Surreal Sessions

Cape Town

Surreal Sessions are Jodie Williams and Liam Bowers, a Cape Town duo out of Kuils River whose sound moves between Gqom, Amapiano, Afro-tech and deep house. They met at Bellville Technical High, studied sound engineering at Cape Audio College, and have spent the decade since welding hard local dancefloor language to whatever else catches their ear — DJ Lag and Tyler ICU sit alongside Skrillex and Calvin Harris in their listening, and it shows in music built for maximum physical impact. Their Boiler Room debut came in 2019 on the Cape Town leg of the Ballantine's True Music tour, marking them as one of the city's most forward acts. In 2022 they took Boiler Room's Third Space programme to Amsterdam, splicing Gqom with dancehall for a set written specifically for the occasion. Elsewhere: production credits for FAKA, the EPs Dusty and Qhapela Izinja, brand work including Adidas, and repeat appearances at Rocking the Daisies — most recently as a surprise back-to-back with DJ Lag. Their project Dollars and White Pipes runs six tracks in 34 minutes and pulls in DBN Gogo, Nobantu Vilakazi, Vaena, Ty Slique, Mr Nation Thingz, SkavaNator, Karen Nyame KG and SamBeazy. Restless, percussive, built to detonate a room.