or as they call it, deep space champion pop."
Since 2009 I've played guitar and keyboards in kidofdoom — a South African instrumental band that became one of the most popular avant-garde groups the country has produced. Two albums, ten years of headlining slots, and a South African Music Award (SAMA) nomination for our second record, My Faith In War.
Not having vocals is, in South Africa, considered a doomed creative choice. We made it the thing that set us apart. Influenced by M83, Pink Floyd and Air, we built our own genre out of long-form instrumental builds and a relentless live show.
We came up through the disco-punk and indie-dance scene of 2007–2009, and rode that wave onto bigger stages: Oppikoppi, Ramfest, Vortex, Woodstock, Splashy Fen, Earthdance. Festival circuit, T-shirt design, album art, music videos — all of it self-made by the band.
March 2025 — Mpop reunion
The full band back on a South African stage. A reminder of why this thing started, and what it still does to a room when the lights drop.
Mpop, Pretoria · 17 March 2025
2009 — 2019 — earlier
Beyond the music itself, the band became its own design project — album artwork, gig posters, T-shirt graphics, and the visual identity that ran across our merch and online presence. The earlier era:
