#dlala

[thesinglesjukebox]

DLALA THUKZIN, ZABA & SYKES - "IPLAN"

Amapiano is probably our most consistently high-scoring genre. Joshua Kim explains how it's evolving...

[8.25]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: The greatest musical development in South Africa this year was 3-step, a style of house music coined by Thakzin that bridges AfroTech and amapiano. He isn't the first to have made songs in this zone (the earliest I've found is Prince Kaybee & Nokwazi's "Ebabayo" from 2021), but he did produce numerous tracks that made him its current poster boy. The genre's most clear, defining feature is the presence of a kick drum on the 1, 3, and 4 of a measure (and less commonly the 1, 2, and 3), which grants each song a more rigid foundation than the typical amapiano track. It's a perfect fit for Dlala Thukzin's "iPlan" and its hopeful lyrics. Zaba sings about not having money or a job, and his voice weaves in and out of the song, like the still-small voice inside your head that tells you to stay calm. And really, it's only fitting that "iPlan" functions as an EDM song without an all-consuming drop; what arrives instead is steady, comforting relief. Its clanging percussion has felt like a multitude of metaphors to me: the pounding beat of your heart, a sign that you're still alive; the sound of repetitive toil, like the promise of something coming from all your hard work; even a desire for reprieve amid life's constant suffering. Here is a song that acts as an invitation to grieve and to celebrate. The beat keeps going, and as I look back on another year, this serves as a nice reminder that somehow, miraculously, I'm still here too. [10]

Micha Cavaseno: I hit a place of personal burnout somewhere in the mid 2010s with the different regional dance scenes of the world made available for all of us by the internet breaking down geographic restriction. Part of it was the fast & loose fashion mentality that made sub-genres go from underrated to overrated within a span of mere weeks, and how any artist could go from essential to disposable before you'd truly had a chance to digest it. To this day, plenty of lingering questions haunt me: did I "miss out" when bubblin' was a thing (maybe)? Was Zomby right to get banned from a message board because people thought bassline and niche were the same (yes)? Did Resident Advisor's coverage specifically get worse when they eliminated the comment section and thus prevented proangelwings from lighting their ass up all the time for pedestrian summaries (no, but it didn't help)? Now I look at an artist like Dlala Thukzin and sigh that I can't in any good faith claim to have a real comprehension of the differences between gqom, afriampo, afrotech, kuduro, kwaito, so on and such... Though I know that it's there, and I need it in order to know what makes a song like this particularly good beyond how muscular yet gentle it is. It's great to admire something for spectacle, but I would like to know the brilliance (or even the clunkiness) of form one day. [8]

Ian Mathers: There's a pleasing graininess to some of the synths here that remind me of other amapiano I've heard, but I'm less familiar (but still taken) by the stiff percussion that sometimes sounds like it's slightly phasing in and out. Both play off the high, sometimes keening vocals very well. The end result is both propulsive and, especially on headphones, subtly disorienting - it can make your head feel like it's swirling. And I haven't even tried listening to it baked yet! [8]

Kat Stevens: Like finding a couple of ibuprofen in the drawer when you were looking for codeine: grateful they exist but missing that extra oomph. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: In isolation, this is a bit too muted for a desensitized tension-enjoyer like me to be drawn to. I'd probably love it in the right DJ set. [7]

Michelle Myers: Romanticized melancholy works beautifully in dance music. I want to cry in a club to this. [9]

David Moore: Just when I start to have a handle on some of the formal characteristics of South African dance music, it evolves again into 3-step. Thakzin describes adapting his AfroTech sound, broadly popular with international audiences, to South African audiences during the amapiano zeitgeist and hitting on a novel formula that involves a three-beat pattern. Anyway, that's as best as I can understand or describe it. Dlala Thukzin -- not to be confused with Thakzin (as the interviewer in the clip above jokes, but you should absolutely listen to Thakzin, too) -- created a wildly popular take on this sound, which ruled the South African charts for months starting in September. [8]

Nortey Dowuona: Zaba was hijacked, injured one of the robbers and escaped with his hand stabbed in June of this year. 3 months later this song goes number 1 on the Official South African Charts. Somebody was praying for that fool. [10]

Will Adams: Over the course of my dilettantish experience with amapiano, I've come to expect a few qualities: a) impossibly gorgeous; b) a luxurious slow build that carries the risk of; c) never fully reaching a destination. "iPlan" possesses all three, but has a bit more of Column C than usual, which keeps it at a mild distance. The low-mixed vocals might be to blame. [6]

Brad Shoup: I love how pensive this is, how Dlala Thukzin submerges the vocals until they're barely visible from the surface. It resists any easy soar the whole way through: a fantastic transition track, I'd imagine. [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Less a song, more a full night on the dancefloor compressed into six minutes -- some artists' entire careers have fewer moments of transcendental jubilation than "iPlan." There's this tea kettle noise that Dlala Thukzin works in the second time Zaba & Sykes go through that chorus that feels like ascension -- and then the song keeps going for three more minutes! [9]

Frank Kogan: Halfway through a People's Pop Poll, when we've finally gotten through the quallies and into Round One, Tom will grab a sentence from every track's YouTube comments and tweet out four of them at a time, one for each track in a heat. Often he'll find comments that are hilariously obtuse, though sometimes they're poignant and evocative. Anyhow, for Emma Bunton's "Free Me" (you probably knew Emma as "Baby Spice") the YouTube comment that Tom lifted was, "It's very soothing and edgy." I stared at this for a minute's worth of nervous self-recognition and then tweeted back, "'It's very soothing and edgy' are what half my reviews come down to." So "iPlan" is cutting up beats in a way that pushes beyond amapiano but is also digging back into late '10s gqom, which is edgier and more driving and more gripping hence more soothing than amapiano, so's the same 90% overlap you get in amapiano's typical soothing-edgy Venn Diagram, but with a bigger circle. Is about dogged determination, is about gliding dance moves across shards of glass, dark beauty, sharp beats. [9]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[demifiendrsa]

Disney Illusion Island - Nintendo Direct 2.8.2023

Disney Illusion Island will launch for Nintendo Switch on July 28, 2023 for $39.99.

Title logo

Key visual

Screenshots

Overview

About

Join Mickey & Friends as they explore the mysterious island of Monoth, on a quest to recover three mystical books and save the world from disaster! In this brand new one-to-four player cooperative adventure platformer, you’ll navigate as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy through a beautifully hand-crafted world. Unlock powerful abilities, discover hidden secrets, and meet a cast of original characters as you travel through the never-before-seen island of Monoth Featuring fully-voiced animated cutscenes and a magically orchestrated original score, Disney Illusion Island is Mickey’s triumphant return to games, and this time, he brought friends!

Story

The Fab Four, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, have been summoned to the mysterious island of Monoth to embark on a dangerous mission. Three magical Tomes—powerful books used to protect the island—have been taken, throwing Monoth into chaos! Vowing to be the heroes Monoth needs, Mickey & Friends set off on a perilous quest to explore this vast, unknown world to recover the mystical books. But the journey will not be easy, and with intrigue afoot, not everything is what it seems on this “Illusion Island”!

[mendingmusic]

Dlala Thukzin Feat Zaba , Sir Trill , Mpura & Rascoe Kaos - Phuze Remix (Official Video)

[retronova-official]

Happy Holidays From the Battletoads! Battletoads (2020) Rare/Dlala Studios, 2020

[jsbjsbjsb]

Stunning track.

[officialnickkie]

Music: Dlala Thukzin & Funky Qla Drop Mini EP, ‘031 Studio Camp’

It is now clear that Dlala Thukzin’s ultimate goal is to see the expansion of Gqom music. For a proof of this, look no further than his recent releases. Out from his corners today is this powerful Funky Qla-assisted mini EP called ‘031 Studio Camp.’ Dlala Thukzin & Funky Qla are some of the few producers keeping Gqom alive. Their addition of fresher elements to the sound has done a lot in…

[hansungkee]

Battletoads (2020) Ending but it's was Good.

"I'm THE DARK Queen, and now that my power has been restored, things are about to get very, very dark!"

She so proud on Herself.

Hair References to Her Mansion from Arcade.

2020 design was Too Much cartoonish but I Like Her Nina Matsumoto's Comic Cover design.

- Happy Easter day Everyone -

Battletoads (C) Rare and Dlala Studios

Art by Me

[kaysha2201]

One Day

KAYSHA x DLALA LAZZ – ONE DAY

[zarathesilentgamer]

Yeah! I want to kick him too!🧺📫 #shorts - Zara The Silent Gamer

[bejahimself]

@bejahimself

[unoffcialyu23]

#Underneath

#Gone

#Thanks

Listen immensely .

Thanks

[blubushie]

And here's subtitles for the non-English bits so it doesn't set off the auditory hallucinations

(Chorus)

Sizodlala! Nani 'mabungu!

Sizodlala! Nani 'mabungu, helele!

(repeat)

Dlala wemadlalingo...

Dlala wemadlalingoma (repeat)

Dlala wemadlalingo-yo-yo-yo

Dlala wemadlalingoma (repeat)

(End bit)

Wemagith' ingoma!

Wemagith' ingoma!

Just noting that songs like these are the perfect mix of a language I know and a language I don't. Subtitles helped a ton. I dig it. Good shit. 8/10 <3

[lucydoesart]

Today is the day! Disney's Illusion Island is now out for everyone to play and I still can't believe it even with my physical copy on the way to be delivered ❤

A big dream come true, a real career and personal highlight getting to art direct a Disney game and getting to reimagine Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy! And I got to experience that with an amazing team! Thank you to Dlala, the whole extended art team and Disney Games. We did it!!

[b1oluminescent]

I made one of those headcanons thingies

WHAT DALLAS WOULD DO IF YOU GOT PREGNANT! REALISTIC EDITION - AFAB y/n headcanons

request by no one!

———-

- “dlalas i’m pregnante,,,”

“oh”

“by the way we’re out of milk lemme go hit the store rq”

- has no custody

- won’t pay his child support

—-

end of headcanons!

[mikedeee]

A few years ago the folks at Dlala Studios hired me to do some character design on their new Battletoads game. One of my favorite parts of the character design process is the initial exploration phase where you just sort of let it fly and see what comes out. I’ll often do 50 to 100 quick designs at this point to get the gears turning and the juices flowing. I find this useful because after the first 20 designs or so I get past the obvious solutions and start thinking more outside the box. These are a few examples from my first pass at designing the new Battletoads. None of these ever made it into the game, but they did help inform various elements of the final designs.