Because Good Music Needs to Be Shared - Turning Melancholy to Magic [EP] by Couple
And because fuck you Firefox there was only 20% more to go for me to fully upload this album onto MU before you decided to freeze the Hell up, and now I have to start all over again...
Artist: Couple
Album Title: Turning Melancholy to Magic [EP]
Release Year: 2001
Label: Crashover Records
Country: Malaysia
Keyword: Bedroom recording, Indie pop, Lo-Fi
Bitrate: FLAC
I did had a few good hearty laugh, albeit quietly, when I overheard a few yuppies in their one-size-too-small skinny jeans and washed out cheap t-shirt with unkempt short curly hair going on about how they really love Couple and sang along to "Woah Oh Sayang" and thought they had the world at their feet. Naturally I walked over to them (them being students, me being lecturer, the scene being near the lecturer's block), smiled, and said: "Yeah, I like that song too. You're familiar with this band?" One of the yuppie replied: "Yeah. They're called Couple. They're an indie band and they had this one album last year... or last two years. I saw them live once last month." He flashed a proud grin, with a hint of undeserved smug. Or so it seems. The rest of the yuppies nodded assent.
"They have another song called "Lagu Cinta Untukmu". Have you heard of it, sir?" The other yuppie desperately trying to perfect the hipster look inquired. "Yeah, I like to singalong to that song whenever they perform live. What about their older songs? Any particular that you liked?" I asked them, much to their bewilderment.
"What song (are you talking about), sir?"
"You know - another one of my favourite singalong song - "Tentang Kita". Have you heard of it? Or materials from their 'underground-er' years?"
They all shook their head, utterly clueless. I smirked.
.........................
I'm still kind of surprised that the band's old (and shall I say the first?) website is still up and running here because the first time I encountered the URL to their website is on the inner sleeve of their debut EP entitled Turning Melancholy to Magic, released way back in 2001. It has already been a decade ever since, and Couple the band is no longer like how they used to be when they first started out. I remember checking out their website on my family's old PC, surfing on the dial-up internet which by today's standard, the speed is like a really old turtle crawling to its' last breath. It was, by the internet's standard of that time, really really simple, a la Geocities-hosted sites. (Yeah, you'll remember those as well) And well, it still is. The old website that is.
Couple's debut EP will always have that special place in my heart because, as with the time when it was released, it reminded me that back then was a much simpler time. Not that I have been living that long but I have gone through the 90's and the early part of 00's where social networking sites are still unknown and the most high tech of mobile phones are the ones with polyphonic ringtone. And computers were all still running on Windows 95. And the mobile-est music was still the tape Walkman (if you're poor) or the disc Walkman (if you're filthy rich). I'm touching on the subject of simplicity here because likewise the music, Couple in 2001 and Couple in 2011 are almost a world apart, save for their infectious melody.
The first biggest difference is of course the language - back then, when you're in a band, it is considered cool if you sing in English because it makes you feel like you're in a much cooler segment of the market, appealing to a much hipper listenership. Of course the hip market is just fancy talk for niche market. But all the really cool and big names within the underground circle are making their music in English, with Butterfingers especially come to mind, so it's only natural that other young, upstart bands would gravitate towards that as well. Now though, browse through the band's Myspace and all of the songs featured in the playlist are in Malay. Which is good.
The second biggest difference is in their music. The 9+1 tracks in Turning Melancholy are all very simple, catchy pop number with memorable chorus, unlike their more recent materials which are huge pop rock number designed to entice a huge crowd to singalong with them. Again, not that it is a bad thing at all. But in this 2001 EP, they were more earnest. The bittersweet melody, coupled with Aidil's hopeless romantic lyrics, they are all very charming in its' stark simplicity. It is not the best record you'll ever hear in terms of sound and recording quality, but the heart and the soul of the materials are on an entirely different plane this. It doesn't try hard to appeal to anyone - it just lets itself be, and other people just simply get attracted to it and want to appreciate it. It is totally irresistible. Let's just call it: the power of pop.
It's in FLAC, baby.
And because fuck you Firefox there was only 20% more to go for me to fully upload this album onto MU before you decided to freeze the Hell up, and now I have to start all over again...
Artist: Couple
Album Title: Turning Melancholy to Magic [EP]
Release Year: 2001
Label: Crashover Records
Country: Malaysia
Keyword: Bedroom recording, Indie pop, Lo-Fi
Bitrate: FLAC
I did had a few good hearty laugh, albeit quietly, when I overheard a few yuppies in their one-size-too-small skinny jeans and washed out cheap t-shirt with unkempt short curly hair going on about how they really love Couple and sang along to "Woah Oh Sayang" and thought they had the world at their feet. Naturally I walked over to them (them being students, me being lecturer, the scene being near the lecturer's block), smiled, and said: "Yeah, I like that song too. You're familiar with this band?" One of the yuppie replied: "Yeah. They're called Couple. They're an indie band and they had this one album last year... or last two years. I saw them live once last month." He flashed a proud grin, with a hint of undeserved smug. Or so it seems. The rest of the yuppies nodded assent.
"They have another song called "Lagu Cinta Untukmu". Have you heard of it, sir?" The other yuppie desperately trying to perfect the hipster look inquired. "Yeah, I like to singalong to that song whenever they perform live. What about their older songs? Any particular that you liked?" I asked them, much to their bewilderment.
"What song (are you talking about), sir?"
"You know - another one of my favourite singalong song - "Tentang Kita". Have you heard of it? Or materials from their 'underground-er' years?"
They all shook their head, utterly clueless. I smirked.
.........................
I'm still kind of surprised that the band's old (and shall I say the first?) website is still up and running here because the first time I encountered the URL to their website is on the inner sleeve of their debut EP entitled Turning Melancholy to Magic, released way back in 2001. It has already been a decade ever since, and Couple the band is no longer like how they used to be when they first started out. I remember checking out their website on my family's old PC, surfing on the dial-up internet which by today's standard, the speed is like a really old turtle crawling to its' last breath. It was, by the internet's standard of that time, really really simple, a la Geocities-hosted sites. (Yeah, you'll remember those as well) And well, it still is. The old website that is.
Couple's debut EP will always have that special place in my heart because, as with the time when it was released, it reminded me that back then was a much simpler time. Not that I have been living that long but I have gone through the 90's and the early part of 00's where social networking sites are still unknown and the most high tech of mobile phones are the ones with polyphonic ringtone. And computers were all still running on Windows 95. And the mobile-est music was still the tape Walkman (if you're poor) or the disc Walkman (if you're filthy rich). I'm touching on the subject of simplicity here because likewise the music, Couple in 2001 and Couple in 2011 are almost a world apart, save for their infectious melody.
The first biggest difference is of course the language - back then, when you're in a band, it is considered cool if you sing in English because it makes you feel like you're in a much cooler segment of the market, appealing to a much hipper listenership. Of course the hip market is just fancy talk for niche market. But all the really cool and big names within the underground circle are making their music in English, with Butterfingers especially come to mind, so it's only natural that other young, upstart bands would gravitate towards that as well. Now though, browse through the band's Myspace and all of the songs featured in the playlist are in Malay. Which is good.
The second biggest difference is in their music. The 9+1 tracks in Turning Melancholy are all very simple, catchy pop number with memorable chorus, unlike their more recent materials which are huge pop rock number designed to entice a huge crowd to singalong with them. Again, not that it is a bad thing at all. But in this 2001 EP, they were more earnest. The bittersweet melody, coupled with Aidil's hopeless romantic lyrics, they are all very charming in its' stark simplicity. It is not the best record you'll ever hear in terms of sound and recording quality, but the heart and the soul of the materials are on an entirely different plane this. It doesn't try hard to appeal to anyone - it just lets itself be, and other people just simply get attracted to it and want to appreciate it. It is totally irresistible. Let's just call it: the power of pop.
It's in FLAC, baby.
Labels: because good music needs to be shared, couple, malaysia
posted by Hafeez at 5:02 AM
7 Comments:
Thanks for putting this up dude! Loads of people have been asking for it for ages, tapi malas nak upload sendiri. C'mon, put up Telegrams + Listening To The Pop too, kasi senang sikit budak2 nak download our, ehem, full discography. LOL
the link's dead man..upload it again somewhere else please!!
agree with aidil. we want more :D
Great records!
got all their demos and cds except 'punkrock for losers' demo. good music! missed the old tunes, should be digging my cd boxes under the bed. I even had their demo cassettes (aidil dubbed them for me) when i contacted him when he just got back from the UK but all lost-a friend had a listen and thought they are awful and never return them to me.
'juliana...i just wanna'...hahah!
This comment has been removed by the author.
“Couple in 2001 and Couple in 2011 are almost a world apart, save for their infectious melody.”
Hafeez,
Excellent writeup.
Maybe some insight why Couple were a world apart in 2001.
• We were a couple of guys who shared the love for good guitar power pop – The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Big Star, Weezer & The Who.
• We had a combined budget of less than RM800, any real studio time was just to record drums at Black Widow in PJ, and some live recordings (ie Invader). The money was also used to buy CD-Rs where we would have to burn the CDs manually one-by-one.
• I had to ‘secretly’ print out the covers in my office’s colour printer and then manually cut the covers with scissors.
• While people now have capital to record their demo in a proper studio, we sat down on the floor and recorded in a late 90’s digital 8-track machine with the guitars, bass, & vocals fed directly to the 8-track. Amp-miking? What’s that?
• Aidil already had the superb melodies, FACT - no one can ever challenge him as a pop-songwriter – so what can you do to make something already great better? Listening to a lot of Beatles & “Live At Leeds” – I used the opportunity to do a bad impression of McCartney & Entwistle bass-licks and tried to lift those great melodies even higher.
So there you go, Couple 10 years ago (& 10kgs lighter). I wonder where would the music have evolved to if it was the same line-up, maybe in 2011 Aidil would have written his magnum opus – Couple’s own freaky Pet Sounds married with Sgt Pepper’s. I won’t be surprised. He can definitely do so much more!
Thanks again for reminding me of simpler times.
Ramzi
Bass Player
Couple 2001-2004
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