London trio LV (pictured above with vocalist Josh Idehen) have been one of the capital’s most enjoyably shapeshifting dance music units over the last few years, moving seamlessly from deep, rootsy dubstep to syncopated house, screaming chiptunes (in collaboration with Quarta330), and last year’s brilliant album with Idehen Routes. Chief among their recent influences – and catalyst for last year’s catchy-as-flu Hyperdub single ‘Boomslang’ – has been South African music, and in particular its bounding takes on house music.
After the band’s Gerv visited the country in 2010 he returned and recorded a mix of South African music entitled ‘Okzharp’ (also the title to ‘Boomslang’s B-side), which became one of the most loved mixes on Keysound boss Martin Clark’s Blackdown blog. Gerv returned to South Africa again recently, and in keeping with last time, he’s recorded a second mix under his Okzharp moniker, which is just as colourful and riotously brilliant as the first one. Perfect fodder for a rather sunny Friday. Entitled Night Drive After-Party Bumble Taxi Mix, you can download it from Blackdown’s blog here (with the tracklist below).
In Gerv’s own words: "I still don’t really have that clear an idea of what ‘taxi music’ is but I’ve heard people use it quite a lot and they seem to know what they mean by it. I think I just like the idea of it. My mate Smiso aka Okmalumkoolkat aka Sjambok aka The Zulu Compurar aka DJ Partytime always tells me about this underground bumble rave scene in the areas around Durban. People don’t need to ride the taxis into the city any more, they just go bumble raving nearer to where they live. And now people leave the city to go to the bumble raves.
"I like the idea of a night drive back to reality after one of these parties. I think that was what I started out trying to soundtrack with this mix. There are bits of what i think of as taxi music and bumble kwairave house type music in there but but I’m not a house DJ so inevitably other stuff crept in via reedits and blends, glossy wav and dutty MP3. It arrives at the LV remix of the new song by Benin City, Josh Idehen’s group.
"It’s just over an hour. It’s full of tunes I love and it is what it is and I hope people like it."
LV are hosting an Okzharp Party this evening in The Last Refuge, Peckham Rye – click here for more details. They’re also set to release a South African music-tinged album through Hyperdub later this year entitled Sebenza.
