I’ve been listening to the new Zinkplaat CD in the car for the last two weeks and have found myself sitting with the engine off, outside my house - twice - just so I could listen to the end of the disc! That hasn’t happened since listening to Barney Simon’s Night Zoo on 5FM years ago!

Having seen Zinkplaat live in 2009, I really enjoy their mix of Afrikaans blues rock and poetic lyrics. They know how to make cool bluesy rock and enjoy feeding off an appreciative audience.  They are a group of musicians who genuinely seem to enjoy what they are doing and I think it shows in this, their fourth full length album, Mooi Besoedeling (meaning ‘pretty pollution’).  

While the whole album is truly listenable, the stand-out tracks are ‘Frekwensie’ the upbeat opener, ‘Sterkte’, ‘Dag in die wingerd’ and the title track, ‘Mooi Besoedeling’, which is a truly awesome driving song. The band use lovely melody and the lead singer Bertie Coetzee really belts it out at times! And they also use the odd effect here and there that really keeps the blues-rock based sound interesting. Add all this together with wonderfully creative Afrikaans lyrics, and you have the complete package! Not to mention a very innovative package design with a scratch-card style album cover!

This is an album of quality Afrikaans tunes and I can just about guarantee it will make you want more of Zinkplaat!  They also have plans to play in the UK again in 2010, so not much longer to wait!