LINKED: Thom Yorke Decoded



Yeah, the title says it all - someone has gone through all the trouble to decode Thom Yorke's seizure-induced dance featured on the video clip for "Lotus Flower". Head on to this website here to read further on what does fig. 1 - 10 means. I've seen funnier stuff on Graphjam, but this one here... just cannot be ignored. (Just simply because we have got nothing to post on this blog as of yet. A review of Frank Ocean's and PJ Harvey's latest should be up soon)

REVIEWED: The King of Limbs by Radiohead (Initial Review)



It's kind of funny now how eighteen years ago, Thom Yorke once emphatically cried towards all listeners of Radiohead, telling how they wanted to "Stop whispering/Start shoutiiiing" in the appropriately titled song "Stop Whispering" from their debut album Pablo Honey. Funny because eighteen years ago, with guitars teetering on the edge of a break-out, impatiently shoving the exit door hoping to explode in a flurry of glorious distorted guitar before it all come crashing down in a wave of noise, now though it seemed like the band is more insistent on stopping shouting entirely and to start whispering. Either that or Thom Yorke has grown tired of shouting all these years - but either way, it is pretty clear that Thom has finally found something in his songwriting ability that need not to be shout about to be heard. He,ladies and gentleman, has found sophistication.

We would like to insist very much that this review that we did here is just an initial review after a mere one week of listening because as how we have been proved wrong before with our initial impression of their previous album, In Rainbows, we are determined not to make the same mistake again. Because Radiohead has of late become accustomed with giving birth to albums that is enveloped in something called sophistication, and it is exactly this that makes their materials grow on you. They are on its' own pretty persuasive, so much so that if you find it not designed to your liking, leave it alone for a while, then pick it up again and listen to it, and then everything will start to make absolute sense.

With The King of Limbs here, Radiohead has once again given birth to a very sophisticated album, and as expected, the one that might not appeal the most to you on the first few listens. And it's all very simple because every nuance in the album, every movement, every change of mood and manner are very subtle - so much so that if you lose attention for a moment, you're just simply going to miss it. Even worse when that movement is laid out to be a progression of regression - the album is kicked to life to a flurry of off-beat piano keys, electronic glitches and a snare drum nervously rattling in the background before Thom greeted listeners with "Open your mouth wide..." in "Bloom". It's a full-bodied electronic number comparable to any of The Eraser's materials, complete with what sounds like a horn section howling midway through the song. Then as the album moves forward to the next track, little by little the orchestration of the opener was stripped off of its' structure until you're left with a very sparse, minimalist body of a beat of "Separator".

So is this album a step up from their 2007 release? For now it is hard for us to say so because there are still moments scattered throughout the album where we felt that the recording of this album was a result recollection of discarded materials that did not make the cut for In Rainbows that has been refurbished. "Morning Mr Magpie" for example, to us, felt like a half-hearted, half-arsed effort of varying the trick they did with "Bodysnatchers"; and "Feral" kind of reminded us of Amnesiac - totally spaced out, totally weird, almost totally lacking melody. But in that minor set back, there are also moments of genuine brilliance in this album, saved by the surprisingly suave "Lotus Flower" and the haunting "Codex". For now, we're tempted to give this album a four out of five stars rating. Future listens might improve that.

LINKED: Tyler, the Creator and Hodgy Beats (OFWGKTA) Live on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon


Odd Future is finally making it onto the bigger limelight after almost four years; and which to mention that Tyler's new single "Yonkers" is now available on iTunes. You can watch the video here, but be warned that the video is not quite family viewing-friendly, though again not as totally gross out as Earl's video (believe us - don't even bother to Google it; you'll thank us). Shit, someone has to bring these people over here in KL. Seriously.



"Not into rap music yet but I am officially sold - Odd Future is seriously cool."

LINKED: Radiohead's Lotus Flower Video

First single off the band's latest album King of Limbs, which disappointingly sounds like it came from The Eraser, or maybe it's just me. I don't know - am currently listening to OFWGKTA's new output, this time by Frank Ocean called Nostalgia/Ultra. Not into rap music yet but I am officially sold - Odd Future is seriously cool. (The album is available as a free download here. Listen to it; love it; rave about it)

Very Grammatic - The World is Coming to an End Innit? Heh.



Yesterday evening, two storm brewed over Petaling Jaya, one near the PPUM (at the junction with the EPF office), and the other being inside UM itself. Quite surprisingly though to find that the shitstorm that took down a door made it into prime time news at 8, while the other one that took down several billboards, tree branches, and a signboard, and caused quite a traffic jam, didn't get any mention at all. That was what I came across while I was on my way to Laundry Bar, and by golly isn't that a much more interesting thing to talk about than to give some kind of a review of the show yesterday? I mean, the fracas between university students and the college guards at UM is pretty hot stuff because that's politics over there - and oh yes, we Malaysians love our politic stuff hot and flaming. So much so that a real storm that could have taken a life is not breaking news material worthy.

Oh, and because I was stuck in the crawl from Desa Waterpark (PLUS exit, from South) to the PPUM exit on the Fed, I arrived there at a very fashionable, very Malaysian time of 10 p.m. The gig that I was attending (as stipulated) kicks off at 8 p.m., so I did missed quite a number of performers for that night but still, it doesn't matter, because the three headlining acts for the night: Furniture (with a new album in tow), Akta Angkasa (the reason I drove all the way from Bangi), and PARTIMELOVERS (absolutely no idea who they were), has yet to perform. The first of the three to take stage was Akta Angkasa, and as expected they did not disappoint. They still deliver the same riotous, no frills, very technical set with meticulous precision, like some kind of a neurosurgeon post rock band. Which is to say that technically speaking, they are pretty impressive, but everything else they are very bland. The Akta Angkasa is more of a band for musicians, rather than a band for music listeners. They are the kind of people that you'd really don't want to spend an evening with, lest they started to furnish you on their wide, extensive knowledge of obscure musical gadgets. Furniture on the other hand was the final band for that night, and well, Furniture being Furniture (and they are a pretty seasoned act in Malaysia's underground/indie scene), they are, well, Furniture-ish.

The one that I'd really wanted to highlight from yesterday evening's gig however is this band called PARTIMELOVERS. They sounded like a cross between Joy Division and Ride; a very fine mixture of post punk and shoegazing and British psychedelia - the only downside being that they have decided to define their image as a hipster. Well-read modern-day Internet-age Renaissance man/woman will already know that the hipsters are universally reviled. But image matter aside, as the band kicks off their set, it was late 60's/early 70's in the air again - and the most wonderful thing is that, I can feel the vibe. There is a lot of love in this band, and it is pretty obvious where did this love comes from (hint: It's Ian Curtis). Their set moves rather beautifully from lengthy, melodic swirling psychedelia, to short and shouty punk rock number, my body only had to agree as my head starts to bop back and forth uncontrollably to the beat of the song. If only everyone in that small bar felt the same love as I did on that night, small things like politics and violent weather activity suddenly seems rather insignificant. Some religious people will come out and say it is a sign from God that we have strayed far from the correct path, which is why He brought that huge (from what I gather) storm and unleashed it at a time where people are all going back home from work. Yeah, stay classy God - stay classy.

Check out more on PARTIMELOVERS here.

LINKED: Radiohead's New Album Out Very Soon!



Surprise, surprise - Radiohead's new album, tentatively entitled The King of Limbs, is set to be released this Saturday through you know where: the Internet. No more 'pay as you wish' option like they did with In Rainbows where this time the mp3 version will set you back at £6.00, while the WAV version is at £3 more. Our only question is: why no lossless version? Anyway, if you're a big fan of record art, the world's first (perhaps) Newspaper album goes for a measly £30.00 (for mp3) and £33.00 (for WAV). This version includes:

* Two clear 10" vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
* A compact disc.
* Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
* The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
* The Newspaper Album will be shipped on Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download on Saturday 19th February 2011.
* Shipping is included in the prices shown.
* One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12" vinyl.

We have no fucking idea what do they mean by "full colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic" but it sure does come at some price. Art sure is costly, eh?

Check out The King of Limbs now to pre-order your album.

LINKED: Arcade Fire Won the Album of the Year Grammy



So they've done it, won the Grammy and graduated from their status of reigning King of Indie. Not that it's such a bad thing but you know, you can only push the indie envelope by only as much which, by getting the recognition from an institution of mainstream manufactured pop fodder, should count you out. Things can only go forward and for better perhaps? The next King of Alternative Rock, yes? (News source)

Note: Will be giving The Suburbs a spin again all along this week and see if it will grow on us finally.

REVIEWED: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai



Seven years ago I came across an article about Blur and their seventh studio album, Think Tank, in the British music publication called Uncut. In the said article, the writer did made an interesting point about number seven, saying that the number holds a rather significant meaning to uh someone. And quite a significant milestone it was with that number since it turns out that the album was pretty poor, and added by the fact that they were in the cusp of a break-up or something with Graham Coxon leaving. In other words, number seven turns out to be not quite a lucky draw for the band because as how things stand at the moment, we have yet to hear anything new from the band again ever since. But then again, it's not all doom and gloom in the fabled land of number seven because Radiohead struck gold with In Rainbows, in 2007. So that must count as something.

2011's release Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will as you would have already guessed is Mogwai's seventh studio recording, and as how certain people would hold dear importance to that number, we figured it would be interesting to see if the album stacks up with the ever-so-mighty number. At first glance, the expectation towards this release (from us anyway) was pretty high since their last album, 2008's The Hawk is Howling is pretty special to us. As what we have said before, the album sounds as majestic as the hawk that graces the cover, and the overall final product is very solid and tight. We absolutely loved it.

With this new album, the band had managed to rope in one half of the producer for their debut, Paul Savage, to be at the helm for the recording of the new one; the other producer, Andy Miller, worked with them for their 2008 release. Not to say that it is a good thing anyway, and not to say that it is a bad thing as well but we'll make a point clear at this point in this entry: to avoid mild disappointment, maybe we should have not expected that much from a band that has a tendency to not actually make that much of a progress. Yes, after the majestic eagle has spread its wings and flew across the horizon, some idiot on the ground with a shotgun shot the bird down and quickly end the flight towards new territory. Perhaps what we're feeling actually is not disappointment but rather frustration after seeing the band delivering so much promise in the last album. Everything in this new album does not at all feel brand new - it feels as familiar, as recycled, as uninspired, and as tired as their other previous efforts. In fact, when we listened to the album for the very first time, we remembered clearly that there was no excitement on our faces - everything feels a bit too familiar, everything feels a bit too formulaic. So yes, they have added vocodered voice for "Mexican Grand Prix" and "George Square Thatcher Death Party", but they were hardly inspiring. In fact, if we're not mistaken the opening track from a certain album released in 2003 does include the use of vocoder; so it's hardly new at all.

Unlike the 2008 release which did pack quite a punch, this new one surprisingly feels very light and lacking gut. It's not the album that will stand up and look at you directly into the eye and orders you to pay attention to it, no; this album on a whole feels like it is more comfortable playing wallflower to any of its' potential owner. It won't scream at you, it won't beg at you, it won't even talk to you - it will just spend its' existence on one side, content with being constantly overlooked and forgotten. Remember Come On Die Young? Hardcore has all the characteristics of that album. Despite not sounding as dull as the former, it is just as instantaneously forgettable.



Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will will be released on the 14th of February through Rock Action Records in the UK and Scotland, and on the 15th through Sub Pop in the US.

LINKED: West's Moment of Power in Illumination?



We'd really love to highlight on this particular video clip featuring a song by Kanye West called "Power" because there is something pretty 'fishy' about it; in certain particular, the imagery that greets the viewer as the video zooms out slowly to reveal the bigger picture - a pretty abstract depiction of power. Maybe it is just a product of our wild imagination, maybe we have just read too much of the whole Illuminati-world domination thing... maybe. I mean, yeah, the video is pretty slick in the way that it does not conform to the standard rap music video clip template where young men in baggy cloth wearing excessive jewelery tearing down a street in a convertible (or a marque sports car) looking swag. Good thing there because with his very large ego (apparently), at least he does not carry it over into his videos where he could have made an embarrassing joke of his own self, which would have been worse.

Song-wise? We kind of liked it - because it was set to a sample of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". (One of) Prog rock legend and a rap legend-in-making coming together in a video clip with lots of things going on, set to a very good piece of rapping, it certainly is pushing all the right buttons for grabbing just about anyone's attention. Probably it's only an artistic statement by the director of the video clip; just don't tell that to these people who really believed that the world is being run in the background by a secret society that wields an unbelievable amount of power tantamount to that of God. But my do they have some points to prove.

LISTED: Goosebumps Vol.4 - Sigur Rós' Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
*Goosebumps is a recurring feature where we highlight on songs that what we perceive to be a complete artistic statement in terms of its melody, lyrics, and to a certain extent, its video clip as well.



We'd really love to write on about something pretty surreal for this entry here but I fear that it might get in the way of you dear readers in trying to properly 'feel' the song because sometimes, as it is more often than not with a good Sigur Rós' song, the meaning is not always implied in anyway by the circumstances that surrounds the artist who is/are singing the song. Like Sigur Rós for example: it is no longer a surprise now, now that the vocalist Jonsi has came out of the closet for so long, so normally our mind would be directed towards his sexual preferences, and further helped by the fact that the video clip for a certain song from one of their albums released in 1999 featured two boys actually making out on a field in the aftermath of a goal-score celebration. Pretty heavy stuff there, but fine; for artistic value perhaps it does have its' merit. We're cool with that. But then on comes the English transliteration of the lyrics to the song and lo and behold...

Before we got our hands on the transliteration of the song "Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása", we could only marvel at the breathtaking beauty of the song and its' other-worldly feel - because it was sung entirely in Icelandic (and thankfully not in the dreaded Hopelandic gibberish), it felt mysterious, alien, majestic, and alienating; and we absolutely loved it. We loved how because none of what was sung does not at all make sense that our imagination are allowed to roam free over what the context of the song could possibly be. A merry band of cherubs floating over clouds in the heaven singing a praise chorus towards Horus? Sure - beats the hell out of it. But then we found this...

I let myself flow onwards,
I swim through my mind back and forth,
my soul still sings the song we once wrote together.

We once had a dream,
we had everything,
we rode to the end of the world,
we rode on searching,
we climbed skyscrapers,
but they were all destroyed
the peace is gone now,
I lack balance, I fall down.
Still, I let myself flow onwards.
I swim through my mind,
but I always come back to the same place,

There is nothing left to say.
This is for the best.

God will provide a day,
for us.

...Tomorrow

The movement of the song is pretty much like a flower bud that is just about to bloom on a crispy Spring morning where the sun is rising over a green hill - it started off pretty slowly, in an almost gloomy mood before a stream of sunlight streaks in inside the darkened room and greet the writer who is slumped on one end of his bed, contemplating the end towards his life, and brought forward such unbridled joy it lifts the writer's spirit and sparked a hopeful smile on his weary face. Then it brings the writer on his feet as he begin to dance... well that was what we were imagining with the lyrics above. The meaning to it probably runs a lot deeper than that but so far, we're pretty comfortable with that. There is that sense of purpose and meaning at the cusp of the climax of the song as Jonsi runs through the e-bow on his guitar, creating that trademark sound so familiar with the Icelandic band, and so similar with the cries of a sperm whale. But the afterthought for the very last line in the song was pretty disconcerting as well when Jonsi sang "God will provide a day / For us / Tomorrow". At first look it seemed all joy and fun and hopeful and everything is going to be alright; but on a second thought, it was pretty damning and suicidal actually - to actually hope for a tomorrow that none of us can ever be so sure of, and to place such hope on God, it might as well be the final word on the suicide note of the writer who is in the darkened room we mentioned just now. And the song ended with string instruments ending in an abrupt discordant cacophony disarray. Dramatic song from start to finish; dramatic climax; dramatic ending; disquieting lyrics - yes, the true meaning of this song is a lot deeper than any of us could probably figure out.

LINKED: Mogwai Discuss 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will'



Well obviously the Glaswegians are not talking with us but with Spinner on the subject of their to-be-released new album 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will'. We figure it's a nice teaser before we reveal our review of the album in its' full glory, soon - and see if we are happy, delighted, excited, or frustrated with it. In the meantime, head on over to the link provided above to read the full interview. Posted below is just a tiny excerpt...

Just weeks after sections of the press declare the death of rock, Mogwai return with 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will.' Fighting talk or a happy coincidence?

An unhappy coincidence! We've always been at the back of the queue. We've never been cool. We're the most uncool band ever. But in terms of longevity we're cool. We've never avoided anything like that but it's quite easy not be cool when you're not very cool people. We didn't make that choice. The album title isn't fighting talk. We never attach any meaning to our album titles or our song titles. Sometimes we have the titles before the songs are even recorded. With this album we were really running out of time and someone told us this story about some drunk teenagers who couldn't get served in a corner shop in Glasgow and the guy just threw them out of the shop and one of the kids started throwing stones at the window and shouted out the album title.

Video: Currently on heavy rotation on our MP3

One Day Holiday - Swag. Swag. Swag. Swag. Swag.



Our brain switch has been turned off for this entry as "Sandwitches" plays in the background for the millionth time, not for the largely unintelligible (and hardly believable, you'll see) lyrics and the extra generous serving of expletives, but for something else if you're still not familiar with this relatively new collective best known as OFWGKTA - their age range. So we read that all the members' age ranges between 16 to 23; they're all fucking kids! Where did they pick up such rich vocabulary? But language use aside, trying desperately to not sound utterly clueless here, they certainly have got style. Yes, we'll make it obvious again - we're not a proper fan of rap/hip hop materials. It does not really speak to us in just about any conceivable level, but when you get something that sounds this infectious (and makes you want to say "swag" many times) then you have got to hand it over to them: they are quite possibly the coolest rap act around, at the moment. We would even willingly pay both arms and legs to see these guys live here in KL.

The other thing that we're really grateful for for these guys is that with Eminem still screaming down a nice Rihanna track, we seriously thought that rap music has had it. Thank heaven that there is an actual God to serve justice for this. Check out the videos posted below to see what we're on about. We especially love the one with Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. They're uh... dope shit(?).

To access the wealth of their materials, head on over to their website where they are available for free.

One Day Holiday - Malaysia's Own Space Act



They are far-reaching, scatterbrained, anal, non-conforming, and they sounded normal by being highly abnormal at all times; they don't make one dot connect with the other - nobody could ever find two connectible dots in their materials, and they won't hide that fact because they could go from calm to furious to spaced out to jittery all within the acceptable expanse of a post rock material; they are frustratingly alienating - you will never find a voice within their song that speaks to you, that connects with you, which as a result, you can't connect to it either. Yes, the lengthy description that precedes this sentence is the description that we'll bestow on one Akta Angkasa (direct translation to English is "Space Act"), one of the most hard to pin down act to ever emerge from the underground.

When we first saw them performing live at some small and dank club on the fringe of the P Ramlee street, they were chaotic. The flashing spotlight, flickering from behind the band and onto the eyes of the audience, we seriously thought that they hated their audience very much they wanted all of us to go blind. And the single most annoying high pitched shriek fills the entire place as it blasts through their entire 20 minutes (or so) set, leaving all patrons on that day thirsty as the club runs out of glass. It was a horrifying, soul-scarring, ear-raping and yet mind-blowing experience that we somehow loved to look back and thought: "That was awesome". And it was awesome - not Mastodon kind of awesome, but holy-shit-they-are-so-twisted-I-can-feel-Satan-breathing-down-my-neck kind of awesome. But that of course was five years ago. Now, today, coming soon on the 17th of February at the Laundry bar, The Curve, they will be performing live again. Yes, we haven't seen them performing live for that long if it is not already obvious. Two live shows - Monday and Thursday - our ears will definitely be bleeding by Friday.

Akta Angkasa - Kognitif > from Senipekik on Vimeo.

Thanks to Seni Pekik for the information and some of the materials.

LISTED: 7 Things From the Previous Decade That We'll Definitely Miss

A decade does not sound like much but whether we realize it or not, a lot of things could (and have) happened in a space of just ten years. We're talking about bands formed and disbanded, record label created and combusted, magazines printed and departed, radio station heard and muted - these are all institutions that has driven the local music scene forward, and then were dearly missed. We figure it is still not too late to give these 'fallen' heroes one final salute for their efforts.

7. Malaise (later known as Malscene)

A quick Google search on 'malaise' returned us with first and foremost a Wikipedia page on... something that is completely unrelated with what we have in our mind. Googled 'malscene' and we got a link that leads us to a website that's full of gibberish (it's German) - where have they gone? Malaise, when they were at the top of the game, is perhaps best described as Malaysia's indie and underground scene's own version of Allmusic. It's the one stop place for just about almost everything that you crave to know about within the circle. Thankfully now we have i-bands to continue the good work of those peeps behind Malaise. Whoever you guys are, if you happened to stumble upon this pokey blog, godspeed your soul. And thank you; thank you.

6. Music Magic

First of all, yes, this small shop that was once located on the first floor of Central Market in downtown KL is not really central in the development of the local music scene but oh boy, do they have the bitchingest CD collection of all CD shops in the Klang Valley. Other CD stores like Fantasy, Rock Corner, and Victoria pales in comparison to the coolness factor of this shop ran by one Chinese bloke named Andrew who we believe are real passionate about his music. This was the place that we can get our hands on real hard-to-find gems like Sigur Ros (now they are quite aplenty though), Slint, The Walkmen, and Mogwai. And but of course the occasional releases by local bands. Second of all, that picture up there is not ours; we took it from here. So uh, the owner of the picture, hope you'll be a real sport but we'd like to borrow that picture just for this entry. It's a real bitch trying to look for picture of a CD shop that is no longer there, and that was the only one that is relevant. That picture shows the interior of the shop - hot chick is another matter.

5. Music Exchange

Yet another CD shop, but quite special this one. First of all, we're quite surprised to find that their website is still on despite the shop has ceased to exist for quite some time now. Music Exchange was a music shop that specializes in selling second hand CDs and vinyls that ranges from the rubbish (Peter Andre anyone?) to really cool find (like Flying Saucer Attack). They also have a special rack near the entrance (pull the door open, turn left, above the fish tank) where they have a number of EPs and demos by local underground bands. What made this shop really special is that right in the middle of the shop they have couch where patrons can sit and relax (probably after breaking their back browsing through CDs that are placed on the floor); it was also the place where Tone Magazine (yes, they will make an appearance in this list) held that big interview about the direction in which the local music scene is heading to. It really was a nice and relaxing place to be in - right before the place turned into a store filled to the brim with unwanted CDs. Whatever went wrong?

4. KLue Magazine

They first started out as a strictly event-listing magazine, published every alternate Wednesday (please correct us if we're wrong), and it was pretty cool. The arts and music scene finally has a venue in which they get to get in touch with their audience easily. But as time passes by, and they started to hire writers, to write stuff, they started to become self-celebratory and self-congratulatory and before long, lost their plot. Despite that fact, they managed to soldier on until the end of last year before they finally pull the plug on publication. But in that process, they have helped in making the local arts and music scene a thriving and bustling scene that it is now.

3. Positive Tone (and their mini revolution)

Last time we heard, the recording company is (or was?) under the stewardship of Darren Choy after Ahmad Izham Omar, the founder, moved to the larger and steadier ship of Media Prima for a shot at revolutionizing television. Whatever - Positive Tone, especially in the early half of 2000 was the bee's knees. In their roster they have Too Phat (former king of Hip Hop), Reefa, Poetic Ammo, and a few others whom we're sure were just about as big but we have forgotten anyway. Our bad. They were, not exaggerating this one, the spark that created a revolution in the local music scene because they opened up a platform in which the minorities (Read: real, talented musicians but with materials not quite mainstream) get to get a taste of that piece of the pie.

2. Tone Magazine

What can we say about Tone? Other than their very, very brief existence, they were at the epicenter of the local indie and underground scene, making their presence felt and known in every Malaysian household. If there was a very vocal and staunch supporter of the said scene, Tone magazine is the champion. They were absolutely legendary. Enough said.

1. WOW FM

WOW FM was probably THE revolution in Malaysia's music scene. So yes, perhaps it was Radio Rediffusion that revolutionized and became the standard template in which how all later FM stations in Malaysia should sound like, but when it comes to content, nothing beats them. They were the first to bring Electronic and dance music onto mainstream radio (and Angie Ng's the voice and the force behind it), they were the only radio station at the time to play strictly guitar-based music (almost) 24 hours a day, and they had this slot from 8 to 10 every night where they only play strictly local underground stuff, and at times even invited some of them to the studio and perform live (albeit in acoustic). Of course now we have XFM who are devoted to play nothing but local materials 24/7, and that's good, but nobody can ever beat them for that real sense of excitement that they brought on air during their very brief existence. We duly put them here at number one because we missed them the most.

One Day Holiday - The Dark Side of the Dark Side of the Moon



What kind of glue Wayne Coyne and co were sniffing when they made that cover of Pink Floyd's magnum opus Dark Side of the Moon? Well for one thing, we are already at this stage well acquainted with Flaming Lips' materials; but the end result of this (not so) latest venture sounds like it is on the wrong shade of the spectrum. Or perhaps a much stronger hue of the rainbow?

The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing the Dark Side of the Moon (the whole stretch is by the way is the title of the album), released in 2009, or 2010 if availability in the market in Malaysia is to be taken into account, is, as anyone could have probably guessed, the Oklahoma-based acid heads' remake of the classic 1973 epic record. The original album is a monumental record, largely for the theme of the lyrics that covers on matters ranging from life and death to politics, war, and mental illness (lunacy). Not to mention the music which, unlike other pre and post-Dark Side releases, their music does not meander aimlessly in search of any stable and coherent structure. The whole album felt bespoke and meticulously, carefully constructed from the ground up so as to perfectly capture the theme that was contained within the lyrics. In fact, our Goosebumps feature was actually in part inspired from this album - never there has been an album where the song and lyrics have come together as a unified, single entity bearing a message.

Knowing Flaming Lips and the 'playful' nature of their music, it was not entirely surprising that the end result sounded... well, their trademark sound is plastered all over the album cover anyway - anyone can straight away tell it from the get go. Seeing that it was released in quick succession right after Embryonic, there are parts in the album that reminded us of the said album especially in terms of song arrangement - where in the original album, it all swells up majestically, Flaming Lips and a bunch of guest musicians went for a zany attack right from the word go, and that is pretty typical of them. Most apparent changes is in the song arrangement - almost all songs were broken apart and restructured so as to fit the Flaming Lips style of playing.

Is it a bad thing then? Well, we don't dare to say so because initially we weren't expecting this album to stick faithfully to the original source anyway; and Flaming Lips being Flaming Lips, we were quite pleased that the quirkiness has not disappeared in the process of remaking such a serious and sobering album. The Londoners who made the album in the 70's knew that when the album will be released, people (at the time) will be spending most of the time listening to the album while lying on the floor, stoned and wasted. Not sure if it makes a good drug companion originally, but with this remake, it sounds trippy. Oh and not forgetting, it sounds mental as Hell. "The Great Gig in the Sky", the song where Clare Torry went absolutely lunatic like a wolf howling at the moon, Peaches's take of the same track however is just barking mad.



P/S: Oh and one more thing we forgot to mention - the bitching guitar shred has went missing in this 2009 version. We no like this very much...

LISTED: Goosebumps Vol.3 - Radiohead's Let Down
*Goosebumps is a new recurring feature where we highlight on songs that what we perceive to be a complete artistic statement in terms of its melody, lyrics, and to a certain extent, its video clip as well.



Well, one thing led to another, from one article to another, and last week I found myself reading on something called Objective Reality. Have to say that it is currently what interest me the most because I've been having this conundrum between what is supposedly the Real Reality that each and every one of us are perceiving with all our senses, and the alternate version of it - since if and if it is true that everything applies to the logic of duality, then this version of Reality must have its' twin sister. But what I would like to posit is that this version of reality that we're in at the moment (I'm mildly suggesting that you the reader is in the same reality as I do since you're reading this blog) is the Perceived Reality, and that the alternate version of it is the real Real Reality.

I will admit that this idea that I'm having is pretty much flawed since it is only about, I don't know, two weeks old at most, and that the million dollar question of between use of perception and determination of reality is still left unanswered. But this question of trying to separate two out of what has always been a single unified entity is not a futile effort at rejection of the 'perceived' Real Reality. It is simply a case of a philosophical mind wandering far with the 'what if' question in hand. Call this an old age bull but I am starting to feel weary of this version of reality that I am currently in, and was hoping that somehow if I could step out of it and into a new one - the alternate version...

...and that theme of a man grown weary with the world that he is in, is the central theme to Radiohead's spine-tingling, raise-the-hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck gorgeous, heartfelt tune "Let Down", taken from one of the most complete rock album ever created at the tail-end of the 20th century: OK Computer. It began with an incessant ringing, and Thom in dejected half-mumbling musing, opening with "Transport, motorways and tramlines / Starting and then stopping / Taking off and landing / The emptiest of feelings". We keep on having this imagery of a person standing on an overhead bridge over a busy highway, late at night, while gazing emptily at cars passing by, contemplating over the pointlessness and meaninglessness of his existence with that line, and it does have a nice ring round it. Then Thom added: "Disappointed people clinging onto bottles / When it comes it's so so disappointing". So the man on the overhead bridge is an alcoholic as well.

The song has perhaps one of the most unique opening part as far as we can recall because when the ringing kicks in, guitars and glockenspiel in perfect harmony, it sounded romantic like a scene that is playing on a moldy 20 years old film reel where the pictures are in sepia tone and some kid is on a tricycle cycling down the driveway, but all of that harking-back-those-golden-eras romanticism was then greeted by one of the most despirited singing lazily drawling all over the first verse; and it actually works with the lyrics. So here is the sound of a man who has given up on any last trickle of remaining hope on what is the purpose of his being, and is on the verge of letting go. And we said letting go because in the second verse, Thom picked up again his spirit and claimed "Shell smashed, juices flowing / Wings twitched, legs are going / Don't get sentimental it always ends up drivel / One day I'm going to grow wings / A chemical reaction..."

The way Thom sings the song is like an emotional roller coaster ride - it has its' ups and downs - and in the first verse, he sounded dejected and weary, and the following chorus line just reconfirms his restlessness. Then he picked up his spirit in the second verse, announcing his self-believe that one day his body will sprout wings and will allow him to soar above all the tedium of meaninglessness, before it came crashing down back again with the chorus: "Let down and hanging around / Crushed like a bug in the ground". Anyone who had gone through a rough patch in life can perhaps relate to that motion - in which the emotion is always constantly moving up and down, and not in a linear manner; and the rising and falling of tone in "Let Down" magically encapsulates that in a simple five minute pop number. Now if only our emotion is that easy to be explained.

P/S: Video embedded below is kind of poor actually, but alas it is among the nicest of the lot that I can find at Youtube.