Happy Friday.

My gift to you on this long-awaited Friday. Lacey May's 'Back To Shore'.

I found a band photographer. A really, really good one.

If you read Are You Charlie? often, you will know that I have been hunting for a really good band photographer to take photos for me at gigs. Well, I am excited to announce that I have found the perfect person- Christelle Duvenage. I have admired her work for quite a while now so when she agreed to share her jaw-dropping photos with all of you, I did a little jig of joy.

These photos of Shadowclub were taken on Friday night at Arcade Empire. Goodnight Wembley! made their debut in Pretoria, with Shadowclub and My Epic Vice opening for them. Photos of Goodnight Wembley! will be up next week when my article on them comes out in Perdeby.  I did a post about the evening over here, so you can read about what I had to say about it, but in the meantime, just bask in the glory of these beautiful photos.

Do you want to get in contact with Christelle or see more of her work?
Facebook: Christelle Duvenage Photography

Twitter: @StellaTelleur

Website

 

Best. Lineup. Ever.

 Park Acoustics have outdone themselves with September's lineup. 

 Jeremy Loops, Ashtray Electric, Shortstraw, Beach Party and The Dollfins?

 It doesn't get much better than this.

Ink blue and stripes

Say hello to Clement. He studies with me. And he has a mad cool sense of style.

The Dollfins- In My Head (Official Video)

The lovely Beyers steered me in the direction of The Dollfins today and I liked them so damn much that I had to share their music video with all of you (I love the part where they rip the wallpaper off the wall, so cool). In fact, I liked them so much that I'm downloading their debut album as we speak.

Hailing from Cape Town, The Dollfins are made up of Anja Venter, Anke Loots and Xander Vander. The video for 'In My Head' was filmed in a 200 year old abandoned hotel in Gardens with a 5D and a skateboard.

So, take a listen, and if you like them give their Facebook page a visit and you can get your hands on the album too. Do it.

The Hives- Wait A Minute (Official Video)

The Hives are oddballs and this video proves it.

An endearing kind of odd though, don't you think?

Sun. Wine. Music.

Ah, what a weekend for live music in P-Town. My ears are still ringing and my whiplash hasn't gone away but I carry my war wounds proudly. 

On Friday night I covered Goodnight Wembley's debut at Arcade Empire for Perdeby (the article will be in next week's paper). They were magnificent, despite a few teething problems like George van der Spuy's vocals being a bit too soft at times. Their sound is this really raw rock 'n' roll, quite unlike anything we have in the South African music scene at the moment. Shadowclub, one of my favourite local live acts, played before them and were equally as remarkable. The band played a bit of their new material which had a tinge of Radiohead to it. It gave me goosebumps. I'm really looking forward to the release of their second album, hopefully the wait won't be too long. My Epic Vice opened the show but were mostly unremarkable.

Then, today, I went to Park Acoustics at the Voortrekker Monument. Lazing in the sun, drinking cheap wine out of sippy cups and listening to live music is probably the best thing way to bid farewell to the weekend. Dan Patlansky, Holiday Murray, Andrew James and Manny Walters and The Width entertained our ears and boy, did they do a good job. My ears say thanks, and so do I.

I'm going to stop writing now. This is turning into one of those live reviews and for the most part, I hate live reviews. Probably because I associate them with poor quality online music magazines. Ha.

But anyway, hope you all had a good one too. 

Here's some photos from Park Acoustics.

 

Four Cousins out of a sippy cup. These are the days of our (student) lives.

Andrew James is incredible with his acoustic guitar and lap slide. Reminded me of Xavier Rudd.

Holiday Murray. I've been a big, big fan of theirs for quite a while now but only got the chance to see them live for the first time today. Their performance was as good as their recorded material and it made happy.

Dan Patlansky. Are there really any words to describe how talented this man is? No. Watching him play, it looks like he is trying to wrestle a demon out of his guitar. He wins. Every time.

The view from Fort Schanskop.

The Voortrekker Monument as the sun went down. Good weekend, good.

Pretty girl

It's Christi's Matric Dance tonight. 

I played photographer. 

This is my favourite one. 

Pretty girl.

 

This weekend

Beginners- Slow Club (King of Town remix)

King of Town (the dude who did a remix of Desmond & The Tutus's 'Peter' and subsequently made them big in Japan)  did a remix of English folk rock band Slow Club's song, 'Beginners'. Go on and give it a listening to. And then download it. You can thank me later.

I've also included the music video of the original song. It features Daniel Radcliffe. You're either going to cringe or you're going to love it. Me? I just giggled. Probably not the desired effect.

The obligatory Oppikoppi post

I know, I know. It's already been a week since the dust settled over Northam and I'm only doing this post now. Bad blogger, bad. My excuse? Death by post-festival flu. Between being unable to breathe through my nostrils and being on the verge of coughing up a lung, I somehow managed to make it through the week. I didn't get to enjoy Oppikoppi in the same way that other festival-goers did because I covered the event for Perdeby. This involved a jam-packed interview schedule that included both local and international bands. It was absolute madness but equally rewarding in that I learned a whole darn lot. 

Want to know what I learned?

 1. How to deal with stroppy artists.

  2. Not too panic when there isn't internet connection, even at the most crucial of times.

3. Some of the best musicians in South Africa are also the most underrated ones, like Jeremy Loops. 

4. Electro is huge. Massive. Enormous. The Red Bull Stage proved it.

5. Just how long I can survive without caffeine. Ricoffy doesn't count. Who are you kidding?

6. No matter what they tell you, hand sanitizer doesn't work. It just swishes the dirt around. With every day that went by, I looked a shade darker. And dealt with it. 

Enough of me rambling. Here's some photos. 

Ready. Steady. Go.

Navigating around (and sometimes through, I have to admit) potholes...

... to be met by a long, long queue of cars. It's a bit disheartening when you can't see the end of the line for two hours but at least helping to push-start an old turquoise Beetle was quite a laugh. Who takes a Beetle to Oppikoppi? Who? Hmm?

This is the hippie your parents warned you about. Hey guy, hope you survived the festival on the hill.

A marching band with a Pied Piper following.

I managed to catch a glimpse of Peachy Keen while grabbing a bite to eat.

Peter Rabbit performing on the MK Cube. They are possibly the band with the coolest name and the weirdest lyrics. Example? "My love for you is functional, I want to have your babies."

Les Doigts de L'Homme, a gypsy-jazz band from France. They were one of my favourite bands to see over the weekend. This may be because I fell in love with the second dude from the left. You pretty thing, you.

Balkanology, baby.

Diplo performing at the Red Bull Stage. We also 'got down like animals' when P.H. Fat performed there on Friday night. I love me some P.H. Fat.

An ode to Balthus

These subtly beautiful photos were taken by Japanese photographer Hisaji Hara. Hara has used his camera to recreate some of Polish-French artist Balthus's paintings in a way that is otherworldly and slightly sinister. 

Keen to read more about Hara's work? Sean O'Hagan from The Guardian reviews the collection of photos here. Definitely worth a look.

The Empire Strikes Back

Hello there. I do hope you all survived Oppikoppi. I woke up this morning with the flu. Think it's my body's way of punishing me for what I put it through this weekend. I had the amazing opportunity to work for Perdeby at the not-so-little festival on the hill. It was absolute madness but I learned so much about the craft of journalism as well as about music. Watch this space to see what we got up to. All the interviews will be in next week's edition. It's going to be a good one, I promise. 

But, speaking of Perdeby, I wrote this article on the new Arcade Empire for last week's edition. You can read it by clicking on the article to enlarge it. Enjoy!

Open publication - Free publishing - More campus

Calling all band photographers

Attention, attention! I'm looking for a really good band photographer that's based in Pretoria to join me in taking Are You Charlie? to the next level. If you are interested or know someone that is, drop me an email at 

melina-meletakos@hotmail.com and I'll send you more details.

Bombay Show Pig are the shizzle

For some reason, December Streets not only attracts the youngest crowd but also the most annoying.   Thank the Good Lord the young ones decided to vamoose after they dabbled in superficial rebellion, although credit must go to December Streets for putting on a mighty good show. 

They made way for the rest of us (all over the age of 18, thankfully) to enjoy Bombay Show Pig, an epic two-piece indierock band from the Netherlands. Man alive, I haven't been this excited about a new band in ages. The band consists of Mathias Janmaaton on vocals, guitar and samples and Linda van Leeuwen, who rocks fiercely on the drums and does vocals, samples and keys as well.

After their performance, I bought their debut album, Vulture/Provider, for a mere 50 ronds. What a bargain. It is eargasmic, which, by the way, is a real thing. S'true. My audiologist friend told me so.

Cool album art, ne?

If there's a band you must definitely make time for at Oppikoppi, it's Bombay Show Pig. They are playing on Friday at 14h00 at Wesley's Dome. I only wish they had a slot in the evening because they are perfect to jam to. 

You will notice that I didn't actually describe Bombay Show Pig's music, which is really odd for me because I do love words a whole lot. It's because it's difficult to relay the experience of listening to their music. So, instead, give their music video for 'Sancho Panza' a look-see. Then go tell everyone you know about this rad band, because they deserve loads of recognition.

Got it?
Get it?
Good. 

Weekend in Instagrams

1. Once a month the Perdeby staff congregate at Aandklas to see just how far we can stretch our lovely little bar tab. It is here that I am often reminded that I write for a newspaper that is in fact a haven for psychotic, borderline alcoholics. Bless. How we manage to bring out a decent newspaper every week is beyond me though. 

2. On Saturday night I made my way to Arcade Empire, which was teeming with loud, hair-flipping, prematurely drunk kids. The lovely Laurie Levine kicked things off with Peter Auret on the drums. They deserved a better crowd but you can't expect kids, who were later slurping up Kinky Robot like a celebratory ice-cream after a good report, to appreciate good music. Sigh.

3. December Streets. The reason all the young ones stayed out way after their bedtime. The band were launching their new album, This Is. I won't say too much about it because I am reviewing the album for an upcoming edition of Perdeby but wow, lead guitarist Nico van Loggerenberg's mad guitar skills blew me away. 

4 & 5. Lisa van Leeuwen and Mathius Janmaat from Bombay Show Pig, an indie rock outfit from the Netherlands. The reason I joined the playground party on Saturday. I'll be doing a post on them tomorrow but just know that if you are making your way to the festival on the hill next week it would be quite a smart move to go see Bombay Show Pig perform. You won't regret it.

6. It's become somewhat of a tradition for my mom, Christi and I to go for breakfast on a Sunday morning. This week it was Vovo Telo in Woodlands. 

7. I had the corn hotcakes with a poached egg, rocket, basil pesto and roasted rosa tomatoes. Delicious. 

8. Pastries, cakes and fresh bread. Drool.

9. My mumsie had the toasted brioche with fig jam, roasted almonds and marscapone cheese. I snuck a bite and my taste buds did a little jig of joy.

Hope you all had a good one too!

Dance, You're on Fire- Speak To Me (Official Video)

Dance, You're On Fire released their music video for 'Speak To Me' today. It was shot, directed and edited by Hanro Havenga. Nice one, yes? You can order their new album, Light Repeating, online by clicking here. I'm really digging their new stuff. What do you think?