Saturday 7 April 2012 sees the revival of a festival favourite, Kaktus Op Die Vlaktes, at its new venue, Jam Street just outside Oudtshoorn.

Historically, Kaktus Op Die Vlaktes has hosted some of South Africa’s biggest music icons. Stalwarts such as Valiant Swart, Johnny Clegg, Miriam Makeba, Koos Kombuis, Jack Hammer, Johannes Kerkorrel and Anton Goosen paved the way for FPK/Fokofpolisiekar, Corne & Twakkie, Mandoza and Prime Circle; defining this one day open air music celebration as the highlight of the ABSA KKNK.

With this rebirth of sorts, expect the return of a killer South African line-up catering for a variety of musical tastes, a few surprises, as well as current heavy-hitters who have never graced the Kaktus Op Die Vlaktes stage before.

So circle the date and whatever you do, don’t miss out on Kaktus Op Die Vlaktes 2012.

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Lonehill Estate have been invited to perform in Los Angeles at the esteemed MUSEXPO in Hollywood this April. MUSEXPO, the highly respected and critically acclaimed annual international music conference, will take place on April 29 – May 2, 2012 at the W Hotel in Hollywood.

But what’s more, Lonehill Estate will also be performing at the renowned Viper Room during their visit.  The Viper Room was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp, until 2004, and to this day continues to host multiple music genres, including metal, rock, punk and alternative.  Situated on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, the club is known to be a popular hangout for the Hollywood elite.

Frontman Nathan Ro expresses his excitement, “LA, baby! Just like Nonhle Thema, Lonehill Estate will walk the streets of Hollywood. I sure hope we don’t come back jerks or anything. Just like losing weight each achievement is like a notch on our belt… and we are looking good. We are so excited to be going and showcasing ourselves for the Americans. We hope to do a night drive and hopefully see a Kardashian.”

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30 PLUS Events will again show Johannesburg’s over-30s party connoisseurs how it’s done, when they stage their special VALENTINES CENTRAL SPLASH on Saturday 11 Feb 2012 at Central Country Lodge in Lonehill. They are in the midst of production for a spectacular event to transform the weekend before Valentine’s Day into a stylishly hot, sexy pool party that will even make Miami blush.

This unique party concept during the Month of Love has confirmed international superstar Lock N Load (Netherlands) as its headline DJ, who promises to inject the event with that extra bit of dance floor glamour fans have come to expect from 30 Plus. They will be joined on the decks by 30 Plus residents James Damian and DJ Speedy, along with guests Jakee and the Commercial Hooligans from KZN.

Lock N Load (aka Dirty Hertz) is the inspired collaboration of Frank van Rooijen (who will be playing at the event) and Andre Frauenstein. Coming together from two different vantage points in electronic music, the twosome discovered and developed a strong friendship years back, while also still serving their own sound sectors in the global dance industry.

Their sound experiments with various influences for a sound excursion truly unique to Africa’s electronic circuit. Apart from their own remix work for some of the world’s top dance labels and artists, their music is also played and supported by the likes of David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Judge Jules and Tiesto – to name but a few.

The venue for this highly anticipated event features a “lollypop” patio located right in the middle of the swimming pool, on which the DJ box will be set up – overlooking the party animals savouring the summer beats in the water. There will also be various surrounding dance floor areas around the pool; as well as a cocktail bar located inside the pool, with an eyelevel serving deck for easy access.

For those who prefer to only be voyeurs of the action in the water, there will be the undercover 30 Plus Valentines lounge area, including a bar and large dance floor. This event leaves no one with any excuses not to party, mingle or simply rock to the stylish music pumping through the kick-ass sound system.

Decor specialists have also been commissioned to decorate the various spaces indoor and outdoor with Valentine’s frills and special surprises to make everyone experience a full-sensory attack of Love!

The party already starts rocking at 12pm on Saturday 11 February. Various special pre-sale ticket packages are available, including limited VVIP tickets – which include accommodation at Central Lodge, a full buffet lunch, VIP access to the event, and complimentary champagne in the room as well as breakfast the morning after.  There are rooms for couples as well as 2 four-sleepers; bookings for these 2 rooms will include access to luxurious “Love Hut” sunken koi pond-lounges, located next to the main pool on an elevated terrace.

For those who don’t want to stay over for the night, the event also offers VIP packages – which include lunch only. All pre-sale tickets are available for sale online via www.30plusevents.co.za.

30 PLUS Events presents VALENTINES CENTRAL SPLASH
Saturday 11 February 2012
Central Country Lodge,
31 Mulbarton Road
Lonehill
JHB
12:00 (noon) – 22:00 (10pm)
30+ Only
ROAR
For venue info/map & ticket details including the VIP lunch buffet-menu, go to www.30plusevents.co.za
Featuring:
LOCK N LOAD (NL – International Guest DJ)
SPEEDY
JAMES DAMIAN
JAKEE
COMMERCIAL HOOLIGANS

Pre-sale ticket prices via www.30plusevents.co.za:
General Access: R200

VIP: R300 (includes lunch 1-5pm)
VVIP (limited): R1500 pp (includes accommodation, lunch, breakfast and champagne)

There will also be various food stands with burgers, prego rolls, pizzas and rolls for sale – for those guests who don’t opt for the full buffet packages.

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Southern Pulse is proud to announce the exclusive signing of Idols 2011 winner, David Van Vuuren, for bookings and management in South Africa. David skyrocketed into the hearts of all South Africans after he won the prestigious nationwide competition which had over several million dedicated viewers in its broadcast.

Walking away the South African Idols winner of 2011 was not only a dream come true for Joburg bred David Van Vuuren, but the key to a universe he had been desperate to discover since he was a mere 5 years old. If it’s true that some people are born as messengers of some sort, then David Van Vuuren is not only a messenger of optimism, love, light and spirituality, but of music that takes you to that place in the blink of an eye.

A mere 21 years old, David Van Vuuren already knows what his calling is. A believer in the fact that you have to follow your heart and soul in order to be happy and to achieve inner peace, David immersed himself in music from an early age and has never given up on his dream. “I feel as human beings we should be following our souls and our hearts and because of the state of the world unfortunately it’s quite a struggle for many to do that”. 

David Van Vuuren and his band promise to offer an electrifying and highly entertaining performance to everyone who comes out to watch them. David Van Vuuren will be touring the country non-stop in 2012, taking his music to all corners of South Africa. Tour dates will be announced soon but his first show with Southern Pulse will take place at Tanz Café, Fourways in Johannesburg on the 23rd of March 2012. Be sure to get there to witness the sheer brilliance of this talented artist who personifies hard work and integrity.

David Van Vuuren’s debut album entitled David Van Vuuren – Free The Animals is available in all leading retail and online outlets via Universal Records. Already the album is creating quite a buzz in the industry and will also be available at all live shows David performs.

BUY FREE THE ANIMALS HERE!

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My first experience of Burn Nightclub in Durban was in my undergraduate years, when I religiously listened to bands like Disturbed, System of a Down and Saron Gas. Of course, when your soundtrack to life is every hard rock band on the planet, it makes sense that your happiest moments are moshing to Burn’s customary playlist. Although, I am just a regular girl, in many ways, I have always been attracted to the underground nightclub circuit, and I quickly realised that Burn offered a sanctuary to many people like me and, of course, to those who are a little different. I always felt like no one was judging me for my normalcy, just as no one was judging the people who, in the era of Twilight, could easily sparkle in the sun.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the required unhealthy dose of Burn, which Durbanites were lucky enough to be privy to – hangovers included. But every Varsity holiday required at least one trip to Umbilo Road; for a game of pool, cheap shooters and an alternative band or three. Burn quickly became an institution in Durban, mostly because it was a well-known and popular venue for rock and metal acts in that little corner of the country. It is important to recognise that it existed off the beaten path, far from the particularly hardcore metal scene that rocks Johannesburg, and yet ranked highly amongst other venues like it. Say the words, “alternative scene in Durban” and you immediately think of Burn.

The origins of Burn are notorious and extremely black metal; which is fitting. One of Durban’s clubs from back in the day, Jamie’s Nightclub, burned down in 2000 to be replaced by Burn, named for the accident itself which cost Durban one if its only alternative playgrounds. But the birth of Burn was no tragedy, and I know that everyone who has ever spent a night within its nefarious, smoky walls has a few good stories to tell. Besides, its tendency to include anyone from lost teenagers to drug dealers, its lack of conventional class was a good enough draw-card for anyone with a limited budget and fear of jocks. It was your regular alternative joint, just like Doors in Joburg, Gandalf’s in Cape Town and Die Mystic Boer in Bloemfontein.

Being around for 12 years has meant that a couple of generations of people and bands have passed through its doors and not all change has been good. Many friends of mine have mourned the closure of the Umbilo Road Burn, when the club was relocated to Walls Avenue in 2006. Visiting the new Burn, despite the relief of the breezy rooftop on hot Durban nights, many around me lamented “old Burn”, as it was fondly known; as did I. It was during a particularly brutal set of Contrast the Water that I realised that the live sound in new Burn was bound to create brain leaks and deafness.

Despite its shortcomings, it is with dismay that I now bring news of Burn’s imminent closure in March this year. There is much speculation about why. On Burn’s group walls, there are a few bitter words spoken of “Barbies” and “Kens”, referring to the influx of those dreaded jocks and their Betties. While the closure of Burn cannot be attributed to the influences of certain unwanted kids, I, too, judge the new breed of scenesters, who bring a little too much colour to the inner sanctuary that is a metal club. I think about the boy I once met who wanted to tattoo tears onto his cheeks and long for the days of old.

Saying that the closure of Burn should be noted in the history books seems a little melodramatic – but since when has the alternative scene not been a little melodramatic? Alternative clubs in South Africa are few and far between, offering more than just sanctuary for the pierced and forlorn, but a place where history happens. Alternative clubs are the breeding grounds for live music, for a new type of culture and for kids to release their pent up rage and frustrations. Any person who has a couple of metal t-shirts in the cupboard knows that society often has no place for them. They are metalheads for a reason; a reason impossible to explain. But no explaining needs to be done in a place like Burn.

The dilution of this special place, through the seeping in of those who lack the understanding of what metal means to the outcasts, does not detract from what Burn offered us. The alternative kids I knew were always more inclined towards hospital visits and car accidents; they carried scars like badges of honour; they were the surfers with lost limbs. They would never leave a drop of alcohol in a bottle and could sniff out roadblocks like dogs. They were dangerous fun, depressed people but happy drunks, who would not judge your differences. And that’s why a night at Burn was necessary once in a while. It tended to end with blood, but cleansed you of all your emotions. It was rehab for the soul.

The closure of Burn is different to the closure of other clubs, which are barely noteworthy. You cannot simply move on down the street and find the same thing somewhere else. This is why I have written this tribute. Burn introduced me to a place where people are varied and unnatural, where music is the driving force behind peoples’ feelings and where you could forget the outside exists, if only for a few hours. I am sure a few Burn tattoos will rise up from the grave, adorned on the adorers. Only one of the most notorious alternative clubs could invoke such loyalty. I have no doubts that something will take its place. Where there is smoke (and metal), there will always be a fire burning.

- Claire Martens

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Twice SAMA nominated alternative rock artist The Sick-Leaves digitally release long-awaited fourth album Breaking Away.

Breaking Away was originally conceived to be an EP but once completed clocked in at an explosive twenty-nine minutes following the inclusion of the most recently written song and first radio single Catfights In Bushes. Catfights In Bushes is by far one of the most energetic songs The Sick-Leaves has ever recorded. Songwriter Eksteen Jacobsz describes the lyrics as being “a metaphor for how often we get caught up in a tangle with other people and how opportunities are made or lost with respect to how you react to those encounters.”

Over the course of 2011 six tracks off Breaking Away were tracked at SABC’s M5 and Openroom studios with Darryl Torr and the remaining two tracks were recorded at Sting studios with Matthew Fink. Matthew Fink, who had produced The Sick-Leaves SAMA nominated first & second albums, mixed and produced Breaking Away. An extra track, Crying (Roy Orbison cover) was recorded during this period but is not included on the album. This cover is available as a digital download from The Sick-Leaves website.

Sergio Pereira of MusicReview (www.musicreview.co.za) has said of the album: “Immediately noticeable is that Eksteen has turned up the energy levels since The Last Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, because Breaking Away reverberates with a far more straight-up, brisk Brit-alt-rock production sound and vibe (it’s a genre that Eksteen, undoubtedly, appreciates and understands).” Sergio cites Breaking Away as being “Conclusively, The Sick-Leaves’ strongest album”.

The natural progression is for Jacobsz to produce the next Sick-Leaves album due to the experience gained through the recording process for this and the previous three Sick-Leaves releases. Jacobsz reflects on how as a solo artist it was, quite frustrating to get the sounds, arrangements and mixes right for the demo album in a relative short amount of time, but then the recording and mixing process took many months to reach completion.

This was the first album where Jacobsz had the album title ready before any of the songs were written. The phrase Breaking Away represented to him escapism.

What motivated Jacobsz when he wrote this set of songs was that there would be no constraint placed on the songs as to whether they should be short enough for radio play, whether any record label would be interested to pick it up or whether it would make sense to mainstream critics compared to previous releases. A big criterion was that the songs would be allowed to follow their own path to completion during the songwriting process.

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Anyway, you’ve all waited long enough for the final verdict. So, here are the awards…

TIN FOIL AWARD: Zahara

Zahara sold over 200, 000 copies of her debut album, Loliwe, in just 1 month, shattering local music records – yet she only managed to obtain 3 (yes, 3) votes in our poll – do the 200, 000 people who bought her album not have internet access? Her label was informed of her nomination and the poll was supported by top SA artists and various publications, so there can be no excuse of “we didn’t know she was nominated” – unless you’ve been living under a rock, or playing tons of Skyrim (naughty, naughty).

Nonetheless, regardless of our poll, Zahara did do big things in 2011, and we predict even greater happenings for this talented songstress in the upcoming months.

BRONZE MEDAL: Van Coke Kartel

If you haven’t heard Wie’s Bang, you’re seriously missing out on one of the best local albums that you’ll hear in years. Rocking harder than The Shredder after discovering the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ lair, VCK kick out the jams with ferocity and vigour, as their unmatched energy ignites any venue.

Half-rock, half-awesome, Van Coke Kartel are pouring whiskey over the local rock scene, and setting it ablaze.

SILVER MEDAL: Contrast the Water

Arguably, the hardest working band in this year’s poll. The South African death metallers, Contrast the Water, have left nothing to chance, gigging like beasts, locally and in the US, with the likes of legends such as Carcass, Exodus, Sacred Reich, and D.R.I. Not content on just gigging, the band also hit the studio and recorded a full-length album titled Perseverance, which they gave away for free (yes, for free).

Mobilising the metal community, CTW made sure that you knew they were always in the running and undoubtedly introduced themselves to people who’d never heard of them before. Terrific effort from a metaltastic band, who are coming back to South Africa later this year. Go catch them live!

*Cue the Rocky theme and Michael Buffer announcement*

THE WINNER: Mark Haze

The gold medal goes to South African Idols finalist and 12^th Avenue founder, Mark “Jack Black” Haze. Tallying a whopping 49% of the votes, the man who swears he isn’t related to the famous porn star, Jenna Haze, has proven that rock ‘n’ roll has a place in the local music industry – and isn’t dead at all (nor does it require resurrecting from the likes of “let’s jump on any bandwagon and ruin it with auto-tune” Ke$ha).

Haze isn’t resting on his laurels, nor is he doing restaurant gigs after Idols, instead he has taken the bull by the horns and gearing up to rock South Africa in 2012 with the release of his solo album. Well done, Mark!

Congratulations to all the nominees. These 10 artists were the best of the best in 2011. Go out there and support South African music!

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On the 30th of January, Haezer released his much-anticipated Monkey EP, through Shax Trax. His 5th official release, Monkey, features two original tracks – ‘Monkey’ and ‘Gangsta’ ft. Circe – and four remixes of ‘Monkey’ by Doc Trashz, Pelussje, You Killing Me and Andy’s ILL.

“This is a fun track, perfect for peak time DJ sets that’s driven by rhythm instead of melody, with a cheeky playful undertone.”

Monkey was made by Haezer in 3 days, and then he spent around a year making small changes, getting remixes for it and finding the right label to release it through. Whilst playing around with sounds and melodies, unexplainable inspiration came to him and the track morphed into a circus-like vibe and the visuals of monkeys performing at a carnival came to mind. He decided to call it Monkey, and then did the vocals for the track.

“It’s a bit different from my other tracks, in the sense that it’s quite simple.  The signature is the wobbles and the heavy distorted buildups. It’s a bit more conceptual.”

Monkey is currently available on Beatport, and will soon also be available on most digital outlets.

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Event: CAMPUS INVASION TOUR – Newtown, Johannesburg
Date: Saturday, 4 February 2012
Venue: JoziFest, Newtown Cultural Precinct, Main Stage, Mary Fitzgerald Square (the event forms part of JoziFest 2012)
Time: Gates open at 11am
Tickets: R150 at www.ticketbreak.co.za/event_details/1399 (Note that this event forms part of JoziFest 2012)
Campus Invasion Tour Line-up: Fokofpolisiekar, Lark, aKing, Zebra & Giraffe, 340ml, Desmond & The Tutus, Tidal Waves, Taxi Violence, Wrestlerish and many  more!

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Local music entertainment and publicity company, Plug Music, has announced that Deathwish, Bullet Tooth and Napalm Records albums are now available in South Africa. Owner, Warren Gibson, states that albums are “available at good prices”, much cheaper than the standard import rate, and are now available at selected Look & Listen stores nationwide. For fans of alternative and heavier genres of music, the news is a welcome relief to the exorbitant prices associated with imports and the problems associated with the lack of availability of non-mainstream albums.

In celebration of this news, MusicReview and Plug Music are giving away:

1 x Bullet Tooth CD Hamper
5 x Deathwish CD hampers

Want to win a hamper? Well, become a fan of MusicReview’s Facebook Page and keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook Page between 19.00 and 21.00 on Thursday, 2 February 2012. The first 6 people to respond to our request at a random time between those hours, will each win a hamper. Please note that entries are only open to those WHO LIVE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

- Bret Dugmore
info@musicreview.co.za
www.twitter.com/MusicReviewZA
Join MusicReview on Facebook

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