A few more apps went on sale today. Some of the highlights include Auria, GlitchCore, and the new apps SquareAcid and Agonizer! For the benefit of the all the random Jims and Jameses out there that only find this site today; this is a music app site. So... I'm only including music apps in this list.
If you missed them there are still a lot of sales from Monday and Tuesday.
Hipster Cred
In an effort to maintain my credibility as a music blogger and journalist, I feel it is important to do a Hipster Flex every year during the Black Week sales. Usually I'd be featuring upcoming new Indie artists... but 2020. This year I'm just featuring music things that I've loved throughout the years that I think need more attention.
South African hip-hop act Die Antwoord (The Answer, in Afrikaans) are so big they've appeared in a movie with Sigourney Weaver, so I'm not going to get a lot of Hipster Cred on this one. Their significance as artists is worth noting, and I'm not sure how I've gone this long without noting them here.
At their best, the band is an experimental performance art piece. Their music combines modern Techno with hip-hop lyrics and attitude. They personify low-income/education/class South African Whites in a style called Zef. Die Antwoord's frontman Ninja describes it as, "Zef is, you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy, you've got style." The whole package appears extremely foreign to me as an American. They immediately peaked my curiosity when I saw a short clip of Yolandi rapping and I thought, "What are you doing, you very silly little white girl?"
The answer, or Die Antwoord, to this question is: Some seriously innovative music from talented musicians, acting like fucking idiots. Their presentation is what I imagine Jony Ive would describe as, "unapologetically scum." This act belies their talent, so that when they get going you're completely amazed by the performance.
My favorite song from the group has a video that includes white face, brown face, red face, and black face. Even allowing for cultural differences, I'm not entirely comfortable with directly posting a video with some of those shades. Embedded here is a video that hits the sweet spot of least-offensive while being maximally-impressive... with a minimal amount of black face. Give it a shot, and stick with it at least up until you get through Ninja's impressive tempo-scaling rap break in the middle.
Reader Comments 5
I've been on the fence about Agonizer. (One might say I agonized about the decision, but I would not.) But now that it is back on sale, I'll take this opportunity to get it.
I want a good e-Kick sound, and some fun basses. I think I need to get up to speed with the wobble thing. I don't hate it. Might like it more if I do it myself.
Thanks for the heads up. I just took the plunge before seeing this. Hopefully, you didn't run into any ...um... concerns.