News: Broken Social Scene Live in Singapore

The Canadian Baroque rock band is dropping by Singapore again, let's hope that Leslie Feist and Amy Millan will be joining them along~

- words Choong Ching

Album Review: Anti-Pop Consortium - Fluorescent Black (2009)

Label: Big Dada
Release Date: 29 September 2009
Genre(s): Rap, Hip-Hop

1 Lay Me Down
2 New Jack Exterminator
3 Reflections
4 Shine
5 C Thru U
6 Volcano
7 Timpani
8 Solution
9 Get Lite
10 NY to Tokyo
11 SuperUnfrontable
12 Born Electric
13 Apparently
14 End Game
15 Capricorn One
16 Dragonov
17 Fluorescent Black

This record could've been the record of 2009 if glitch, wonky, laser and all that jazz haven't existed up until today plus if the most forward thinking hip-hop still sounds like something coming out from Def Jux's camp. 7 years after their breakup since 2002's Arrythmia, Beans, High Priest, M Sayyid & Earl Blaize reunited again to craft something wonderful that is Fluorescent Black. Even though time has already catches up to these forward-thinking new-yorkers, they're ostensibly still looking ahead, but with a bit of retro-futuristic tinge. Resident beat-genius Earl Blaize still plays with plenty of abstraction like the minimal march of 'Timpani', the arpeggiated & digitized sludge of 'Dragunov' and adapting to updated stylings like the delayed ravestep synths & halfstep beat with missing snares on 'C Thru U' while the rest of the production seems crowded and busy, much departure from the negative vibe & hollow spaces found in Arrhythmia.

On the vocal front, Beans, M Sayyid & High Priest attacks the mic strategically, rarely overflowing with words, although they still on the same formula by cramping everything on any Dan Brown paperback to ride with the beats, only this time it works for them considering how they can stay on point for like, the whole album.

Perhaps the group is making up for lost time, as the album feels overstuffed & draggy at points. The finger-plucking guitar riffs on 'The Solution' & the computer soul of 'Born Electric', complete with the talkbox vocals, hopefully came across as a joke-- an overindulge on their robotic fetishes. It's good to see that Antipop return hungry, but it's going to be hard for them to raise the bar that they had set in this record. Fans of Antipop and listeners who just crave something creative and hard-hitting really ought to give Fluorescent Black a few spins.

Words by Skware-1

Concert: Pixies Doolittle Tour '10

After 3 long years, the Pixies has returned to Melbourne to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 1989 album "Doolittle" which included some of the bands best commercial hits including "Wave of Mutilation", "Here Comes Your Man", "Debaser" and "Hey". The Doolittle tour has lasted for 4 days with 3 of them being sold out and i was lucky enough to get my hands on one of the tickets for the final Melbourne show.

Radical fans gathered in Festival Hall, Melbourne last night waiting enthusiastically while Rain Machine, the side project of TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone, opened the show with a 30-minute set. Rain Machine was far better than any opening bands that I've been watching so far. Apart from the smokin' hot female bassist, I thought the band kicked the night off pretty well and the pressure to open for such a big band definitely wasn't an issue for them.

After the long wait, crowds started screaming the moment Pixies made their way up the stage without a word. Bassist, Kim Deal announced "B-sides" before they started the whole journey with “Dancing the Manta Ray". After 3 other B-sides, “Manta Ray,” “Weird At My School” and “Bailey’s Walk”, the backdrop visuals flashed "Doolittle", which marked the embarkation of the whole Doolittle tour. The Pixies broke into the crowd with the first track off the Doolittle album, "Debaser" which cast most off the fans dancing and singing along to the familiar song.

Frank Black definitely proved his ability to pack a houseful of force and volume in his voice with Deal's voice mingling at the back while she fired up the bass lines. It was quite interesting to see how the visual backdrops showed old grainy films that inspired the lyrics of the songs. The videos features odd imagery, nuns, blood red visualizations and lyrics that synced very well especially during the song "Hey" accompanied by black and white chains attaching.

The first encore was a surf version of Wave of Mutilation, a soft slowed down acoustic performance by the band followed up by the song Into the White. Towards the second half of the song, heavy dosage of fogs were released covering up the stage with Deal's voice echoing in the background while the band slowly faded which left the crowd wanting more.

Thinking that it was the end of the show, the houselights went on and the crowd went bonkers when the band showed up for a second encore. “These songs aren’t on the record,” said Deal before they brought the life back into the crowd by playing Caribou, Where Is My Mind, and Gigantic. It's really amazing how they consistently played all the classic favorites throughout the show, the gig felt more like "The Best of Pixies" show after all. Guitarist Santiago stole the limelight doing a brief solo when he played his ax with a bow and doing some spazzed-out effects using a drumstick he borrowed from drummer, David Lovering.

Here's the setlist for the night:

1. Dancing The Manta Ray
2. Weird At My School
3. Bailey's Walk
4. Manta Ray
5. Debaser
6. Tame
7. Wave of Mutilation
8. I Bleed
9. Here Comes Your Man
10. Dead
11. Monkey Gone To Heaven
12. Mr. Grieves
13. Crackity Jones
14. La La Love You
15. No. 13 Baby
16. There Goes My Gun
17. Hey
18. Silver
19. Gouge Away

Encore:
20. Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
21. Into The White

- words by Brian Foong

Concert: Kings of Convenience LIVE in Malaysia

A rainy Sunday evening somehow perfectly fit to be the right moment to listen to Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe deep mellow gentle harmonies.

The Norwegian duo met at school when they were16 and started playing music together ever since. They just released their third political driven studio album Declaration of Dependence. We were lucky to be able to catch them live because they rescheduled (canceled) their US tour due to Eirik illness just a couple of weeks ago.

The early first half of the show starts off with their ‘bedroom’ songs and slowly shifted into more groovy songs that drove fans to twist and dance along with Erlend. Two of my favorite songs from the latest album My Ship Isn’t Pretty and 24-25 kicked off the set. 25-24 showed off their purely blessed delicate harmonies that sounded even quieter in my player!

Here is the setlist:
My ship isn't pretty
24-25
Me inside you
I don't know what I can save you from
The girl from back then
Singing softly to me
Second to numb
Mrs. cold
Little kids
Rule my world
Boat behind
Toxic girl
Homesick
Gold in the air of summer
Know how

-encore-
Misread
*New song?* (with Tndrfst)
I'd Rather Dance with you (with Tndrfst)


Kings of Convenience are unlike your typical acoustic musicians that will be just sitting on chairs and strum the guitars, they are actually good in creating all the playful interactions, from asking us to snap fingers, tap the feet and to sing along to Know How, Boat Behind, Ms Cold etc.

They did quite a lot of improvisation to the songs. Thank god they were all nicely done unlike Cat Power’s. The intro chords progression of the Misread took me by total surprise. While the “I'd rather dance with you” sounded more like another remixed version by The Postal Service. That was a good attempt but not an impressive one.

A few days before the show I actually heard the interview on BFM (98.9) with Tndrfst and they mentioned that Erlend actually emailed them and asked them to be the opening band. Why local band but not some other acoustic acts? Clearly it was Erlend’s intention because of his strong influence in electronica tunes and those encore songs that reminded me much of his solo album, Unrest (2003).

Thanks to Diana for the Riot on an empty street CD, one of the earliest records that got me into indie folk years back.

PS: Support our local Malaysian band. They are actually not bad at all! :)
Visit: http://www.myspace.com/tenderfist

Interesting lines by the duo that worth mentioning here:

“…silence plays a very important part in our music, so please for the first half of the show, keep your camera aside” – Erlend

“…I want you all to snap your fingers like this…*snap-snap*…what do you call it here?…(crowds: petik jari!) Yeah… petik jari!” – Erlend

“…we went to watch Zee Avi yesterday night, and we were like, hey~ there’s actually a scene here…unlike Singapore.” – Eirik

“…we need some drums here!!!” – Erlend

“…that was an attempt by Kings of Convenience to sound really loud…” – after Eirik’s guitar faced some technical difficulties.

“…this song was written back in 1998, while I was in London, I was feeling really down at the time…” – Erlend before begin to play Homesick

“..the reason why we don’t want to take picture with people is because there’s this saying that you’ll lose your soul if your picture is being taken…” – Erlend and Eirik

Other non-related crap:
The KoC’s soundman was wearing a tee of The Whitest Boy Alive. Nice one!

Concert: Placebo Live in KL Live

Thanks to Ivan for the FREE Placebo ticket! :D

Here are the setlist:

1. For What It's Worth
2. Ashtray Heart

(hello, we are placebo!!)

3. Battle For The Sun
4. Soulmates
5. Speak In Tongues
6. Follow The Cops Back Home
7. Every You Every Me
8. Special Needs
9. Breathe Underwater
10. Julien
11. The Never-Ending Why
12. Come Undone
13. Devil In The Details
14. Meds
15. Song To Say Goodbye
16. Special K
17. The Bitter End

Encore:
18. Bright Lights
19. Infra-red
20. Taste In Men

Album review: Ólafur Arnalds - Eulogy For Evolution (2007)

Album: Eulogy For Evolution
Label: Erased Tapes
Release date: 29 October 2007
Style: Modern Classical

Tracklisting

1. 0040
2. 0048 / 0729
3. 0952
4. 1440
5. 1953
6. 3055
7. 3326
8. 3704 / 3837

For long time, classical music genre has often been closely associated to the upper-class level society. It has never been widely accepted in the normal world of ‘pop’ music because of its detailed composition and technical complexity. But young composer Ólafur Arnalds already knows how to tackle this issue without trying too hard.

It is all inscribed into this critically acclaimed debut. Do take note that Eulogy for Evolution was released when he was only 21 years old and journalists were already comparing him to his predecessors like Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.

Before this, he was a drummer in two hardcore/metal band (Fighting Shit and Celestine) and even contributed his work to other bands (Heaven Shall Burn and 65daysofstatic). Clearly, he is a tireless musician, who is never afraid of exploring different genre of music, collecting substances and ideas. Far clearer, Eulogy for Evolution is a statement of all the lengthy effort, and his instrumental virtuosity. It is no surprised at all that Sigur Rós had chosen him to open for them during their 2008 tour.

To begin with this record, ever wonder how is it like hearing a piano and a string quartet having an evening heart-to-heart conversation? Where most of the topics, which filled with sorrow, emotional conflict and even with occasional weeping; it is almost a melancholic theatrical experience while listening to Eulogy for Evolution.

Instead of introducing an album with some simple short intro tunes, Eulogy for Evolution opens up to me like a sad novel. 0040 crawls in with a few bars of string arrangements. The arrangements which were already soaked up in tears, hopelessly cries out for help, as if they were struggling to move on to the next bar, then the organic piano comes in and helps them reach its zenith before plunging down again to the dark, dreadful 0048/072.

However, this melodic formula is not new, but having that kind of opening is more than halfway to astounding, similar structures painted in the entire record, nothing but grief, ache and endurance.

Elsewhere, the soft and pleasing 0952 enter, again swelled strings arrangements sounded like an excerpt, which is taken off from Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. That is the visual that first came into my mind when I hear it for the first time. Still on the same theme but in a much slower movement. Here, the strings drift effortlessly through the background of the piece for almost 3 minutes. Ólafur demonstrated that a musical piece could go on endlessly, as long as it’s the right note.

Undeniably, Ólafur is master at using space, silence and single key to paint a sad story. As track 1440 unfolds, it became more and more evident. Every single note is like teardrops dripping. My best experience happened exactly at 04:00, the sudden melancholic strings appeared from the background and pulled me into the very bottom of the Pacific. It was unexpected. I could only be able to catch my breath back after it reached 05.00. This is the saddest track in this record, the piece that will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. Forever lurking in the dark.

Other notable tracks are the blistering crescendo 3055 and the intensifying 3704/3837 where drums and some electronics were introduced. 3055 was a quite typical post-rock music arrangement, and as a fan of post-rock music, it was done slightly above the par compared to the other bands. Perhaps it is the counterpoint in between the piano and the strings at the end of the track that did fairly a good job.

In addition, Eulogy for Evolution is not just about the idea of marrying the delicate classical with the indie rock. It is clearly a concept album, which Ólafur chose to leave a void to let the listeners to fill in their thoughts. To me, each listen is like a discovery. A discovery of dramatic and heart-wrenching soundscapes.

He and his lovely string quartet are currently touring around China and Taiwan. Good news for fans over there, I hope he would consider dropping by Southeast Asia. Here are the details of the tour [click the image below].

by Choong Ching with help from Charel