REVIEWS
MORCHEEBA (***)
Charango
The thing is, this is not as crap as people who own DJ Shadow albums will tell you. It’s a lot better than crap, even good. When Morcheeba dropped ‘Who Can You Trust?’ (1996) on us, we were not only young and easy to influence, but it actually was a good record too.
BILL FLYNN
Rainbow Worrier
Bill Flynn has always been a regular hero kind of guy and winning the Celebrity Big Brother recently (against admittedly useless opposition) only furthered his cause. His secret is that he knows his audience very well and this album is a veritable Trojan Horse of bad taste aimed straight at the heart of the God-fearing Huisgenoot demographic who like to spend their money on booze, braaivleis and kak CDs.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Grind
Ignore the regulation Barney Simon sleeve note, calling on all young 'uns to "not care about anything, abuse your health", yet still, "don't take drugs!" The one really is the other, right?
TOAST COETZER
Various Artists
** (2 stars)
Kiss FM Volume 03 - Mixed by Manuel
(Gallo/DGR)
So there you were, late one Friday night, stumbling out of your favourite trendy bar somewhere in a trendy part of town where you've been trying to groove to something indecipherable that must've been cool, because all the cool people were there.
TOAST COETZER
Various Artists
(** - 2 Stars)
Homegrown - 19 of South Africa's Best Bands
(EMI)
Firstly, the sleeve design of this CD is very shit, immediately giving it negative marks. Surely someone somewhere along the production line must've noticed the same? SA artists make good music and deserve to be sold in a good package.
TOAST COETZER
Drowning Pool
(*** 3 stars)
Sinner
(Wind Up)
For these four practitioners of the heavy hand, hailing from Texas has not been a hindrance on their way to rock stardom. In fact, it offered them the chance of doing all the hard work before getting lucky. The band finally clicked into top gear when drummer Mike Luce and guitarist C.J. Pierce moved to Dallas to connect with their mate Stevie Benton (bass). It took a while, but eventually they found the front man they'd been looking for. And when it came in the burly frame of Dave Williams, who'd been sharpening his skills and stage persona in other Dallas bands, they knew they had the right man...
REVIEWS
Various Artists
(**** 4 stars)
Queen of the Damned OST
(Warner/Reprise)
Quite an ambitious project this, with some of Modern Day Loud Music's finest lending vocal skills to songs written by Jonathan Davis (Korn linchpin) and Richard Gibbs, the former Oingo Boingo keyboardist, lately more into scoring soundtracks. Coming from the most anticipated goth-chic movie of the year (aided by the fact that it was the late Aaliyah's last project), it's only fitting that the list of contributors looks like a candidacy list for the post of Chief Whip of Lower Hell...
REVIEWS
Riku Lätti
(**** 4 stars)
'n Pleister Vir My Nerwe
(Independent)
The Afrikaans music scene is in a phase where new stars are emerging alongside the old stalwarts like Koos, Kerkorrel, Valiant and Anton Goosen. There's Karen Zoid, Beeskraal, Akkedis, Spinnekop and now Riku Lätti. Hardly new on the scene, Riku has been sharpening his pop sensibility over the years in his English band, Me and Mr Sane. But like the guys from Diff-Olie and Kobus!, he has decided to concentrate on Afrikaans songs, in the process suddenly enriching the genre significantly...
REVIEWS
Felix Laband
(***** 5 Stars)
4/4 Down The Stairs
(African Dope Records)
In a world of misery, distrust and Pop Idols, it is good to know that joyful, pure and original things still exist. This, Laband's follow-up to the highly acclaimed 'Thin Shoes in June', is such a thing. Once you get over the sleeve design (for which Disturbance Design can pat themselves on the back until about September or so), slip this in and prepare for a 68 minute 41 second ride. You don't need drugs or the cover of darkness, but a heavy hand on the volume button will be nice. And headphones...
REVIEWS
Boo!
(**** 4 stars)
Shooting Star
(Monki Punk/Sheer)
Boo! is South Africa's best band. You might already know this, but consider this, if you're a bit of a Saron Gas fan:
REVIEWS
The Dolly Rockers
(**** 4 stars)
Glory Glory
(huh? records)
If you remember The Dolly Rockers from years gone by - those heady days of tunes like "Suicide Annie", when they could pull into a venue and get everyone rocking quicker than you could say "two Black Labels and a Hunter's Gold, please" - then you're sure to sit up and take notice of this release. It's their first album since that debut effort, and things have changed quite dramatically...
REVIEWS
Various Artists
(*** 3 stars)
Blade II OST
(Virgin)
A quick scan through the list of contributors here reveals a host of heavyweights. The concept isn't new: pair DJ types and 'electronic' acts with rappers and see what comes up. The result is predictably hit and miss, but always interesting - in the same way that it might be interesting to observe mine workers dance in a ballet...
REVIEWS
Shaggy
(*** 3 Stars)
The Best Of Vol. 1
(Virgin TV)
It's the Shaggy one, now apparently with us for long enough to bring out a greatest hits collection. Now, you can cower over your collection of alt.country records all you like, but you can't deny this dude's collection of radio hits. The kind of pop tune (or 'reggae', though purists would cringe) that becomes so familiar to the ear that it almost turns into a radio jingle to sell soft drinks with. And I'm sure some of these have received that treatment...
REVIEWS
Nianell
Who Painted The Moon?
(Fresh Music)
Mmm. The alarm bells are already ringing in the background the moment you see the cover, all wishy-washy Enya stuff. Not to mention that album title. Yet, Enya sells tons of records...
REVIEWS
Wonderboom
Rewind
(David Gresham)
It's a pretty interesting concept - to take classic South African rock tracks and cover them decades later - but one can't really think of anyone but Wonderboom being able to pull it off....
REVIEWS
Various Artists
'Nkalegatte - Verskeie Lekker Lag en Dans Treffers
(EMI)
It would be easy to dismiss this CD as a load of crap, the logical lovechild of the debris left by Big Brother, Scope magazine and those kind of summer vacations one would have in Jeffreys Bay....
REVIEWS
Gordon Haskell
(**** 4 Stars)
Harry's Bar
(EastWest Records/Gallo)
You have the fine whiskey, you have the old friend you want to catch up with, you have the suede jacket, the back porch and the lazy early evening...
REVIEWS
Vex Red
(*** 3 stars)
Start With A Strong And Persistent Desire
(Virgin/I Am)
If you're a nu/weird/sports-metal fan, you'd recognise the producer of this album - Ross Robinson - as the man behind acts like Slipknot, Amen and Korn, amongst others....
REVIEWS
Desmond Meyer
New Tides Of Freedom
(Sheer)
Born in Mossel Bay, but raised in Cape Town, Desmond Meyer was influenced by the jazz scene here, yet also played and toured with a reggae band in Europe in the early 90's...
REVIEWS
Landscape Prayers feat Modena City Ramblers
Lontano
(Mr Price/ Sheer)
Those used to Landscape Prayers' familiar brand of fusion will be happy to know that they've just moved up a notch...
REVIEWS
John Vlismas
Man In Black
(Ready Rolled)
No two or three about it really, Vlismas has been one of our most prominent comedians over the past five years, whether that's a result of his mug on the TV, his ass on stage or his comedy, which is all we have here...
REVIEWS
Anton Goosen
'n Vis Innie Bos
(Gallo)
Goosen's several seasons old now, weather-beaten and wise yet still undisputed king of the Afrikaans folkie-meets-Africa-explorer vibe...
REVIEWS
Sons Of Trout
Odd Times
(Value/ EMI)
You'd be hard pressed to find a poor Sons Of Trout effort, and this is no exception. From storming opener 'Extra Larry' all the way through to the final bits of 'Day2Day', this album builds nicely on their previous efforts...
REVIEWS
Breyten Breytenbach
(***** 5 Stars)
Lady One
(Rhythm Records)
This is Breyten's second foray into spoken word for the masses, following on last year's 'Mondmusiek'. 'Lady One' is all in English, bar a few Buddhist chants, so let's hope this goes overseas, so more people can learn a thing or two about what it means to be alive....
REVIEWS
Various Artists
(* 1 star)
Liriekeraai
(Gresham)
Containing tracks from the popular Kyknet TV programme Liriekeraai (hosted by Solly Philander), this is a trip down a dodgy gauntlet littered with uninspiring cover versions, processed cheese, sticky bogs and poisoned soft drinks. If you love the TV programme (and fun it is), then you might like this, but you do lose the sense of place and occasion here, so the songs have to stand on their own. Which they can't...
REVIEWS
Various Artists
(*** 3 stars)
The Family Values Tour 2001
(Elektra)
Featuring choice tracks from the Stone Temple Pilots (old guys), Linkin Park, Staind, Static-X, Deadsy (new guys) as well as a solo track by Aaron Lewis (of Staind) and a couple of nice collaborations between the bands, this gives you a good idea of what the top players of American rock are capable of.
REVIEWS
Ashton Nyte
(***1/2)
Dirt Sense
(Intervention Music)
One of our more prolific musicians, Ashton Nyte's latest solo album (he's also the pale man behind The Awakening) doesn't disappoint...
REVIEWS
Kobus!
(****1/2)
(Self Titled)
Independent Release
by Toast Coetzer
Kobus! is Theo Crous (ex-Nudies guitarist) and Francois Blom (ex-VOD vocalist). But don't expect massive guitars and heavy metal screaming. Prepare for something completely new: the Afrikaans version of… of… well, quite honestly, fuck knows. What they've done here should impress even those monkey-logik Boo! fans....
REVIEWS
Diff-Olie
Die Borrelbad Insident
(Boereplaas)
Afrikaans rock music has never been as active or interesting as right now. The range of bands, performers and styles out there are growing all the time. Pretoria's Diff-Olie is one of these bands and they'll soon be causing kak on stages from Northam to hell knows where, even if they're not talking about whatever happened in that bubble bath...
REVIEWS
Brixton Moord en Roof Orkes
Spergebied
(Rhythm Records)
As suggested by their name, this threesome of Brixton Barnard (bass), Moord Greeff (drums, djembe etc) and Roof Bezuidenhout (guitar, vocals), hails from the grey cement in the shade of Jo'burg's finest telecommunication tower. Actually, since the recording of this album they've become a foursome, with Kapelaan Pat Plank (lead guitar) joining their dodgy ranks...
| 
