Posted in Music, Reco by weng Tuesday May 26, 2009
Does It Offend You, Yeah? (DIOYY?)
Yep, it’s the name of the band. This electro indie band from the UK was formed just 2 years ago in 2007 in Reading and soon released their debut in 2008. Their debut album is called You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into. What a mouthful.
If this song sounds familiar, you might have heard it from the trailer of 2009’s fouth installment of Fast & Furious. I’m sure it’s been featured on TAG or LAPSAP nights.
Posted in Gigs, Music, Reco by weng Tuesday May 26, 2009
Truly an allstar lineup. Although I won’t be catching this one but all of you should. I’m actually curious to watch Mia Palencia out from her Double Take outfit. Reza is Malaysia’s very own beloved singer songwriter who sings from his soul.
A lot of people have been asking me where is this Wisma Bentley. Just find Court’s Mammoth, which is nearby Tesco, Ikano and Curve. Park inside the the car park compound and you won’t miss the words Bentley Music. Go up to the 3rd floor for the expression corner (I’ve decided to give this little corner it’s own name cause it’s not all about music, it can be spoken word, poem reading, standup comedy, music). The Auditorium is on the 4th floor, where the magic happens.
Disclaimer: Some people are actually asking me whether I work for HG, and no I don’t. I’m just a professional appreciator of music that is supporting this noble cause. Why? Because I think it’s about time we had something like this. It’s reminiscent of those Troubadour days in La Bodega Tongshin except this has a more permanent feel to it.
Acoustic Session featuring Izzy Mohamed, Yuna, Dizzy & The, Meor and Black @ Auditorium, Wisma Bentley.
I checked out the tail end of spoken word and I must say it peaked my interest a little bit. I will check it out the entire session the next time I get down there.
The Auditorium and the whole Bentley music setup was done pretty nicely and this is really a step forward for the local music scene.
The only sad thing was, I failed to catch Yuna and Dizzy & The. BUT, there is always next time.
I’ve seen Izzy play back at one of those festivals. Can’t remember whether it was Urbanscapes, Rantai or something along those lines. Again a sturdy performance from the goofy singer songwriter. Perfect way to escape the hot Saturday afternoon. The A/C in the Auditorium was superb! My only complaint about Izzy is her music doesn’t really go anywhere for the most part and until today there is not really one particular song, which I remember vividly. But, don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy her acoustic sets, but they’re not the kind that will leave you jaws down on the floor type of reactions.
Meor and Black. Oh dear, these guys have aged. Unfortunately not in the best of ways. They weren’t helped by the sound setup as well. What happened guys? You used to make good music.
That is all I can comment about actually, with regards to the artistes.
However, I must stress this point again. Malaysian musicians need to work on the fundamentals of music a little bit better. Whether it’s piano playing, guitar playing, drums, percussion, bongos, or anything. Just because you can sing, doesn’t mean you should stop improving yourself musically via your instruments. I have said this once, and I will say it again. Many (though not all) artistes in Malaysia are NOT accomplished musicians. To top it all off, the stage setup never helps them. This is why I know that band is not Malaysian just by listening to them, and vice versa (see my Sunburst comments). Sorry, ranting.
Also, c’mon guys, you gotta rehearse. Meor & Black - you guys obviously stepped in the Auditorium without any rehearsals.
Minor issues. The Auditorium setup, aside from some teething staff and sound issues is slowly evolving into something of great potential. And look what’s coming up next week..
Acoustic Session featuring Reza Salleh, Mia Palencia, Rina S and Ferns @ Auditorium (4:00 pm) - Unfortunately I will be away at Freedom @ A’Famosa. Have a good one guys.
You can also be there at 3.30pm for:
Space Gambus Experiment presentation and performance by Kamal Sabran & Zulkifli Ramli @ HG Space Space Gambus Experiement
I look forward to meeting Michael Simon who I feel is a visionary who had the guts to bring this to reality. Kudos.
Posted in Music, Reco by weng Wednesday May 20, 2009
Damien Rice and Ray LaMontagne collaborated on a live remake of the Bee Gee’s 3rd album Bee Gees’ 1st released in 1967. View it here.
There is a little history behind this song. Barry Gibb wrote this song for Otis Redding to perform, but the latter died in a plane crash in 1967 before he had a chance to record it. Tragic. I would have loved to hear the King Of Soul’s take on this Bee Gees classic.
Posted in Music, Reco by weng Wednesday May 20, 2009
This song is fast climbing my charts of those timeless songs that I will continue to listen to over the next few decades. It’s very loyal to Rachael’s acoustic and emo feel. This is all amplified with a collaboration and chemistry of Rachael’s and Ray’s powerful vocals.
It’s so addictive. In some way, this collaboration brings back memories of Damien Rice and Ray’s collaboration on To Love Somebody. I’ll write about this in a separate post.
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.
Posted in Music, Reco by weng Tuesday May 19, 2009
So the album is out today. I still haven’t got my copy yet. Need to make a short trip to the record shop to visit my friends. Ironically, I have a bad feeling that it won’t be out in Malaysian record shops as quick as I think it will.
Posted in Music, Reco by weng Thursday May 14, 2009
The musician and artiste that Malaysians have been waiting for..
For many, the wait is finally over. For me, it will be a day of satisfaction. I take personal joy when I see artistes make it, and in some ways, Zee made it by staying through to herself. Her self-titled debut album will be officially released on May 19th off the Monotone/Brushfire label. For many Malaysians, this is a proud moment. For an artiste, it also can’t get much better than this.
Zee is only 23 years old. Her sound is immaculate and classic. Yep, grammaphone classic. Her voice screams of an old school jazz crooner or swing time 60s or even better, classic 50s. But what’s special is, she brings that to adult contemporary music of today. Born in Miri, East Malaysia, seems like a perfect answer to why her music is unpolluted by some of the traversties of today’s pop culture music. We like her the way she is. Music is hereditary. Her dad sang and played double bass, accordian and guitar.
At age 12, Zee became a KLite, learnt the guitar and go exposed to the world outside of Miri. Then her life took an unexpected turn as she flew off to the UK for her studies. Although some might contest, I would think that this may have been something that encourages her calling. London would have exposed her to the wonderful world of music by huge lengths.
Zee’s return to Malaysia was the true beginning of her musical life and she began playing, singing and recording music. Before long, it was youtube and the rest is as we all say, history.
I can’t really describe her warp speed trip to where she is now, but here’s an excerpt off her bio:
The day before her 22nd birthday, Zee posted what she intended to be “my last video,” a holiday song, “No Christmas for Me.” By the time she checked her e-mail Avi had almost 3,000 messages including a slew of label offers. One email came from Ian Montone, who had been shown the YouTube clip by Raconteurs’ drummer, Patrick Keeler, prompting Montone to get in touch and offer to release her music on the Monotone Label.
Before she knew it Zee was on a plane to L.A. to record her debut with producer Robert Carranza at Brushfire’s Solar Powered Plastic Plant. “No Christmas for Me” was then featured on the holiday charity album, This Warm December, A Brushfire Holiday, Vol. 1.
Wow. Enough said.
Actually, let’s do a roll call for Monotone and Brushfire:
Monotone Records is owned by Ian Montone, whose Monotone, Inc. manages the White Stripes, M.I.A., The Shins, Vampire Weekend, the Raconteurs, Against Me!, Cold War Kids, Crookers, among others. Brushfire Records is owned by Jack Johnson and his manager Emmett Malloy and is home to artists like Rogue Wave, Matt Costa, Neil Halstead, Money Mark, G. Love, Mason Jennings, ALO and Zach Gill.
The artiste revolution in Malaysia continues to take a bold step forward. Now we have a little space in Mutiara Damansara. It’s run by Homegrown Space, which is an ongoing project to help local talent get discovered. Whether you are a musician, poet, artist, filmmaker, etc, this is the place for you. They’ve got a pretty decent music lineup weekly, which started from last weekend.
I’m looking forward to 23rd where Yuna and Pete Teo will be part of the lineup. Check out the other weekly slots at the Homegrown Space Schedule Page.
