A bitter pill

29 Nov 2012

The holy trinity power house team of, Jaco van der Merwe, Louis Minaar and Peach van Pletzen are truly a combined force to be reckoned with. Jaco's lazy gruff rapping style and cleverly conscious lyrics, Peach's multi-instrumentalist multi- talent tsunami and Louis' brilliant creative mind and skill create a super group of note. The only baffling thing is the fact that Bittereinder are not better acknowledged and celebrated. Perhaps now with second album offering "Die Dinkdansmasjien" things will shift. The SA music industry seems to be nodding their heads in appreciation and time to the beat.

"From a lyrical/flow/delivery point of view I've definitely 'upped my game', thought longer and harder about what I wanted to say and how. We can clearly hear our own growth as writers and producers when we listen to the first album now." - Jaco van der Merwe.

Think. Dance. Machine.

Like any great-minded individuals this group surrounds themselves with talent of equal but diverse measure. Chris Chameleon, Shane Durant, Hunter Kennedy, Toast Coetzer and many more feature and add additional layers of excellence to this album.

By far my favourite colab features Chris Chameleon on track five, Kulkuns. Chameleon's harmonies & raps meander gently but soundly between Jaco's raps and chorus; a truly complementary combo.

Track eight, Regstreeks, with an army of talented musical additions is an epic seven- minute track of revolutionary dissonance that gives each of the seven guest artists their own moment to shine.

Track nine, Hartklop, a hard dub step heart-pounding beast of a track with the surprising inclusion of scat towards the end lives up to its name and then some.

Think. Dance. Machine. Be smart, lose it all on the dance floor and start an army of like-minded creative revolutionaries - 'til the bitter-sweet bitter end.