“What am I to build, if my hands are broken, if I’m not the chosen one?” sings Steven McKellar of Civil Twilight on “Story of An Immigrant”, over a lush, dynamic beat that evokes the sounds of his native South Africa while steeped in the band’s everevolving present. The foursome (Steven, his brother and guitarist Andrew, drummer Richard Wouters and Kevin Dailey on keys and guitar) are living proof of what happens when you stop worrying about being the chosen one and make music built on both the roots that grew you and the love that keeps you thriving every day. Civil Twilight’s songs embrace every corner of human emotion, balancing delicate, poetic lyrics with sweeping arrangements that touch all the senses: a phrase to make you think; a rolling drumbeat you can feel in your bones; a guitar vamp as illustrative as a picture; a shimmer of keys whose light can nearly be seen and heard. Produced by Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Bombay Bicycle Club, Cut Copy), their third record on Wind-Up is built on this vibrancy, on the permanent dust of a Cape Town youth; on the connection that unites them all as brothers beyond blood and on their new home in America where they pull from the innate, thriving musicianship of Nashville, where they live. When you listen to Civil Twilight, from their self-titled debut, to 2012’s widely lauded Holy Weather to now, it’s easy to understand why the band has topped five million YouTube views and reached historic success with film and television syncs – because it’s music you can’t shake, that translates experience into moments and creates melodies that become imbedded deep under the skin. We’re all immigrants, in some way, and Civil Twilight’s singing our national anthem.

The Wheel Again is an Indie/Folk band from Stellenbosch, formed February 2013.

Otto Bam and Stephen Murdoch both sing the lead and write songs. Otto plays electric and acoustic guitars and lays down the drum grooving. Stephen also strums an acoustic guitar. Dirk Brand plays bass guitar and does velvety backing vocals.

New video for "Teenagers" out now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6byIXcDE2q8

"Enjoy Yourself" - a new album by Desmond & the Tutus, Part 1 now on iTunes! Parts 2 & 3 coming out early 2015!

https://itunes.apple.com/za/album/enjoy-yourself-pt.-1-ep/id909602633

Desmond & The Tutus have been scare-crowing across the world’s stages with their unique, some might call it niche, brand of kwela-indie-punk for just on ten years. But to call it niche would be entirely missing the point, the Tutus are more shape-shifters than niche, their sound slotting comfortably between Thandiswe Mazwai and Hugh Masekela, as it did at the Soweto Heritage Fest in 2013, or between surf rocker’s Beach Party and synth mavens Gateway Drugs during the Puma Happy Holiday in summer 13/14.

The Tutus’ have also toured extensively internationally, opening on their 2009 UK tour for The Vivian Girls, The Soft Pack and Women. They played at one of the last, and legendary Optimo parties at The Sub Club in Glasgow and somehow managed to sell out their first European headliner at Vanner och Bekanta in Stockholm. They’ve also played among Johnny Clegg, The Mahotella Queens, and Blk Jks at the South African themed Rio Loco in Toulouse, France in 2010. As an intern trying to put together a blurb on deadline you could probably just say something like “Desmond & The Tutus have sold out shows all over the globe, including Japan, France, Sweden and the UK”, I mean if you don’t want to go into the whole how-do-I-trim-that-mass-of-info-down panic.

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