Francistown — If you all thought the new liquor act is killing clubs and nightlife in Botswana, think again! Instead it is the very same 'holy' water that is killing the clubs & not the law.

The mere fact that you all prefer to drink cheaper alcohol at home, restaurants and bars before staggering to clubs is killing nightclubs. Nightclubs open their doors at 9pm but only get their first patrons at 1am. The poor resident Djs play to empty walls for hours, while the poor bartenders keep staring at the door waiting for their first client. The very same poor club owner has to pay these employees a full 9pm to 6am salary and utilities when he could be paying them half of that since essentially, he does real business for half the operating hours the club is on. Rather than rant and rave about letting clubs close at 6am shouldn't club owners rather request to open their doors at 12midnight!

* Kgankga's new debut album simply entitled "Ee! Ke a rumolana!" is not an impressive record at all.

Get me straight here.

The sound quality is up to standard and the sleeve is nicely crafted but in my own words the brother can't sing to save his life.

In the first song "Ke thutswe ke koloi", the brother is trying so hard to sound like the legendary singer, George Swabi.

In almost all the songs, it appears the guy is just having banter, a dialogue to be precise.

However, despite all these inefficiencies I could say Kgankga's album has that diverse, span-the-genres sound that might attract a variety of fans.

Most of the songs in this record have that mainstream flair that should sound pretty sweet live, thanks to memorable mocking lyrics and high-quality production.

I am, however, annoyed by the amount of potent foul-mouthed lyrics which the brother seems to carelessly throw around whenever he feels like it.

We all know controversy (rude words) sells at times but when it's done in this manner it tends to irritate and scare away potential clientele.

In as much as he's trying to flex his vocal muscles to surprising effect, the end result is not quite impressive. I just wish he could do better with his style of singing next time around. But that minor gripe aside, Ee! Ke a rumolana is a promising introduction to an artist you'll certainly be hearing more about in the coming year. Rudie's music barometre: 3/5...

*For a boy who usually likes to listen to more edgy Dancehall music, I found hearing Timmy's debut album "Motho" to be the musical equivalent of taking a long warm bath at the end of a very frantic day. Soothing, sweet, and exuding a delicate fragrance, this collection of Timmy's new Kwasa-Kwasa album offers listeners a way to find rest in Rhumba music without completely lulling them to sleep.

The first three songs of the set are full of warm guitars and the energy is exhilarating. The songs are set with an uplifting tempo that allows the instrumentation to be present enough to get your toes tapping, but delicate enough to support Timmy's voice without overpowering it.

His voice is also sitting very nicely in the middle of his range throughout these first three songs, so the vocals are clean and bright. The most impressive song of the whole album is the title track "Motho", a rousing reminder of our need to party down a storm in all our circumstances. This is surely going to be a club-banger. Trust and believe in me folks!

Other songs to check out include "Sekela Mama", "Ke tsamaya le wena" (which has a Hip-Hop rhyme to it), "Tshidi" and "Manchi."

The songs are well rounded, warm and poignant mainly because they, like all the other tracks in this CD, resound with direct lyrics and honest instrumentation. If you are a die-hard Kwasa-Kwasa fan, this is one of the albums to add to your collection. But all in all I think just about anyone can benefit from this album by allowing beautiful music like this to soothe our souls. He just has to work on an eye-catching and appealing album sleeve. Rudie's music barometre.