The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is rather painless, actually

Event: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart live in concert
Date: March 4, 2012 (Sunday)
Venue: Pentas 2, KL Pac

Even in dreams, they will not betray you. The New York quartet stopped by the land of satay and ‘lah’ for a show at KLPac as the last stop of their Asian tour. A joy for those who missed St. Jerome’s Laneway festival in Singapore last month as they get 1/10 of the line-up (and only around 30 of us showed up. Guess everyone made it for Laneway?). Organisers, we’re all still waiting for Yuck by the way. Take note please.

Of making out in the library and saying no to love, whichever they prefer, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart (or in short, TPOBPAH, which is still long by the way) rocked on the stage of KLPac with their pure hearts with intention of engaging with the crowd.

“Ah nice to see awesome band shirts that you guys are wearing. There’s one wearing Yuck, Sonic Youth, Joy Division! Thank god we don’t get any bands we hate… Like Nickelback.” Said Kip before the show started.

Although the 45 minute set seemed short, the quartet managed to wow us with their uber famous songs such as ‘Heart in Your Heartbreak’, ‘Young Adult Friction’, ‘Even in Dreams’, ‘The Body’ and ‘A Teenager in Love’ and played a 4 song encore, including Contender that Kip performed just by himself .

The bass could only be heard faintly. Still, the set was good. The noise pop/indie-rock quartet gave us a taste on what we missed at Laneway (for those who did not attend of course). The mix of catchy electronic with distortion somehow creates that stress free feeling when you get off work on a Friday or simply watching 500 Days of Summer and Summer never left Tom.

However, despite all the hype saying that the quartet is an indie-rock band, I have to say that they’re very much indie-pop, sounding a bit like The Smiths mixed with Yuck’s slow song writing style, less other effects, with that touch of reverb on the vocals and simple noise clashing on both guitars.

It was kind enough of the band to stick around after the gig for a meet and greet with the fans session although the drummer, Kurt didn’t show up for the meet and greet. Of course Peggy Wang was the star of the night for the guys. And Kip became the highlight for all the girls.

The awesome thing about indie-rock gigs are that the people are all friendly, the beers are cold and there’s space to breathe. Big thumbs up to Soundscape records and the man behind it, Mak Wai Hoo who made this all possible. KLPac for being an awesome host and providing ice cold beer (though the RELA guys weren’t too effective). And also thank you to Twilight Actiongirl for the invites to the show.

Contributed by Rizki Maulana (@rzmaulana)

* If you would like to contribute your reviews on concerts you have been to and/or new bands/albums/songs you have recently heard, feel free to drop me a line here.

Local Wednesday: DFP Spolight Series presents Yuna

Event: DFP Spotlight Series presents Yuna
Date: September 13, 2011 (Tuesday)
Venue: Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, KLCC

Yuna, also known as Yunalis Zarai has come a long way from being just a MySpace artist into becoming a magical phenomenon. She became the pride and glory of Malaysian music and a trendsetter amongst Malaysian women. The tickets for both her shows were sold out as fast as hot cakes.

Joining her on stage were her band members, Farhan Fadzlishah (Paan) on lead guitar, who did the little penguin run, her bassist Efry Arwis who is also Diandra Arjunaidi’s bassist, and her drummer Adil Ali on drums. Sessioning for her that night were MohdSaid Shafiq as the second guitarist, Adam Shahrir on the keyboard. Yuna also invited her producer and her good friend, the man behind Kamar Seni and Hujan’s lead guitarist, AG Coco to play alongside her. Not to forget, she also invited 3 talented young musicians to accompany her on the strings.

If it wasn’t for our bad punctuality, we wouldn’t be called Malaysians right? Oh well, Yuna didn’t mind late comers! She even greeted them. “Hi! Thanks for joining us.” for quite a few times! And the crowd laughs along. At one part of the show, Paan disappeared backstage. And reappeared at the end of the song. However, he was doing this little penguin run. Priceless.

Yuna kicked off the night with an elegant entry with her chic and modern pink baju kurung paired with her golden headdress. With echoes in the background, she entered the great hall of Dewan Filharmonik Petronas and received a thunderous applause. The first song was a love song. It was Someone Out of Town.

Oh my god, I see you clearly now
In my dreams, you’re here with me somehow
Come my way and I won’t make a sound
I’m in love with someone out of town.

Well, it was my first time listening to that song. Looks like her newly written songs are as enjoyable as her old pieces. Short and sweet.

Yuna played most songs from her Decorate EP including her all-time favourite, Rocket which is a song about her guitar. This song never fail to entertain me.
Different for her original mix, back to the days when Yuna records just with her guitar and her laptop, the echoes of Yuna’s voice left me speechless.

You’re like a rocket in my mind, thats waiting to define everything about me no one knew.

Rocket was the first song from Yuna that I’ve ever listened. And after all these years, it still has its magic ringing in my ears.

Then, it was Gadis Semasa. One of her favourite song. About how people telling her to change the way she dress and many other things and how she decided to stick to her own principle.

Kau mahukan gadis semasa,
yang bisa memberikanmu se-ga-la-nya!

I really love Paan’s effects for this song. The switching between the soft tone and the distortion in the middle of the song for the dramatic effect. Kudos to you Paan.

Aku memang begitu,
tetap seperti dahulu.
Terlalu menyayangi dirimu.

During Decorate. She stood up and played her guitar. It might be the shortest song on her EP. Although its only 1:40, the song seemed long. The song almost made me cry.

It wasn’t just her songs that she played that night. She also played covers. One of
them was her own rendition Gelora Jiwa by the late Tan Sri P.Ramlee and the other was her infamous cover of Nirvana’s Come As You Are. I’m sure Kurt Cobain would be speechless if he were to attend the showcase.

The next song was very experimental. It was Fears and Frustration. The song was very 007 theme song-ish. And it started off deep and dark with the slapping of the bass strings of the guitar.

This love affair between you and I,
Do you think it’s worth a try?
Hearts will be broken

And then, the stage grew brighter as AG Coco was invited to play alongside Yuna for the rest of the showcase. The band were more lively, fooling around, their faces were all smiles. Yuna sang her newly written song Coffee.

Among other songs that were played were Random Awesome which Yuna dedicated to a birthday girl who attended the showcase, the song that made it to the AJL finals, Cinta Sempurna, the haunting slow song, Penakut which sends made the back of my hair stand. She also played Memo which is written by Yuna and her fans for the Yuna Inspired contest that was held recently.

Yuna : “Guys, i’m very sad to say that this is gonna be my last song.”
Crowd: “Awwww”
Yuna : “Im just joking this is my second last song. This is Super Something.”

I never knew that this song was about…. sanitary pads…. until Yuna told us. “I was asked to write a song for a female hygiene…..yeah. ” the crowd laughs. “And I dont know what to write about. And then this happens.” “But it’s totally normal if you’re a guy and you like this song.” It was definitely a moment of laughter for everyone in the hall.

You’ll see
I’m better
I’m faster
Stronger
I’m happier
When you’re by my side
(Ku lalui semua dengan senyuman di wajahku)

And then it was time for the last song. Her new song That’s How We Do, Let Love Come Through. That night was the second time that she ever played the song (having the first night of the DFP spotlight her first). It was the kind of song that makes you move to the beat. Yuna took little steps and danced as well while singing it, while the musicians at the back were playing and making silly poses.

And that was it. The night was over. Yuna received thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd. You can see the smile on her face that she was really grateful for this. Her journey was long and tiring from a small time MySpace artist into a national phenomenon. After a long stay in the US writing and recording, her work finally paid off.

Kudos to the band and the strings for the excellent performance, the sound engineers for showing us once more that great talent can be showcased properly with good sound engineers and the Yuna herself for the lovely concert.

Congratulations Yuna, on your recent achievement. Always remember that your fans here in Malaysia will support you, and will always be proud of you!

ps: the meet and greet line was SUPER LONG.

W: YunaMusic.com
T: @yunamusic 

Contributed by Rizki Maulana (@rzmaulana)

* If you would like to contribute your reviews on concerts you have been to and/or new bands/albums/songs you have recently heard, feel free to drop me a line here.

Nothing to feel SORE about

Event: SORE di Kuala Lumpur
Date: July 7, 2011 (Thursday)
Venue: Bentley Music Auditorium, Malaysia

On the 7th of July, SORE played a showcase at Bentley Music Auditorium, Mutiara Damansara called ‘SORE di Kuala Lumpur’ . The showcase was organised and emcee-ed by Hujan’s very own manager and keyboardist, Hang Dimas and Malaysia’s very own Atilia Haron, a singer-songwriter who also sings Silly Little Thing alongside SORE which was released in their EP entitled Sombreros Kiddos
last year.

The event was kicked off by Couple. The audience can be seen tapping their legs, following the catchy beats of the band. The band played their singles such as Whoa Oh Sayang!, also Tentang Kita and Now That I Can See which were the soundtracks of Kami : The Series. Lagu Cinta Untukmu from their latest album kept the audience singing along, followed by Pergi and ended with Come Back Again.

Up next was TILU, which means the number three in Sundanese. The band consists of 4 Malaysians and 3 Indonesians, a good ratio to symbolise peace and harmony. TILU started their set, enlightening the mood of the audience by making them chant “T-I-L-U, hey SORE! Hey SORE!”. The band played I.L.U which is an abbreviation for I Love You. The vocalist sure is a crowd puller, getting the crowd to sing the lines of the song, “ I love you, aku cinta padamu. I love you too, aku juga begitu”. And then there was Cinta buta. They ended their set with Tolong.

Once again, Dimas and Atilia took the stage. This time, to officially launch the Easton product in Malaysia, which is available at the Badger Malaysia Store, Damansara from today onwards. After a short video promoting the Easton brand, it was the first time that the music video of Silly Little Things that was sung by Atilia and SORE was ever played in public (It’s not up on youtube yet. Be patient!). The hall was amused and some of the crowd sang along to the line “silly little thing that you are”.

After the long wait, finally, the stars of the night took the stage. SORE kicked off with their first song on the setlist, Vrijeman, followed by the famous song from their album Centralismo which is Somos Libres, a song about freedom where the title means we are free. Followed by Mata Berdebu a song about unreturned love. Etalase written by Bembi, the drummer of the band is about friendship. The song started off with a nice saxophone and is played with a 5/4 rhythm.

The band also played songs from their second album, Ports of Lima such as, Merintih Perih, Bogor Biru and Setengah Lima. Merintih Perih was very emotional. Whereas Bogor Biru is about the city, Bogor that constantly rains.

Atilia Haron joined SORE at the stage. It was their first time playing the song together. Her voice suits SORE’s sound just perfectly. Silly Little Thing takes the audience back to how they met their lovers and how they fell in love. It will definitely be the perfect soundtrack for everyone’s love story.

The last song was the ever famous, No Fruits For Today. For this, everyone got off their seats and danced to the song. Even celebrities like Noh and Nina, Reza Salleh, Liyana Fizi, Izzat and Dimas of Hujan joined the crowd, danced, clapped and sang along to the chorus that goes like “I love you and you love me, we’re gonna make a big family”. The second song was Funk The Hole. It was special because they don’t usually play this song in gigs.

The band was kind enough to let fans take pictures with them (loads of pictures) and even chit-chat for a little bit. Big thumbs up to the organisers for organizing a great show and to the event co-ordinator for a successful event.

Contributed by Rizki Maulana (@rzmaulana)

* If you would like to contribute your reviews on concerts you have been to and/or new bands/albums/songs you have recently heard, feel free to drop me a line here.

Whale of a time with Noah and the Whale

Event: Live Nation Presents Noah and the Whale
Date: May 13, 2011 (Friday)
Venue: The Library, HMV Institute, Birmingham, UK

We’ve all heard the story of how one Laura Marling broke Charlie Fink’s heart. Gone are the Black Cab Session days, when you can see the both of them being adorable together:

I do not intend for this to come across as a snide remark, but I am glad they went their separate ways. While Laura Marling flourished to be an amazing two-time Mercury Music Prize nominee, Charlie Fink soldiered on bravely with Noah and the Whale (NATW) producing a sophomore album that beautifully encapsulates the break up.

The rain pelted down just before it was time for the doors to open, a sign for the long cold wait ahead. While settling down at a perfect bird’s eye view spot for the night, I noticed two disco balls hanging high above the crowd, not really believing they would put it to use later on. (They did, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves now).

Opening act Exlovers put on a solid set of about 30 minutes. I was hoping it would be longer but I could be bias, as I have looked forward to watch Just A Silhouette unfold in front of my eyes for a long time now.

I love the way the two guitar melodies entwine together (similar to how the female and male vocals would mesh perfectly), or the fact that some of the songs have the best bass lines. Exlovers were particularly creative exploring a particular rhythm (or beat, for the drummer) that although repetitive, it works well to charm the hearts of the listeners. Knowing that NATW would be up next, the audience was predominantly kind to them, cheering supportively.

Finally the moment came when the lights dimmed, and Paradise Stars (which sounds like an ideal opening theme to any Zach Braff directed movie) played elusively over the empty dark stage. The crowd erupted as five musicians all smartly “suited up”, fedora and all, prepared to set an apparent mood to unveil the Last Night on Earth.

For this tour, I loved that they went back to basics and opened with Give A Little Love. It has that familiar lovelorn slur, only this time you could really feel that it would not be reciprocated. Having first heard this track acoustically a long time ago during the Black Cab Sessions, I was pleasantly surprised with the live approach, leading to a perfectly executed first song.

From the get go, there was a huge smile plastered on drummer Michael Petulla’s face, and it was evident that he clearly enjoyed playing the whole set as much as we enjoy watching him grin audaciously with other members of the band, more so with their bassist, nicknamed Urby Whale. I was also deeply impressed with fiddle player Tom Hobden and lead guitarist Fred Abbott’s capabilities to switch at ease between various instruments, with the former stylishly picking up his violin and even whistling during the anthemic 5 Years Time.

With a healthy mix of songs from all three NATW albums, you could see adoration in the eyes of the audience as NATW belted out one song after another in perfect harmony. Before long, Charlie announced that it was now time for the romantic part of the set before delving into My Door is Always Open. This was the point however, where I felt annoyed because the crowd chatter started during the quiet acoustic moments. Despite being a hopeless romantic, the “romantic” section may have been the anti-climax of my night. Thankfully though, things picked up again as the “party and dance” section (his words, not mine) kicked off with Rocks & Daggers.

Nervous awkward dance moves were aplenty but what struck a chord for me was the fact that I could now no longer use NATW songs to lull me to sleep. If you’re familiar with the feature film that followed the release of NATW’s second album The First Days of Spring, you would find that the marvelously directed film could calm you down after a long chaotic day (although I have to confess I usually fall asleep ¾ into the film since it is so soothing).

I was left in awe wondering how I could even fall asleep to such an emotionally-driven piece. 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the track, out of nowhere, the disco lights sprung to life. It is evident from the crowd cheer that this moment would be etched in their memories for a long time to come as the lights danced to the somber cry of the violin. When NATW left the stage after The First Days of Spring, despite only being away for mere minutes, their absence was felt immediately.

For the encore, Old Joy with distinct remnants of Paradise Stars haunted the Library. My bitter heart wondered off to an old flame, if only for a second. Convinced not to falter in front of my plus one, I was glad the show came to an end with L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N., a classy anthem captivating the hearts of everyone in the audience when you hear them sing along: “On my last night on earth / I’ll pay a high price / to have no regrets / and be done with my life.”

Not everyone would enjoy an album by NATW, but everyone would certainly appreciate a NATW gig. For a band at its top form, it comes with no surprise that Arcade Fire picked NATW to open for them later this Summer after a slew of festival dates. Mixing an enthusiastic crowd with a band at top form, I declare this my favourite gig of the year yet (before I see Death Cab For Cutie in July!).

Contributed by Ee Liza (@guiltstricken)

* If you would like to contribute your reviews on concerts you have been to and/or new bands/albums/songs you have recently heard, feel free to drop me a line here.