Hometown: South Africa.
The lineup: Sibot (aka DJ Fuck) and Spoek Mathambo.
The backcloth: Playdoe are 2 South African boys wHO just wanna have fun instead of "trying to express the archaic idea of an authentic Africa." Their melodic theme of playfulness - ours, too, in many slipway - is old school hip-hop and electro, with lots of samples and scratching, given a fully grown, shiny, lumpy, chrome-plated production. Gravey Yard is a paean to ubiquitous 80s footwear society Kickers that sounds like Dizzee Rascal's I Luv U chopped, diced and deep-frozen by Marley Marl. The Toxic Avenger mix of their best-known track, It's That Beat, combines a unmannerly, lewd rap ("take a shit on your boss' car" - oh, OK then) with massive juddering beats and sassy distaff vocals that sounds like Miss Kittin breakdancing with Mantronix. Go Dumb Go Thick is a supermix of discotheque and funk samples, sleights of turntable, and a dizzying regalia of fast-cut references to everything from George Clinton to Rin Tin Tin that recalls nothing so much as The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel, that other 80s smorgasbord of sounds and snippets, with echoes of Afrika Bambaataa's jungle boogie. No wonder they call themselves "Neo-electro Afrobotic ethnotechno mamas' boys." It's sick. No, no, it's stupid fresh. It makes you need to go wicky-wicky and spin on your head.
We've seen Playdoe referenced in the context of "kwaito", a musical move that emerged from Johannesburg with all manner of social, ethnical and political connotations and affiliations. Apparently, kwaito agency "angry" and comprises a mix of deep house, hip hop, African melody and percussion, with MCs shouting or chanting in the local slang Tsotsitaal ("thug spoken language"). The so-called kwaito generation also have their have drug, nyope (a commix of dope and heroin), and have close associations with illegal train surfboarding. Kwaito the music, in the meantime, is meant to be an ethno-bleepfest, like Aphex Twin in Africa, patch the duette are aforementioned to be influenced by early afrobeat, dancehall, ghetto-tech, and UK grime.
Now, all of this sounds very appealing, just a bit far-fetched and wide of the mark from what we've heard so far of Playdoe, although there is talk of tracks like Pop Like This on their debut mini-album - from Try Harder, the label that brought us Foals, Blood Red Shoes and Youthmovies - bearing traces of Casiotone synthpop and new wave disco-rock. Mainly, though � and we're not complaintive at all � Mr Mathambo and his mate Fuck good like feelgood, good-time, sampladelic revivalists. Great.
The buzz: "African noise for the ass and the tit."
The truth: They're doing for 1981 electro what the Cool Kids ingest done for 1989 hip hop.
Most likely to: Have an adventure, probably involving some wheels of steel.
Least likely to: Sound remotely angry.
What to buy: Debut mini-album It's That Beat is released by Try Harder on October 6. Download single It's That Beat is available from September 22.
File side by side to: Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Mantronix, Funky Four Plus One.
Links: MySpace.com/fuckplaydoe
Tuesday's raw band: Gold Teeth.
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