The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Form & Control


The Phenomenal Handclap Band feels and sounds like a super group from the 60's playing songs written in the future. They manage to combine everything that is good into one sound that fits so well together, taking any part away would cause some sort of groovy apocalypse.

It has been 3 years or so since the debut, self-titled album but finally, their second studio album is here!



Yesterday's Pupil


Yesterday's Pupil has been hiding in the shadow of Bittereinder for a while now, so it's about time that we got something new from the beast that is Yesterday's Pupil.

"Hi, my name is Peach and Yesterday’s Pupil
is my solo project.
I am about to release my second full-length album.
Unlike my first album I am going to release this
album for free in sequential parts.
Part 1: Singularity will be released on 1 November
2011 and all following parts will be released in
approximately two-month intervals.
Each individual part will consist of two brand new
original tracks accompanied by an
artwork for each track as well as the lyrics
and artist notes."


Free downloads of Part 1 and Part 2 are available now at the official YP website. Each part comes as a zip file containing 2 high quality MP3's, beautiful artwork by Louis Minnaar, the song lyrics and artist notes. The music itself is top notch. Expect a whole bunch of dirty synth, energetic beats and that typical YP swagger you've come to love.


I was intrigued by the approach so I asked Peach a few questions:

Sad Birthdays: Does the new collection of YP songs have a collective name?
Yesterday's Pupil: Yes, I am looking at two options, but once I decide I will stick to one and announce it.

SB: Why did you decide to release the songs two at a time instead of the usual album release?
YP: Because it is a free release. I liked the idea of a little series that people could follow instead of giving them everything all at once. Besides people won't be able to handle it all in one go, they will OD.

SB: Has your involvement with Bittereinder changed the way you approach YP?
YP: It has in the sense that I have learned how to work faster. I don't know how working with Bittereinder can really affect YP musically but the experience is in there somewhere.

SB: The production on the new songs is world class. How do you manage this when so many South African musicians struggle to get a good sound out of their recordings?
YP: Thank you! I have been doing production for almost 10 years and I have worked on variety of different projects and genres, I think that it is a combination of those experiences and my own trial and error.
I have learned a lot from my production mistakes. I will never be done learning so I try learn something new everyday, and I do, I am Yesterday's Pupil.

SB: The collaboration with Tumi once again worked out really well. If you could collaborate with any musician worldwide, who would you choose?
YP: Thom Yorke from Radiohead.

SB: Do you have any plans to tour?
YP: Yes I do, there are a bunch of dates pencilled already.

SB: Any inspirational words for the kids out there?
YP: Don't try follow any scene or trend. Be yourself, nothing original sounded cool at first. Be patient but work your ass off!




Beach Party EP

I've really been enjoying the first release by self-professed Beachwave rockers Beach Party. While music genres are useful when trying to describe a bands sound I find them to be quite useless at the same time. In this case, after ruling out the chances that the Beachwave genre is related to the beach wave hairstyle I've concluded that Beachwave = A wave of Beach Party. Fair enough.

Much like their chosen genre, the bands aesthetic and music is littered with sense of fun and lightheartedness. I'll explain with an excerpt of their biography, "Beach Party are a popular South African band best known for their hit 'Girls' as well as for co-creating the music genre of heavy metal."


The production on the EP is solid, which when combined with some great upbeat tracks, makes it pleasant on the ear. To attest to this, I listened to it 3 times while writing this and didn't get bored. I'm genuinely excited to hear what Beach Party can offer when it comes to a full length album.