Man. It's all about me today, I'm afraid. Two awesome nights, and a chance to catch up, finally!

Let's do this anti-retro-circum-chronologically. Last night: Balkanology. Wicked idea, to catch the upper niche by throwing the whackest party this side of Novi Sad. Everything was weird.

Thursday night: Coffee Bean. Got off the stage, stood in the middle of everyone and did my show there. Much better. Did a recently revamped A Man Appeared and Burn, and it was something totally different to the usual singalong copycat stuff. Fresh, even to me, and I got the idea that it was, once again, the beginning of something new. Awesome feeling actually doing what you mean to do.

So with this new passion, I tackle the small, open mike gigs. Looking forward to it.

On Saturday, I interviewed Kidofdoom and The Beams and man, I gotta say, I wanna promote these upcoming two bands honestly and openly.

Gushfest aside, the SA indietronic/dance-rock act of the moment -- four-piece vocal-free synth rockers Kidofdoom -- made the Armchair an unrecognisable event venue with a well rehearsed and thoroughly enjoyed set and a superb, travelling lighting setup (Peter) that kept cameras going.

Seriously, there was an atmosphere of awe. Someone said earlier, "I haven't seen Facebook invites, I haven't seen posters. This is all word of mouth, dude."

The tendency I've noticed is for SA music to be self-congratulatory. But (finally meeting) and chatting to Unit.R's hypothetical frontman (and regular poster on TheMuso) Goran for some of the show was refreshingly informative. His take?

"I love this band. They've branded themselves with the hip crowd and gone with it." (that's a quote from the bottom of the bottle, but you get the idea.)

Hip crowd indeed. The word, people over 25, is 8-bit/disco-rock. That's the scene, that's the trend, that's the theme for the now two-year-old Sovereign Academy and the growing legion of pin-adorning, post-Fischerspooner candy-stripers. Think disco with a rock fungus growing under its armpits.

There is waaaaay too much going through this pedantic pigeon's mind to try and express right now, so expect a gentle shiatsu of throwbacks to the 2007 Sovereign Academy Cape Town Tour over the next few days. Congrats to Dom and the crew for organising, Carlo for his stellar work behind the sound desk and Major Tom for making the mission in slippers, tweed pants and crutches.


Today's links:

• Check out the complete rundown from the pre-show media "conference", if you can call it that.
• super-inspired by the ruthless journalism expressed by 24.com's entertainment writer Zane Henry on Rocking the Daisies

Today's cooing:

• DJ Sassquatch: what a nice guy. Check out his take on the scene in my first-time video interview with a local musician