Digging: Laurent Garnier, Solomun, Âme, Justin Cudmore, Jacques Renault, Fred P, Luke Solomon, Fouk, Bill Brewster, Danvers, Horse Meat Disco, Clandestino, Thris Tian, Harri, Kassian, DJ Aakmael, Joyce Muniz, Jad & The, Hardrock Striker, Joshua James...
Maxime Alexander joins Monologues Records as our first South African artist, creating a wild miso-mash of African electronic music and house for a brilliantly fresh EP.
"The whole EP is kwaito and gqom inspired and the other artists involved undoubtedly helped shape the whole records production too" says the now-London-based talent.
'BSA Freestyle #1' kicks off with a rolling kwaito x deep house x acid vibe, squelching and throbbing in all the right places and with an infectious vocal from $hakes. "$hakes is a poet, writer, painter, clothing designer and rapper from Eastern Cape in South Africa currently living between Johannesburg and Cape Town, we’d been friends for a while and he then moved into my music studio to use as a painting space so we were together almost every day. He’d often just freestyle and mumble words over instrumentals while I was producing and that’s actually how 'BSA Freestyle' came about. He was rolling a spliff and I just brought my mic over to his chair and told him to keep going, it was literally one take."
'Dress The Part' continues on a chunkier theme, putting deep house through the distortion grinder to create something more abrasive and intense. "'Dress The Part' came about similarly, again just freestyling over an instrumental of mine which I then chopped up after. I met Salayi and Decaf through $hakes as they often worked together under the clothing and lifestyle brand Born Out Of Boredom. Salayi is from a township in Cape Town called Langa and Decaf from Cape Town. They all have the most unique style and personalities and I just wanted to collaborate with them and capture a part of their essence in our music."
'Bag' rounds off the EP with a clattering glom style, on-beat snares smacking hard as menacing vocals abound. We can't wait to hear what Maxime turns out next.
The self-titled debut EP from the cross-cultural duo of Algerian-French producer Nadjib Ben Bella and South African DJ Aero Manyelo. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 30, 2021
Dance music running the full sonic spectrum: patient house music, four-on-the-floor dance grooves, and enlightened lyricism. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 19, 2017