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  • Five local musicians you should be listening to,

I guess I'm just feeling frustrated and uninspired by what I see around me now. I know it's all a matter of taste and some would say I have no right to be so critical especially as I've never recorded or released anything myself. It just seems that there's tons of mediocre stuff being put out by anyone who can manipulate a computer and it just means I have to wade through mountains of arb music to find something that may blow my hair back. Don't get me wrong..there's nothing bad about using samples,loops and grooves to make music but it just seems that most of the people doing it are musical primitives..there are usually only 2 or 3 chords in their songs and the chord structure is boringly predictable..
I thought The Blues Broers were sounding great with wonderful (not typical boring blues)songs on their album "Out of the Blue" about two years back. Since their guitarist Albert Frost left them to go solo and they got a new guitarist Basson Laubser, I haven't heard them since but I'm looking forward to it.
I'm playing in Gian Groen's band as guitarist and he's a great Afrikaans song-writer..he's just released a new cd and although some would say it's a bit "middle of the road," there are definitely some cool moments I think.

guyfeld Being PC is a genuine requirement of participating here so you either learn to be PC or you keep your non-PC thoughts to yourself.

    Well ok.
    I like some and I don't like some, but that is probably due to my preference (Read: Perception & Bias) for 'real' music with real instruments.
    I generally don't enjoy iffy pop songs about boyfriends and alcohol but am more inclined to music that challenges conventional thinking and pop culture. Music that means something, you know?
    But, I have also learnt that music means different things for different people and what is 'real' for some is fake to another. Matters of preference, personal challenges and culture.

    I recently wrote an Afrikaans song directed at Afrikaans...erm.... music makers. (I will not call them musicians, not all of them)
    The songs ask the question: 'Where is YOUR song?', because I am pretty gatvol of music that is on mass production and my ears can't take another song with a nursery rhyme theme, standard set of chords, same lead sound and drum pattern as everyone else. Enough!! But it's probably a rage against the machine anyway.

    I get what @guyfeld is saying and agree, just not the 'not PC' part.

    My 50 cents deposited.

    guyfeld i get what you saying..

    what really REALLY puts me off south african songwriters, is the fact that they all seem to used the exact same Grade 6 Rhyming dictionary to write their lyrics. its awful to be that predictable..

    at the risk of getting banned from this site for daring to say what i am about to say.. Tony Cox.. my goodness... last week driving to work they played something of him playing and singing.. one of the most awful things I have ever heard..
    seemed like a typical 12 bar blues number he was playing, but whoever told him he could sing or write lyrics was really just having him on..

    so never mind musical composition - the really poor song writing ability of south african musicians is why I dont have any favorites.

      StephenG the really poor song writing ability of south african musicians is why I dont have any favorites

      Here, let me fix that for you ?

      I saw him do this live at the same venue a few weeks ago... Epic!

        StephenG at the risk of getting banned from this site for daring to say what i am about to say

        Ag MOST guitarists shouldn't be singing or writing lyrics. You didn't call anyone a moron so you're fine. We're all allowed to like or dislike whatever we choose.

          NorioDS and just to clarify, i am not talking musical ability..

          if @guyfeld is the Guy I am thinking of, he is pretty shiitte hot on guitar.. !

          its the pathetic lyrical attempts of most south africans.. take a gander on youtube of some of the '80's "stars" trying to revive their careers... scary stuff how they feel the last word of every sentence must rhyme like a grade 6 poetry class.

              StephenG
              Actually, I don't think S African songwriters are any worse than anyone else... it's a world-wide thing.

              I think in the distant past songwriting was a craft that took time to develop and if you had an album out it meant that usually someone or or some company believed in you. (you mostly had to be something special)
              Today anyone with a computer and a collection of loops and samples can churn out an album and they do.
              (Hell, I've downloaded my share of free mp3's and indulged in manipulating loops and samples and midi as well..)
              But the result is that Music has become so accessible to the masses(making and listening to music) that it's become devalued now..the industry has become saturated.(the book industry has also gone this way, I think. I'm an avid reader and I've walked through discount warehouses full of books by new authors selling for nothing)
              It is what it is, I guess.
              Regarding Tony Cox...we can't all be great songwriters or singers...but.I do think he's a great guitarist in his own right.

                guyfeld good point - and Cox is a great guitarist, agreed, just singing and song writing.. not so much..

                are you the Guy Im thinking of that did the sultans of swing tribute band?

                  NorioDS I think Albert's a great blues-rock player and I have two of his albums but I gotta admit I preferred him with the Blues Broers..less two-chord "widdling"(like I see here) and more structured playing. I think Simon Orange(Keyboards) was a great foil for his guitar playing. Simon also tends to use more than 3 chords in his songwriting. ?

                    guyfeld being a child of the 80's and still a massive knopfler fan, we went to one of the gigs you did at the Baxter.. not sure how many nights you played but me and a mate went to your first night..

                    you probably wont remember, but we sat in the very first row, right in front of you.. and i| cant recall which song it was but as you were doing the intro solo, me and my mate shouted out "we love you Mark..!".. you packed out laughing, stopped the song and had to restart it again..

                    without a doubt.. Best. Show. Ever.

                    i regularly google to see if you doing one again.. id be there in a flash if you did..

                    you still based in cape town?

                      Tuckstir That is exactly the kind of stuff that I hate...It's not a band. It's a load of loops and samples with some hot chicks doing a video. Oh, and I think the song sucks as well.(2 or 3 bring predictable chords, but lots of attitude and production.)

                        StephenG
                        Hey, thanks for your kind words..
                        It took us a year of rehearsing for that Dire Straits show and after doing it for another year I realised I was earning more as a solo musician playing for 50th and 60th birthday parties using backtrax! (the shame...!) so we canned it. We never made it out of the Western Cape, but I think we were a very good Straits Tribute Band.
                        I am a full time pro still playing mostly solo at markets, parties etc and also with Gian Groen's band .
                        I have no regular gigs to speak of and my marketing skills suck, but I still manage to eke out a living. Next public gig is a the Springbok Blues Bar in Somerset West 15 June..

                          guyfeld thats a massive pity... id say you were the BEST dire straits tribute band.. at the start of the show i thought you guys were just syncing.. it was as close to seeing them live as i will ever get..

                          dont you ever play in the southern suburbs?? we out in fish hoek.. that trek to somerset west is a tad to epic at night ..

                          or if you ever in the city during the day, let me know,, gladly sponsor you a lunch time coffee and sandwich . i know how you struggling musicians are to cheap to buy your own.. seriously.. Id love a chance to meet and hear a story of 2..
                          can contact me on 0 8 three 7 nine 9 6 four 5 ate