Lagu Cinta Psychotique

Originally from Singapore, the band’s influence can be derived from a wide range of genres, from funk to soul to punk. Having release several demo cassettes in their early days, they released their debut “Golden Lovesongs from the Evil Island of the Handsome Tropical Cannibals” in the mid 90’s. The Stoned Revivals have also contributed their songs to various movie soundtracks, most notably when their single ‘Goodil’, appeared in the movie “12 Storeys” directed by renowned filmmaker Eric Khoo. The album also spawned a single,”Stoned Alleycat”, that went straight up the charts in Singaporean airwaves, resulting in the band receiving an award from the Composers Association of Singapore.

Fast track to 2006, founding member and vocalist Esam Salleh, relocated to Kuala Lumpur and started gigging around the city under the moniker of Slowjaxx. His migration of sorts has also brought upon a new life and lineup for The Stoned Revivals, and are set to release a new single in the near future.

Interview

More info on the band here and here.

Attainable Things In Life

One can hear traces of  New Order, Nine Inch Nails and Joy Division in Lurks’ brand of electronica synth pop. Even Britain’s very own NME magazine cited Lurks as “carrying on the tradition of great synth pop acts like Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys”.

Started off as a hobby and a 1 man experimental project in 2001, Zach (vocalist) went on to form Lurks , releasing a demo in 2002 that was distributed internationally by the Peacework Music network. More active in the early 2000’s, Lurks have somewhat been under the radar these past couple of years, only submerging with singles in local compilations and on their myspace.

Interview

More info on Lurks here and here.

Semboyan

From what started off as an exploration of computer-generated electronica, rigorous experimentation led to the formation of his namesake, Monoloque – founded by the guitarist and lead songwriter of Butterfingers, Loque.

The ‘project’ was originally an outlet for this Berklee College of Music graduate to realize its fullest potential by pushing the boundaries of his song-writing. Its preceding rock outfit, the Butterfingers was inadvertently put on hiatus following the departure of vocalist Emett – while Loque and remaining members, Kadak and Loco, decided to respawn in the form of Monoloque.

Halimunan Abad Ke-21

Deriving their influence from early Malaysian pop music (think R.Azmi, Saloma, P. Ramlee), Monoloque is set to change the face of Malaysian music in what it believes will be a ‘national’ renaissance.

For more info on the band, visit their official website or follow then on Facebook.

Interview

Tomas

Originally from Kota Kinabalu, Jerome Kugan, a poet, singer songwriter and gig organiser, started to actively play music in the local circuit back in 2000, after returning from Australia and relocating to KL. Having released his debut, Songs For A Shadow (2006), at times Jerome would perform his songs only accompanied by his trusty laptop. His MIDI compositions has been featured in early independent films by Amir Muhammad and James Lee. Jerome was also awarded the 3rd Boh Cameronian Performing Arts Awards for Most Promising Artist (2005) and Best Original Music (for Theatre). As a gig organiser, Jerome has co-organized events such as KL Sing Song, Wayang Kata and more recently Blue Wednesday.

Let You Go

Interview

More info on Jerome Kugan here and here.

White Lines

As with a whole lot of things here in KL, we discovered Diandra Arjunaidi through word of mouth. This 18 year old bedroom songstress uploaded some covers on Youtube, and that got digested pretty well by a lot of people. Recently performed at Moonshine’s 4th year anniversary, her debut performance, Diandra has since moved on to writing some radio friendly originals of her own. Influenced by more renowned pop acts, expect to hear more of Diandra Arjunaidi soon.

Untitled

More info on Diandra here.

Interview

Call Waiting

At the age of 14, Mia started her music career in KLs jazz circuit with the well known band Double Take. Mia Palencia went on to become one of KLs favorite singer-songwriters, crooning her fans with her own brand of jazz. She has since released a single, Sayang, in 2006, and an album, Finding My Way, in 2008. This Sabahan songstress has also made appearances in theater performances such as M The Opera and Tarap Man. Her sophmore album entitled Songs From The Jiwang Kingdom is set to be released digitally in the next few weeks and on CD at the end of 2009.

Biru

Now I’m Gonna Take A Vacation

At every turn, Furniture attempts to strike that elusive balance between bold invention and comforting familiarity in its music. Venturing into spaces described as post-rock, shoegaze and avant-pop, the band never strays far from being artful, honest, sweeping and emotional.

Two years in the making, Furniture released its debut album Twilight Chases the Sun to unanimous critical acclaim by the press and fans alike, some proclaiming it the local independent release of 2005.

Furniture is currently in the studio recording their sophmore album. This session, was recorded live at Urbanscapes 2009.

False Start

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Coming To Hearts Near You

From the coastal city of Klang, comes this 4 piece post emo band consisting of members from several active hardcore bands. Though not as active as their hardcore counterparts, they consider The Dearly Missed to be their main band (not a side project) and are preparing to release some new material by the end of 2009.

The Dearly Missed braved the hot tropical sun of KLPAC during Urbanscapes 2009 to record this session.

A Constant Reminder

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Wild Child

Seven Collar T-Shirt have been actively playing in the Malaysian music scene since 2002, surpassing fads and other musical trends. Having released their previous album, Drones, in 2004, SCTS has gone through a line up change, and are set to release their long anticipated album later in the year.

This session, was recorded live at Greenhouse Studio in Ampang.

Fragile

Find

Flica / Eu Seng Seto, armed with his array of sound programming mastery and electro-acoustic musicianship has received rave reviews for his second release, Nocturnal. Signed to local label Mu-Nest, his follow up record was released by Japanese label Schole earlier this year followed by a short tour to Macau and Taiwan.

Flica is one of those musicians that requires particularly intent and repeated listening, to fully appreciate.

Walk

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