Guga S’Thebe

Pan African Space Station presents Floating Points: 

Guga S’thebe Theatre, Washington Drive, Langa, Cape Town (map)

Saturday March 7, 2015. From 6pm until midnight.

Tickets: R70 pre-sale at Chimurenga HQ in Cape Town, the African Music Store, Mabu Vinyl, and Tagore’s Observatory. Or R100 on the night.

Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd) is a musician, composer, producer, DJ and neuroscientist. Now in his late-twenties, Floating Points hails from Manchester, England and has been based in London for the last decade.

His DJ work and love for vinyl records has taken him all over the world, with Brazil and Japan favourite regular destinations. This Pan African Space Station (PASS) show will be his first trip to southern Africa and shall see Floating Points perform a vinyl DJ set using his rotary “travel” mixer to combine his own productions with a vast array of influences.

As co-founder of the independent label Eglo Records (with Alexander Nut), Floating Points has helped create and shape a cutting-edge platform for contemporary soul and dance music. Since 2009, he has released a score of much lauded singles, remixes and EPs which continue to cause crowds around the world to dance. Hits including ‘Vacuum Boogie’ and ‘People’s Potential’. His debut album is due later in the year and is set to introduce even more audiences to Floating Points’ distinct and highly inventive sounds. In 2014, Eglo Records released the exceptional singer Fatima’s debut album, Yellow Memories. Floating Points wrote four tracks on this LP, including ‘Do Better’ with Theo Parrish.

In addition to his deep house-orientated productions aimed at dancefloors, Floating Points continues to directly utilise his schooling in jazz and European-classical music traditions. The ability to write and arrange for a range of instruments led him to record at Abbey Road studios (London) with a 16-piece ensemble group and in August 2015 he will appear at the opening concert at Dimensions Festival (in Croatia) on a bill alongside Four Tet and Little Dragon.

For five years, Floating Points held down a Saturday night DJ residency at Plastic People, a London club renowned for its exquisite soundsystem and barely lit dancefloor. These sweaty nights featured DJs such as Caribou, Matthew Herbert, and Mr Scruff. More recently at Plastic People he ran a series of nights called You’re a Melody, playing records on vintage EMT turntables (originally made for broadcasting in 1970s Germany!). These events helped inspire his forthcoming reissue label entitled Melodies.

Supporting Floating Points for this PASS show are the forward-thinking Cape Town-based duo Sakhile Moleshe and Xee who come together as Globalize Yourself Stereo (GYS). GYS’s live events and twice-weekly radio show feature an eclectic mix of local and international music styles that “make them dance”.

For more info, comment below, on our social networks (Twitter / Facebook) or contact us as info@chimurenga.co.za or (+27) 021 422 4168 (tickets available to reserve for collection).

This PASS performance is support by the British Council Connect ZA New Music Connections grants and forms part of SA-UK Seasons 2014 & 2015 which is a partnership between the Department of Arts and Culture, South Africa and the British Council.

With thanks to Lumen Concepts, a visual concepts and design agency based in Cape Town.