The new One Small Seed is out, and it is looking SO HOT! New larger format, new design, awesome content,, congratulations to the team!
Check out on pg. 18 a really nice article about Rattex and his upcoming album ‘Bread and Butter’, in the shops October 15th. Apartment Studios was commissioned to shoot Rattex for this article. Here is the results of our night time meanders..
Get your copy now!
Enjoy :)
www.onesmallseed.com
www.pioneerunit.com
www.apartmentstudios.net
Ben Sharpa’s album cover by Apartment (Art direction, photography & design)
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It’s time to B. Sharpa!!
Once in a while an artist comes along with the vision and ability to turn a genre on its head whilst taking it back to its roots. Ben Sharpa has achieved this with his debut solo offering, B. Sharpa, an iconic album that pays homage to the best socially conscious lyrical traditions of hip hop whilst innovating a completely fresh sound that Sharpa himself calls ‘robot army music’…
Read more
Download the B Sharpa Press Kit (510k)
Tracklisting here
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Hegemony video
5ive Fingers video
Hegemony live in Cape Town
Off the Rails live in Cape Town
B to the E live in Cape Town
Ben Sharpa on Myspace
Ben Sharpa on Facebook
Join the Pioneer Unit Facebook group
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Note to media: For more information, artist biogs, press photos, audio samples and other press opportunities, please contact Damian at Pioneer Unit.
E-mail: pioneerunit [at] gmail [dot] com
Call: +27 (83) 658 8921.
For distribution enquiries, please contact Soul Candi:
E-mail: leyton [at] soulcandidistribution [dot] co [dot] za.
Call: +27 (0)11 880 5662.
Rattex’s album cover by Apartment (Art direction, photography & design). Additional post-prod by Stéphane Giner
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It’s time for the son of the ghetto to light up the nation!!
Rattex fulfills the promise so much South African hip hop has failed to deliver by serving up one of the tightest, most complete and relevant albums of its genre ever released on the continent. Rattex, or Rah to his friends and fans, brings his own unique variety of deadly lyrical poison to the South African hip hop game with his debut solo album, Bread and Butter.
Read more
Download the Bread and Butter Press Kit (433k)
Track listing
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Bread and Butter video
Rattex on Myspace
Rattex on Facebook
Join the Pioneer Unit Facebook group
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Note to media: For more information, artist biogs, press photos, audio samples and other press opportunities, please contact Damian at Pioneer Unit.
E-mail: pioneerunit [at] gmail [dot] com
Call: +27 (83) 658 8921.
For distribution enquiries, please contact Soul Candi:
E-mail: leyton [at] soulcandidistribution [dot] co [dot] za.
Call: +27 (0)11 880 5662.
We (Apartment and Pioneer Unit ) have been hard at work for the past month, finishing off 2 albums to be released mid-October.
One of the album is Bread and Butter, by Rattex for which we designed this typographic treatment.
Full album artwork to be published soon :)
Shot by Apartment at The Realist’s rehearsal session in preparation for their upcoming performance at Earth Dance this Saturday 13 September.
Alainite from Enmity
Kid Clever and Sinister Dexter
TOB
Click to enlarge
Niqui Merret commissioned us to create a visual identity and web presence for her new company, Jade Hopper.
Visual Identity
Business card and letterhead
Moo stickers :)
Website / Homepage
Website / Services
Rattex / Press shot
(Click to enlarge)
There’s a nice feature on The Realist in the latest issue of One Small Seed.
“The Realist deals in bruising combustible beats, caustic rhymes and moments of jarring beauty.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Go and buy One Small Seed, it’s definitely one of SA’s best publications.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Photos by Apartment :)
New business cards for AAVA (click to enlarge).
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New business cards for Pioneer Unit (click to enlarge).
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Kid Klever
Sinister Dexter
TOB / The Realist / Dplanet backstage
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King of Africa is an African clothing company celebrating all that is Africa. We work with artists and designers to produce shirts that we all want to wear.
We were asked to submit a design or two for this cool up-and-coming brand,, thanks King of Africa!
Here is the South African inspired designs I (read: Anne-Sophie…) I’d love to wear (click to enlarge).
King of Africa’s website / blog / Flickr page
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We’re proud to show off our amended design for Rattex‘s 7784 mixtape cover!
At the first release we thought that having a front cover for a mixtape would be enough but we decided we’d like to share more of Rattex’s goodness. So we’ve made the cover double sided, and we’re rather pleased with the results!
Thanks to Digital Bureau for an awesome printing job and quick turnaround!
(click to enlarge)
• Order your copy now!
• Become a fan of Rattex on Facebook
• Rattex on myspace
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New Rattex photo by Apartment, for the back cover of his new mixtape 7784.
Order yours now!
(click to enlarge)
PS: Don’t forget to check out Pioneer Unit for Rattex’s new remixes, free to download!
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Whilst shooting the cover for Rattex’s Mixtape cover, we had a bit of fun and tried some extra shots and poses. Here is my absolute favourite photo of Rattex, from the mixtape shoot. Enjoy! :)
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Click to enlarge
Pioneer Unit commissioned Apartment to shoot and design Rattex’s much-anticipated 10-track mixtape, 7784,
It is ready to hit the streets and it’s pure kasi FIRE!!
Only R30 (+ postage)
so order your copy today!!
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Well, to round off a week of photography at Apartment we’re happy to present the press photos for The Realist. Read on for their bio and download free their new track Decay in Daisies.
The photos were shot outside the military base in Tamboerskloof. Sinister and Kid had been there before and we all loved the wall and the grimey but beautiful and cinematic feel of the place, perfect for The Realist.
On one of the shot we were joined by Ben Sharpa who features on 5 and half steps, another master production by The Realist.
Don’t forget to click on the photos to enlarge.
Click to enlarge
The Realist is here to tell it like it is. They are the political party that doesn’t want your vote. They are the religion that doesn’t want you kneeling at their altar. They are the uncomfortable truth that you don’t want to hear.
Taking no prisoners in their war of attrition against the superficiality and moral hypocrisy of polite society and popular culture, The Realist stay true to their name.
Part hip-hop crew, part rock group, The Realist is producer, The Triplet of Bellville (TO, and rappers Kid Clever and Sinister Dexter.
Wearing their anger and disgust like a badge of honour, The Realist defy genres with their bone-crushing fusion of glitch-hop and electronica. With the power of an apocalyptic opera, their sound is characterised by heavy electronic bass lines underpinning orchestral soundscapes layered with powerful lyrics and tortured death metal vocals.
Click to enlarge
TOB (Triplet of Bellville)
With influences ranging from Chopin, Grieg and Rachmaninov to Richard Devine, Amon Tobin and Autechre, TOB is the musical force behind The Realist. Always striving to push boundaries, TOB gives life, depth and emotion to his music by incorporating live instrumentation and vocalists.
TOB always seeks to evoke extreme emotions with his music. His background as a sound engineer ensures that The Realist’s sound is as technically pure as it is emotionally charged.
Sinister Dexter
Sinister Dexter‘s name is derived from the Latin words meaning ‘left’ and ‘right’ respectively. The classical roots of these words also imply ‘evil’ and ‘good’.
The theologian of the crew, Sinister Dexter seeks to explore the religious morality and blinkered conformity he experienced growing up in the Cape hinterland.
Labeled the dirty white rap machine gun, Sinister Dexter is the byproduct of modern society, a reflection of what the world has become. Unafraid to tackle taboos or speak his mind, you may wish to bury your head in the sand or look the other way, but Sinister Dexter will always be right there to remind you that life isn’t all blues skies and pretty flowers.
Kid Clever
Originally hailing from Kimberley, *Kid Clever, the self-proclaimed, ‘short sht with the biggest mouth in the business’, is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
Always willing to put his life on the line to make a point, Kid Clever applies his razor-sharp street smarts to social ills of all kinds.
The vicious attack dog of the crew, Kid will battle anything that moves. With his ‘never say die’ attitude, even if you could outwit this Clever Kid, you’d never manage to silence him.
Click to enlarge
Download The Realist goodie pack now!
The Realist on myspace
The Realist on Facebook
Ben Sharpa, emcee
Dplanet, producer and Pioneer Unit CEO
Photo by Apartment
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
(Click to view full size)
Apartment shot a new press photo for Ben Sharpa, to be added to his Sharpaganda campaign.
Catch him this summer in Europe, performing with Milanese:
• 6 June, Rotterdam
• 19 July, Extrema Festival
More info on www.myspace.com/milanese1
To be continued….
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Just because everybody needs a bit of illustration on a Friday ;)
(Click to enlarge)
Doodles
Applied doodles
More from where this came from here
Looking forward to more playtimes like these soon!
PS: By the way, comments are enabled on this blog, even though currently they are not visible from this page. You’ll need to click on a blog entry header to view and / or add your comments - for now.
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Spaza shop / (Click to enlarge)
This photo was taken when Fred did a shoot in Khayelitsha for Spaza artist Middle Finga‘s EP cover - more photos here.
Pioneer Unit is working with another Spaza artist, Rattex:
“Rattex is now at the forefront of the new school of proudly South African rappers who understand that Hip Hop, more than any other musical art form, is about addressing important issues and representing where you’re from. It is therefore not suprising that Rattex is one of the pioneers of the ‘Spaza’ movement, where lyrics are performed in a combination of isiXhosa, English and Cape Flats slang.
(Click to enlarge)
Rattex has always been a true Cape Flats soldier, representing Khultcha (Khayelitsha) wherever he performs.”
Like at Mzoli’s a couple of weeks ago for the launch of Battle of Gugulethu Volume 2,,, check out the photos here,, the crowd went mad listening to his new tracks!!
(Click to enlarge)
Can’t wait to go back.
This time I’ll try chicken feet and maybe a smiley (if I’m a bit tipsy!!)
More about Spaza
Wikipedia: Spaza shop is an informal business in South Africa usually run from home. They serve as convenience shops and sell everyday small household items. These shops grew as a result of sprawling townships that made travel to formal shopping places more difficult or expensive. They have also served the purpose of supplementing household incomes of the owners.
About to do the last pass on the Pam Golding Intranet IA, thought I’d share the beauty of information laid out in a visual way!
Feeling rather accomplished!
PS: Hope one day we can share the visual design for this intranet, it completely rocks in its simple beauty and is soooo nice to use!
and it was damn cool and funny!
When I first met Nikola Tosic, he was quite chunky and wearing bright loud designer shirts. Two years ago, he came back to Cape Town with no body fat whatsoever,, obviously we asked about what brought on the change and he replied: “Triathlon!”
Since then he’s been addicted, running blogs for the discipline, training programmes and taking part in competitions.
So he asked us to take a few shots for a new magazine called Endorphinum.
For full article and full size photos, check out Endorphinum - the article starting page 140.
Photos by Anne-Sophie, layout, concept and copy by Nikola.
If you have a mo, check out his others sites:
Nekada
Educational Sticker
Personality Stereotypes
Newslose
Meet in a nice restaurant
and more…
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We’ve been working very hard for the last 2 months on Pam Golding Properties’s Intranet re-development in conjunction with Jason Hobbs (JH-01 Founder and Information Architecture Guru) and Phil Barrett (User Experience Lead extraordinaire) from JH-01.
It’s been very intense and interesting to mix our process with JH-01’s. And what a perfect project to be involved with after the huge job that was a complete UX overhaul and re-branding of Travelstart.
For this intranet job, Apartment delivered:
- Personas and scenarios
- User end goals and top tasks list
- Concept, strategy, features list
- Usability testing
- Information architecture and wireframes
- Information design, visual design and interaction design
Now we wish you all worked at Pam Golding so you could all use their brand new Intranet… :)
Thanks to JH-01, Sophia at Pam Golding Properties and special thanks to Phil for making this job a dream project!
Happy days :)
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After a busy week of recording with Ben Sharpa, we just about had time to shoot the cover for his forthcoming EP which will be released in Europe to promote his tour in June.
The concept of the EP cover is that Ben is under surveillance by secretive forces for his anti-establishment views. We created a fictitious journey for him that started in the centre of Cape Town and ended up at the airport, shooting him covertly from various hiding places.
Anne-Sophie directed the shoot and took the photos. She got some great shots so expect another amazing cover!
Here are some snaps from behind the scenes…
The car park shot (click for larger image).
Anne-Sophie shoots Ben (click for larger image).
Watching Ben in the car park (click for larger image).
Posing in the car park (click for larger image).
Watching (click for larger image).
Watching Ben at the airport (click for larger image).
Chilling during the shoot (click for larger image).
How We Roll is on MTV Base Africa, watch it to catch it :)
I’m very happy that MTV Base Africa is supporting local content. I love watching the lounge of Jaak’s aunt in Paarl being shown on MTV, or the Bux 4 Tyres shop from Epping, or KONFAB braaing a boerewors roll… all things we do in ZA,, proudly shown on MTV Base,, that’s how we rrrrrrroll!
More behind the scenes photos of the 2 shoot days here
We got commissioned to design 3 huge murals to run over 3 floors for a corporate client. The concept was supplied by ThinkSPACE, their interior design and architect company, who asked us to design 177 square meters of wall.
This is the design for the 7th floor, using the colours of their new interiors.
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WoOooo,, just got our beautifully printed promo posters for Pioneer Unit tees.
The posters will be up in SHELFLIFE, SA’s premier graffiti supply, streetwear and sneaker store who will be stocking our hot Pioneer Unit tees during the festive season.
PS: Thanks to Digital Bureau for such great prints at low price and quick turnaround, Mitch, you are a star!
From the Pioneer Unit site:
"A couple of weeks ago Anne-Sophie from Apartment Applied Visual Arts took to the streets of Cape Town to shoot <a href="http://www.archetypesmusic.com">Archetypes</a> for the <a href="http://www.pioneerunit.com">Pioneer Unit</a> Street Life campaign. The campaign will promote the new range of <a href="http://www.pioneerunit.com">Pioneer Unit</a> t-shirts and will be used online and in the form of postcards.
We’re really happy with the results. Check it out…"
![Pioneer Unit T-Shirt Promo [Wall]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2026/1733932624_ab9fa2389d.jpg)
[Wall]
![Pioneer Unit T-Shirt Promo [Sky]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/1733930870_f8aca5360e.jpg)
[Sky]
![Pioneer Unit T-Shirt Promo [Robots]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2212/1733929532_680bc12e80.jpg)
[Robots]
![Pioneer Unit T-Shirt Promo [Massage]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/1733924440_96e67339b2.jpg)
[Massage]
![Pioneer Unit T-Shirt Promo [Cadiz]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/1733069349_91f47a8b68.jpg)
[Cadiz]
![Pioneer Unit T-Shirt Promo [Archetypes]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2192/1733065475_2a725b1d7e.jpg)
[Archetypes]
[Pioneer Unit merchandise]
Order now online at the Pioneer Unit shop.
Check out Pioneer Unit for your local stockists.
We’ll also in Gugs this Sunday the 28th of October for the Hype Live Sessions,,
We’ll have T-Shirts and CDs in the boot, so holla at us! :)
PS: If you’d like a girl T-Shirt, please leave a comment to pre-order now!
(Don’t forget to include your name, contact, size and design, thanks!).
Big thanks to Archetypes!