By Lloyd Martinez Newkirk
Beer in plastic cups galore, people spilling out onto the pavement. I love that grey area of drinking on the sidewalk. It feels like Stellies, and I never even studied at Stellies. A frat party, or one of those Plumstead house parties back in high school.
By James Stoddart
I’ve only surfed Dunes twice – logistics and sharks deter me. It’s a heavy, peeling, right-hand slab of a wave by Noordhoek: here it’s a mean-looking mural inside Surfa Rosa. The ceiling is fitted with matte black surfboards, the walls are textured by stickers and posters: “FCK AFD”,skulls, snakes, illuminati-style eyes with thick creepy lashes, “WE MAKE STUPID PEOPLE FAMOUS”, trippy geometric patterns, caricatured lips that frame sharp pointy teeth annotated with “DELICIOUS MONSTERS”, a grotty pigeon, more anime, a QR code advertising someone’s Spotify. A goblin lurks beneath multiple stickers.
This week’s round-up of newish releases from Healer Oran, Sisonke Xonti, A Cool Affair, Jay Bones, Matthew Mole, and vuyo viwe.
Thoughts on The CCID’s Not My Forever Campaign
Disclaimer: This shit makes me very angry.
“A partnership with the CCID is more than a donation. It’s an investment in a safer, more dignified city centre for your staff, customers and clients. Your support directly funds the outreach and reintegration programmes that turn small first steps into lasting change. It provides your brand with a visible, meaningful commitment.”
— Cape Town Central City Improvement District, Not My Forever campaign page
Crossed Out is a giant temper tantrum of a film. With the visual language of InfoWars, FOX News and myopia, it is, as a film, a batshit rendering of an issue through a selective lens with graphics envisioned by a four-year-old who likes staring into the sun and thinks daddy has abandoned him because he left his blankie in the palatial chicken coop. Somebody needs a fucking nap.
This week’s round-up of newish releases from Spoek Mathambo, Loatinover Pounds, Mila Smith, Birdie, VERMOOR, Shortstraw, and Celeste Noxx.
Mother City is by no means a fun night out at the cinema. But, in light of the upcoming municipal elections, seeing this film is a civic duty.
Valley Girl is a bright breezy self-identified contemporary folk album that is charming until you listen to it.
Kaden Arguile, the GOOD candidate for Ward 77 in Cape Town, turns 28 on the day of the municipal elections. The “GOOD party” sounds like the name of a 90s rave but it’s really not.
With the party challenging Helen Zille’s legal right to run for mayor of Johannesburg, and Arguile running as a candidate in the city bowl, on an anti predatory property development ticket, in municipal elections that have the highest youth voter registration rate in recent history, along with a sharp increase in the number of candidates under 30, some under 20, it seemed like a good (sorry) idea to unpack exactly how one of the older young candidates sees the political landscape.
This interview conducted on 17th September 2026
Vuka Zulu is the sound of an artist reaching maturity. This is a coded way to say that an artist has plateaued.