 | I was relaxing near the tea and coffee table in the hotel lobby when two friends from jazz school came bounding down the escalator. “Oh my gosh, Gregory Porter is A-MAZING!” ...read more |
All the Jazz Kids Love Gregory Porter
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 by Kim Lauren
KIF (
KAK (
Freedom of the City
Monday, May 6th, 2013 by Ts'eliso Monaheng
 | April 27th, Freedom Day in South Africa. Approaching Mary Fitzgerald Square from the West, the stark contrasts of this country are laid bare before my eyes. As the pungent smell from the dirty water by the roadside intensifies, upmarket vehicles drive past in quick succession. Cool kids in customised vintage regalia rummage through the squalor of the semi-abandoned industrial complexes, announcing their presence in these Jozi streets via Air Force Ones pounding endlessly atop the dislocated pavement blocks. ...read more |
Nothing to do with Football
Friday, May 3rd, 2013 by Mahala High Five Brigade
 | What do you do when your side-project becomes more popular than the main event? This is fast becoming the rather unique position of the players who make up garage rock outfit Goodnight Wembley. And if symptoms persist bands like Taxi Violence, Beast, 7th Son and Bilderberg Motel may all have to take a backseat to the meteoric rise of Goodnight Wembley. Just hours before their first gig at the Puma Social Club, we thought it’d be a fine idea to ...read more |
Whistle While You Work
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 by Kimon de Greef
 | Although it happened more than 125 years ago on a distant continent, the Haymarket Affair — later commemorated as International Workers’ Day — shares bizarre and unsettling parallels with South Africa’s very recent past. On the evening of the 4th of May 1886, over a thousand protesting workers gathered in a Chicago public square to support a nationwide strike in favour of shortened 8-hour days. ...read more |
Larkin’ Around
Thursday, April 25th, 2013 by Mahala High Five Brigade, images by Laura McCullagh
 | LARK’s sound has always been difficult to describe; glitch opera? Dirty electronic beats? Souring angelic vocals? Tomorrow night Sean and Inge will be taking LARK (Electro) to the Puma Social Club in Braamfontein. We catch up with them for a Q&A before the performance. ...read more |
Album Round-Up
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
 | Here at Mahala albums tend to pile up and clog the trestle tables. Mostly, they’re not exactly worth a full review but definitely a mention. Occasionally we compile a selection of music you should know about, either as a recommendation or a warning. ...read more |
Fire it Up
Friday, April 19th, 2013 by Mahala High Five Brigade, images by Hanro Havenga
 | Jozi indie rockers Dance You’re On Fire have been kicking around the live music scene since 2007 and are no strangers to MK or 5FM airplay, they produce a brand of catchy pop-infused indie rock, have just added Wrestlerish’s pianist Jacques du Plessis to their line-up and they’re playing the Puma Social Club tonight. We caught up with frontman Tom Manners for a spot of Q&A. ...read more |
Sbujwa Mixtape
Thursday, April 18th, 2013 by Big Space
 | Let’s get bourgeois, kasi style. The kids are moving differently these days. There’s precision and rigour in the moves but also a sensuality, an elasticity in the hips, a suppleness at the knees. iSbujwa brings it all together; breaking, ispantsula, popping, locking, the robot and unites them in a flow that’s both unique and sexy as hell. And it’s locking straight into the original Mzansi house movement, from Cleo to Culoe, Pepsi and Mujava, all mixed by our very own ...read more |
Happy Birthday Captain Stu
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013 by Ray Van Wyk, images by Jonathan Kyriakou
 | A lot has happened in 10 years. 10 Years ago we were sitting around, listening to Blink albums, getting day-drunk on Crackling on the roof of Sanlam Shopping Center, smoking joints liberally wrapped in newspaper and doing noseslides on black, wax encrusted loading stairs. 10 Years ago we’d get our parents to pick us up from the Pavilion after a night spent aimlessly wandering through the mall. 10 Years ago was Limp Bizkit, The Offspring and Greenday; baggy ¾ pants, ...read more |
The Mix Master
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 by Ts’eliso Monaheng, images by Ference Isaacs and Jason Wessels
 | When we finally meet, during soundcheck for the monthly parties he throws in conjunction with fellow ChiefRockers Falko and Eazy, DJ Azuhl apologizes profusely for all the times he couldn’t make it. He keeps busy; between weekly gigs all over Cape Town, recently getting married, and shooting what he refers to only as “a pilot TV program” without providing further details, Azuhl is indeed preoccupied. ...read more |
