Summer is here and there's nothing like getting you feeling festive like a good track that would be the soundtrack for the holidays and I think local pop sensation Kyle Deutsch nailed it with his latest track, Summer Love. Teaming up with award winning producers, Ganja Beatz, they giving us yet another reason to long for the heat of summer, this coupled with his Corona #ThisIsLiving tour across the east coast is the perfect way to kick off the summer vibes. Speaking to the Ganja Beatz, they had this to say about the track "This vibey alternative pop house feel is laydon with catchy melodies that will have you humming along all day" while Kyle had this to add "The track has the uncanny ability to make you feel nostalgic and optimistic at the same time. Either way you know its for the right reasons". The track is out on the various online streaming services and should make the radio waves pretty soon, we have the official music video for it below.
A few weeks back I got to spend time with the face-lift Mini Cooper hatch, it's always exciting to get a Mini because its an exciting car to drive. I always find myself telling people who have judgy comments about car that they need to experience what the car offers before slating it. It's come along in leaps and bounds ever since BMW took over the famous British manufacturer, apart from keeping the look of the car, they also embodied much of the heritage. How so? Well let me tell you.
DESIGN
As mentioned already, the general shape of the Mini has remained the same over the years with it evolving and growing ever so slightly, it's still in essence Mini in size and has that dinky look to it. With the face-lift, not much has changed in terms of shape but there are some noteworthy changes to the lights, the front headlamps now feature a rectangular shape lamp which sits in the large oval shell. The is more chrome details around and in the grille, moving to the back, the rear lights now feature a luminous Union Jack, adding to its British Heritage. Mini have also brought out a range of various designs and options for customization, again nailing that individuality that each car can have. From side mirrors, door panels, decals, Union Jack on the roof, the variations are endless and can be quite fun for a prospective buyer when building their Mini.
PERFORMANCE
The Cooper comes with the 1.5L Twin PowerTurbo engine which is the smallest in the range still has plenty of performance to deliver. 100kW with 220Nm of torque, the car propels it self from 0 to 100 kph in 8.1 seconds. The 8 speed sport automatic gearbox allows for smooth transitions and optimal changes when driving any of the modes. With the cars low center of gravity and perfect weight distribution, it's hard to get yourself to stop driving! When flicked into sport mode, the go-kart feel really kicks in with the steering loosening up and the exhausts get a bit more vocal, though it does tend to drink faster but it's all worth it in the end. The car is quite heavy for it's size but the engine does cope well and doesn't let you feel that weight, even with a full load.
TECHNOLOGY
The car came with the Mini's connected sat-nav and infotainment screen which is touch and really easy to use thanks to the navigation wheel. There are voice commands for most functions and the car comes with Mini Connect. Big thing on the interior for Mini is the mood lighting, with quite a few colour options, you can set the mood for any occasion in the inside. Dual-climate control is also standard in the new Mini and while not so much a technology talking point, but an aesthetic one, the gear selector has changed to a flat long head which has a better feel and very similar to the BMW's. The car came with Mini's extended light package which illuminate the car beautifully at night and has the Mini logo projected onto the floor, very stylish if you ask me. Fog lights are also offered in LED variant now, which makes the car visible from further in heavy misty conditions.
COMFORT
Here's the common misconception about a Mini, people think the interior is quite small and cramped, with the 5 Door variant you have the added door which makes the car longer and adds more space but the front passengers still have as much space as the 3 door hatch has to offer. The seats which come in both leather and cloth are extremely comfortable and can come in electrically adjustable with memory seating as well. While you are sitting low to the floor with quite large rims on the car, the general ride quality is great and comparable to some German sedans. The 5 Door hatch comes with a decent size luggage trunk as well, enough for a few cabin bags or a golf bag.
VERDICT
I'm sold by the brand, while the car has flaws which are mainly minor and driver related, it really is a great car to drive. This even being the Cooper offers so much to put a smile on the drivers face, every time they go for a spin. It will have you offering to do the most mundane of errands just so you can go around for a spin. While pricing may seem steep for the car, the build quality of the Mini is second to none in the premium hatch segment. The car still feels solid with great quality material used on both the interior and exterior. If I had the money and dream garage to fill, you bet there would be a Mini or two in there.
The 6th edition of Ultra South Africa is already causing quite a stir even with the event still being 4 months away. The Phase 2 artist line-up was announced on Monday and it has many a big reason to smile, some old and some new headliners will be heading our way next year March and the biggest name for sure has to be Above & Beyond. Legends in the industry, they are known worldwide for their uplifting sounds and their popular record labels Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep. The English trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamaki will have audiences in enthralled with their set which is bound to be epic given their last few festivals they've played at.
SA's favourite Martin Garrix is back again to Ultra South Africa line-up, it seems as if he cannot get enough of our country and we don't mind. The Dutch DJ sensation is sure to be lining up some new tracks and some of his old stuff to get the crowd going. Other noteworthy mentions is Vini Vici who has worked with some big names in the industry, none bigger than Armin van Buuren, some of his work include Free Tibet, United and Chakra which he worked on with W&W. SA house fans will be pleased to know that our very own Black Coffee will be headlining the Resistance stage and he will be joined with the likes of Culoe De Song, Da Capo, Kususa, I am Themba and many more.
Tickets for Ultra South Africa are now in Tier 2 status and there are not much left so make sure you take advantage of this now! Phase 3 will be the final artist announcement will be released in the coming months and its bound to include many more great performers. For more information, follow Ultra SA on their various media channels or their website www.ultrasouthafrica.com
In celebration of after hearing that Above & Beyond being announced in the phase 2 line up for Ultra South Africa next year, we decided it would be fitting to have one of their tracks as our featured song of the week. Always, with vocals by Zoe Johnston was debuted at ABGT 300 in the USA last year and has since become quite a favourite with fans of the uplifting trance genre, with it being quite a mellow track, the guys at Above & Beyond decided to up the bpm a bit by making a Club Mix just got ABGT350, the music video for the track is quite spectacular as its shot high up in snow capped mountains but we have the song live from their ABGT350 show in Hong Kong. Do enjoy!
We're glad to announce on the blog that from now on we will be bringing you news from one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world to our platform, Samsung. With summer and the festive season heading our way, Samsung are hotting things up in the market with some awesome giveaways planned for customers and loyal supporters of the brand, giving you more reasons to celebrate. This summer, Samsung will be rewarding those who buy or upgrade to Samsung with the chance to win a premium Samsung TV's and they will be giving everyone a chance with weekly winners winning a share of R5 million in prizes!
"Whether you choose to buy or upgrade to a Samsung smartphone for yourself, or to delight a loved one, there could be extra reasons to smile. In fact, hundred high-definition, visually astounding reasons. We're looking forward to bringing joy and uniting South African families at this very special time of the year" - Cambridge Mokanyane, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung South Africa.
So how can you put yourself in line to be one of the lucky winners? Well its quite simple, buy a Galaxy smartphone (whether it be prepaid or contract) and stand a chance to win your share of 5 million rand of Samsung Premium TV's. The smartphone you buy will decide the TV you win, we have a guide on what phone equals what TV you would be eligible to win below.
Note 9/ S9/ S9+ - You can win a 75" or 65" QLED TV
A7 - You can win a 55" UHD TV
J6+ / J4 - You can win a 43" UHD TV
*Promotion period is 6 weeks, which runs from now until 6 January 2019.
* Additionally, those who purchase a Note9, S9/ S9+ will automatically receive a R500 accessory voucher plus 6 month Samung Care+ screen protection.
With the Los Angeles Auto Show kicking off today, there are some much anticipated car unveils that most are looking forward to, one of which is the new Mazda 3. The completely redesigned Mazda 3 will be brought to global markets in early 2019 with South Africa getting the model in the second half of the year. The new design is nothing short of striking with a mixture of daring, following their Kodo design language quest, the 3 in both sedan and hatch guise sport a very sleek and edgy front end, similar to that of the CX5. Mazda say that the new 3 embodies the essence of Japanses aesthetics while the overall design presents a simple form, with subtle undulations bringing the styling to life.
From the front end the revised grille is large and prominent, with the Mazda badge front and center, the lights extend out from the chamfer of the grille and extend like wings to form the side. It's all very edgy and cool and it's this sort of theme that flows through out the car but on the hatch, the rear smooths out perfectly, very similar to the concept that was shown earlier this year. I got to admit, it is quite an attractive feature of the car, of which we hardly see similar to that on the roads today. Mazda say the design of the hatchback is dynamic and the sedan if aiming at being elegant.
The interior remains minimalistic but retains that classy and elegant look and feel. Everything is leveled relatively close to the height of the driver and almost gives a sports car, low center of gravity feel to it. From the pictures of the sedan's interior, looks like Mazda will be offering some lighter colours for the interior, which blend well with the black.
Engine wise, the Mazda 3 will feature the latest powertrain lineup which compromises of the Skyactiv-X, Skyactiv-G and Skyactiv-D, each of which provides smooth, responsive throttle control in any driving situation. Having sampled this on both the CX5 and CX3, I still have some skepticism about it, mainly on the fuel economy side. The Mazda 3 is a big model for the manufacturer and one that they ear mark as a key seller globally. Mazda's representative Director, President and CEO Akira Marumoto had this to say at the unveiling today, "The all-new Mazda3 we unveil today begins a new era for Mazda. The next generation of Mazda cars will enhance the value of the car-ownership experience. Through these products, we will further raise Mazda's brand value and work towards our goal of building ever strong bonds with customers all over the world"
I try to keep a balance of songs I feature on this segment on the weekly, while its mainly electronic...well only electronic music I want to try get as many of the various sub-genres on here. So that means listening to a lot of music, be it podcasts, YouTube and the likes. Sometimes I'll be scratching around the net for something because what I've heard so far isn't worthy enough to be posted but there are times I'll just listen to a song be like "that's the one", today's track is one of those that I just knew from the time the song started. Nari and Milani need no introduction with them being legends in the industry, they've teamed up with Swiss DJ duo The Cabas to bring us this amazing track titled "Pressure". The beats, the synths, the piano, just all work so well. It's soothing but has a great beat to it, added with the vocals on the build up add so much character to the track, the drop will have you shuffling in your chair. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do.
The Formula One season comes to an end this weekend, after Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas wrapping up the constructors championship in Brazil and Lewis Hamilton, the drivers world championship the race before in Mexico, many wouldn't see the point in this race but you're wrong. With Abu Dhabi being a dead rubber race for most of the last few seasons, it still pulls out all the stops to make sure it's worthy of the season that passed. Having attended one myself, I'd rate it as a must if you're an enthusiast of the sport. It gives you the opportunity to visit a world class track, unlike any other, the glitz, the glamour attached to F1 just escalates in the Emirates, with the track being on an island, the yacht's all docked along side it, the majestic Yas Viceroy Hotel hovering over the track and of course the fireworks.
But with every final race of the season comes some sad goodbyes, with drivers changing teams and some drivers bidding farewell to the sport. This year see's one of the greats retire from the sport, a two-time world champion and often one of the unluckiest drivers in the field, Fernando Alonso. His 17 year career in the sport which started for him in 2001 at Minardi wasn't all doom and gloom though with him securing 32 wins, 97 podiums and over 20 pole positions. The Spaniard fort many a great driver in his time, while having stints at Minardi, Ferrari and Mclaren but it was at Renault where he truly flourished winning back to back titles in 2005 and 2006 under the guidance of Flavio Briatore. He will be sorely missed in the sport but after clinching a LeMan's winners medal last year with Toyota Gazoo Racing, he has his eyes set on claiming the triple with a win at Indy 500 in sight. His attempt last year was flawless from his side but as per usual in his career of late, the car let him down.
There will be many drivers changing seats in next years Formula One season, the big one would be the straight swap between Ferrari and the Alfa Romero - Sauber F1 team, which see's youngster Charles Leclerc and Kimi Raikkonen change over. Much has been spoken about the young french man this season. While we still haven't seen his full potential, Ferrari will expect big things from this talent, after the disappointment of the last two seasons, the Italian team will have a point to prove with them bolstering their line up for next year. As for the Iceman, many breathed a sigh of relief to hear he will be staying in the sport and not hanging up his drivers gloves just yet. The often controversial Fin has been a bit more vocal this year, showing more emotion and jovial-ness on racing weekends. It really looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself out there and to his credit performed damn well, I'm sure much more than what his team expected him to do on certain occasions. It will be interesting to see how he goes about his business at Sauber but either way, we're glad his still apart of the sport.
The other big name move was Daniel Ricciardo leaving Red Bull Racing to join Renault, the Aussie didn't have the best of seasons and with his high profile clashes with his team mate Max Verstappen during races, that didn't help his morale at all. Red Bull seem to be backing the young Dutchmen who has shown some great potential but often has brain farts at crucial times in races. If Christian Horner can set his head straight, he will be a proper contender next year. Once the fireworks have disappeared from the nights sky in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night, it's a long wait till the lights go out in Melbourne next year March, so lets just soak it all in this weekend and enjoy the season finale.
Last night saw the launch of Honor in South Africa, the Chinese sub-brand of global giants Huawei brings with it a more affordable smart phone range which has already had tremendous success in Asia, Russia, Middle East and certain parts of Europe. The launch last night was for one of their flagship devices, the Honor 8X, form their X series, which they dub their "affordable flagship range"...didn't know there was such a thing but here we are. If I had to guess an equivalent range, I'd say its a budget version of the Huawei P Series.
Telling us more about Honor was President of Honor MEA region, Chris Sun. With the success achieved elsewhere, it was a no brainer to launch Honor which offers unrivaled products at unbeatable prices. He also claims that Honor set "tech trends" with their devices improving the way low cost smart phones are made, offering their customers more for less. He has already set a target for his South African team, to achieve a top 3 market share by 2020 nationally. A major feat but it can be done.
Next up Richard Liu, the CEO of Honor South Africa was up to tell us more about the device being launched, the Honor 8X. It's the first device in its category to offer a 91% screen to body ratio with full view display. Total screen size is 6.5", has 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage space. The Honor 8X has the Kirin 710 processor with GPU turbo improving response time for applications and gaming. The Honor 8X has AI cameras for both the front and back, with the main rear camera being 20MP dual lens and the fron, 16MP. The AI camera helps improve the quality of image captured by assessing the the background, light and focus. One of the main draw points is it's low light photography, when compared to the iPhone X, the camera on the Honor 8X shows more detail, light and better quality. The screen on the Honor 8X is also gentle on your eyes with it being the first mobile phone to receive certification from TUV Rheinland, assuring users that the screen emits low light that doesn't put strain on your retina.
Now with all these great features and technology in the Honor 8X, you could be thinking the device is close to the 10 grand mark, but you would be wrong, Honor 8X is priced at R5499! Available from Monday the 26th of November across the country, exclusively to Foschini outlets and available in three colours, blue, black and red. This is just the first phase with plans for sales to be expanded through other mediums and outlets. Next year Honor plan to bring in more devices, starting with their flagship device in January.
We're big fans of Breathe Carolina on the blog and most of their stuff is heavy dance and electro, this time though they did something a bit different with SLVR and Titus. Headshot is the title of the track and I heard it first on Tiesto's Clublife, makes sense since he own the record label its been released on, Musical Freedom. The track has a heavy deep bass vibe to it with deep tones and a bit of rap in between, the favourite part for me is the vocals and the melody of it, I wished they could have highlighted that a bit more but overall it's a great track and a definite banger!
