Monday, August 15, 2011

Homegrown Talent. Past / Present / Future - Part 1

Ok. I know there is still the part 3 of the Christian Bands in the 1990's which I have yet to complete. The Procrastination has kinda left me lazy blogging about it. But eventually I will.
Anyway today's post pertains to our local homegrown Talent. Too often we say that Malaysian artistes are not good enough. That we are copycats of a genre set up far ahead by the bands in the US of A, the UK and even....well, Europe.

Well, fact is, back in the 90's and early 2000, I have made many purchases of really cool homegrown music and until now, I'm left as a fan. They have certainly left me dry and wanting. Of course their music style may change over time. Some retain their genre, whilst others cross over.
Anyway, Malaysia has talent and perhaps this blog may be a testimony of it.
Please, do understand that I won't blog about pop music. These are stuff that I like. And they are definitely of the edgy kind.
OK I may throw in some pop tunes or R N B tunes here and there. But remember, these are the music that I was and is still fond of. So Please contribute any ideas or suggestions if you have em, and I will try to include them in future posts.
For now, this space is mine to manipulate !! ahhaha..Here goes:-

Pop Shuvit -Skater's Anthem


Very fondly, I remember listening to this in college. Almost everyday. I'm not a skater. But it became my anthem nevertheless. And watching them play this song at Rock the World (can't remember which edition though) and getting the same crowd address like in Korn concert, got me wanting more! Of course their style is much more mainstream and have diverted from their rap rock roots, but this still remains a gem.

Tempered Mental


Please check out Melina's bass scaling at 0.30 secs onwards....top that if any of you can. Except Les Claypool ahhaha




This band is a personal favourite of mine. Until now, I still think they are my favourite band amongst many. I got their EP and subsequently their full album and they did not disappoint. One of the more technical bands in Malaysia, playing a mix of hard rock and progressive rock.
The bassist, Melina is simply awesome, and one of the few kick ass ladies who can scale, slap the bass and yet sing. The guitarist is also gifted, complementing the bassist and the drummer, Jimmy is one of the best in Malaysia. So naturally, this band has the potential to go places. They just need to churn more awesome stuff. Watched them play at Rock the World and they were great
My favourite song which I can't find anywhere in youtube - Simple. That song kicks ass!


OAG


They call themselves Old Automatic Garbage. GOd only knows what they were thinking when they coined the name up. But apparently its to pay homage to 60's music. And hence that was their genre. 60's pop but with 90's flavour. 60's tv was the anthem of the Malaysian scene in the 90's. Even Coca-cola got them to endorse their product, playing this song in the rooftops. It was the epitome of cool. Indie music never looked cooler. And I remember this was one of the few songs I learnt to play with my Kapok guitar. Of course, years eventually, they started singing more Malay songs and Radhi also took to the movie scene and played less music. But we will be hoping for them to play 60's music once more :)



Butterfingers


Malaysia's truest grunge band. In the messy vein of Kurt Kobain but with Malaysian flavour, half the time the lyrics are poetic but make no sense. Like the grunge of Nirvana and not so much Pearl Jam or Alice In chains. But they were massive. They music was hard and killer. I wouldn't have wanted them to change. After getting 3 albums which were grunge music, they finally gotten experimental in Malayneum and Selamat Tinggal Dunia. I guess I couldn't take their experimental music. They were no Radiohead. They were grunge. They should have sticked to it and rocked on :)



Ok . Time to sleep. It's late in the day. And early in the morning. I better rest.

Part 2 beckons soon. :) More good local homegrown stuff to come from me

Peace out.


3 comments:

Gideon Lee said...

You spelt Kurt Cobain wrong!
Also, ain't Vio Pipe an instrumental.
How about local Christian stuff/bands?
Peace.

Mr V said...

yeah man. Mistake. Kurt Cobain. He would have rolled in his grave.

Local christian bands? haha As far as I am concerned, the best Local Christian band was this band called Die To Self.
the Line up was something like this :-

Colin Pal - vocals
Gideon Lee - guitars
Cheong - Bass
Kien Hoe - Drums

hahaha

And I dont think vio pipe is an actual instrument. But I might need to check with Uncle Wiki on that.

Gideon Lee said...

No doubt, mate...no doubt.

The only sad thing was that that band only ever recorded 1 song.

It should have made an attempt at global domination man. Or at least national domination. Ah well.

But you are right, definitely the best.