Mensvreters: Eating People for a Good Cause

2017. That’s when it happened. That’s when Mensvreters first crawled out from their sewers and infected our dying planet with their debut album, prompting everything to die a little faster. They named it Die Gevaarlikste Bende and it was anything but a marketable product. On the contrary, this was an onslaught of vomit spewing from charred mouths, running thick like a putrid paste of violent imagery slyly hidden inside of their mother Afrikaans tongue. But for those of us in the line of projectile fire... well, we were never quite able to scrub that rancid stench away.

What makes Mensvreters special is not that their shock tactics are truly shocking (they are) nor is it that their gross-out foul play squeezes the listener’s face through the keyhole of their comfort zone (it does). Rather, it’s that they utilise these techniques as part of a much more intricate package. Unlike the vast majority of controversial horror-rap acts out there, these vulgarities are not a series of cheap shots to dominate the show. This was never a desperate ploy to provoke a reaction in hopes of obscuring a sloppy lack of proficiency. Instead, the suffering is yet another detail from an outfit whose attention to such details is their strongest asset. Sadly, this strength is also Menvreters’ biggest tragedy; a message so expertly offensive that your malfunctioning mind may shortcircuit and overlook the talent completely.

Boef Lewe (translated: Thug Life) is their 2020 sophomore record and it sinks even lower into this dark pit they’ve created. The heavy sperms of metal music have aggressively smashed through a scratchy old-school hip hop centre, impregnating an egg now birthing something between these two dirty genes. And yet the production itself is flawlessly clean, granting both styles enough space to suffocate you beneath the anger that they spit through gritted teeth. There is a worryingly unhealthy obsession with bodily fluids here. You may drown within their gushing of animosity towards... well, everything. And if you’re looking for trouble, then please enjoy the Fok Die Polisie theme scattered throughout this album, echoing those same aggravating anthems that N.W.A. used to summon chaos back in the late-80s.



If you can hold your lunch down, then peel back the scorched skin and look. There are plenty of fresh layers underneath the gore. This album functions as a singular unit. It’s void of any filler and cohesively stitched together by well-acted skits that shove their roots deep into South African heritage. Certainly, the group have taken a calculated stab into more English territories this round, and it’s a smart move to harvest a larger audience (or perhaps scare even more away). But, make no mistake, this is still a proud observation of their home country, effortlessly mixing Afrikaans into their flows (complete with translations provided) whilst weaving cultural icons and African folklore figures into their themes. Tokolosh Tracker is a strong example of this strategy, relaying tales about the evil Tokolosh spirit that runs rife throughout Zulu and Xhosa mythology. Of course, in this story, Mensvreters have taken upon themselves to assist the creature by introducing a tracking gadget into your rectum. Does this notion excite you? Then you’re in for a treat. Because the Tokolosh single comes with a music video too, illustrating the concept for a greater understanding. Don’t worry though! It’s completely safe for work. Just kidding. You shouldn’t watch this at work or anywhere else unless you enjoy puppet semen used as condiments or prolapse juices caught in a jar. Standard stuff, really. This is Mensvreters after all. Their art is always going to be a struggle to digest because their art is toxic.

Be that as it may, Mensvreters’ craftsmanship still outgrows their indecencies. Their Mumble Rap diss-track holds up a necessary mirror to the current dismal state of radio hip hop, detesting the genre whilst delivering their message using a commercial sound in itself—a great irony which is as big of a middle finger as anyone could conjure. And then there’s Suffering Sonata, an album highlight where the disease spreads to the heart and almost surrenders a tender spot, ultimately working as another easy entry point for further anguish. It is within these examples that the true intelligence behind Mensvreters lies. It’s a contradiction where exaggerated and absurd fiction somehow ascends to something more genuine than the vast majority of today’s faux wokeness; a contrast against a society where everyone is rushing to exploit “higher awareness” for more Likes on Instagram. Mensvreters are above that by dwelling far below it, illustrating to us that the world is in trouble. Art is in trouble. And we need to start kicking the doors down to rediscover where the boundaries stand.

Then you hear a song like Rotten Human Curry (featuring Australian team Butchers Harem and Dollrot) with lyrics such as, “Flies are raping, laying eggs, mating on your flesh, grazing, it’s fresh for the taking, pupae larvae hatching, flesh from bone detaching, meat chunks flapping, I’m grabbing and snatching, tooth on bone I’m gnashing, vocal cords pulsating, keeping you alive just to hear you cry”... and you realise this might just be an impure assault of torment after all. To be honest, I have no idea.

The Perversions of Quiet Girls Photography

It doesn‘t matter. Because when the momentum of creative imagination clicks with the skillsets required to manifest the product, it’s obvious that the bigger picture is still a long way from completion. The most damning evidence of this prediction is a short film titled South African Fried Human. Here, the trio offers us an important social commentary on the fast-food industry by treating a person in much the same manner as a chicken would be treated. When something this violent is shot with such a professional eye for specifics, then the line between horror and comedy blurs beyond recognition, and one becomes uncertain whether it’s better to laugh or cry. It’s difficult to be so equally humoured and terrified at the same moment. You start asking yourself questions.

Because that’s just it. That’s what Mensvreters are all about. It’s an exercise in facing your own psyche and challenging what you think you thought. Everyone has opinions about cutting open stomachs and eating flesh and shoving poop into a baby’s face. These opinions are usually unfavourable. But if you ever find yourself at a Mensvreters show, you will be forced to deal with these opinions on a raw, realistic level. When artists with this excessive amount of talent at their disposal intentionally choose the crooked path of noncommercial filth, it’s a beacon of hope that the monster behind the corrupt entertainment industry will never completely conquer the playing field. As a result, it may take some time before Mensvreters can bubble over into the particular scene that is out there somewhere waiting for them, but at least for now we can be a part of this underground knowledge. We are the secret Mensvreters community, musing that, one day, we might be telling our children about how this outfit broke into global consciousness and destroyed everything in front of our very eyes. Furthermore, we must also ensure that those same children never listen to this stuff because it’s definitely not good for them.

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The 250 Best Albums of the Decade (2010 - 2019)

After listening to well over 4,000 albums from 2010 until 2019 while compiling a top 50 for each year, Jared Woods has become the educated voice that you can trust. Go ahead and read his book. Study his words. Steal his best suggestions. And, before you know it, you too can sound like a high authority on this decade of music. Your friends will be so impressed.

Old people like to say that music isn’t what it used to be, which may or may not be true. However, it is the abundance of modern material which can often create the daunting shell which prevents listeners from doing the necessary digging. Is this you? Never fear! For there are those of us who are willing to put in the necessary effort which you are not. We are the chosen ones. And allow us gleefully inform you that, yes, this was yet another fantastic decade of music. And by “us”, I mean “me”, obviously.

Humans can never predict how a decade will fair in the greater scheme of the musical history books. All it takes is one sleeper hit to utterly redefine the set period, overlooked in its time yet massively influential in hindsight, realigning the shape of all things to come. Such hypothetical gemstones remain out of our reach for now, but this does not mean that we are unable to observe some of the landscape’s bigger pictures. We are still capable of pinpointing specific albums and stylistic evolutions which sprouted higher than the weeds, and we can nod in their general direction with a certain approval, saying hello to those plants which shall surely be remembered for a long time after we are gone. Or not, whatever, I dunno.

From my perspective, the most interesting observation I made this decade was where the majority of genres appeared to split down the middle, making progressions in two very contradictory directions: the dumbed-down superficial incarnations vs. the more mature weigh-ins with far heftier substance to boast, verifying our human nature of perpetually venturing towards the extremes whichever way that may be. Perhaps these movements were a long time developing, but never before have we heard such a formulated lack of intelligence coming from our television sets while there was always a counter line running away from these ideals, incorporating artistic flairs and prefixing their various labels with words such as “contemporary” or “alternative” or “experimental” to further the distance.

Hip hop was a key player in this ethos, offering a myriad of hybrid genre-bendings to cater to the art students while the traps and the mumbles offered the more casual listeners something to mindlessly dribble over. R&B was another impressive focal point of the decade, standing as perhaps the greatest example of where more creative (oft-soulful) expressions could gently brush fingertips with the commercial world. Various teen pop stars made the mid-decade transition into more sophisticated and/or abrasive regions while EDM only banged harder and IDM outsmarted itself until nobody could understand it anymore. Meanwhile, the oversized umbrella term of rock was about as immovable as the name would suggest, with perhaps a little additional spice sprinkled upon the resurgence of post-punk and the refining of the already well-defined blackgaze genre.

But these are hardly fresh entries, right? Rather, they were steps along pathways set in motions long before 2010 even rolled about. Is there anything about this decade which stands truly unique? Grime’s evolution, perhaps? Vaporwave came and went pretty quick. Hey, remember when Dubstep conquered the world for a short period back there? No, I think what made this decade truly stand out was its drive for survival. This can be applied in terms of the now completely transformed industry models where record labels were becoming less imperative and the streaming platform were impacting finances, forcing artists to become smarter about their marketing ploys. But playing for even higher survival stakes, was our current political climate which affected the world as a whole, our art quick to follow. The voices of the audio medium shouted to be heard with plenty of Black Lives Matter themed records coming to the forefront while the female gender finally rose (or, perhaps, were finally granted the space to rise) as a driving force behind some of the year’s biggest projects. And yet, the most unprecedented offering from the 2010s’ cultural environment was the surge of LGBT (emphasis on transgender) electronics, most notably the very specific industrial vein for some reason. Honestly, if there was any genre-branch that could have only existed in the last 10 years, this would be the one that blasted the loudest.

With that in mind, the 250 entries that you are about to witness are what I consider to be the most exciting highlights that one can use to map out what made this decade so distinguishable. These albums were chosen not only in terms of personal opinion, critical acclaim, public reaction, charting ability, general talent, and uniqueness, but above all else, for how long they stuck in my mind after the record had stopped spinning. Because what else really matters? Nothing matters. You will be dead soon.

This is the official Best of the Decade list.
Every other list is fake and wrong.

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