This quartet breathes new life into rock philosophies using African tradition, and are fans of soul, dub and jazz. They defy classifications with a style that involves constant searching for a distinctive sound. BLK JKS are fresh, young and politicized, and combine advanced beats with harmonies that are often built using layers of guitars, keeping part of the simplicity and warmth typical of African music together with a highly contemporary production.  

Olaf Bender is always halfway between the structures and moods of techno and electro, and the abstraction and roughness of sounds that keep his style away from the dance floor. He paints a sonic postcard that is simultaneously cool, organic, dark and overwhelming. After the warm reception from audiences and critics for "Death of a Typographer", he repeated his success in 2011 with "Symeta," a highly commendable album, which was highly placed on the lists of the best of 2011.

Formed in Bristol in the early nineties, Massive Attack began their career in style: few albums defined an era and a new way of understanding electronica better than their debut release "Blue Lines," which they cleverly infused with Jamaican outpourings, soul and hip hop beats with a narcotic rhythm. Since then, the British duo (Robert Del Naja and Daddy G) have won over legions of fans all over the world with albums like "Protection", "Mezzanine", “100th Window” and "Heligoland", and have deservedly attained the status of contemporary classics, with over 11 million records sold.

At A Taste of Sónar @ Design Indaba in Cape Town, they will be giving us a four-handed session which is bound to distil all their musical wisdom, and for which they will be accompanied by their usual collaborators UVA (United Visual Artists), who are responsible for the design and staging of their recent shows and those of artists including Battles, Jay-Z and Chemical Brothers. Much more than just a session.

Modeselektor consists of Germany's Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary, and occupies a unique niche in international electronic music: their sound is simply impossible to pigeonhole.

With every year that goes by, and each remix or album released, Modeselektor continues to surprise audiences and critics alike with their blend of electro, hip-hop, techno, glitch and IDM. Nonetheless, there has been a common strand throughout their career since the duo came together in Berlin in 1992, and which appears on all four albums in their CV (one of which was released under the name of Moderat, as a collaboration with producer Apparat): their seriously heavy bass frequencies. Attending a Modeselektor show is literally a gut-wrenching experience.

Brodinski exploded onto the French scene in 2007 with a provocative and dirty techno-influenced sound, with a helping of bass-heavy house and melodic minimalism. This led to his output immediately finding its way to the cases of Soulwax, Tiga, Chloe, Erol Alkan and Laurent Garnier. Without resting on his laurels, this hyperactive Frenchman has since then remixed Bonde of Role, Klaxons, Das Pop, Shoes, D.I.M., Heart Revolutions, Adam Sky and, more recently, Gesaffelstein (with whom he has toured) and Nero. He has also worked with Diplo and Erol Alkan and has released a mix for Fabric.

The homegrown Das Kapital is another lineup highlight that should not be missed. This young Cape Town native first attracted attention with his remix of the Bon Iver classic “Skinny Love”.  In the last 6 months he has remixed Laidback Luke, Sandro and The Only (MOS Australia) as well as SA faves PH Fat, Black Porcelain & Spiritchaser.  He has composed music for Hollywood blockbusters and CBS TV shows and been featured by MTV Iggy.