Music
Take a walk back along Sibot's journey
A stalwart of the South African electronic music scene, Sibot's journey has been one of continuous evolution.
The term “long-serving” can often be double-edged. As a compliment, it can be used as a testament to one’s grit, and longevity. At the same time though, it can also be used snidely to describe anyone who’s been “hustling” for far too long without impact. In the case of producer extraordinaire Sibot, impact is the one thing his storied career hasn’t lacked.
The number of future tastemakers that have used his sound as the bedrock for their ascent in the past decade has been immense - from Max Normal’s Waddy Jones in the early 2000s, right up until the so-hip-that-it-hurts Ricky Ricks of the world today.
Sibot
© Red Bull Content Pool
So how has he done it? How has Sibot kept up with the times? By rolling with them, both in terms of style and technology. Today we look at four technologies that have been essential to his storied career, and by extension, to SA’s production landscape – from left-field electronica to radio-ready trap.
Vinyl records
While his first forays into music were based around traditional instruments (in a household where his brothers also played them), it was the sample-heavy hip-hop of the late nineties that would really ignite a passion in Sibot. A trip to Europe allowed him to begin collecting some of the records he had begun to fall in love with (including early Rawkus Records releases like Funcrusher Plus) on record, and when he returned to his native Johannesburg, they transformed from collectibles to bombs on the dancefloor.
It was on the back of this particular passion that he began building a reputation as a turntablist, winning DJ battles and DJing regularly on the scene. His on-stage antics caught the eye of rappers like Ninja (then Waddy Jones), with who he started the band Max Normal. With the attention, Sibot was able to use his skills on wax to begin chopping and sampling loops live.
“I would find [for example] an Edith Piaf record and use that sample and I would wheel it back and play it again, so it would be a loop, but a very organic loop, and the band would play about that,” says Sibot. That approach would return later in his career, even after the vinyl revolution came and went.
Sibot
© Luke Daniel
Samplers
The sampler has been a staple of hip-hop production for so long that one almost struggles to think of another context they could be used in. The idea is simple. Take sound samples from vinyl records (and other sources), and slice them into small segments. Then assign these segments to buttons that play the sounds when struck, and boom, you have yourself a revolutionary technology.
When I discovered that I didn't need to press records and I could play music on machines, then my whole path changed again.
Samplers allow for greater control and precision in the music making process, as well as allowing one to retain that dusty, crackling vinyl sound that generations have come to love. After a while, samplers became more sophisticated, incorporating digital inputs and sounds.
The people employing them, in turn, grew in sophistication too as they racked up experience in the machines. Controllerism took over from where turntablism left off, and Sibot was a natural at that too, using samplers to “finger drum” entire new songs at frantic live shows. To date, one of Sibot’s most watched videos, is of an epic performance at Cape Town’s The Assembly, playing it live on his MPD. This video leans heavily on the next technology that changed Sibot’s career trajectory…
Live video
Sibot loves performing, and the effort he puts into each of his performances is evident each and every time. They are intricate and personal. “I realized,” says Sibot about his live shows, “that people couldn't see what I was doing on stage, so I had to incorporate cameras.”
Sibot
© Tyrone Bradley
Adding live video was a masterstroke on his part, giving audiences more of a show to enjoy while he was performing. Implementing the idea, though, was trickier than expected at first, with multiple mix-ups (including his preferred setup being lost in translation at a gig in Paris). It took a while, but the answer eventually appeared right under his nose. “I remember working with a local VJ once, and Toyota [his real life partner] - who works as an animator and has a visual background – said ‘you know I can do that right, very easily’.”
The name Sibot today is almost always followed by Toyota. It's become something like Ben and Jerry's in how close the associations have become to those who know them, and the collaborative audio-visual show they put on has now become a staple for festivals around the country.
The future
While most people are anxious about the idea of machines taking their work, Sibot, perhaps as a consequence of all the years he has spent using technology to make his music, wants to embrace its full potential. “I’ve been exploring, robotics, programming and self-playing instruments,” he says when asked about his current and future interests.
We’ll have to see how that turns out, but when you’re dancing at a fully autonomous rave in the year 2050, you’ll know who to thank in part.
For a more detailed look at Sibot's Journey read our three-part series on Red Bull Studios Cape Town.
