These Things Kept Me Busy Last Week
Launching this online:
And designing the sound for this monster of a project:
This week is not being any kinder but I won’t have anything as great as these two things above to show next week. There are however a few more things in the pipeline. So watch out for it!
Syndicate Subsessions
It has always been my personal vision to take Syndicate out of the club and into a performance space. We have managed to do one successfully last year at the Esplanade with the Syndicate Sessions as part of the venue’s Late Nite series. Now thanks to the team, who shares this vision, plus the support of The Substation, we are all working together to curate a quarterly performance series simply & aptly named Syndicate Subsessions.
For the launch, we will be introducing Gema Putra. Discovering this super talented young chap got to be one of the main highlights last year. He is a multi-instrumentalist who can sing and generate his own visual content. What else can I say? You got to check it out for yourself.
Gema will be warming up the night for Muon. An ever evolving act, musically & in terms of line-up, the only constant for the band is Nick Chan. He’s the guy who provided my first electronic gig (as a past personality) in 2003. And coincidentally, that was at The Substation as well. It’s always good to return a favour and Muon will be launching their fourth album, The Shape of Shapes to Come.
This will be one hell of night and I can’t wait for it myself. Tickets are limited so you guys better book your tickets soon.
Full event details here & FB event page there.
The next Syndicate Subsessions will take place on 2nd June 2012. So watch out for that.
Stuck In The 90s
An all night conversation which started with the possible consequences of ACTA/SOPA/PIPA and making numerous rounds over we-need-it-or-we-don’t arguments sucked us into the almost pre-historic era of music discovery before the internet. A week later, I’m still stuck in the 90s. Late nights watching Billboard Top 100, cool siblings, understanding parents, attack of the music mega stores (Tower Records, Borders, HMV) and the literature they brought (The Face, NME, Raygun, etc); the list goes on. I think we spent an hour talking about these various factors coming into play as we chanced upon the music back then which make us the people we are today. And all these have been replaced by search engines and social media status updates & postings (just like this one). I’m not going to weigh the sides of this millennial divide on the which-is-better scale as they are just different times. But I do wonder what the feeling will be like in 2031 when we re-listen to Lana Del Rey’s Video Games. As we wait and for the time being, less talk, more rock:
SYNDICATE IS TWO!
BLISS
So I was invited by a great friend, Rizman Putra, who also happens to be an awesome performer (in all sense of the word; as a singer, actor, dancer or even in a mascot costume, this guy will take it to a different level), to provide an aural accompaniment for his visual piece. I won’t attempt to make sense of this piece but it involves a play on the word ajar (teach in Malay) together with images of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix & a chimpanzee. And from my end; ministerial speeches samples, live vocal looping from Rizman himself and a haunting rhythmic pattern which all traditionally and inevitably come together in a chaotic mess.
You can check out the chaos at 8Q SAM till 15 April 2012.
Bliss is part of The Singapore Show: Future Proof
[Edit: 27 Jan 2012]
A clip of the opening night courtesy of VernissageTV which ended up on Huffington Post here. Thanks to Speak Cryptic for tweeting about it.
DIGITAL DIG: Karinding Attack - Hampura Ema Pt II [Indonesia]
22 plays
Moods - Leave It All Behind
Another great song written by a bunch of great friends. An all too familiar voice which brings back familiar stories. I’m certain it was written at least a decade ago and this raw recording was dated exactly 6 years ago. I seriously don’t know when their album will see the light of day. Hopefully soon enough.
Slowjaxx
A songwriter who is definitely in my favourite list and I’m honoured to know him in person. The reverby, hum-filled, lo-fi recordings of these 3 tracks below really set the tone and mood for the individual songs. A constant reminder on how you can have all the gears & equipments in the world to emit the glossiest tone or the cleanest sound, but if you can’t write a song with a pen, paper & a guitar, piano or any other acoustic instrument for that matter, no technology in the world can help you out. I’m blessed to have talented & discerning friends to always bring me back to the essence of it all.
Breakin Down by slowjaxx Ballad of the Abominable Snowman by slowjaxx Papa by slowjaxx
Goosebumps….
Let’s start bidding farewell to 2011.
