The last month’s been really good for live music in KL, first we hosted up and coming indie band, Estrella live at the Loft, check them out at www.myspace.com/estrellaband.
Then we had the Sunburst Festival on the 15th of March, it was one of the best festivals that we have had so far here and while the acts are not exactly cutting edge, it was better than having has-beens or dinosaurs acts. Who played? Check it out below.
The Roots, hands down the best act of the night
John Legend
George Clinton & Parliament
Incubus
February was a good month for gigs, we finally had a decent act in town as opposed to the usual dinosaur has-beens that we usually get (Toto anyone?). Although I hate to use the term post-rock as it usually denotes self-indulgent-oh-we-so-cool-nobody-will-understand avant wanking, in the hands of able proponents (Mogwai, Godspeed! You Black Emperor) it can be a potent, not to mention rocking (and loud) experience. And so it was with open arms that we received Austin, Texas’ s Explosions In The Sky. The band did not disappoint, plowing through a set that lasted almost two hours to an almost-sold out crowd who was evidently made up of die-hards with a smattering of the curious. All were summarily blown away nonetheless. Extra points to the band for being amiciable interview subjects even though they’re physically exhausted. Check the band out at www.myspace.com/explosionsinthesky
L-R: Michael Smith (bass and guitars), Mark Smith (guitars), Munaf Rayani (guitars) and Chris Hrasky (drums)
sorry i’ve been away for awhile. the usual stuff got in the way, life, work and stuff that i won’t bored you with. just got a cam, the Canon G9 which incidentally packed quite a heavy kick to the proverbial behind. here’s some of the pics taken with it. none which is great i’m afraid, still fiddling around with it.
As our nation celebrated its 50th year of independence, we took it as another opportunity (and when have we not?) to get some of our mates, namely the JB crew and Fasterpussycat! Kill Kill! to come down and play with us at our regular Friday nights at the Loft. And the night turned out to be even more hectic that I thought it would be, definitely one of the best nights out in a long while!
Raksaksa, Chaseylain, Yi, Fatblonde and Ribut hamming it up.
As it was another lazy Sunday with Yi from JB in town, there could only be two options : Kin Kin chilli pan mee or assorted Hainanese delight at Yuet Kee. Since we’ve done Kin Kin the last time round, Yuet Kee it was. With a history of almost 50 years, it might be one of the oldest family-run Hainanese joints in KL. A bit of history on the Hainanese, originally from the Hainan province in China, they came to Malayasia (known then as Malaya) in the late 1800s to seek a better life. Known to be exceptionally skilled in the kitchen, many served as cooks in colonial families as well as British establishments. I don’t know about the original version of the chicken chop but theirs kicked ass any time of the day. And I didn’t even manage to have their specialty, the ‘roti babi’ (literally translated as pork bun). Next time.
Yuet Kee pork chop
….you started getting wedding invites on a regular basis. Make that every weekend. In the last month alone, I’ve attended 3 weddings and there will be another one next Sunday. But I ain’t complaining, always good to see my friends taking the next big step in life with that special someone. Just not all at once! Kidding.
My buddy Wind toasting our table.
Waking up early on a Saturday after a night of hardcore partying to help out a friend? Now that’s really doing something out of love and not for money. The occasion was “Love And Money”, a showcase of the best contemporary British designers working in the various fields of design today, ranging from architheture (Zaha Hadid, my personal favorite), animation (Jamie Hewlett, creator of Gorillaz) and Rockstar Games (err..games?) amongst many others. My good friend Stephen Lau was invited by the British Council to give a talk on the many trials and tribulations of being an independent designer in Malaysia and he basically roped me in to be his translator but the truth I think was he didn’t want to be up there alone talking about himself.
We had a good time snickering among ourselves (powerpoint typos and all) for the enjoyment of the unfortunate few in attendance and talking about the various projects that he had worked on for clients such a Nike, Medicom and Maharishi. Check out Stephen’s work at http://www.e18studio.com/e18/
Jamie Hewlett’s sketches
Slide of Stephen’s works
The weekend was a blast, US-based singer/songwriter Caroline was in town and I had the pleasure to interview her and took them to the Loft for a night of partying. She and her touring partner Jason are really two of the friendliest and down-to-earth people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. She was supposed to only to play one show on Saturday but response was so good that a second show was added and that sold out too. The second show was killer : intimate and beautiful.
Check Caroline out at www.myspace.com/caroline
jason + bunga + caroline
throwing shapes
here’s some of my favorite artists on myspace at the moment, check them out :-
www.myspace.com/gregoryandthehawk
www.myspace.com/basiamyspace (and check out that cover of the strokes’ someday)
www.myspace.com/thechap (art funk/punk bunch)
www.myspace.com/strikethecolors (indie math rock with a twist)
www.myspace.com/thebloodybeetroots (ear-bleedingly great electro rock)
http://www.myspace.com/thewhipmanchester (the electro New Order?)
