Things Can Only Get Meta

This was a live recording from TOKYO at UNIT club.  It was a celebration with the entire club eleven crew after ELEVEN had been shut down.  THIS MIX has been UPLOADED TO COMMEMORATE 30,000 FANS on facebook.  Thank you for the support!

DVS1 live at UNIT club in tokyo.(CLUB ELEVEN EVENT) Recorded on AUG/03/2013

B.O.P. - Naja!!

"Lex"

Written, arranged and produced by Josué

Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Keyboards - Josué
Drums - Dean Thompson
Trumpet - Nick Ciccarelli

Engineered, Mastered and co-produced by Dave "Kwzé" Truong.

Available on "Bad News" EP.

Lex - Josué

Pre-Order: bit.ly/gqomohpre  

"Like being suspended over the gravitational field of a black hole, and lovin' it" - Kode 9

“Massive, dramatic tracks!! Most of these are giving me goosebumps! A really strong presentation of the Durban sound” - Spoek Mathambo

"A great snapshot of what's happening with the Gqom sound. Dark and rolling, with a real feeling of menace and intent behind each track" - Mumdance

“Gqom Oh! is the kind of bolt from the blue that doesn’t come along every day. ” FACT Mag

“Utterly mesmeric” Boiler Room

“A perfect opportunity to investigate exactly what’s going down in one of the hottest genres around” THUMP

“Keep it playing and you might confuse its march for your own heartbeat” Pitchfork

“Genuinely without precedent” DJ Mag

“Crackling with volatile energy” The Wire

"Something fresh that gets very addictive, very quickly" Mixmag 8/10



‘The Sound of Durban Vol.1’ represents the first full length compilation collecting the sound of the suburbs and townships of Durban, South Africa known as “gqom”. The album unites many of the local young producers of this fresh genre over 15 tracks on double LP and digital (with four bonus tracks) released via the Gqom Oh! label on 29th January 2016.

The result of Rome-based DJ and musician Nan Kolè teaming up with South Africa-based Lerato Phiri, the Gqom Oh! label was set up to highlight the music and artists of Durban, the often overlooked cradle of the new South African sound. Speaking to The FADER in October this year, Kolè says of Phiri “Thanks to her work the artists I was interested in had greater trust in a stranger who contacted them from Italy to promote a kind of music that even South African promoters don't want to promote or to enter the club.”

Derived from an onomatopoeic Zulu word signifying a drum, “gqom” - in the local slang - “iz da sound u get wen u drop a rock on tiles”. This extraordinary, apocalyptic bass music encompasses many influences. Each polyrhythmic track draws on the darker side of electronic music, hip hop, soundsystem culture, kwaito, UK funky and deep tribal African vibrations. As Kolè puts it: “You can feel the troubled history of South Africa. It’s riot music." Tied to a specific dance called bhenga, gqom happens in a DIY-oriented universe, grafting organic and homemade samples on sourced software to create this wholly unique sound. The label’s greater aim is to invest in much needed technology to help build a local creative infrastructure.

‘The Sound of Durban Vol.1’ features a host of local talent including Julz Da DeeJay, Cruel Boyz, Citizen Boy and Formation Boyz. This compilation was preceded by a 12” EP release in summer 2015 described by Hyponik as “thunderous prime time music” and Complex said “it surely won't be long until clubs across the UK are shaken by this new South African sound”. Resident Advisor’s review mentioned “these three tracks muster up a hulking sound out of very few elements, and they do it without coming off macho or alienating—an achievement on its own”.

South Africa is a unique case in the African continent, a place of the soul that has no equal: so strongly western and so deeply African at the same time. With its mix of ethnic tradition and urban tension it has been a cradle of cultural phenomena. In its own way it is a country of great wealth, particularly rich of contradictions, yet 20 years after the end of apartheid little appears to have changed for the millions of black people that live in its notorious townships. It is from this background that innovations are continually being injected into the living body of the local music culture. The heartbeat of Durban is gqom. 

Emo Kid featuring Dj Bradolz - IYona

Release Details:
Title: Gqom Oh! X Crudo Mixtape
Catalogue Number: GQOM 003
Label: Gqom Oh!
Format: Tape/Digital
Release Date: 25 July 2016


The word Crudo [ˈkruːdo] in Italian translates as “raw” and this is the overarching concept around the latest Gqom Oh! Release. 

It is set to be in collaboration with Crudo Volta - a young Rome-based collective who focused on visual curation and dj culture. The mixtape is the soundtrack of the Woza Taxi documentary. Making the documentary in April 2016 - whilst visiting his artists and their families in Durban - label boss Nan Kolè painstakingly narrowed down this selection of tracks for the release. The trip lent a tremendous amount of in-sight to Nan Kolè, granting him both a detailed and broad view of the Gqom scene and what Gqom means to the youth of the township (for they consist the core music makers and listeners of Gqom).

Their unique sound, which took Europe by storm at the start of 2016, is a way for the youth in the township to express themselves - something that music does the world over - but moreover enables them to express their pride and experiences in their Zulu culture and history. Mawbestana from Forgotten Souls gave some insight into how the music was made. He said in the documentary “…Everyone thinks we have a mega studio with huge speakers but we are just ‘Hlanganisa’..” Hlanganisa is a zulu word literally translated as 'putting together'; This refers to creating something out of the few elements available to you “…Just like when you scrap the bottom of a pan to get some food out of it..” cited Mawbestana. 

The release features 14 tracks showcasing different and new music from Durban  - spanning Core Tribe through Sgubhu to Gqom. The 90 minute tape will consist of two sides, with Side A containing seven tracks and Side B containing a continuous mix and a digital download code granting access to the entire compilation. 

The tape will be release in ‘package’ format designed by Crudo Volta alongside a photography book with the best pictures from the trip to Durban by Tommaso Cas-sinis, a limited edition t-shirt and access to an online premiere of the documentary.







Tracks:
1 - Dominowe - Darbuka Tribe (Core Tribe)
2 - Dj Lag - Ithuna ( Grave Yard ) remastered 2016
3 - Julz da Deejay - Quantums And Qo
4 - Formation Boyz - dlala amaBenuBenu
5 - Citizen Boy - indaba ka bani besibenuza *
6 - Emo Kid feat. WorstHood - Hennessy
7 - Cruel Boyz - Cruel Drumz
8 - TLC Fam - No 2 BeeF (slima)
9 - Mafia Boyz - Bhengi yoKhalipha **
10 - Dj Mabheko - Izinyosi (Core Tribe) ***
11 - Julz da Deejay - Broken Souls
12 - Dominowe - Dark Valley (Core Tribe)
13 - TLC Fam - Umgcwabo weNdanda (Da 4th Term Mix)
14 - Forgotten Souls - Blow my mind (dj Nerd vocalist)



Translation
* who cares if we dance under the influence of drugs
** dance retarded
*** wasps

for press pics or any other enquires write to gqomubhenga@gmail.com




Credits :

art direction : Mike Calandra
Photography : Tommaso Cassinis

Label and artist management for South Africa : Lerato Phiri lerato@gqomoh.com
Label management : Craig Pugnetti craig@gqomoh.com


Emo Kid - Hennessy featuring WorstHood

oh the things we’ve been through 
its just luck where not dead 
oh i vibe with you 
cause where bothe loose in the head 
great minds think alike though 
fools seldom differ if i 
made a made a dollar laughing 
id be a whole lot richer 

we say where gonna change 
over and over again 
i think im deranged 
but im not the only one 
i dont act my age 
i dont want to grow old 
where all a little strange 
truth be told

maybe my flaws hold me together
theres a balance on the ledger       
or iv only made it through 
cause my tax is overdue 
i guess my numbers coming up 
but i don’t want to know the odds 
ignorance is bliss 
ill take it as it comes

Change

TimuWest - Getting Lit (Prod.TimuWest)

Everyone was doing remixes of this track so I did a better one.

Change

Joel Thurner

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