Dance The Instinct – éVoid

Dance The Instinct – éVoid

After the phenomenal success of their eponymously titled debut album, the Windrich brothers relocated to London. The move was mainly to avoid being conscripted into the army. There, in 1986, they recorded ‘Here Comes The Rot’, their difficult 2^nd album. This would open with the track ‘Dance The Instinct’.

éVoid fans would have been immediately struck by the different sound that came with this move as the track was punkier and seemed to be more frenetic than ‘Shadows’ and ‘Taximan’, their 2 big hits from their debut. And yet, even with this harder sound, there are still elements of the éVoid that people will have known. The first human sound on the track is a cry that feels like it is something that is reaching out across the vast African continent from a cold London. But the elements of their new environment show through in the darker, harder-edged synth bass that underpins the song.

And the lyrics also look at their move – ‘There goes the New Wave with its Two-Tone glory/And the ethnic rebels have all sold their stories/Here comes tomorrow it’s no bed of roses/you need backbone and muscle in this overgrown jungle’. This seems to look at the Windrichs’ facing up to their new reality and trying to come to grips with it. There is a real sense of struggle in the song with a feeling of yearning for the warmth and joy of Africa, yet bravely facing up to the challenges the harder cold of London brought.

Despite this conflict within the song, they still managed to produce a catchy tune which one can dance to. And they did this by listening to their own words as they sing ‘Got to stay ahead by going back to your roots’. We will never know if this was comparatively less successful than ‘Shadows’ or ‘Taximan’ because of the new sound and direction they had with this song, whether it was just that difficult second album syndrome, or whether it was because they were unable to promote the album locally.

Where to find it:
Here Comes The Rot – eVoid (2001), Fresh Music, FRESHCD 117

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Rolling Of The Bones – Hawk

Africa She Too Can Cry – Hawk

There is something primal about ‘The Rolling Of The Bones’ by Hawk (aka Joburg Hawk) and this feeling is there from the first ominous guitar note. The pounded ‘African’ drums that come in within a few seconds add to this. Then comes Dave Ornellas’ gruff and booming vocals and soon there is a kind of celestial choir surrounding the voice. But then that was what Hawk were made of. They took the heavy rock sound that was emerging in the late 60’s/early 70’s (think Deep Purple and Black Sabbath) and Africanised it.

But this is not the sunny skies, graceful animals and beautiful savannah’s of Africa that this song looks to. Rather it draws energy from the strange underworld of witchdoctors, dark caves and rituals. It’s earthy and echoes the Shona story that the earth of Africa is red from all the blood spilt fighting over the land.

Ornellas and his band tap into a world that seems as far removed from rock music as South Africa is from Europe and America where this kind of music was emanating from at that time. Yet they fuse the two together into a dense track of just over two and a half minutes to create something uniquely African yet dressed in the heavy rock of ‘the west’. Later band like Juluka, éVoid and Hotline (and yes Paul Simon) would weave a feeling of Africa with pop sensibilities, but Hawk made this mix years before and did so with a thundering track that had echoes of witchdoctors climbing inside the belly of a Deep Purple song and turning into our very own hard rock song.

Where to find it:

Africa She Too Can Cry (Official CD re-issue) (2004) RetroFresh, freshcd137

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Jiving To The Weekend Beat – éVoid

Jiving To The Weekend Beat -Various Artists

You know ‘Shadows’ and ‘Taximan’, but back in the day you may not have known ‘Jiving To The Weekend Beat’. It wasn’t on either of the original releases of éVoid’s first 2 albums but did appear on a limited edition cassette that was sold at gigs at the Springbok Bar in London after the Windrich brothers had relocated to the UK. Fortunately for those who didn’t manage to get across to London to grab a copy of the tape, Benjy Mudie came to the rescue by including it in the bonus material of the re-release of ‘éVoid’, the band’s debut album. And in case you didn’t catch it there, Mudie also released an album called ‘Jiving To The Weekend Beat’ which included material (mostly from the 80’s) of excellent SA music and the song opens that compilation.

The title pretty much tells you what the song will sound like as from the very first guitar notes you are jiving with an abandonment usually reserved for Friday and Saturday nights. It is a life affirming joyfest bouncing around like an ethno-punk on a nightclub stage. You can bop away to this track which mingles western pop and rock with township jive and a bit of punk attitude thrown in for good measure. It has all the energy of a shebeen on payday.

With its fresh sound, catchy rhythms and joie de vivre lyrics, this is a bit of a lost classic from those mad days of the 80’s when the white kids were ‘doing a Graceland’ before Paul Simon thought of it and jiving was leaking out of the townships and into the Hillbows and Braamfonteins of white suburban South Africa. It’s not as serious as ‘Shadows’, nor as punky as ‘Taximan’ but it is a great track and we owe a debt of gratitude to Benjy Mudie for helping prevent the song languishing and fading into obscurity on a rare cassette. And, I can let you into a little secret, it is possible to jive to this song during the week too (in fact almost impossible not to, if you just put it on).

Where to find it:
éVoid (re-release) – éVoid (2000), Retrofresh, FRESHCD106

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Love In The Movies – Askari

Love In The Movies – Askari

When éVoid started singing about being a ‘fadget’ some would have immediately wondered if a ‘fadget’ had anything to do with Fad Gadget, the UK alternative synth band which was essentially a guy called Frank Tovey. However, as éVoid’s sound was too African, despite some of the bass synth lines sounding a little like something Fad Gadget would have done, there was not enough there to make the full link.

éVoid’s popularity peaked around 1983/84, then in 1985 the Windrich brothers decided to move to England to try their luck there. Around about this time Wayne Harker left the group and formed one called Askari with Rob Ashley and Ernest Milsom. The band’s name is the Swahili word for soldier and, as far as I can tell, they only recorded one single, ‘Love In The Movies’. Here one sees Harker losing the fadget and becoming more Fad Gadget. There is that slightly ominous synth bassline that persists throughout the song and the almost emotionless cold vocals that were Fad Gadget’s trademark.

Fans of éVoid may have been slightly disappointed with this change in direction for the ex-Voider, but there is something compelling about the coldness of the song that seems to suck you into a film noir kind of world. As Ernest Milsom sings, ‘There’s no love like love love in the movies’. The romance of Hollywood is a long way off what happens in the real world and leaving éVoid did not lead to a Hollywood type happy ending for Harker as his new venture barely caused a wave on the local music scene. Perhaps they should have chosen ‘Jive Monkey’, the b-side of the single as the a-side as it has more shades of éVoid to it, but then again, I can’t imagine he would have wanted to be an éVoid clone.

‘Love In The Movies’ is a sadly overlooked song from the 80’s. Drawing on the darker and less poppy synth sounds of the era, it lacked commercial appeal, but is well worth searching for and perhaps can be re-evaluated as a lost classic.

Where to find it:
Singles bins if you’re lucky

Videos:
Single version:

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Turn On You – Matthew van der Want

Turn On You – Matthew van der Want

‘Turn On You’ was Matthew van der Want’s debut album and the title track opened the album. And if this was your introduction to Mr van der Want, it’s not a bad one to start with. It has a sort of REM sound going on, which sounds uplifting and melancholic at the same time. It’s pop, but not pop. It’s rock, but not rock.

The song comes from that period in South African music where the big bands were no longer looking to local sounds like eVoid, Hotline and such like did in the 80’s, but were looking to the rock and grunge sounds coming out of the US. Bands such as Counting Crows, Hootie and the Blowfish and the Spin Doctors come to mind when listening to ‘Turn On You’.

But there is a dark side to the lyrics which talk of ‘rummaging through your private things’ and which go on to say ‘I’m not sure what’s wrong with me’ and ‘I turn you on, I turn on you’. Given van der Want’s history, its not too difficult to see why he is insecure. He’s had a tough life and, from what I read somewhere, was living in a tent at some stage. However, the boy come good and produced some seriously good music once he started recording. He would go on to make even more polished and probably more immediate music alongside Chris Letcher, but this track marked him as someone to watch.

Where to find it:
Turn On You – Matthew van der Want, Tic Tic Bang records

Buy:
https://shiftyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/turn-on-you

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Vice In Bombay – Via Afrika

Vice In Bombay – Via Afrika

Via Afrika’s big hit was ‘Hey Boy’ but there was another track which came from their second album ‘Scent Of A Scandal’ which, although not as well remembered, was just as good. Like ‘Hey Boy’, ‘Vice In Bombay’ had an earthy Africa feel without being overtly African and it is as easy to dance to as its predecessor.

There is Rene Veldsman’s alluring vocals which are infected with the sleaziness of the subject matter of the song as the ‘s’ sound is hissed out while a witchy vocal seems to weave itself in and out of the song. Occasionally a woman ululates and it conjures up images of women dancing round a fire (or it might be because the video for the song has women dancing round a fire?).

There is also the punky aspect to the song that bands like Via Afrika and éVoid brought to their music and at times there are hints of Siouxsie & The Banshees in this track. It’s a seductive dance track, exotic and dusty.

Where to find it:
Via Afrika – Via Afrika (2000), Retro Fresh, freshcd 107

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Shadows – Wonderboom

Wonderboom

When you take on a classic, you often take a huge risk. ‘It’s not as good as the original’ or even, ‘why don’t they just leave the old songs alone, you can’t make it better’ will often be thrown at you, invariably by the older generation who grew up with the original. And I must admit, I am like that sometimes with cover versions or remakes of films that I grew up liking.

However, with Wonderboom’s take on arguably the best South African track of the 80s, I am quite content to sit back and enjoy one of my favourites being given a update, and I did my growing up in the 80s. Wonderboom are one of a handful of South African acts who could have pulled this off in this style, injecting the the old ‘bundu bush’ ethno-punk original with a hard edged rock swagger and the result is an in-yer-face, wall-of-sound song that retains the feel and tune of the original, but has dragged it through the bush backwards into the naughties.

It is a much more straight forward cover than their take on Rabbitt’s ‘Charlie’ where they took that one and turned it into a heavy kwaito track and I would have to say it is not as good as the original (because I am old), but it certainly shows respect to the éVoid version and as one who grew up with the original, you can’t ask for more than that. Like nearly every cover of a classic, this will live in the, erm, shadow of the original, but it is not so pale that you can hardly make out the details shadow. It is a clear, well-defined one created by a sharp African sun, it is one that demands to be noticed.

Where to find it:
Rewind – Wonderboom (2001), David Gresham Records, CDDGR 1533

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Santana Sessions:

Maid In Africa – Electric Petals

Polynation – Electric Petals

This is the second song from the solitary Electric Petals album, ‘Polynation’, to appear on this list. The punny title is a trademark of Danny de Wet, who was in early eVoid and went on to be one of the driving forces behind Wonderboom, and he also supplies the bittersweet lyrics.

The song is essentially a conversation between a white western tourist and a black South African ‘maid’. The tourist arrives in the country and buys up all the souvenirs on offer, even wanting to have the beautiful sky. But the ‘maid’ answers that, even if you were born and bred here, the sky is not ours to give. The the plight of the black people is raised and the tourist asks what can she do? But again the answer is that she can’t know that, even if she had been born and bred in Africa. The song then goes on to say that despite being down trodden, they still ‘shine through the ugliness’.

This bittersweet contrast between the ugliness of apartheid and the way that people can still ‘shine through’ brings a poingnancy to this song which subtly weaves a thin thread of township guitar into the predominantly western sounding song. This effect is further enhanced when the song moves into the ‘shines through’ section and a then, not very well known, Vusi Mahlasela delivers what the sleeve notes to the CD describe as a ‘one in a million vocal’ which underscores the ability to shine.

The album and the song were largely ignored by the general public at the time and that probably had more to do with the uncomfortable politics in the lyrics than the music itself as it is packed with great tunes with ‘Maid In africa’ being one of the standout ones.

Where to find it:
Polynation – The Electric Petals (1995), Teal Records, MMTCD-1906

I Am A Fadget – éVoid

I Am A Fadget – éVoid

If by some weird twist of fate you had not already heard ‘Shadows’ or ‘Taximan’ and then decided to buy this strange looking LP (because they were LPs back then) with an opening track called ‘I Am A Fadget’ thinking that it some how related to British Indie band Fad Gadget (Fad + Gadget = Fadget), you would probably have gone ‘Blimey,’ (because you are a fan of British music and the poms say ‘blimey’) ‘that Frank Tovey’ (the front man of Fad Gadget) ‘has gone all ethnic and funky.

On ‘I Am A Fadget’ the Windrich boys took those serious-sythn-sounds-from-the-lower-notes-on-the-keyboard sound that bands like Fad Gadget were playing and injected it with some earthy Africa rhythm and threw in a funky guitar over the top of it to create a jerky, fashion conscious slice of ethno-pop-punk. Erik’s voice stretches across the quirky beats giving an overall effect of something unsettled and nervous, tightly wound and full of pent up energy.

The song did not do as well ‘Shadows’ and ‘Taximan’ and its easy to see why. It is not as catchy as those two, it is a little too edgy for the mainstream, but it is a great song that probably would be better remembered if it didn’t have to live in the, erm, shadow, of its bigger brothers.

Where to find it:
éVoid – éVoid (2000), RetroFresh, freshcd 106

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Weeping – Erik Windrich

Erik Windrich

Okay, we need to start this one with a statement that this is not a cover of the classic Bright Blue song by the éVoid frontman. No this is a song which Erik wrote around the same time that Bright Blue were writing their song, however, Erik took about 26 years longer to release his song of the same name.

A lot had happened in that time. Erik, had re-located to London with his brother Lucien and the 2 of them were plying their trade as éVoid, performing live at The Springbok Bar in Covent Gardens. After years of that, things went quiet on the Windrich front till Erik decided to record a new album and when he did, he included this track which had been sitting around in his back pocket for a while. He found himself a few musicians to record with, including a guy called Mosi Conde from Guinea who brought a kora to the proceedings.

The result is a gently bittersweet song that has Mosi’s kora cascading around Erik’s guitar picking, the latter still having that South African sound that éVoid had managed to pluck from their instruments. It is a matured éVoid sound, no longer the manic bounce around the stage stuff, but a more refined take on life, but no less catchy. Like the éVoid track, ‘The Race Of Tan’, the lyrics ponder the fate of those whose ancestory was regarded as questionable and borderline acceptable under the apartheid regime. It looks at identity and racism.

This song should not be played next to the Bright Blue one to compare them just because they share a title. Both songs bring out the tears because of the injustices seen in the country back then, but while Bright Blue drag the extra sobs from you due to the dramatic beauty of their composition, Windrich seduces them from you using sheer gentle beauty.

Where to find it:
backyard Discovery – Erik Windrich (2003)

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