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SPOEK MATHAMBO

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BIO

Spoek Mathambo makes the Afro-futurists look old school. With the arrival of his second album,
Father Creeper, he’s one man building up an army to make his creative visions a reality, rewriting any artistic laws in his way.

Johannesburg’s Spoek Mathambo (real name: Nthato Mokgata) first hotwired our world with a series of collaborative projects—Sweat X, Playdoe—that placed his smart, dirty vocals on top of electro-rap bangers that activated dancefloors across the globe. Things went darker and deeper with his 2010 debut album, Mshini Wam (translation: “bring me my machine”), a record which took Spoek’s love affair with South African culture and his coined “township tech” as a starting point. As always, he pulled those influences in a direction all his own (think: a pitched-down wobble-house cover of Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control”). Mathambo topped things off with a grip of visually thrilling videos depicting a fresh-to-death urban gothic vibe, and months of touring across US, Europe, and South America.

Father Creeper took shape during this touring. Mathambo got started doing hands-on audio production during long days on the road with Copenhagen-based musician CHLLNGR. They began with haunting lyrics about conflict diamonds, penned by Mathambo’s wife Ana Rab (aka Gnucci Bananaa), fleshing out the verses into an epic, synth-driven post-dubstep heater. “Put Some Red on It” would become Father Creeper’s first single.

Inspired and confident, Mathambo put international collabo offers on pause as he regrouped to make his second album with a close cadre of family and friends. A distant uncle phoned—“Nthato, I hear you’re making music! I myself am an electronic music composer!”—within days they were in the lab, crafting beats. Mathambo’s live band, Mshini Wam, honed new tracks…

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LINKS

RELATED

Sub Pop's 2012 SxSW Showcase Is Going to be Streaming All Over the Place
New Spoek Mathambo and feedtime Box Set Available March 13
SXSW 2012
Watch The Making of Father Creeper by Spoek Mathambo
Download "Let Them Talk" by Spoek Mathambo
Sub Pop in 2012
Spoek Mathambo's Put Some Red on It EP
South Africa's Spoek Mathambo Signs to Sub Pop

RELEASES

SP975 - Released: March 13, 2012 11081

Johannesburg’s Spoek Mathambo (real name: Nthato Mokgata) first hotwired our world with a series of collaborative projects—Sweat X, Playdoe—that placed his smart, dirty vocals on top of electro-rap bangers…

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