Erudie: Midnite vocalist Vaughn Benjamin
THE PLAY LIST
Midnite — Arise Again. A dude I know once called Rastas the slow kids of the Black Consciousness movement who couldn’t string a sentence together. Well, I wouldn’t be that cynical, but usually in reggae, emphasis seems to be on cadence more than the poetic rendering of imagery. Enter Vaughn Benjamin, Midnite’s primary vocalist. He always seems to sound erudite but not academic, spiritual without the same hackneyed flipping of scriptures. He is the university of life, basically. (KS)
The OA (Netflix). I’m only three episodes in and already spellbound. The story centres on a character named Prairie Johnson, played by the show’s creator Brit Marling, who returns to the community where she grew up after a seven-year absence, calling herself The OA and with the ability to see again after years of blindness. Mind-bending. (SM)
THE GAMING LIST
With For Honor in the rear-view mirror and a certain Andromedean space feels game a whole week away, it’s been the perfect time to do my Overwatch placements for the new ranked season. Nearly a year on from launch and that game continues to charm and thrill. But maybe that’s down to the kind and enthusiastic community that’s grown up around it — at least in my neck of the online woods. If only my ranking matched my appreciation. (TSM)
THE READING LIST
Leye Adenle: Easy Motion Tourist. In this noir thriller, actor and writer Leye Adenle depicts a Lagos that is at once distant yeteasily familiar. He infuses it with a darkness that is futuristic and palpably possible, with a flair for exacting description and infinite outlandish scenarios. The prose flies off the page with your imagination. (KS)
Paul Duncan and Alain Proust: Hidden Johannesburg (Penguin). From the duo who produced Hidden Cape Town, Hidden Johannesburg is a visual anthology of 28 of Johannesburg’s architectural gems. It includes the interiors of L Ron Hubbard’s sprawling Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Linksfield home, St John’s College formidable campus, St George’s Church across the road, the other-worldly interiors of some of the city’s synagogues, old colonial homes and the reception rooms and detail from the Art Deco apartment buildings of Killarney and the city centre. (MB)
Lee Middleton and Alexia Webster: Unintended Consequences. A gripping photo-essay based on the research of Mercy Brown-Luthango at the African Centre for Cities. Her work investigated the links between upgrading informal settlements, violence prevention and the hopes and fears of youth in Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha. (SM)
The Lists were compiled by Friday editor Milisuthando Bongela, senior arts writer Kwanele Sosibo, gaming writer @TheSerifM and contributor Sindi-Leigh McBride