Album Review // Die Antwoord – Donker Mag
Three albums in Die Antwoord
have got no less inventive or, to quote their signature song, Freeky. One thing
though hasn’t changed; Ninja, Yolandi and DJ Hi-Tek are still a wildly
listenable trio despite what appearances may suggest. Donker Mag slows down the
pace a little from the erotically charged rap of previous albums but don’t make
any mistakes, the band is still on fire, even if the fire doesn’t burn quite in the same way.
That said, the says-it-all
call out from album track Happy Go Sucky Fucky, (No, we didn’t censor that!) ‘Fuck
your rules!’ pretty much sets the agenda, as well as setting up the audience
call out of the upcoming tour. Of course, this being Die Antwoord there are
some moments that perplex rather than entertain, such as the rather odd
interlude ‘Pompie’, but the fully formed songs are where the real goodness is
to be found.
With more of a rave angle
in place on this occasion than rap, the beats are truly well formed here. The
Afro-beat meets rave melange of Girl I Want 2 Eat U is filthy and fun, Pitbull
Terrier is just as effective without the accompanying video (if you’ve seen it,
you’ll know just what we mean) and on the whole you wish the band would have
dropped some of the skits (however funny they are on occasion) and given us
more beats. But with some choice material on offer, there’s little to truly
detract from the experience.
The Yolandi moments are
particularly sharp on Donker Mag as well, with the quieter track Strunk veering
somewhere between out and out balladic-weirdness and comedy. That said though,
it’s good to see the band doing something different and it works in a surreal
sort of way. The interlude Do Not Fuk Wif The Kid is truly a scary listen, with
Yolandi offering sweetly intoned threats before the hard-edged Rat Trap 666
kicks in, perhaps the closest to rap on the album.
In all honesty though, if
you’ve got to this point of the album you probably have listened to their
previous two and decided that Zef is your thing. If you don’t like swearing,
beats, rave and references to sex then Die Antwoord will definitely not be your
cup of tea. But arguably, Donker Mag is a gentler introduction to their music
than Ten$ion or $0$ and is recommended for sure. As a whole, Donker Mag feels a
bit disjointed but taken as individual moments there is much to enjoy. But,
perfection is elusive after all…
(Sebastian Gahan)
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