We caught up with Dla and Redondo after a recording session at Pioneer Unit Studios in Cape Town. Dla had just finished lacing his vocals for a potential Driemanskap collaboration with legendary conscious hip hop crew Dead Prez.
Dla and Redondo broke down their forthcoming trip to Washington DC to take part in the 8th Annual SA Week…
Click here For more information about Driemanskap’s participation in SA Week
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrroll!!
Ben Sharpa recently returned from Budapest where he performed at Sziget Festival with DJ Cadik. The photo above was taken on a boat on the Danube river on their way to the festival. The building behind them is the Hungarian Parliament.
Cadik is a stalwart of the Hungarian electronic underground party scene. He’s a producer, promoter, radio DJ and live performer. Ben and Cadik have been working on collaborations which should be out soon. Watch this space.
While Ben was at Sziget he also ran into Gas Lamp Killer so they got their pose on…
For more about DJ Cadik, check out his Tumblr
That’s how we rrrrrrrrroll!!
On Sunday 18th September Driemanskap will be joining a heavyweight delegation of some of South Africa’s finest musicians who are heading to Washington DC to take part in the 8th Annual SA Week.
SA Week is a 7 day event held in Washington DC to celebrate South African culture and heritage through music, art, cuisine and fashion. It also aims to create an opportunity for South African artists and musicians to showcase their talents. The event, now in its 8th year, is hosted by Khabo Mabe On Time, Inc., a Washington-based South African company that was set up to promote South African interests in the United States.
Driemanskap will be joining musicians, Hugh Masekela, Ray Phiri, Stimela, BLK JKS, Thandiswa & Nomsa Mazwai, Lorraine Klaasen and Black Coffee, as well as a host of esteemed participants including the Minister of Arts and Culture, Paul Mashatile.
The packed itinerary includes a series of daily cultural and business events, culminating in a music extravaganza on Saturday 24th.
Stay tuned to PioneerUnit.com for regular updates, photos and videos documenting Driemanskap’s trip. You can also get live updates by following @Driemanskap, @pioneerunit and @MthethoTshemese (Driemanskap’s manager) on Twitter.
Click here for more information about SA Week (including detailed itinerary)
That’s how we rrrrrrrrroll!!
Pioneer Unit’s dub warriors, Pure Solid, have been busy in the lab for the past few weeks. Following the release of their double-EP, Ghetto Dubs, they have been working on their live show (live audio plus bespoke live visuals) and grinding out new riddims.
01. War Riddim: This is a remix of UK Grime artist, Lethal Bizzle’s, POW 2011 which features JME, Wiley, Chipmunk, 2Face, P Money, Ghetts and Kano.
POW 2011 (War Riddim) – Pure Solid by PioneerUnit
02: Dub Lockdown: Future dub remix of Kanye West’s, Love Lockdown, titled Dub Lockdown.
Dub Lockdown Riddim – Pure Solid by PioneerUnit
Pure Solid played their first show at Cold Turkey a few weeks ago (which you can listen to, and download below). Their dub-based sound doesn’t fit neatly into any particular category – it contains influences of roots, hip hop, grime, acid and Detroit techno – they call it Robot Army Music (RAM).
Photo courtesy of Adam Kent Wiest and Cold Turkey
Pure Solid Live at Cold Turkey by PioneerUnit
Pure Solid are waiting on the international release of their forthcoming album with Ben Sharpa called Fourth Density Light Show (4DLS). More news on that as we get it.
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrroll!!
We get a lot of requests from musicians who want to know how to go about getting a deal with Pioneer Unit. Although we’re not actively looking to sign new artists, we’re always keeping an ear out for exceptional talent. Developing an artist is an intensive process that requires major investment – it’s not something we undertake lightly.
We do listen to all correctly submitted demos that we receive. Unfortunately we do not have the resources to critique, or individually respond to, each submission. We will get in touch with you if we are interested in working with you.
Check out our guidelines for submitting demos:
- Before sending a demo, please read our music philosophy and ask yourself if your music fits within what we’re trying to achieve.
- We only accept MP3s – NO CDs or other file formats.
- Upload your MP3s to file sharing sites (Mediafire, Sendspace, Yousendit etc) then email us the link.
- Name your MP3s ‘ArtistsName_NameOfTrack.mp3′
- You can also send us links to your music on hosting sites such as ReverbNation, Bandcamp, mp3twit etc
- You can submit as many tracks as you like although 3 is probably enough.
- Don’t worry too much about sound quality. As long as we can hear you.
- Feel free to send us links to videos or photos of your live performances
- Unfortunately we DO NOT offer facilities for musicians to record demos.
Click here to submit your demos
Producers who want to submit beats, click here.
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrroll!!
We work with some of the best producers in the world but we’re always on the look out for new beats.
If you would like to submit beats to the label, please upload them to a file hosting site and email us the link(s). We use Mediafire but you can use whichever service you like. PLEASE DO NOT SEND MP3s VIA EMAIL.
We encourage you to submit as many beats as you like but please read these general guidelines first:
- Upload MP3s to file sharing site (Mediafire, Sendspace, Yousendit etc)
- Email us the download link
- No beats less than 1 minute
- No audio stamps (ie. “This is a Beatfreak production”)
- MP3s only
- Name your beats ‘ProducerName_NameOfBeat.mp3‘
- You must be able to provide audio separates as WAV files
Sometimes it takes artists a while to listen to, and choose, beats – if you have subsequently sold a beat that you submitted to us, please let us know as soon as possible so we can delete it from our database. It happens – no hard feelings.
If one of your beats is selected by any of our artists, we’ll be in touch to ask for separates.
We generally cut producers in on sales, licensing and publishing instead of paying an up front fee. Any money a track earns is split 3 ways after costs (label / artist / producer).
Click here to submit your beats
Artists who want to submit demos, click here.
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrroll!!
We are proud to announce that Cream (aka The Cream Machine) has signed with Pioneer Unit. We are excited to be working with this extremely talented Afrikaans rapper from Kuils River, Cape Town. Cream first came to our attention as half of a two-man crew called Bruinstormaz. His effortless flow, melodic hooks, clever wordplay and hard hitting street style sets him apart.
Cream has been working closely with Pioneer Unit producer Hipe for the past year. The result is a 16 track album called Bruinbrood (‘Brown Bread’ or ‘Brain Food’) which we hope to release around September this year.
Here’s a taste of what to expect – check out Stamina (prod. Hipe)…
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Cream artist page on Pioneer Unit
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That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrrrroll!!
Our friends at French independent music collective, Jarring Effects, are about to release their 100th project, FX100. Instead of releasing the usual retrospective to celebrate this symbolic event, JFX have created a 3 disc collection of exclusive tracks, unexpected collaborations and remixes that bring together the vast majority of artists who have made up the Jarring Effects catalogue over the years.
FX100 is a box set created in the image of Jarring Effects, consisting of meetings, ‘confrontations’ and a mixture of genres. Each of the three CDs that form this collection represents a facet of the label’s musical identity, where dub, hip-hop and music that is harder to classify meet to form a single entity.
Pioneer Unit first worked with Jarring Effects back in 2007 when they released Cape Town Beats, a compilation that featured Ben Sharpa, Kuti Kult and Rato. Since then, the label has released The Sharpaganda Theory: Lesson 1 (on vinyl) and B. Sharpa, both by Ben Sharpa.
We were extremely excited to be asked by Jarring Effects to contribute music to FX100. Ben Sharpa collaborated with Thavius Beck and Dplanet worked with K-the-I???. Dplanet also contributed a collaboration with KONFAB.
You can pre-order FX100 for just €30 (R288). The 3 CD box set comes with a 40 page booklet and a t-shirt. For serious collectors, a vinyl edition is also available.
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrrrroll!!
Rattex just finished shooting a video for Ewe Nje from his recent EP, Street, Raps & Us. As always, Rattex stays representing for the streets and real hip hop so expect gritty visuals to go with his hard-hitting lyrics and classic production by Hipe. Look out for cameo appearances by BraZuka and DJ Raiko, who did the cuts on the track.
Expect to see the video on a screen near you before the end of July. Candy floss rappers fall back.
Click on any of these photos to view them at larger sizes (in Flickr)…
Listen to Ewe Nje…
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll!!
Despite the fact that most of our music is available to download on the pay what you like model, which includes not paying at all, or in other words, FREE, it seems that some of you still want to buy actual CDs.
Always keen to give the people what they want, you can now head over to the Pioneer Unit online store and order Jaak’s first album, Flêtse Maniere (which was previously only available as a digital download), in CD format.
If you haven’t heard Flêtse Maniere here’s what you’ve been missing out on…
That’s how we rrrrrrrrrrrrrroll!!
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