Sometime in the late 1980s, an iconoclastic Afrikaans writer called André Letoit reinvented himself as Koos Kombuis, protest singer and — after a while — iconoclastic writer. He went quiet for a bit in the late 1990s, but recently he has been active again. There was an autobiography, a novel, a new collection of poems, and now there’s a new CD.
On Equilibrium (Rhythm Records), Kombuis has retained all his talents. His ability to swing between sharp satire and sensitive seriousness is still there. Ou Mense Wil Nie Ruk en Rol Nie is an example of the former mode, but it’s the gentler songs that triumph. Wrapped Around the Moon is a perfect pop lament that someone should send to Natalie Imbruglia — once she’s changed the gender of the singer-narrator, she could make a global smash of it. Kerke van die Nag is another highlight, a setting of a Kombuis poem by the man he refers to as his ”dominee”. The lovely Luierliedjie is a lullaby for Kombuis’s son, and it is very effectively accompanied only by kalimba, piano and flute.
This sophisticated orchestration is down to producer Albert du Plessis, who set Breyten Breytenbach’s poetry readings to music on Mondmusiek. For Kombuis, he’s done a similar thing: in the liner notes, Kombuis cheerfully admits that he handed over responsibility for the backing music entirely to Du Plessis, who has indeed done a very good job, whether using a full band or more minimal means.
The idea of producing the CD in that way was preempted, perhaps, by Kombuis Musiek (Fresh), a tribute to Kombuis put together by Gary Herselman and Matthew van der Want. They have taken a selection of Kombuis’s old songs, got several different vocalists on board, and provided almost all the backings on their own. The original idea was to make a set of hip-hop versions of Kombuis’s songs, but thankfully the concept expanded beyond that.
As it stands, Kombuis Musiek is various indeed, and the results are commensurately variable. Frank Opperman and Philip Moolman give straightforward and successful readings of Johnny Is Nie Dood Nie and Lalie respectively; Tonia Selly gives Onder in My Whiskeyglas a beautiful, dreamy rendition against a synthesised orchestral backing. Less successful are Not My Dog’s Verslaaf (the only track on which Herselman and Van der Want do nothing) and Lisa se Klavier, on which the singing by Levannah of QZoo sounds far too precious.
Van der Want has been productive, too, in his own right, or as part of another pair. With Chris Letcher he is Van der Want/Letcher, and their second album, Bignity (Sheer Sound), is now out. It sounds richer and denser than their first, Low Riding; in some places, as on the first track, it is perhaps too dense. There are some very distinguished people playing here (Ian Herman, Warrick Sony, the Spiral Quartet, with production by Lloyd Ross), but it is often the songs featuring only Van der Want and Letcher that work best. Saving the Senses would be one of them, reminiscent of REM when Michael Stipe is letting his consciousness stream for all it’s worth. Another would be Misheen, setting strings against electronica to luscious effect.
The whole has a great, organic feeling, a great context in which to explore these tenderly biting songs.
Filter: The Amalgamut (Reprise)
Ex-Nine Inch Nails man Richard Patrick and company move another step away from techno-rock, heading steadily into straightforward hard-rock territory. Opening with high-energy crashing guitars of You Walk Away and American Cliché, the album wavers (in a somewhat unbalanced way) between these solidly constructed all-rage-and-guitar tracks and a few melodic hard-edged pop-rock songs. It ends with the unusual Roger Waters-like, eight-minute chill-rock track The 4th, mostly instrumental with tribal-sounding vocals. A well-crafted effort, but not ground-breaking. — Riaan Wolmarans
Henry Ate: 96-02 The Singles (EMI)
I’ve never really been a fan of Karma-Ann Swanepoel and her band Henry Ate’s brand of easy-listening, wispy, reflections-on-life folk-pop, but they certainly deserve applause for sticking to their guns and building up a solid fanbase over the past six years. Catchy songwriting on hits such as Henry, Hey Mister, Just and Tuesday Afternoon and a myriad concert appearances brought them chart and sales success, and these are all here, along with four new songs — Outside, Life, Hey Boy and Finally — in the usual vein. — Riaan Wolmarans
The Vines: Highly Evolved (EMI)
Aussie band The Vines bound on to the scene with simple but powerful rock heavy with influences: the ballads sound like The Beatles, the heavy rock tracks like Nirvana and tracks like Outtathaway hark back to the days of the Troggs and Beastie Boys. ”I’m feeling happy / So highly evolved,”goes the title track. It’s happy, yes, but the evolution is not all that apparent. — Riaan Wolmarans