Sunday, March 22, 2009

Malaysian Music

My disdain for Malaysian music acts is not a secret. Most of them sounds like they're ripping off western bands or worse, each other. There were a few with promise. Siti Nurhaliza immediately comes to mind but she went over to the pop-side and that was the decision that broke her career for me. And there are really good acts: Too Phat, Zainal Abidin, Saleem and so on... But these people have more of a Malaysian level of goodness, not an international one. 

First Malaysian song that pleasantly surprised me [because I can't believe it's from Malaysia] was Crumbs by Disagree, though it was more than a little dark for me. I still remember that I was in the tuition van that I heard it the first time, the moonbeam reflecting on the driver's baldness.

Second was that song me and Barry heard at Battle of the Bands [or something like it] at Pyramid, 2, 3 years back. It had this Hawaiian/beach sound and we were very entertained. We actually turned to each other and said, "That's pretty good." Then, we realized the lyrics goes something like this: "Heavenly Father, drop your love from the sky." Now, it's not because of it's Christian or anything... well, I think it WAS because it's Christian. Me and GB walked away laughing at the lyrics and ourselves for getting hooked by the music. 

Third - 3/4 of Butterfingers' Kembali album. I wrote a review about it for a local short-lived online newsblog and I remember saying that it set the bar pretty high for the Malaysian music scene. They proved that you don't need English to be musically awesome on the international level.

Tonight, I heard this:


She wears a tudung to boot. A lot of idiots call her a hypocrite for wearing a tudung and singing publicly, I say screw these dogs of defecating pus. God's gift isn't something to be hidden. On the other hand, she has that kind of headshape that wearing tudung looks really flat and funny. 

Curse Yuna and her ability to make me have hopes for the Malaysian music scene!

=============================================================

On a completely unrelated note, I have to post this:




David had an oral surgery. The residue from the anaesthetic is obviously still around.

5 comments:

QifA said...

First and foremost. Watchmen sucked big time because i've yet to watch it in English. It's a faithful interpretation of the graphic novel, and i expected Snyder to sort of twitch it a bit here and there.

There's a lot more to Msian music if you dig deeper into the underground scene. It's been quite awhile since i last searched for good Malaysian music.

If folk music you're looking for, then try to listen to Meor Azidin Yusof and Azmyl Yunor. Meor sings in Malay, something like Bob Dylan and Sam Beam do in English. Azmyl sings in English.

If rock/emo is your taste, Love me butch's this is the new pop album is a bit American, but it's still good.

Butterfingers' Malayneum is a far better experiment than Kembali. You've got to listen to 'pacific' from that album. Selamat tinggal dunia is also good.

Then there's Killeur Calculateur, Kuala Lumpur Post Harmonic Quintet, they will kill us all and some other bands playing experimental music.

the mosaicist said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHkBHQZeAPk <--lagu yuna pertama yg membuatkan aku hooked :)

the mosaicist said...

ahahahahaaa! lawak gile..

"is this real life?"

so gonna be my new tagline;p

Fuzzy A! said...

Typical... People only come to drop a line AFTER I add the Stoned Kid video.

Qifa: Watchmen sucks? Well, I do agree they made Ozy less human [my BIGGEST annoyance with the movie] and how everybody in the Minutemen are so over-the-top violent and murderous, which kills the eccentricity of Rorsharch. Loyalty to the storyline is the thing you should expect from Snyder, see 300. That and a sex scene that covers all possible imagination.

About the music, yes, I do agree the underground scene is good, hell, better than most mainstream acts. But to use your words, I am not "looking for" Malaysian music. Rem's ripoff of BSB's tunes killed my enjoyment of Malaysian music. And that was in '96 or '98. Zaman tak tau beza Mainstream and Underground. Since then, the only Malaysian music I've heard comes from radios and TVs i.e. mainstream media.

This Meor guy is Malaysian's Dylan, you say? That's a mighty big compliment. Will look him up. Any recommendation on a specific album?

Azza: Budak 7 tahun + being stoned = epic win

QifA said...

Well i watched watchmen in Russian.

Meor's Pesta Jiwa or Itu padang aku di situ...But don't give too much expectation.

actually he used to teach at Subang Parade's Yamaha music store. I bought the album itu padang aku di situ directly from him at that store! When i stepped out of that shop,i was like

"was that Meor himself?"