When I mentioned to a friend the other day that I had the new Bittervrug album to review, his response was: “Bittervrug, oh that’s heavy shit man. I can only listen to him about once a month.”
Granted, Bittervrug’s (aka 37-year-old Charles Badenhorst) music does veer towards the darker side, but he also has a crazy sense of humour, which I found rather rewarding on his 2007 debut album, Bloed vir Ontbyt.
Not surprising, then, to discover that Badenhorst’s heroes are Gene and Dean Ween, the two uncompromising satirists who make up the United States’s premier off-the-wall outfit Ween.
So, yes, Bittervrug makes uncompromising music, but then again, who wants watered-down crap?
His record label, One F Music, states on its website that listening to Bittervrug’s music will send you through a series of “hurts, joys, hates and deep depressions”.
But the One F label is owned by Paul Riekert, the front-man of South Africa’s industrial pioneers Battery 9, no stranger to difficult music himself.
So what has Bittervrug got in store for us this time around?
More of the same is the simple answer, but Daar’s Wolke Buite (One F) steps up Bittervrug’s game substantially, to use the sporting cliché.
New songs, such as Met Jou in My Kop and Want Wat Is ‘n Hart, are haunting takes on the love-lost genre of songwriting that have been tormenting this reviewer for days, swirling around and around in my head.
Simple guitar lines and minimalist songwriting, reminiscent of American songwriter Bill Callahan, are the order of the day, with some beautifully layered backing vocals that reminded me ever so slightly of the work of Bon Iver.
Other highlights include the 51-second neurotic piece, As Jy nog Een Keer na My Kyk, and the great track, Net toe Ek Jou Vashou, about a boy learning to let go.
Then there are the more abrasive of his new songs, such as Kry die Demone uit, which could only be described as acoustic metal.
If you like your subject matter conflicted and emotionally messy then Bittervrug is right up your alley.
There is no doubt in my mind that Daar’s Wolke Buite is one of the most sublimely beautiful albums I have heard come out of South Africa this year — and I have been listening to it for days on end with no depression or suicidal tendencies to report back.