2011 in lists: SMACM releases!

Are you excited? You should be! Prepare your eyes and ears for a post that tries to catch up on my so over-due list making of things from last year, multiplied by the power of a Free Music Friday!

I'm still in the process of making a list of my favourite local recordings from this past year. While doing this I realised a large chunk of those recordings are actually things that we landed up releasing through SMACM, the label I launched last February. It seemed a little biased putting all those EPs in my SA Music list, so instead I'm giving them their own list. May I introduce to you

THE 2011 SMACM DISCOGRAPHY!
***

SMAC001

EYES LIKE MIRRORS

CRUSADES

Art by Franci Lawlor

Design by Ben Rausch

Download Crusades here!

SMAC002

VAMPIRE 9000

COLOURS

Art by Maaike Bakker

Download Colours here!

SMAC003

JAYSYNTH

ST

Art by Jason Sutherland

Download Jaysynth here!

SMAC004

MARTIANMARTIAN

ST

Art by Jean de Wet

Download Martianmartian here!

That's it for now; I hope that by this time next year I'll have been able to share even more lovely sounds coming out of our little country!

You are invited! Bliksem!

RSVP here!

"Bliksem!" is a heart-warming tale of friendship, cuddles, huge basslines, handclaps and fuckloads of soul. The story of two squirrels, the nimble Sassquatch, scurrying around The Musical Forest, gathering up the finest funk punk gems he can get his little paws on, and big old Matt Suttner, kicking back in his den and snacking on only the most delectable nuggets of pure disco goodness. In seasons passed the two were responsible for changing the face of Pretorian night-life with their Sovereign Academy adventures. This time around it's nothing as grand, just two furry little buddies, free entrance, snuggles and disco. No Dubstep? No cover? No Skippy? No School? No agro? Just disco?! BLIKSEM!

You are invited! She Vox!

This month we're throwing our High Five a little earlier than our usual end of the month slot. With Tuesday the 9th being Woman's Day, we figured a little party on the night before would be a pretty awesome way to celebrate our great great love of girls with microphones in their hands. As The Sassquatch, songs with girls singing in them (or at least boys singing like girls) formed the backbone of all my early sets. "The Sass" has obviously remained a prominent feature since, but I gotta say I'm dead excited to play an entire set of all girl vocals!

RSVP here!

You are invited! Robo 'a Go-go Dynamo!

It's been more than a year since we last threw one of our robot crafting, creative-jamming Dynamo parties, but now the little hamster that powers killer robots is back!

Ri and I have decided to dig Dynamo out of the toybox for the synthy, bleepy, bleepy, beaty installment of High Five Records!

RSVP here!

You are invited! Kick out The Jams!

The new High Five Records release "Kick out the Jams!", is an action packed ride dedicated to garage rock, guitar (over)driven pop and the sounds of the great grand-daddies of punk. If you're looking for modern-day radio hits, smooth RnB, bangers, anythingwithautotuneinit, darkside rave, gaga kaka or "something more fonkey", we highly recommend you do not expose yourself to the raw power of "Kick out the Jams!". You can get your fix all over the place, so why come to us looking to score something we're not pushing? That's just stupid.

DON'T BE A STOOGE!

RSVP here!

You are invited! Africa just wants to have fun!

Just in time before I leave for Europe we're squeezing in this month's High Five release! For April High Five is proud to be putting out a compilation we're calling "Africa Just Wants to have Fun!". Expect a special Big Five selection of High Five DJs spinning Kwela, Afrobeat, Jive and Africanized rock and roll, pop and soul!

RSVP here!

You are invited! High 5 takes 5!

It's time for our next installment in our ultra-fun series imaginary compilations/ real great parties! This month you can look forward to getting your swing on!

RSVP here!

You are invited! Wipe out!

You may remember that last month Ri and I threw a party to celebrate the launch of new series of events called High Five Records. The launch was a super fun & totally awesome event that saw us packing the venue out to capacity. Now High Five Records is set to make it's first release, a Surf themed "compilation" called Wipe Out. With this month's high five comprised of Ri & myself, DJ Legend Marc Latilla & young Pretorian upstarts Professor Mystery & Oliver Twisted, it should be totally tubular!

RSVP here!

You are invited! Crusades launch!

In one of my proudest moments to say "you are invited"; I'm ecstatic to be able to tell you about this one. On the first Saturday of next month Eyes Like Mirrors will be launching our debut EP "Crusades". To mark this special occasion we're ecstatic to be throwing a little launch party in the city's most well-loved independent cinema, The Bioscope. Playing in a sit-down venue on a big screen is a total dream come true for us. To do justice to this opportunity we're rework our entire set visually. The night will also feature hang out times before and after the show in The Bioscope's recently unveiled "Chalkboard Cafe". Mirror friends Plaat Japie and Nathan Scott Phillip will kindly be suplying some mixes of instrumental music to Soundtrack this and Mirror resident artist Franci Lawlor will be drawing on the walls of The Chalkboard itself! There are less than 60 tickets left for this special night, so I'd suggest you click here, scroll down the "What's showing next" section till you get to the 5th of March and book now!