:: A Malaysian on Music, Gigs, Concerts. ::

For the longest time I have been raving on and on about Zee Avi @ Kokokaina. She finally had her homecoming gig in Malaysia since getting signed. About time!

50 minute set. Short but sweet. Well she doesn’t have that many songs. Zee started the night off with Poppy. Good way to get the crowd going. And it was a pretty decent crowd. About 3 thousand people made the night merry. Zee continued with Slow Hands, The Childhood. She followed that up with Honey Bee, Bitter Heart, You and Me and finally Kantoi! Her final song (yeah that was fast), The First Of The Gang, which incidentally was not written by her came up the block pretty fast.

Then came some dramatics. She thanked the crowd the organisers, brought her dad up there, Gold certification was awarded (probably Malaysia or Taiwan certification). Then it was done. The crowd (some of them) started leaving but I knew there was no way I was leaving till I heard my favourite, Monte. After some feeble attempts to calm the demanding crowd down, Adam the MC saved his head when Zee stepped out and performed, wait for it….Monte

That just wrapped up the night for me. Check out some pictures that the organiser Red Tix shared with me.

Some old Zee Avi postings of mine

http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=254
http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=241
http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=215
http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=211
http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=199
http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=181
http://www.yumchar.net/otb/?p=57

Sorry folks, this is a bit outdated :).

I’ve never been a fan of KL Live because it was never meant to be a gig arena. First, it’s where Warp used to be. Secondly, it was where Ruums was and I’ve attended Akon there before. But, since it’s probably the only other intimate arena that KL has, let’s not be too demanding yeah?

I got there pretty early. Around 7pm for some dinner and drinks and was greeted by a tremendously LONG line. So, no way I was going to wait in line, I’ll just wait till later. The crowd was generally youngish and all look all prepped for some RAWKING.

When I decided to stroll into the arena, managed to cut a very long queue thanks to some mates of mine in the organising team. Parked myself upstairs but before long I went downstairs. It’s absolutely not conducive to be upstairs as it’s a stand concert and everyone’s at the same level.

As the band came out and Brian Molko started belting away Placebo tunes, it was evident that this was going to be a good night. However, they played most of their newer stuff. Not the end of the world but the crowd lapped it up anyway. Placebo started the night off with clearly the best song of their new album, Battle For The Sun.

The night progressed on and a couple of cult classics, Special K and Every You Every Me came on but that was it. No Pure Morning, no Nancy Boy, c’mon! When the crowd cheered louder for Bright Lights instead of their classics, it was pretty clear - Placebo were formed in 1994, perhaps some of this crowd weren’t even into music in Placebo’s early days.

Overall a good night but no alcoholic beverages.

Sharizan, the voice, the crooner. You’ve heard him on Litefm’s Sunday night Swing Time. I sorta remember him representing Malaysia on Asia Bagus back in 1993, but it’s his bubbly and fun personality that has gotten radio listeners, TV viewers to remember him more. With a voice suited for classic swing numbers and bop jazz tunes, Sharizan entertained for two days in Alexis Ampang over the last weekend (25 - 26 July).

I had the opportunity to check out his set on Friday night, whilst entertaining my tummy with Alexis’ wonderful food. It was a good way to end a tough week, and how else but with good music, entertainment, food and WINE. He split his set up into two different sets, performing classic swing tunes like Fly Me To The Moon, You Don’t Know Me, etc and turning it more pop culture with famous pop classics. Throughout his performance, he engaged the crowd with his wit and charm, breaking out into song wherever he could. He also dropped some clues onto his voice talent and the company he owns by demonstrating his impersonations, voice-over talent, etc.

As with most setups in Alexis, it was simple and precise, letting the musicians do their thing. His session musicians were great musicians. Their sound crisp. Most bands in Malaysia should take a note from Jazz musicians, improve your music playing or you will blend into the background.

Overall, it was a brilliant night. Thank you Sharizan.

So I’ve finally picked up a few copies of the album I have been harping on and on about to EVERYONE.

I’ve heard a few of her songs like Bitter Heart, Monte (obviously!), Just You and Me and Kantoi. So I had basically no inclination how the rest of the album would sound like. Naturally, I expected acoustic and eclecticness. First to the songs that I have been listening to. Bitter Heart is just such a chirpy song, together with her playful voice humming and singing along. I really don’t have to say much more about Monte because that Private Practice scene keeps playing over and over. I liked what they did with the arrangement of Just You and Me. It has become a more upbeat number, with double bass and drums driving the point home but I still prefer the rawness of the pure uke version. Kantoi. Such an honest number, a mixture of malay and english. It sounds like something she came up with while taking a shower (or a dump!). Simple, yet brilliant.

On to the new songs. Poppy. “The poppy took my baby away from me”. Well, it depends on how you read this lyric. My best description of this song is a timeless 50s classic jazz voice stuck in a modern arrangement of keyboard and guitar. Honey Bee is a much more folky number, with less of her jazzy prowess showing, but Zee keeps it simple here. Potential candidate for next season’s music of Grey’s Anatomy or Private Practice. Is This the End, this track has a sense of familiarity within it and sparks with elements of Kate Havnevik and classic Beth Orton. Morbid and rhetorical, the lyrics really shine here.

I Am Me Once More. This is my least favourite track of the album, but it does have a sleasy trumpet solo, which gives this song some additional flavour. First of the Gang to Die is the only track that Zee colloborates with other songwriters and composers, Alain Whyte, Morrisey Steven Patrick. There is a noticeable difference in lyric writing mentality here, the sporadic cheeky mentality of the lyrics have disappeared in this track. Can you say adult contemporary, well let’s see what the future brings for our darling Malaysian crooner.

Darlin’ It Ain’t Easy. Another one of the more upbeat numbers. Not a hugely memorable song but it just takes a scene in Grey’s or Private Practice yeah..? Next up, The Story. Another track that slightly diminishes her unique voice a little bit. In some way, Monte does that too. Very simple track guided by a simple set of guitar chords. Simple story telling track that she sang over bonfires in her formative years.

Let Me In is the final track of the album and it really is the perfect number to close the album. Zee on piano, which we haven’t seen a lot of. The elements of Kate Havnevik appear here again in this very emo number. At this point in time, I keep on thinking I can’t believe she’s Malaysian. Goosebumps.

I recommend that everyone buys this album. It’s one of those albums that you would buy and compare with the best eclectic albums out there. The tracks are compiled in the album perfectly, starting off with Bitter Heart, with Monte bringing up the middle and Let Me In closing. An album is really all about telling a story and Zee has succesfully done that. All the hype and craze about her that I’ve had since watching her in Urbanscapes 2008, June and again in Rantai Merdeka, August 2008 was melt with pure brilliance delivered in her debut album. We have to thank Zee for her talent and Brushfire/Monotone for making her dreams come true and really making us Malaysians proud.

You heard it first! There will be more of her songs used within Grey’s Anatomy Season 6 and Private Practice Season 3. Believe it.

Get down to Tower Records, Rock Corner if you are Malaysian.
If you are Singaporean, get down to HMV.
If you are in the US, get it off Amazon.

Check out Zee Avi’s Official Site

Finally got around to watching it.

Before the screening, I thought potentially that this could be the best Malaysian film to date. I now realise that this is definitely the case. It was refreshing. In all fairness, it wasn’t a total musical but where there was music, it certainly worked. The lyrics, which were written by Joon Han were all so well written. It seems puzzling as I won’t have pegged our director as the musical kind. The acting was pretty decent, especially with Jerrica Lai and Peter Davis. Jerrica’s theatre experience definitely showed as she easily crossed over from exagerrated theatre performances. Peter Davis probably has a career as a presenter as he is Pan Asian (ok, if you haven’t watched it, this won’t make much sense to you). Hannah Lo, Hannah Lo. She does have that cool-bitch look about her, which made her perfect for her role in Sell Out, but it’s obvious that she needs more acting experience. Not bad for a debut.

What I really liked about the film is the Malaysian cultural references in the film and a lot of pot-shots at indie film makers. What I don’t particularly like is the disjointed nature of the film. Without a big plot holding the stories together, it seemed disjointed and several smaller plots working in different directions.

In short, this film is a refreshing result from a gutsy film maker. I do wish to see more from the director and more films in general that may not necessarily be a musical type film, but something more on this level of film making. I am curious to check out Yasmin Ahmad’s Talentime. Hopefully she has learnt from Sepet and Gubra.

A Bristol legend.

Beth Gibbons is back. Okay, again my apologies for reviewing an album that has been already out for a year. Every Portishead album brings me on a little journey. It takes me awhile to absorb it, appreciate it and become a slave to it. It’s impossible to review their latest album, without taking a trip down memory lane.

Back in 1994, I was a newbie to this thing called the Internet. Chugging along on my 14.4 voice modem from USR Robotics, which I recently upgraded from the trusty 9600bps. I was listening to Magic Carpet Ride, the Fatboy Slim remix. There was no way in the world I would have been exposed to the world of Trip-Hop, yet alone Portishead. So, the real adventure began in 1997 when I was in college and a mate of mine introduced me to Dummy. It took a week on my Panasonic Discman Portable Player (which I still have and it still works!). I became an avid fan of this genre of music (some call it trip hop, some call it chill out music, some even call it lo-fi), I still call it Trip Hop. I was blown away by Numb. The baselines, the haunting vocals, the works. This mercury prized album was an artwork that deserves to be in any music lover’s collection of albums. It’s also in the Rolling Stone’s Top 500 albums of all time and in that yellow book 1,000 albums you must own. Over the years, Glory Box became one of my top 250 songs of all time.

In 1997, Portishead returned with a self titled follow-up album. This album was quite low profiled and hardly got mentioned in the press, which is what they prefer anyway. It was around 1998 when I got wind of this album. News sure moved a lot slower back then. No twitter and feeds yeah. This was possibly Portishead’s weakest album and it did not really reach the levels that Dummy did.

Random thought: Portishead introduced me to vinyls and scratching/turntablism even before the Scratch Perverts or Invisible Scratch Picklz or even Kid Koala.

Then my real music journey began as I landed in the UK. Over the next 5 years, I attended gigs, festivals and worked up a heathy debt buying albums. The Roseland sessions showed the flexibility of Trip Hop and how a full ochestra complements Portishead’s sound. Brilliant stuff.

Then they disappeared. Well not disappear like Shea Seger (who I still don’t know where she has gone). They went on a hiatus until 2006 when stuff started appearing on their MySpace page. Then they appeared to be coming out with a new album and they did a cover on a Serge Gainsbourg tribute album.

2007, they started gigging. 2008, Third was released, which I finally got a copy last week. Their first album in 11 years. The album kicks off with Silence, which gives me chilly goosebumps like something coming off a Trainspotting album. Very Orbital. The thing about Trip Hop is, it is timeless. Beth’s vocals and Portishead’s sound work in two ways. Introducing a newbie to Trip Hop, which would timewarp them back to the 90s Trip Hop movement. The second way is that it re-introduces us music junkies to what we have sorely missed over the last 11 years. The vocals, the guitars, the un-matched arrangements. Next up is Hunter, which has become my favourite track of the album. It has an instant make of a classic and I can’t help but get the Mazzy Star feel because of the keyboards, tempo and beat PLUS the echoic nature of Beth’s vocals.

Nylon Smile gives listeners an arabic feel. Maybe it’s the drums but listening to it brings me down to a cobble stone path listening and watching a persian princess singing melodic tunes. The Rip feels like a tribute to Radiohead. The drawl of her voice is evident here over the simple guitar tune. Incidently Radiohead has praised this album. Plastic is reminiscent of Mysterons but without the scratching. The drum rolls are superb.

As we hit the middle of the album, I am awoken from my trance-y state to the chunky beats and electronica at its best in We Carry On. As I always say, an album journey of listening needs to bring the listener to different levels and I felt like I was on a roller coaster as an old skool Deep Water followed, which brings forward a grammaphone feel of the classic 60s. What sounded like a ukulele or a basic acoustic guitar brings us….oh crap. Boy was I wrong, the song twisted into an electronic-drum-filled manic tune with the keyboard slamming away. Genius.

Small, another aural roller coaster type of a song with soft vocals followed by banging bass/drums. The journey continues with a typical Portishead trippy song with Magic Doors and its trippy beats. I’m so going to get killed by music lovers who hate the term Trip Hop. Sorry boys/girls - you can’t define it otherwise. The album closes with Threads, a very industrial and electronic song lambasted by Beth’s voice.

Time it took me to write this review: 49 minutes, 28 seconds. Roughly the time it took me to listen to the album.

A short review: Brilliant. It educated me on what was missing in my audiolife for the last 11 years. Hunter will be a cult classic. An explosive Trip Hop album that lingers along psychedelic and experimental rock.
A long review: I have nothing else to say. But I would like to quote Nate Patrin, from his Pitchfork review of Portishead’s Third.

Keep in mind just how out-of-nowhere this all seems: The notion of a new Portishead album had, for many fans, fallen out of the realm of possibility. If Third had come out in 1999 or 2000, maybe writers would be calling it Portishead’s answer to Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, another third album by trip-hop icons eschewing dinner-conversation music by embracing anxiety and moodiness. Released today, it instead feels like a staggering transformation and a return to form that was never lost, an ideal adaptation by a group that many people didn’t know they needed to hear again.

Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley. Sorry, I needed to mention their naames but Portishead would not be Portishead without Beth Gibbons. Beth’s voice is the soul of Portishead.

Feeling a bit tired from Sunburst the night before. 9 hours of grooving, swaying, head-bopping and outright mania did leave it’s marks on an aging guy’s body, I arrived in Changi airport relatively early with some hours to burn. Obviously, I prepped by abusing the airwaves with Duffy live tunes.

On arriving at the indoor stadium, it was evidently clear that Singapore venues are really a class of their own but one did wonder whether the concert theatres at Suntec and Esplanade might have been better and more personal venues for a performance from Duffy.

It was about 8.30pm when the concert kicked off. The simple stage setup illuminated into a bright purple signifying Duffy’s entrance. What I liked about the concert setup was it’s throwback to elements of classic motown setups. Duffy stepped to an intro instrumental tune and opened with Rockferry. And you know what? Her vocals will send shivers to your spine (in a good way of course). To all of you haters who tried to tell me that Duffy’s vocals are lousy, you might as well eat your words now. She was amazing and her retro voice reminds me of a more powerful Brenda Lee.

Next up was Hanging On Too Long, which she delivered like a realistic case of a jilted lover. Upon completing the song, Duffy scooted off for a change of wardrobe from her signature black dress cuts to a more bright dress. Another nice touch to the concert setup was the very well choreographed backup singers who were dressed up like Duffy doubles. It was so old school motown.

She followed up her strong start with powerfully belted out numbers, Serious and one of the new ones, Rain On Your Parade. Next up was my favourite performance of the night, Syrup and Honey. My oh my, this is by far climbing the charts for one of the sexiests performances that I have seen, ever. Very bluesy. She improvised the lyrics a little towards the end, which was a nice touch.

Duffy continued with Fool For You, Warwick Avenue, Breaking My Own Heart and Stepping Stone. By that time, the crowd was in a trance as she brought out some new tracks, Enough Love and Oh Boy. I am truly looking foward to the new album. When’s that out again?

Next up was one of my least favourite songs (yes I have some), Delayed Devotion. But I’ll tell you what, it doesn’t fit that category more cause when you’ve heard it live, it really brings the song to a whole new level. Duffy moved on to Stop next, which is another new song and ended the night (or rather take a break song). What else could it be but Mercy. Here’s the best part, I have listened and now watched live a version of Mercy. It’s never the same! She’s got so many improvs for this song, it is crazy.

Encore time. Another new song followed as Duffy re-entered the stage called Please Stay. Another jilted lover song. Duffy followed that with I’m Scared and finished off with my personal favourite Distant Dreamer. I love the drums and bass on this song. It’s very inspirational. Don’t ask me why.

Overall, the 70 odd minutes worth of Duffy songs were made up of very good vocal performances by Duffy and of course the backups. The band is made up of very accomplished musicians. I must say that Duffy doesn’t engage the crowd in conversations as much as I would have wanted, aside from her sexy take on Syrup and Honey. There were a few times where she included the token ’say thank you or hello in the local language’ and asked how the crowd was doing. Aside from that, it was all serious business.

Some of the highlights of the night were the fact I felt I was in a foreign country as 80% of the audience were caucassian. C’mon Singaporeans, where are ya at? Maybe they were resting up for Coldplay the next day. There was a young fan in front of me, no more than 13 or 14 years old who was at the concert alone. Now, that’s a real fan.

I will wait patiently for the new album.

I came out of the stadium looking pleased obviously before I trotted off for some food.

Sunburst 2009 has come and gone. A day before the event I was informed that Erykah Badu wa not coming. Great. My gig guide for the night is shown below.

21st night
This band was a surprise for me and they were really quite entertaining. I have no idea where they are from but they had pretty complete band with backing vocals, several guitarists, trumpet guy, etc. For them to be on at 2pm really puzzles me. A band to look out for in the future.

Juwita Suwito
Juwita oh Juwita. I have seen her perform a couple of songs before and I remember her to be a more accomplished vocalist. She was screaming a lot and doing a lot of cover songs. Fail.

Hujan
This guys are pretty good but they didn’t play their biggest song, which was very surprising. Aside from that and their friendly banter with Bunkface across to the other stage was quite humorous. But these guys need to work on improving themselves as musicians. They still lack the crispness and preciseness of session musicians.

Estrella
She can do nothing wrong in my books. Well almost. She still lacks stage confidence and has very little rapport with the audience. She has to learn that the best artistes engage their audience. Anyhow, she has very good vocals. Keep up the good work girl.

Cosmic kitchen
Another surprise. Vocalist from ireland. I loved it. Very chilled performance but pretty relaxing. Back to the debate about local artistes and their live music performances. Cosmic Kitchen are made up of world music performers and I just knew that when I heard them. The sound is a lot better. Whether it is the setup as well, who knows. Foreign musicians are definitely more accomplished.

Estranged
Very entertaining as usual. Same problem again though. They tend to let the audience sing a big chunk of Untuk Kamu. People pay to hear you sing. Cmon.

Nidji
Shadows. I love that song. Overall they were good. They are what i call emotionally driven performers. Good stuff

Butterfingers
I watched them for a few minutes then I left to catch Skye. Vintage Butterfingers is all there needs to be known.

Skye
Another chilled performance. Very compelling and she gains a connection with her audience. It’s a pity that because of Erykah’s absence, NERD came on earlier and clashed with Skye towards the end. Cmon pineapple. Get your act together.

NERD
Top class entertainment. I don’t know a lot of their songs but I was quite entertained. By this time I was pretty zonked because I was there at the festival since the start. I liked them bringing the crowd up for the last few songs. Quite a trip.

Korn
Gone rawking mad. Jonathan Davis has aged but he still rocks it hard. Coming out dressed in a kiat and bringing out the bagpipes midway was a nice touch. When Korn played Freak on a Leash, the crowd had gone to hell and back. In a good way no doubt. Vulgarity was on a high. I’m sure some governing body will make some hooha. Too late yo. I doubt that Korn will be allowed into the country anytime soon but if this is Korn’s last ever concert in malaysia, it was one hell of a way to do their last concert.

Overall I was pleased. The stage setup was much better with lesser delays but losing Erykah was not encouraging. Let ’s see who they bring in next year.

Damn, I wish I knew all the instrument and percussion names. This dude from Sao Paolo was pretty awesome. The king of percussion and a voice synonymous with Bossanova. Traditionally I prefer Bossa with female vocalists, but I can make exceptions.

Valtinho had guest collaborations with Shaker, an Indian percussionist, Xiong who is a local latin music composer and vocalist, someone I will be looking out for future gigs from and of course, Atilia.

It was a relaxing night that was fit for wine, great music and fantastic company, of which I had all three.

Gigs upcoming at NBT: (Visit No Black Tie Web)

My Blueberry Nights

Awesome stuff this is. I finally watched this WKW classic after more than a year of waiting. Some of the top WKW classics that I love are Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love and 2046. Personally, I love the scenes, the music, the conversation and dialogue. It just blends so well together. Sorry, I’m a WKW fan. For his first attempt on an English language film, this is pretty impressive. All his filming traits are evident and I love the camera angles taken from outside the cafe/bar.

Of course, there are also bad points. No film is perfect. I think Norah Jones was a bit of a mis-cast. She tries to appear all pure, nice and wholesome but I think she has a long way to go when it comes to acting. Natalie Portman is not too bad as goofy oddball character. I seem to think it’s similar to her role in Garden State. Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn and others managed their own ground pretty well. I suppose most of WKW films make you feel like you are on a trip. The mind type of a trip :). Cat Power’s cameo was trip. In her short 5 minute stint, she left a much more lasting impression that Norah did in the whole film. Cat was silently seductive and oh-so-sexy.

The soundtrack. I’m getting it soon. It’s brilliant. There were a few throwbacks to In The Mood For Love and 2046. The repeating song this time was Cat Power’s - Lived in Bars. Needless to say, it’s back on my playlist again. This time, permanently.

So, catch it if you have done so yet.