Monkey business at Sowing the Seeds 2012

Photo by Jonx Pillemer

Regardless of the venue choice, I knew the music would be good - which is the foremost reason why we pitch up anyway! Last year I discovered the amazing talent that is Jeremy Loops & Co; at this year's prequel party to RTD I discovered another gem: Rumspringer. This jazzy electro swing band are quite the party starter, they're like Goodluck, but, dare I say it, better! Lead singer Carla Louw's sassy vocals will have you jamming in no time, but what's more, this band is friendly and approachable - they clearly just enjoy entertaining, everything else is a bonus. Rumspringer brought a little monkey business to the party only energising the dance battle up front for free tickets to Rocking the Daisies.

ISO, however, slowed the pace down again kicking off with No Fire, the first single off their latest album, "Piece By Piece". A lot of people love this band, but a lot of people aren't quite sure what to make of them - that's the trouble when you combine hard rock and pop, you get a jarring blending of genres. They're all brilliant musicians, don't get me wrong; Richard Brokensha is a demon on guitar, but lyrically and theatrically, it's a bit overbearing at times. Nonetheless, if you don't bob your head to their version of Benni Benassi's Cinema (Skrillex remix), you've got no soul.

Photo by Jonx Pillemer

Flavourful tunes

Sowing the Seeds was much like RTD with stages all over the place, feeding people their preferred flavour of tunes. I stuck to the main stage and arrived too late to catch Beach Party, and left too early to catch Goodnight Wembley. There were only two hands full of people at the main stage when I arrived - just in time to watch Moving House - so I'm not sure if Beach Party had much of an audience, which is disappointing as they've been known to dish out some high-energy beach boogie vibes. You missed them too? Listen to and/or download their EP for free via SoundCloud.

Moving House, on the other hand, are a band that take themselves too seriously - the energy you give off on stage is exactly what you'll get right back at you from your audience: you're moody, we're moody. Sound-wise they're very similar to Ashtray Electric - angsty, personal pop rock with a splash of an up tempo beat here and there. Commercially, this genre has been done to death and I think it's time to lay it to rest.

If I had to compare Sowing the Seeds 2011 with this year's effort, I'd have to say that I was disappointed. Granted, Zula is a huge venue, the vibe just didn't fit the RTD or Sowing the Seeds brand of hippy-loving togetherness. It felt like just another weekend at Zula. Nonetheless, RTD is always a blast and that's where all rows lead at this point. See you there seedlings!