Fokofpolisiekar have updated their sound. It’s technical, it’s large and it wants you to forget whatever the hell it was you were expecting to begin with.
I threw my toys out of the cot when Fokof released Monoloog in Stereo. It was like an oyster with no tabasco, I thought: soft, with no bite. I freakin’ love that album now.
Once again, Fokofpolisiekar have updated their sound. It’s technical, it’s large and it wants you to forget whatever the hell it was you were expecting to begin with.
Take the title track, “Antibiotika”, for example. It sees the introduction of the Fokofpolisiekar dance beat. But don’t set your hair on fire, because by some genius Francois’ angry yells sound pretty damn good with Snakehead’s disco metal attack. On second thought, maybe you should set your hair on fire: that would look awesome in the pit!
The guys have always been a bit above the identity politics the newspapers love so much, while at the same time contributing more to their fans’ opinion of themselves than The Sunday Times ever could. But this time, Fokof is getting involved. “Ek’s net ‘n toeris / In my geboorteland,” sings Francois. Right or wrong, the last thing we need is for Fokofpolisiekar’s lyrics to be hitched to the boring konvooi of De La Rey clones we’ve been hearing recently. Those worries aside, Hunter & crew do have a knack for putting the pale male experience into words: “Dis jammer dat almal so verskriklik jammer is”.
More than Christmas, I’m looking forward to seeing “Kyk Noord” live. The chorus “Nou fok ek net voort” begs to be sung by an angry mob of rock fans, and should be nothing short of très awesome with Jaco Venter’s earthshaking drum patterns in support. That’s a little true of the whole EP: Fokof’s arena rock era may just have started.
We all dig getting our money’s worth, so an extra DVD of music videos should be welcome news. For your hard earned bokke, you can watch Francois’ beard grow over the band’s career, in eight music videos. Fokof have always given their videos the triple A treatment, so this is not the kind of punishment you’d expect from, say, a Nicholis Louw video collection. In fact, Speakerbox has commissioned a tiny bakgat Oscar for the boys from Bellville, because the acoustic “Hemel op die Platteland” is probably the most beautiful music video made on African soil.
Antibiotika requires just a bit of patience, but drive around with it for long enough, and one thing becomes very clear: “Dit pomp wildernis hier binnekant.”