Great News! Quirky Indie Folk Rock band Kabaal klankbaan is back with a new standalone single, “Robot Girlfriend”. This follows their second album, Baptism, released in June 2015. In contrast to the self-produced, bedroom-recorded Baptism, Robot Girlfriend was produced by previous collaborator Peach van Pletzen (Yesterday’s Pupil, Bittereinder), and recorded at Planet Awesome in Greenside, Johannesburg.
This song is one of the coolest releases of 2016 (in my humble opinion). Crank it up below:
In case you did not know, Kabaal klankbaan is Gauteng-based musician Floris Groenewald’s folk-rock music project. “It’s not a stage name,” says Floris, “but a band, of which I’m the only permanent member.” They play acoustic, alternative folk-rock, which varies from indie-pop songs, folky dystopian love songs, bluesy rock & roll, to songs about robots and video games.
Most live performances consist of one guy with an acoustic guitar, harmonica, and stompbox, rocking and rolling and folking in an attempt to ignore genre limitations. His next show might be Afrikaans, English, bilingual, folky, rocky, accompanied or solo. In 2015. Kabaal klankbaan performed several times as a duo, joined by saxophinist Andre van Coller.
Kabaal Klankbaan has released a debut album, “Dit wat oorgebly het”, in October 2012, closely followed by a standalone, free download single, “This town is for lovers”, in November 2012. They launched a new single, “Player Two” (featuring Gad de Combes from Adventure Man and Shortstraw), in October 2013, and a second full-length album, Baptism, in June 2015.
I had a quick chat to Floris Groenewald about “Robot Girlfriend” and a few other things. Find out what he had to say below…
Where does the name “Kabaal Klankbaan” come from?
I can never remember, exactly. But it vaguely refers to the contradiction inherent in any kind of “definition” I can give the band. “Kabaal Klankbaan” roughly translates as “Racket soundtrack,” and the idea is that Kabaal klankbaan will sometimes be noisy, loud, and irritating, at other times be soothing, emotional, and narrative, but most of the time bounce back-and-forth between the extremes. Also I really like alliteration.
What is your idea of the ultimate “Robot Girlfriend”?
Requirement #1 would be that she won’t dump me for a better guy. Which might prove difficult when the new fancy iPhone comes out – how am I supposed to compete with 128GB storage, Optical Image Stabilisation, A10 fusion chips and fingerprint scanners? At least no-one will ever take away my headphone jack…
What inspired you write this song?
I’m not exactly sure. I’m guessing it mostly came from subconscious post-breakup feelings, but a large part of it is also inspired by my love of Science-fiction. This is a great example of how I like blending truth and fiction to create something that’s entertaining and fun, but also sincere.
What are you currently working on?
Since it’s so hard and expensive to produce music, I have a long backlog, and I’ll pretty much be busy working on another album for as long as I live. There is definitely a concrete album in the works at the moment, that’ll hopefully finally see the light of day by next year. It’s something different, so I’m sure it’ll be exciting!
Where can people catch your next show and how can they reach you on social media?
Upcoming shows are on the 16th of November at Arcade Empire, 30th of November at The Sinkshack in Bronkhorstspruit, and 24 December at The Cockpit Brewhouse in Cullinan. But shows will always be listed at www.kabaalklankbaan.co.za/concerts, and Kabaal Klankbaan is online on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as pretty much anywhere you can find music online.
I’d like to thank Kabaal Klankbaan for this interview and I wish them all of the best with their future musical endeavors.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Music and Interview categories.
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