I've been writing about the new House Music of South Africa for going on four years now. One of the things that bothers me is that the "Black Coffee sound" - mellow, polished, almost R&B to be honest - is considered by many as emblematic of the whole damn thing. This misinterpretation isn't unique to South Africa - it probably pisses off someone like Richard Earnshaw to be grouped together with Deadmau5 as "House" - but it is unfair to the South African artists who find their own sound marginalized even while the genre as a whole is being popularized.
But here we go with this four track EP of deep, hypnotic House courtesy of Offie and Ky from Johannesburg on Lars Behrenroth's Deeper Shades imprint. If all you know is "Superman" and "Turn Me On", this will be a revelation that yes, not all South African House Music is interchangeable.
"Ad Fontes" is the clear winner on the EP: you can almost see the colored lights throbbing overhead in a crowded room when you listen to it. It starts with just a pulse, scarcely audible, and builds with a flourish so subtle you hardly realize what this thing has turned into before the break at 4:30 in. Lars Behrenroth's remix is choice: pound-the-wall beats lead in to that gorgeously lustrous vocal sample and the swirling FX of the original. Hard pressed but I'd probably take Lars' remix here just for the extra injection of adrenalin.
"Ad Fontes" is my takeaway here, but I have the feeling that I'll hear "Undefined Life" more often. It just has it, that indefinable quality that convinces you that you've heard a track before even when it's new. "Mirror Dance" had it, and so does "Undefined Life" with its soft but emphatic chants and gleaming steel percussion. Tear through your iTunes, your Rekordbox or your crate: you've never heard it before but it worms its way into your solar plexus in such a way that you will swear that you have.
[ - Review by Terry Matthew / July 2011 - ]
Available: Released June 17, 2011; available digitally from Juno Download and iTunes.
Listen
Offie & Ky 'Ad Fontes EP' (DSOH020) by Lars Behrenroth
| + | Track Listing | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 01: | Offie & Ky: Ad Fontes (Original Mix) | 7"29 |
| 02: | Offie & Ky: Ad Fontes (Lars Behrenroth Remix) | 7:45 |
| 03: | Offie & Ky: Undefined Life (Original Mix) | 5:25 |
| 04: | Offie & Ky: Undefined Life (Yotam Avni Deeper Shades Dub) | 6:51 |
Terry Matthew is the managing editor of 5 Magazine. You can contact him at 
