New York vs. The World- Month by Month Listening Trends for New York in 2009 (by Last.FM)

a) As a chart-geek I must say this is quite awesome

b) New York is like a universe on its own.

c) Thank you Last.fm for making this!

Of Agile Beasts and Monkeys

The first thought I had when I stepped out of Arctic Monkeys’ concert at Liverpool Echo Arena on the 13/11/09 was, “They didn’t play ‘Fake Tales of  San Francisco’ and ‘Mardy Bum’.” I comforted myself by saying a) I got a great seat, b) I had fun, c) they might play a different set in Sheffield.

24 hours after Liverpool, I was at Sheffield Arena watching an identical show. How heart breaking. The consolations were my two awesome and dashing dates,  and Alex and co. played a wee bit of ‘Mardy Bum’ in the middle of ‘Fluorescent Adolescent.’ No extra songs or banters or even love for the Sheffield fans a.k.a. the home crowd.  No ‘Fake Tales’, and by then I realised they didn’t play another favourite song of mine, ‘A Certain Romance’ .

Pretty obvious that I’m a fan of their debut album, isn’t it? Anyway, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy their shows, or I’m jumping off the fanwagon now.  I just feel that both shows lack punch, or whatever fun I saw in the ‘Live at Apollo’ DVD (in which they played all the missing songs).  Yes, yes, I know, they only had two albums when they made that DVD and now they have three, they obviously need to kick out some old songs to fit in new ones, but playing 3/4 of Humbug wasn’t the best solution.

I’m not giving up on Arctic Monkeys just yet. As of the third album Alex still writes great lyrics, the band still makes good music and as seen at both concerts, drummer Matt is indeed an agile beast. After all, I did see them twice, didn’t I?  And I might just have to catch as many shows as I can until I get to see my favourite songs performed live, or maybe until they can get the setlist balanced up right.

Liverpool and Sheffield set list:  Dance Little Liar, Brainstorm, This House is a Circus, Still Take You Home,  I Bet You Look on the Dancefloor, Sketchead, My Propeller, Crying Lightning, Dangerous Animals, The View from the Afternoon, Cornerstone, If You were There, Beware, Pretty Visitors, The Jeweller’s Hands, Do Me a Favour, When the Sun Goes Down, Secret Door, Fluorescent Adolescent, Mardy Bum*, 505.

*only for Sheffield.

 

Rap tak ingat – SSK w Noh, Among, WordsManifest

YouTube – Rap tak ingat – SSK w Noh, Among, WordsManifest.

This video should be a big deal for a few reasons (in random order of course):

a) you have Noh of Hujan on guitars and you can hear him rhyme at certain parts of the song

b) AMONG ON THE MIC OMG *headasplodez* (getting him on the stage is somewhat the equivalent to the sighting of ..erm.. maybe a kakapo or duck-billed platypus)

b) This is THE ‘Rap Tak Ingat’ by Sicksiderz, a song I constantly played when I was in UFM, and the only other DJ who played it was KC Ismail when he was with Red 104.9.

c) I guess this is the closest you can get to seeing the actual Sicksiderz performing live

d) It’s one of my favourite local song ever performed by some of my favourite people on stage.

Now… how do I get this into my iPod?

 

(Video shot at The Bomb Shelter, a monthly hip hop gig organised by The Rogue Squadron at Cloth & Clef. Click here for future event updates)

How I Got Fucked Up by Morrissey

Just on Thursday over breakfast I had a chat with Matt about concert/show disasters, and I told him about my Oasis at Heaton Park generator fiasco.

In future discussions on the same topic, I can talk about how Morrissey cancelled his Liverpool concert after being hit by a (plastic) bottle of beer. Yes kids, he performed ‘This Charming Man’ as opener, followed by a new song, and not half way through that, he walked off the stage. And after a 10 mins wait, a stagehand came out on stage to announce cancellation.

*sigh*

Mozza, I sacrificed quite a bit for this. so.. really?

*sigh*
****************

Heard after the concert:

“Well, think of it this way, we might be able to catch the tail-end of the X-Factor show”

“I hope they refund this. I need money”

“Are you married”
“No. But thank you for reminding me I had a wife”

“I’m just skin and bones”

As I’m typing this, Foo Fighters is performing ‘Skin and Bones’ on Facebook. Yes, they’re performing a live show on Facebook (powered by Livestream apparently). Say it with me now “Fuck yeah innernetz!”. Who needs  television now that you have live streaming of concerts and whatnot on the internet. This is my second live show online after Dead Weather’s show, I must say when it comes to that sort of thing, I’m not missing the superslow internet speed in Malaysia.

(performing ‘Word For Word’ now)

Anyway, there’s a different sense of intimacy that fans can gain from live streams like these. For one, it feels like a jam session, since a) the band is in their own studio, b) there’s no setlist, c) with facebook’s status updates thingamajik, fans can update their statuses and the Foos can actually read them, giving fans the ability to ‘communicate’ directly with the band, d) it’s free and like concert DVDs, you get to see the band up close (and of course maybe check out guitar chords and whatnot)

Right now, I’m just loving the banters that the boys are having, discussing which song to play next while looking at the request lists (from the facebook status updates).

(performing ‘Generator’ now)

I guess I better go back to the show, since I don’t know when I’ll actually get to catch Foo Fighters live, for real.

Love, love will tear us apart, again.

I’ll go straight to the point for this entry. I was at the Manchester leg of Bad Lieutenant’s gig and saw them performing songs by New Order and JOY DIVISION.

Not entirely surprising? Maybe. Since Bad Lieutenant is after all made up of what’s left of both bands. Even before heading down to the venue, I had a discussion with the roomie about the possibilities of the band performing anything New Order or Joy Division. We both came to the conclusion that anything by the former might be entirely possible, but latter… a bit on the ‘difficult-to-believe’ side.

Then towards the end of their set, Bad Lieutenant performed New Order’s ‘Crystal’, Electronic’s ‘Tighten Up’, and Sumner’s collaboration tune with Chemical Brothers ‘Out of Control’ which was effortlessly merged with another New Order classic track ‘Temptation.’

Was this sweet enough for fans? Almost, as most of the late 30s/early 40s crowd at The Ritz were asking for more. For encore, Sumner stepped up on stage with Cunningham and Evans to perform a short acoustic version of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ and after the track ended, Sumner picked up his guitar and said “This next track is not going to be a folk song, but a punk one” and started playing ‘Transmission‘. All hells break loose at this point and just when you think it can’t get any better, they ended the night with ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

As a fan, I was, and still am, totally over the moon. That was after all the closest chance I’ll ever get to see either Joy Division or New Order live. Hooky’s presence was sorely missed, but I guess, somewhere out there,  he’s not going to be too happy with Sumner’s decision of playing classic tunes from his former bands… hmmmm…

Pop Shuvit’s ‘Oh Sizuka’

*cleans off dust bunnies around this blog*
I must say, out of many Pop Shuvit songs, this one sticks in my head the most and whadayaknow, they finally made a video clip of it! Loving the whole 80s vibe to the clip and the fact that the band doesn’t appear until the end.

There she goes…

It’s one thing trying to incorporate the message of racial unity in ads and movies, it a different thing to do it genuinely and affect others. So much have been said about her work, and if you ask me, they are all best served with a box of tissue paper. To the people who hated her, hope you’re happy now. Fans, like me, I guess the best thing to do is offer prayers for her and her family and remember her. Oh, and of course, look beyond the colours of our skins and be friends.

Rest in peace, Yasmin Ahmad. Al- Fatihah.

(thanks, WM for the poster)

A very short entry on ShoutAwards

Can’t say much since I caught the endtail of the show, starting at Flizzow’s performance, but here’s the issue, 8TV, Sean Kingston? Really? The man was obviously lip-syncing on stage and I think you people could’ve spent the money better by paying the local acts a bit more. Isn’t this supposed to be an award show for local musicians. Have faith, 8TV. You spent thousands if not millions for this award show and you won’t even let the real stars shine! Talk about getting your money’s worth.

Anyway, Congratulations to the winners! Bunkface, I heard, won big. You boys have come a long long way, and I’m quite proud to be one of the first people to buy your CD.

And to the people I voted for, next time, guys.

Tuesday Covers

Ha! Learnt that two of my favourite songs, Gita Gutawa’s ‘Sempurna’ (from the OST of LOVE) and Zee Avi’s ‘First of the Gang to Die’ (from her self-titled debut) are covers! *blush* 

Here are both songs, with the original versions. Enjoy!

Sempurna

First of the Gang to Die