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.