Black Coffee and Culoe De Song are deservedly top of the South African house tree. The pair, whose Soulistic music exits speakers in clubs and cabs across the country, are a key influence on a new generation of artists structuring their musical passion on a 4/4 beat. Two such acts are the Mushroom Boyz, and a young man from Soweto we raved about in the outro of SHOOK 008: Deep Sixty (formally Master MP6-60). Audio from each below.

Mushroom Boyz are a duo from Jo’burg. Their sound encapsulates the drive of deep house with kwaito’s sluggish kick. Three songs make up their Naheng EP, out on Smooth Agent Records.

Mushroom Boyz – Mokete Naheng

Mushroom Boyz – Pitiki

Mushroom Boyz – The Slave Song

One of our favourite South African producers is Thabiso Mamogwa (Deep Sixty, formally Master MP6-60). He’s kindly authorised us to freely share one of his unreleased tracks: Kapu Tribe.

Deep Sixty – Kapu Tribe (right click, save as)

A participant at RBMA London earlier in the year, a couple of Thabiso’s mixes can be heard here or via the RBMA players below.

PS. Culoe’s still keeping ahead of most with this gem of a mix he compiled for BPM mag.

THE ACCIDENTAL POWERCUT
Music Uncovered. Music Rediscovered.

Quintessentially Soho at the House of St Barnabas, 1 Greek Street, Soho Square, London W1D 4NQ
Summer 2010. 1st July, 5th August, 2nd September.

7pm – 12am

accidentalpowercut.com

Suggested £5 donation

Charlie Dark’s guest Monday post on Brownswood.co.uk

South Africa has got it going on right now. Forget football (the country’s footballing heritage was decimated by apartheid), in 2010 it’s South Africa’s young party starters, streetwear entrepreneurs, dance music moguls, grassroots organizations, and Pan-African publishers who are attracting the eyes of the world.

South Africa has never considered itself anything but a First World country and this is what a new generation is out to prove. In our special South Africa issue, headline artists BLK JKS meet guitar hero Dr. Phillip ‘Malombo’ Tabane; international dance music stars Black Coffee and Culoe de Song provide an entry point into the ubiquitous house music scene; and in the beating heart of Soweto we meet the country’s future leaders. We also revisit the radical 1960s jazz players through Basil Breakey’s photography, the multi-racial 1980s hip-hop movement in Cape Town and highlight new movements like the Pan African Space Station.

Elsewhere in the issue, Bilal gets us all hot in the middle, DJ Spinn gives us a brief history of Chi-Town’s Footworkers and how he needs Juke Music All Night Long. There’s Sun Ra’s Arkestra, The Now Sound of Brasil, Colombian soundsystems and much more…

Pick up a copy here or at your local newsagent or record store. For all you readers in the US and Canada, we’ll be available in Borders and Barnes & Noble from next week, so there’s no excuses for missing out on SHOOK anymore.

As a taster, you can preview the whole magazine with this Issuu gizmo (click side arrow to flip page) and download the PDF onto your mobile phone if you roll like that.

George Fitzgerald headlines the first of a new London night for forward thinking bass and electronic music.

Following on from his debut 12″ on Hotflush, George Fitzgerald’s been named as the first signing to Joy Orbison’s Doldrums label, but it’s his reputation as a live selector that’s kept him as one of the most in-demand play out DJs of the moment.

Crises will also be playing reppin’ Rinse FM, as will man of the moment Dodger Man (look for him in the next issue in Shook!) who’s much hyped debut on wax we’ve been assured is being pressed now for a September release date.

Dick Turpin, We Are Dubist and Awkward Movements Sessions /MMM regular Ray Nulds round off what’s set to be a memorable night.

The whole thing’s going down at Gramaphone Wednesday, September 11th and is sure to fill up quick.

£5 on door before 10, £6 after or pre-order below.

Tickets copped at:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/90923
Facebook group at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145293952162496&ref=ts

Dodger Man’s even bombed up a short mix in pre-tribute to the night. Check it out embedded below:

Or right click here to download here for free: Keep it Down! Promo

I got back to Liverpool on Wednesday and I’ve still got butterflies thinking about last weekend. Sarah Favouritzm got it right when she said that what happened in Croatia used to only happen in Southport! It was a weekend of sunshine, smiles and musical bliss. The Weekender family was joined by hundreds of first-time Southport faces from over thirty countries, all with one thing in common: a glowing love of the soulful sounds that made the first SuncéBeat an event that will be remembered for years to come.

I’ve picked out a few of my highlights from this unforgettable trip.

Pre-festival drinks with Alex and Dave at the Hotel Pinja beach hut
I love to wax lyrical about my passion for soulful music, about the DJs and live acts who take us to that special place, and about the smiling people who together become the world’s friendliest crowd at every Southport event. But before all of that, I’d like to say a special thank you to Alex Lowes and Dave Gardner, the two people who have worked tirelessly for all these years to create the parties where our treasured moments are shared. Their contribution to the music we love is great, and I’m sure these sentiments are shared by every member of the worldwide Southport family.

Theo Parrish’s set at the Beach Bar
I don’t know another DJ who can move so effortlessly across genre, time and tempo. With no musical stone left unturned, Theo’s two hour set was a thrilling trip from the wildest jazz to the darkest techno. The standout track for me was Charles Earland’s soaring jazz workout, Leaving This Planet.

Larry Heard’s set on the boat party
A scorching, mid-tempo deep house journey. Hearing Larry’s live vocals over the seminal Can You Feel It as the boat party erupted was a priceless moment. It was great to hear Joey Beltram’s Energy Flash too; the first time I heard this in a club was when Marc Rowlands came to Liverpool for a memorable set at The Magnet.

José James performing Detroit Loveletter
Produced by Moodymann and performed live with the mesmerising Jordana de Lovely, José took this Blackmagic highlight to another level with adlibs from Marvin Gaye’s longing classic, I Want You.

Kev Beadle’s Beach Bar set
Holding court over the terrace with every set he played, Kev’s diverse selections and impeccable programming peaked with the beautiful Osunlade rework of Erykah Badu’s Twenty Feet Tall.

Closing my Beach Bar set with the Yam Who? rework of Frontin’
The first Southport Weekender event I went to was the 2003 To The Manor Born Garden Party in Sedgefield. It was Sunday 24th August and Phil Asher was opening up for DJ Spinna in Hardwick Hall’s back room. The last tune Phil played was Yam Who?’s rework of Frontin’, Pharrell’s finest moment. My hairs stood on end as that slo-mo groove kicked, and the flute solo took me to another place. I’ll never forget it. I picked up the bootleg 12” some months later and it’s never left my DJ bag since. (This was also the first time I’d heard Spinna’s remix of the Southport anthem Days Like This that was met then with the same rapturous response it received with every play this weekend.)

Imagine my surprise when I dropped this track to close my Beach Bar set on Sunday and Phil Asher stepped up into the booth. It was a real full circle experience that was made even more memorable by Phil’s enthusiasm and humbleness when I thanked him for turning me on to the track seven years ago.

Dean Smith’s terrace sets on Monday and Tuesday
It was a pleasure and a privilege to spend a couple of days in the company of Dean Smith and his lovely girlfriend Selina after the festival wound up. His ten-hour sets were the perfect way to float back down to earth after the hedonism of the SuncéBeat weekend. A resident at Café Del Mar from 1991 to 1993, Dean’s passion and mastery of his craft shone through every sun-kissed selection. (This piece took much longer to write than I excepted, thanks to the musical distractions provided by Dean’s brilliant Soul Share Radio site.)

Sunday Boat Party with Marc Rowlands, Rub & Tug and Larry Heard
If memory serves me correctly, this is the set I played on Sunday. I know a lot of the music was recorded last weekend, so I’ll make any corrections and post the mix when I get to listen back. For now, I’ve added Youtube links to the tracks I could find, and Discogs links to the ones I couldn’t.

1. DBX – And There Ain’t (Troopa’s Deep Mix)
2. Steve Spacek – Dollar (Remix)
3. The Revenge – Looking Up To You
4. Floating Points – Shark Chase
5. Somore – I Refuse (Salvadore’s Groove)
6. Somore – I Refuse (Soft Ambient Vocal)
7. Kerri Chandler – Atmosphere (Track 1)
8. Kenny Bobien – Rise Above The Storm
9. Pal Joey – New Breed EP
10. Kerri Chandler – A Demo by 6:23
11. Big Moses feat. Ambrosia – That’s How Much I Love You (Shelter Vox)
12. Try To Find Me – Get To My Baby (TBD Remix)
13. Kenny Dope – Inside

If you want to relive those sunshine memories, I’ve made a compilation of some of the songs I played at the Beach Bar over the weekend. Enjoy!

SuncéBeat Terrace Mix by soundofdusk

Track List
1. Seu Jorge – Everybody Loves The Sunshine
2. José Feliciano – Sunny
3. Moe Koffman – Egyptology (Days Gone By)
4. Bonobo feat. Andreya Triana – The Keeper
5. The Mole – Dreamer
6. Blackpocket – Ur A Sta
7. Flying Lotus – Tea Leaf Dancers
8. José James – Detroit Loveletter
9. Shafiq Husayn – Lil’ Girl
10. Viktor Duplaix – Galaxy
11. Pangaea – Memories
12. Stacey Epps – Floatin’ (Live Remix)
13. Onra – Don’t Stop
14. Only Child feat. Amp Fiddler – U Bring Me Vibes
15. Only Child feat. Amp Fiddler – Find A Way (Yam Who? Rework)

Unrushed, North consists of ten songs. ‘Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer’ is the only track to have been previously released, the others, which venture in a different direction from past material, emphasize how Darkstar are an act of idiosyncratic brilliance.

Established duo of James Young and Aiden Whalley welcome James Buttery to their line-up, making the album far more vocal than their 12s. Singing over such striking instrumentals can’t be easy, yet Buttery excels managing to marry his tones with the stunning productions. ‘Under One Roof’, one of the album’s highlights, exemplifies this.

Samuel Beckett reputedly directed actors to perform with “less colour”, instructions that can be interpreted as removing all excessive elements. Darkstar’s debut evokes the same message. As with jagged concrete Brutalist structures and their interplay with a grey British sky, an achromatic wash prompts scrutiny at details. On North, an uncluttered palette of sounds encourages the listener to examine (and enjoy) how elements are expertly layered.

Melancholic and detailed, North lies far closer to synthesized movements of 70s Germany and England in the early-80s than wobbly bass from the late-noughties. A relationship typified in ‘Ostkreuz’, where 1min30 in the combo of synth and bass cries out for David Bowie’s vocals (circa Low) to enter, however, the song named after a Berlin train station remains instrumental.

Excelling as individual songs and as a whole, North includes a fantastic reinterpretation of the Human League in ’Gold’. Their first single for Hyperdub, ‘Squeeze My Lime’, half features, with the melody and lyrics from the springy 12″ version appearing in the album’s closing track: ‘When It’s Gone’. “I’m taking my time…”

‘Out of Touch’ was the first sign of Darkstar’s excellence, three years on that promise has been confirmed. Due to surface in October, North is set to blissfully accompany grey skies and fallen leaves. Prior to release it can’t be called a masterpiece, but all the components are there.

www.hyperdub.net

Darkstar perform live (as a trio) around Europe:

4-Sep-10 Netherlands Amsterdam Bimhuis
25-Sep-10 UK London Eat your own Ears / Bugged Out @ XOYO
8-Oct-10 UK Manchester Bugged Out @ Sankeys
5-Nov-10 Italy Turin Club to Club X @ Teatro Carignano
11-Dec-10 Netherlands The Hague State X New Forms @ Paard Van Troje

An interview between Darkstar and Kode9 awaits on Hyperdub’s blog.

IMAGE: Jamie Mack (from Hyperdub feature in SHOOK 005)

Soundcrash presents… GONJASUFI & THE GASLAMP KILLER (LIVE!)
@ Electrowerkz, 7 Torrens Street, London, EC1V 1NQ
£10 adv, £15 otd
Tickets: www.soundcrashmusic.com

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Soundcrash presents the long awaited Live UK debut of the most mystifying voices on Warp Records.

Gonjasufi is the name the dreadlocked, dark-eyed, Mojave Desert-dwelling Sumach Ecks assumes for his current musical incarnation. It’s more accurate to describe him as a vocalist than a singer, as the sounds that he disgorges on his debut album, A Sufi and a Killer, travel rapidly from warbling notes to gravelly wails and dry-throated cackles.

The haggardly psychedelic and Eastern-influenced feel of Gonjasufi is layered and complex. Produced by the Gaslamp Killer, Mainframe, and Gonjasufi’s Warp Records label mate Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi’s music is an experience in and of itself, and tonight we have the priviledge of listening to it LIVE and direct in the UK for the very first time.

The Motherf&%$ing Gaslamp Killer is without a doubt the most entertaining man behind two turntables. Mixing in and out of a myriad styles like it’s going out of fashion, gesticulating, jumping and screaming, GLK is not your average DJ. He will mess with your head. In a good way.

Resonance fm – OST May15th ShookMag by wearepodcast

To make this all more visually appealing, here’s some covers from records played.

Thanks to Jonny Trunk for inviting us and Paul Camo? for uploading the audio.

Martyn – Great Length (by Ramón Gieling)

ramongieling.com

3024world.com

Thanks to on-point and Job De Wit.