard high fives, speedos and other ridiculously comical ideas. The album is well put together by Adrian Levi and is a MUST have for any music lover. If you enjoy bands like Kings Of Leon and The Vampire Weekend, you will definitely enjoy this very South African act.

Above photo from We Are Awesome.

Tuck Shop

1. “Peter” (song about a girl with a boy’s name)

2. “Good and Guilty”

3. “Old Girls”

4. “Kiss You on the Cheek” (about everything inside of you wanting to kiss this girl on the cheek)

5. “German Modern” (a song about a new dance move coined by Desmond)

6. “Crazy Rebel”

7. “Saggy Bottom Speedo Swimmer” (song about a kid who has lost his swimming trunks and has to swim in a speedo)

8. “Pictures”

9. “High Fives” (song about a kid who gives really hard high fives)

10. “Head to the Side”

11. “Too Late”

If you would like to get your hands on a copy of Tuck Shop (the greatest album I have got this year), email the band at hi@desmondandthetutus.co.za! They would love to help you out with a copy.

Unit.R and Kidofdoom: A pair for a Party

Unit.R and Pretoria based instrumentalists, Kidofdoom paired up for two nights this weekend to promote their new music and just have a jol. On Friday night they performed at Mercury and Saturday night they invited Desmond & the Tutus to join them in Stellenbosch at the Klein Libertas.

Unit.R got proceedings under way with some new tunes and a few familiar ones. They have really come into their own in the last year, and performed out of their socks. They are well worth a look in!

Above: Unit.R Below: Kidofdoom

Next on the bill was none other than the music sensations, Kidofdoom who played the greatest of the two sets I have had the pleasure to view. From huge guitar riffs to thumping bass lines, Kidofdoom lack very little in ability and stage presence.

After Kidofdoom's energy sapping display, patrons had the opportunity to catch some fresh air and get drink before Desmond & the Tutus made the evening complete!

Stellenbosch turned out to be a great gigging evening for bands, local and traveling. Lets do it again sometime.

Cape Town Disco with Desmond

This weekend saw Desmond & the Tutus in Cape Town to show off their latest creation, Tuck Shop. They played two packed out gigs, Friday at Evol and Saturday at The Klein Libertas. They enjoyed favour and love from the Evol crowd as dancing was more of a reaction than anything else. An involuntary combination of dance moves is standard at any Desmond gig. Sweat flew from shaking brows and drinks were spilled. White shoes turned a black/brown colour and everyone was happy.

Desmond & the Tutus at Evol (above)

Saturday night saw the Tutus pair up with Unit.R and Kidofdoom in Stellenbosch for a giant merrymaking. Together with Shane's (vocals) ridiculous larger than life stage presence, Nick (bass) and Doug's (electric guitar) charismatic dance moves and The Klein Libertas' huge lighting, Desmond won the hearts of every attendee and worker.
One of the secrets to the Desmond live performance success is the absence of an instrument to hold Shane back. Even when he whips out the harmonica, it compliments his character.

Above: Shane showing off his futuristic dance moves, which are mimicked enthusiastically by the crowd. He calls this dance the German Modern.

Daddy Certainly Don't Disco!

The much anticipated Daddy Don't Disco was launched at The Assembly on Friday night to a very large and expectant crowd. But after no gigs in Cape Town for about 4 months, and a wicked cool deal from Sony BMG, The Dirty Skirts were boring. Baring their single, Can't Remember Your Name and the oldies that everyone know and love, the new songs left one wondering whether the correct response was to dance or just watch. For the most part, they were just watched. As much as Jeremy and the lads were giving it everything on stage, they lacked the energy of the Skirts of old.
Having said that, Cape Town's support was unfounded. With two other massive gigs just a stone's throw from The Assembly, The Dirty Skirts managed to grab the lion's share.