Malaysia vs Singapore Part III

Malaysia
25/1 Pelle Carlberg & Club 8
2/2 Switchfoot
19/2 Explosions In The Sky
27/2 Backstreet Boys
9/3 Bleeding Through
14/3 Colbie Cailat
15/3 Sunburst KL Festival (Incubus. John Legend, The Roots, etc)
30/3 HORSE The Band
11/4 Sean Kingston
13/4 Celine Dion
26/4 Comeback Kid
9, 10/5 2-Days of Freedom Festival (Tiësto, Ferry Corsten, Cosmic Gate, etc)
14/5 Marié Digby
17/5 X Live Music Festival (Missy Elliott etc
25/5 Soilwork
25/5 Sick of It All
7/6 The Click Five
5/7 Mono


Singapore
31/1 Switchfoot
7/3 Incubus/Saosin
9/3 Broken Social Scene
11/3 Raul Midón
13/3 Múm
14/3 The Roots
14/3 Sondre Lerche & The Faces Down
14/3 Fujiya & Miyagi
25/3 Maroon 5
27/3 KT Tunstall
27/3 The Rakes
29/3 HORSE The Band
25/4 Comeback Kid
26/4 Infadels
28/4 Stereophonics
7/5 Elton John
13/5 James Blunt
16, 17, 18/5 Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival
1/6 The Click Five


This is a reluctant post. I detest making this an annual affair. We hate to love the people across the shore that love to hate us. Yet we are let down again.

I was not aware of such substantial distasteful cult followings for screamo in this territory. The fact that there are so many hoo-ha over a handful of bands from this specific genre playing in these couple of months challenges my optimistic approve for those scene kids who listen to music more than what is deemed healthy. These bands are so awfully pretentious that even Panic In The Disco sounds genuine to me. Then again, people attend such gigs because it is deemed cool to listen to bands literally unheard of, the more obscured the better. What Comeback, they were not even here in the first place?

On the other hand, radio-listening youths are getting excited over those MySpace or YouTube made artists that hit our shore. Self-claimed singer-songwriters with no talent and only pretty faces, anyone? Or a disgustingly obese teenager who does not sing and look the part? People are eager to jump on that overloaded ship when I am stranded in an island, rather starved than chewing on some dead meat.

While we are assailed with excruciating noise and tasteless gums, the people down south are so much fortunate. Canadian indie rock supergroup, good looking Norwegian pop genius, London working class post-punk revivalist, Welsh answer to brit-pop and feminine piano legend/sir, how I wish I could be there.

Will there be part IV?

Elton John ft. Pete Doherty - Children of The Revolution (Live at Live 8 - T-Rex Cover)

Orange and Blue / Sun and Sky

Big Day Out 2008

Sunburst KL 2008

Couldn't they be more original?

Silverchair - Do You Feel The Same

Bring Back Some Glowsticks, Would Ya?

Klaxons is set to release yet another single from their Mercury Award winning album, 'Myths Of The Near Future’. The 'As Above, So Below' single will be digitally released in France on October 22nd with a Justice remix as well as a French version of the original track.

Klaxons - As Above, So Below (French Version)

Speaking of Klaxons, the jealousy revives as the occasional writer is going to catch the energetic band live next week. It is totally saddening to live in this good-live-music-deprived nation. I think the organisers should consider changing their jobs. I mean Whitney Houston ? Shaggy ? K-Ci & Jojo ? Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me.

We Are Scientists - This Scene Is Dead

If I Ever Feel Better

So the occasional writer has left for Perth. With Kaiser Chiefs and Klaxons on the go, and probably Silverchair too, it seems like she will be having the time of her life there. The jealousy is killing me, and the drought for good live music in local scene has made it worse. Oh, the list of pop stars doesn't count.

Oh well, maybe I should just have to look at the bright side. It brings new elements to the blog as gig reviews and perhaps the latest in Aussie music scene will be covered. So watch out for this space in the future.

Art Brut - Jealous Guy

Speaking of gigs, the guy who delivered one of the best live performance in my rather short acts-that-I-have-seen-live list is back. As the title suggests, Jens Lekman's latest single, "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo" sounds nothing but joyful. Look out for his sophomore album, which is set to drop in September.

Jens Lekman - Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo

Malaysia in Headlines

Last year, Malaysia was named one of NME's 2005 cool places for being the bootlegging capital of the world. This time, Malaysia was in the NME news for wrong reason again.

I was browsing through the NME site, "Pussycat Dolls cause controversy in Malaysia" was spotted in the news section. Organisers of Pussycat Doll show had been fined 10,000 ringgits for flouting decency laws in our Bolehland. But the fine had been reduced by 50 percent for the organisers settled the fine early. I didn't know the Malaysia's annual Mega Sale carnival even covers legal fine. Now I wonder, are we citizens also entitled discount for the fine of losing ICs? If I turn in early for robbing/snatching, do I get discount too?

Pussycat Dolls pretty much dress and move the same level of 'indecency' in their videos, how come the video are getting considerably excessive amount of airplay on local TV without being labelled as sexually suggestive as suggested by our Minister on the show? Anyway, How could you expect six strippers who disguise themselves as singers/dancers dress decently according to our Minister's standards as in what Siti Nurhaliza would wear?

Also read
Mariah upsets Malaysian Muslims
Malaysia tells US band to cover up

Sufjan Stevens - Super Sexy Woman

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I have been regularly posting requests on a couple music-sharing communities to get hold of new music, or music that is hard to come by. Those community members have always been kind enough to upload those requested songs for me, and in turn I'll help back by uploading music requested by others. This method of getting free music had never go wrong, until yesterday I was so pissed off by a hypocrite on one of those communities.

Well, as usual I requested music that I can't find elsewhere on a community and hoping for responses by other members. A bitchy person came by and wrote me some rude comments. I requested a new single of a Manchester four-piece indie band which she self-proclaimed the frontman was her brother, so she doesn't allow material of the band being requested or uploaded on these communities. She kept pestering me not to request the song and asked me to "trot along to the nearest record shop or purchase online" (as if the record shops in our 'boleh' land would carry the new single of such indie band and me a poor student has got credit card). Also it was so hypocritical for her to object to certain artist being shared in these communities, while at the same time, being a member of those communities, sharing music of other artists for free.

Of course, I've chosen to ignore her because I don't see anything wrong requesting any song I want on a music-sharing community. Well, I guess the band has lost a potential fan being the singer has a cynical, hypocritical, egotistical sister. Who knows I might buy the soon-to-be released album of the band if I could get the first taste on the single, but hey they can never earn my money now...

Jet - Cold Hard Bitch

Kashmir feat. David Bowie - The Cynic

How to Dismantle an Overrated Album?

I totally agree with Maddox! How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb may have won U2 five Grammy's, but definitely not qualified as Album of The Year. Not that I hate U2, the album is not all bad, but there's no experimentation and creation at all. Maybe due to the commercial success they found in recent years, they decided to make a pop album to appeal to the mass. Or they are just too 'old' and tired of experimenting new sounds, I know same said to Rolling Stones, at least they are still rocking at 60s and came out with the pretty good A Bigger Bang. A band like U2, if it's really as great as their fans claimed, should have come out with a album emulates its predecessor. In fact, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is nowhere near some of U2's best works like Achtung Baby or Joshua Tree. I still don't get how HTDAAB could win five Grammy's, in spite of the album being just another cookie cutter sound of rock music playing on air waves. Even if I don't listen to rap, i think Kanye West's Late Registration deserves better to win Album of the Year. U2 has been Grammy's favourite for years now, like last year, they won the best rock performance and music video for Vertigo. I think it's just the recent tradition of Grammy of paying respect to the 'older' or 'late' artists in the music industry by awarding them in some important categories. Last year was Ray Charles in Record of the Year and Album of the Year, 2003 saw Luther Vandross won Song of the Year. So this year they have U2. Guess we will just have to wait and see who's next on the list.

Second thought, I wonder why an album released way back in year 2004 won Album of the year 2005?

Mp3s of Grammy's winners:

The White Stripes - The Denial Twist (Best Alternative Album)

Ted Leo - Since U Been Gone (cover of Kelly Clarkson, this year best female pop performance)/Maps