Ex-turntablist, scratch wizard, Cape Town music legend!

Introducing Sibot: one half of the sonically-souped South African trip-hop kids on distortion The Real Estate Agents that hail from Cape Town but whose beats and blips are heard around the world. Appropriately enough the standard of DJ/Live show has reached the point where Sibot carries serious weight in holding his own as a solo/top scratch performer. Sibot presently lends his turntablisms to no fewer than four prominent Cape Town music acts; The Real Estate Agents, Sibot & Storyboy, Closet Snare, Chromoscience whilst his past is as illustrious, having appeared in such legendary acts as Max Normal, The Constructus Corporation and Grim Tiny.

Sibot’s big beat background is littered with whimsical, musical shadow-play as he drops, rips and cuts through genres like they were fresh cheese, bringing a distinct sound and style to each of his meticulous, post-futuristic productions.
His talents range from crafting dancefloor-damaging, big, beat productions through to tearing turntablisms and down into delicate sound design pieces and TV commercial music for top tree ad agencies and short films. All of this reflects the DJs intense understanding of the interaction between music, video and people in a social environment.
Sibot has performed widely across his native South Africa as well as in the UK,Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and even the Reunion Islands.

2007 sees Sibot offering fans what is undoubtedly his most mature work yet. ‘In With the Old’ is Sibot’s definitive masterpiece in album form. The 23-track release (out on sSHADOWORKSs) was made available in a strictly limited quantity pressing of 500 copies, and was instantly receiving excellent reviews from both fans and critics alike; a far cry from mixing tapes and old vinyl on dodgy equipment at school house parties in the early Nineties where he was more familiar as the resident DJ on the ‘weird, second dance floor’, playing hiphop rap: then considered to be little more than ‘underground, black people’s music’!

It took a trip overseas for Sibot to begin digging out his first real selection of leftfield beats on vinyl record, but from there it was through practice and sheer dedication that Sibot advanced his scratching and DJing ability that lead to his first public gigs at the now legendary JHB clubs 206 and 208. It was here that he connected with the then Yang Weapon, ex-Original Evergreens MC - Waddy Jones. This hook up advanced Jones’s live show concept into the live South African phenomenon that became Max Normal. Joined by multi-talented fellow musicians Sean Ou Tim and Mark Buchanan, the band took the South African hip-hop scene by storm,revealing a whole new angle on what SA live music could become. During his residency at 206, Sibot took no fewer than three of the Table Turns scratch DJ battle titles.

Two years of intensive touring with Max Normal saw Sibot continuing to develop his own style and turntabletechnique, whilst simultaneously shifting focus to begin producing his own beats.
Following the controversial break-up of Max Normal, Sibot moved to Cape Town to focus on furthering his individual music career. Collaborations with MC outfits such as the 5th Floor crew on performance and production, quickly established Sibot as not only a DJ with skills but as a man with a knack for the track; his selections met the real headz’ beats and lyrical needs. When we was crowned SA DJ Battle Champion of 2002, his reputation within the fiercely guarded Cape Town ‘underground’ hip-hop scene was cemented.

In the meantime, Sibot continued to work with Waddy Jones on an earlier project idea they shared called ‘The Constructus Corporation’. Teaming up with audio whiz kid Markus Wormstorm,the three spent the better part of 2002 focusing on the completion of the Constructus book/album concept ‘The Ziggurat’.
This album (in hard-cover graphic novel format), saw the collective advance beyond music into the realms of art and illustration. Sibot’s productions continued to blur the boundaries between hip hop and electronica and as pirated copies of his unreleased album eagerly exchanged hands, so did word of Sibot’s turntablist skills continue to spread across the country like wild fire.

Off the back of the Constructus Corporation, Sibot and Markus Wormstorm formed a working project and called it The Real Estate Agents. As one half of the Agents, Sibot has again cemented his reputation as a force in the SA music scene that is here to stay. (The appeal of the Real Estate Agents is widespread without being at all commercial. They have performed at virtually all the major festivals in SA and at countless gigs from large street parties to corporate awards ceremonies. Internationally the duo has been invited to appear at major live music festivals such as Sonar in Spain and PukkelPop in Belgium.)

Demand for his recorded productions saw Sibot release his debut album in 2004 through pioneering Cape Town indie record label African Dope Records. The 21-track album was a bench mark for South African electronic music, showcasing Sibot’s unique take on electronic music production
by fusing styles as varied as hip hop to jazz, with a healthy dose of beats ‘n breaks, trip hop electronica , IDM and glitch thrown in for good measure. (The album was packaged aspart of a triple disc set along with Markus Wormstorm’s album, gratis videos and a Real Estate Agents mix.) His free mp3 downloads are snapped up the moment they hit the web by fans of his sound around the world, who recognise in his music tinges of the greatness found in acts like DJ Shadow and Mr.Oizo.

But it’s not only on the dancefloor that Sibot’s talent is recognized, with 2 Gold Loerie Awards (the Oscar Awards of the South African advertising industry), to his name, his production skills are much sought after these days in the world of film and advertising, having created some of the freshest music to ever grace television advertising.
In 2004 Sibot formed the sound design and music composition agency SAYTHANKYOU
with fellow musician Markus Wormstorm and their manager Duncan. The company has gone from strength to strength and is recognised as a leading boutique sound company that delivers high-end contemporary sound design. Sibot’s recent clients include Sasol [petroleum], Metro FM [national urban music station], Cell C [mobile service provider], Levi’s [clothing] and Wonder Bra [women’s underwear].

Between all his collaborative projects i.e. The Real Estate Agents, Closet Snare and Chromoscience and his corporate work, how does he find the time to produce any solo material?! Who knows, but the results of Sibot’s solo productions are second to none and have seen him build a solid fan base across the country and around the
world as he develops Podstar status thanks to a selection of carefully placed free mp3 downloads and free music videos.

Red Bull BCONE has elected Sibot to produce and perform all of the music for the 2007 Finals to be staged in Johannesburg in September 2007. This is a huge honour for the DJ, one which will see him sharing the stage with artists like Rahzel whilst given the chance to provide beats for the World’s top b-boy dancers!

“All in all it is hard to find someone in this country with this much talent and this much drive.” Whether as a solo artist or in collaboration with others, Sibot stands out from the rest, leading South African electronic music into a big, bright future