Us Kids Know
Us Kids Know Test the waters
Press Release
In case youve been wondering where your favourite post-apartheid twee-piece band has gone, look no further, theyre right here and there and everywhere.
But if you dont know who they are in the first place, youve been at all the wrong parties and listening to all the wrong music.
Us Kids Know is an independent instrumental two-piece band consisting of whacked-out, wonky haired guitarist, Colin von Berg, and wild-but-kind-at-heart drummer, Chad Polley.
von Berg and Polley formed the band in late 2006 after many experiments with other musicians around Joburg. After a few practices together they realised the potential in continuing the project; which, to them, is more a feeling than it is a band per se.
The bands sound has been described as indie, post-rock, shoegaze or twee; meshing floaty top-note guitar riffs with brute, often grungy, drumming.
After a bumper year of gigging and rocking Joburg in 2007, the band decided to go on hiatus in 2008, hitting the scene once again in April 2009 with all new tracks, a conceptual advisor and a hunger to break away from sloppiness to offer South Africa and the world something different.
And boy have they been hard at work with Vuvuzela Incorporation, their partner in production and media solutions- recording a five track EP, shooting a music video for the song Tick Stapping off the EP, planning a launch and tour to KZN, and generally renewing their inclination to everything lo-fi and edgy.
The EP, titled Friendship Test, was recorded live by the KRNGY logo over two days at the old Gem Bioscope in Troyeville, Johannesburg, an unprecedented move in terms of breaking away from the traditional studio recording method as well as putting one of Johannesburgs erstwhile cultural hubs back on the map.
We wanted to distance ourselves from the conventional way of recording and try something new. Often recordings are over-produced and lose the raw quality they need to really have an impact on the listener, says von Berg, an absolute perfectionist when it comes to music.
Tracks on the EP include the spacey kwela-buzz Tick Stapping, the trippy vuvuzela-soaked Shongololo!; the beautiful dusky sounding Always a dull moment, the thrilling, punky and energetic Drink to sink, and the lazy-Sunday-afternoon epic TIM.
I dont think I have ever worked as hard as I did on this EP, says Polley, for that reason alone I want people to love it and think of it as a gift from us.
Part of this hard work came in when the team conceptualised and produced the music video, which consists of 100-plus intricately designed, handcrafted foam cutouts that were used to dress the set to create an otherworldly kiddies playroom.
The cutout concept was then carried over to the EP artwork, all tour flyers, posters and merchandise. The only way to get your hands on these impressive, yet playful objets dart is by attending one of the launch shows on the following dates:
- December 12 at the Belavista Lounge in Troyeville, Johannesburg
- December 16 at the Winston in Westville, Durban
- December 17 at the Chain & Sprocket in Durban
- December 18 at Cliffys in Pietermaritzburg
- December 19 at the Willowvale in Durban.
As the band would say on their Facebook page, Be there or be where?
What the press says about Us Kids Know
Us Kids Know are just the best find of [Woodstock 2007]. A drummer and a guitarist it is rare to witness rock musicians enjoying their instruments as much as jazz musicians do. Therese Owen, Tonight
[A] powerful post-rock two-piece Us Kids Know Describing themselves as a post-apartheid twee-piece their music is both primal and beautiful Lloyd Gedye, Mail & Guardian
This [JHB] based duo has considerable charm which is reflected in their expressive, beautiful and experimental music Waves of beautifully plucked guitar tunes angular outbursts and fits of guitar freak-out In [JHB]s insincere post-rock wilderness and trendy instrumental scene they stand head and shoulders above the rest A Computer, A Look Away magazine
Over the course of it's [sic] 5 songs Friendship Test gets everything right that almost every recording act in South Africa gets completely wrong. Ben Rausch, So Many Animal Calls
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