In just over three years, Academie has made the case that pop music that is as transfixing as it is transcendent and beautiful can emerge out of Johannesburg’s exacting urban milieu. 

Initially through their live shows and then with 2016’s groundbreaking EP, Volumes, Jean-Louise and Alex Parker have conjured up a pop soundscape that easily places the duo alongside those pushing the frontiers of the genre on the global scene. They have matched this with an arresting aesthetic and a recent slate of intensely conceived performances – all of which have fortified Academie’s standing as among South Africa’s most exciting creative talents.

The songs are a mix of dark and light that reflects the dualism that Academie readily embraces: in their self-contained musical world, pre-recorded samples, vocal reverb and loops are as central to the sound as the viola, guitar and saxophone. 

The sense of humankind’s dislocation from one another is reflected in Academie’s broader examination of twenty-first century living, through the prism of songs.

When Academie first appeared in early 2016 it was obvious that this was no side-project. For one, the duo paid attention to their live performances in the way few other South African pop acts do, frequently enhancing their shows with thrilling sonic elements. The Horizons Project Choir joined Academie on their highly-coveted Main Stage slot at Oppikoppi in 2017 and a string section exquisitely elevates a filmed studio performance of “In the Clearing”, a track off Volumes that’s at once spare and intoxicating. The absorbing Academie live experience has also seen them play most major South African festivals over the past few years including Fete de la Musique in Johannesburg (2016), Mieliepop Festival (2017) and the Smoking Dragon Festival Main Stage (2017).

Academie relocated to Berlin, Germany, at the start of 2020.

Kate Borthwick is a composer, song writer and conductor from Johannesburg South Africa

Plays bass for BlackBeak. https://soundcloud.com/blackbeakband
Plays bass for Feed Them Like Birds. https://soundcloud.com/feedthemlikebirds
Plays bass for It's a Fucking Rhino. https://soundcloud.com/itsafuckingrhino
Plays bass for SNAKEJUICE.
https://on.soundcloud.com/TDgNM

The Gentleman Losers are Samu and Ville Kuukka. The brothers have been making music together since the year dot. They've released music on various labels including Büro, City Centre Offices, Warp, Nóthings66, Standard Form, and Grainy. Their latest album, "Make We Here Our Camp of Winter" was released in December 2018 on Sound In Silence. https://soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com/

Vocals - Daniel Tompkins
Guitars - Eddie Head & Brett Stine
Bass - Derek Blakley
Drums - Rob Stankiewicz

Mr. Freddy is a Duo of versatile drummer Mwesigwa Kisaakye and Multi-Instrumentalist Ralph Louis Smit, they inhabit a sonic realm that draws on Fourth World ideas, improvisation, world music, electronic pallets and psychedelic hues. 

They fuse world music, break beats, free jazz and minimalism into something entirely their own, their performances are transporting, intimate and intense yet groovy and driving, often described as putting the audience in a trance. Forward thinking and ancient, a unique voice of alternative instrumental music hailing from the Kingdom of eSwatini.

Deep within the spiritual heart of Randburg's blossoming tik-rock scene, swells an inflamed breed of song-stress. Psychocolate-infused savagery. 

Like Ballentinian Warriors staggering to their lite Castles, these Yanksnack-crazed schmützfingers have unbuttoned their meat suits, cleaved their bones in twain and spilled their marrow for you. 

A trashy phoenix, risen from the mire of empty dumpies and forgotten chicken bones, this album was sordidly birthed in a deluge of feverish, quivering passion. 

A Van der Bolt to the head. 
A chromatically induced coma. 

Listen to this album. It's the only appropriate thing to do.


Released September 2018 

Leigh Globisch - Vox, Guitar 
Ralf Globisch - Guitar 
Marco Errath - Bass 
Conley van der Westhuizen - Drums, Guitar 
Dwain du Plessis AKA The Dagness - Beaking Blues Harp

© BlackBeak 2018

Albinobeach is an instrumental rock band from Johannesburg, South Africa, formed in 2005. The band’s line-up includes drummer Garrick Van Der Tuin, guitarist Ian Finch and bass guitarist Kalin Pashaliev. To date, albinobeach has released two full-length albums and an EP.

Initially a four-piece group, albinobeach went instrumental in 2006 after singer Francois Du Preez exited the band due to hearing difficulties caused by a short illness. At that time, albinobeach were recording their self-titled debut EP and the remaining members decided to release it as an instrumental offering. The EP attracted the attention of North Carolina independent label Forgotten Empire Records, which released the EP in 2007.

Although albinobeach’s music is often described as 'post-rock', the band has experimented with a mixture of genres such as psychedelic rock, space rock, noise rock, metal, Afrobeat, dub, reggae and electronica. In late 2013, after a three-year hiatus, albinobeach began a series of improv sessions with guitarist Nenad Djelic, drummer Boris Tzevtanov and violinist Waldo Alexander. The sessions led to a full-length album titled ‘Cacophonic’, self-released in 2015. 

In 2016, albinobeach – now comprising Pashaliev, Finch and Tzvetanov – began writing songs for a full-length album. A year later, Van Der Tuin rejoined the band to engineer, mix and write and record drums for the album. The album, titled 'The Ladder', was released in November 2020.

Arctic Drones is an independent online music magazine with a focus on a wide range of alternative music. We offer latest news, new music and videos from emerging artists, album reviews, interviews, streaming playlists, exclusive premieres and more.

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