The Constructus Corporation
| The Constructus Corporation | |
|---|---|
 left to right: Simon Ringrose, Yolandi Visser, Watkin Tudor Jones, Markus Wormstorm (Felix Laband not pictured) |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Constructus |
| Origin | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Genres | Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Alternative Hip Hop, Horrorcore |
| Years active | 2002 – 2003 |
| Labels | African Dope Records |
| Associated acts | Die Antwoord MaxNormal.TV |
| Past members | |
| Watkin Tudor Jones Felix Laband Markus Wormstorm Simon Ringrose Yolandi Visser |
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The Constructus Corporation was an electronic / hip hop act from Cape Town, South Africa, that started in early 2002 and had disbanded by mid-2003, leaving the one-of-a-kind concept album / book The Ziggurat as legacy.
Contents |
[edit] Formation of the band
The early years of The Constructus Corporation (aka Constructus) was an underground supergroup, combining the creative talents of rapper-satirist Watkin Tudor Jones, and his long-time DJ partner Simon "Sibot" Ringrose, with Cape Town's electronic music producers - Felix Laband and Markus Wormstorm.
In early 2002, Watkin had summarily disbanded his previous group Max Normal (in which Sibot was a member), just as the band was reaching South African stardom, headlining festivals like Oppikoppi and charting on 5FM (citing being creatively stifled as reason). He relocated to Cape Town and began collaborating with DJ Dope of Krushed & Sorted and Felix Laband on the music for a multi-media project he had conceptualized involving a graphic novel with soundtrack and live show. These sessions spawned the Man With No Name track on African Dope's ' Cape Of Good Dope' compilation in 2002, which later gradually mutated into The Constructus Corporation outfit. During the year-long production process a young female vocalist joined the group, listed as Anica The Snuffling (later known as Yolandi Visser from Watkin's current project, Die Antwoord) on the credits.
[edit] Release of the album
In December 2002 after a mammoth production process including mix and master by Krushed & Sorted, "The Ziggurat" was released. The album was an 88-page pink hard-covered book containing a hand-written hip-hop fantasy story by Watkin, which follows the adventures of two kids on a giant futuristic floating world/shopping mall called The Ziggurat, and detailed etched digital illustrations by Nikhil Singh.[1] The music was a soundtrack CD on which Watkin plays several different characters, and a bonus blank CD at the back of the book with instructions on where to download an entire second album of music and narrations for free, with which to fill the CD.[2] . there was also a series of videos produced by African Dope entitled How To Become A Better Person narrated by Watkin, who was in guise of his Rick Flare character.
After the release of the album, the band self-destructed after a 6 week delay in the album’s release (involving wrong cliche designs being printed, customs confiscating and then losing 3000 cds, and a printing bill over which a dispute with the label’s distributor almost bankrupted African Dope).[3]
[edit] After The Constructus Corporation
Watkin Tudor Jones since expanded into graphic art, fluffy toy-making and other creative outlets, releasing two more releases/projects such as the Watkin Tudor Jones solo project (also known as Fucknrad, with Sibot) and the multimedia project MaxNormal.TV (not to be confused with his other outlet Max Normal) with Yolandi Visser, who later had a daughter with Watkin named Sixteen Jones. Sibot and Markus Wormstorm later collaborated on the 3 CD album 'The Real Estate Agents', and Felix Laband went on to be signed by distinguished German independent label Compost Records.
