Das Kapital Walks Us Through His Favorite Dark Discos

Image via Complex Original

Location: Limpopo Province, South Africa

I’ve played this festival for three consecutive years, and it gets better each time.

I initially went up to support Diplo on his 2012 tour, and played directly after him, so it was a big trial by fire. The following year, I was back with Drop The Lime (now Curses).

The festival has been running for 20 years now, and started off out of a heavy South African band scene, but now has one of the most impressive dance stages in the SA festival circuit.

Basically, imagine being out in a huge dusty wasteland, a good few hours from the nearest major city, filled with people that lose most of their semblance of humanity within one day of camping. Now add club music.

Location: UK

In 2013, I had the pleasure of playing on the Temple of Boom stage at Secret Garden Party in the UK, in between Mistajam and Gorgon City’s Foamo.

Because it was summer, it hadn’t rained yet during my stay in London, but as soon as I arrived at the festival, it began to bucket down.

This was my first gig abroad, so I was worried this meant certain failure for the night, but my fears were misplaced. I came on at 4AM, and started playing into the start of sunrise–it was fucking beautiful.

Location: Gauteng, SA

Okay. So fill an entire floor of a parking complex with hip-hop and house fans, add in a festival-strength rig, with a strictly black dress code.

THAT, is Genesis: All Black. Young promoters (early 20s) throwing parties for their friends, spiralled into events that now boast thousands of people from all over Gauteng province lining up to party to some of South Africa’s best hip-hop, R&B, and house DJs–I was lucky enough to be included in that.

It’s gritty, but run so damn well. If you’re in Johannesburg and there’s a Genesis party (they have several), go.

Location: Western Cape, SA

This is arguably South Africa’s largest festival, boasting some of the best lineups and largest turnouts we’ve seen (20 000+ for this year’s party).

In the three years I’ve played in the Electro Dome, I’ve been alongside KOAN Sound, Grandmaster Flash, The Presets, Rudimental (DJ set), Boys Noize, and a load more.

It’s one of those festivals that puts a large focus on their band stage, but has a religious following there for the club music.

This year, I headlined the first night of the festival to an absolutely rammed dancefloor, and kind of brought the house down. As the festival grows from strength to strength, so too do the performances of the artists lucky enough to have played there multiple times–I’m thankful to be one of those.

Location: Western Cape, SA

In 2012, South Africa got “A Taste of Sónar," introducing the local scene to the Spanish institution that is Sónar Festival.

I was 21 at the time, and got to play with Modeselektor, Brodinski, and Byetone–artists I had only dreamed of seeing live, let alone meeting or supporting.

Fast-forward two years, and the festival was back, properly cemented in the country. For its inaugural year, Sónar Cape Town brought what everyone had hoped for to my hometown–an intelligent, yet strong side to world dance music, with a heavy focus on South African artists pushing their music abroad–special love to Trancemicsoul, DJ Fosta, Sibot and PHFat.

I closed the SónarLab stage on the second night of the festival, playing after Spain’s UNER, and really loved being able to showcase a bit more of a “grown-up” sound than a lot of other parties allow for. I was contending with Jon Hopkins on the mainstage, but managed to keep my floor going hard through 1.5 hours of grime, garage, house, ballroom, techno, and beats tracks. Largest of shoutouts must go to the guys behind Sónar Barcelona for coming in and having a listen with some of the local sponsors for my set–your ears were most appreciated.

The festival was slick and authentic off the bat, and I can’t wait to see what will become of it.