The Raveonettes live @ New Majestic, Bandung (12-11-2010)

Pictures were taken by Michael Killian. All credit goes to him.

The Raveonettes myspace
The Raveonettes website

I'll be totally honest here. I hadn't heard a single Raveonettes song until like two months ago. I had heard their names being thrown around on the internet a couple of times, i just never bothered to check them out. Then i heard they were coming over to Indonesia. The ticket was like 15 AUD which is about as good of a deal as you can get over here. So i headed over to their myspace and listened to a few songs on there. My first impression was "well they sounded like if Jesus and Mary Chain and The Velvets had a baby". Despite liking those bands, i wasn't really impressed at first.

I decided to give them a fair shot and downloaded a few albums. I can tell you that they changed their sound with each album, although you can probably still tell it's the same band. They definitely nail The Jesus And Mary Chain guitar tone down to a T when they wanted to. Check out their first release, Whip It On for example of this (more Psychodandy than Darklands). It's also their most straight forward, noisy, rocking album. The difference between them and JAMC is that if JAMC seem to be leaning toward the simplicity of what would later become post-punk, The Raveonettes seem to be influenced more by 50's/60's garage pop/rock. Strangely enough, they sounded way more modern and "today" compared to JAMC due to their uses of synths.

Their releases post-Whip It On see them improving on songwriting department and putting the "noisy" parts more strategically. The songs are more varied and less one dimensional. They also seemed to be getting poppier and more accessible with each album (not a bad thing in my book). Their last output, In And Out Of Control even sounds like a lost Blondie album at times. One thing that doesn't change within the equation of their music is the juxtaposition of the male/female pop style of harmonized vocals and the "dark" nature of the lyrical content being sung. Much like The Velvet Underground, much of their lyrics seem to revolve around relationships gone sour, lust, rape, violence, and everything in between.

Let's get back to the show review. After driving down for about 2 hours, me and friends got to the venue. We missed one of the opening bands, Denial. I've seem them before and they definitely got the JAMC thing too, making them a definite good pick for the show. I don't know how to describe Cuts, the second opening band of that night. They were simply awful. Two female singers and the rest of the band dressed as if they were going for A Clockwork Orange audition. None of them seemed to be older than twenty. And they play some kind of boring modern rock-dance hybrid or whatever it was.

Finally it was The Raveonettes time to hit the stage. To put it simply, they killed it. The guitar tone was amazing, especially Sune's. The surfy clean tone is to die for. I never wanted a Jazzmaster more than that night. The crowd vibe was really good too. There were plenty of singalong sessions and the band seemed to really enjoy themselves that night. I think they were a bit overwhelmed by crowd reaction given it was their first time in Indonesia.

The Raveonettes also mix it up a bit on stage that night. A few songs started with Sune and Sharin and their guitars with the rest of the band joining in. Sharin and the drummer also swap duties on second guitar and drums for a bit. Their setlist was pretty good that night, it was a good mix of old and newer songs. It was one of the funnest shows i've been too this year and i definitely like them more after that night.

Here's a couple of videos i took off of their set that night. Enjoy!

Quiet Steps - Think Aloud

Quiet Steps myspace
Quiet Steps facebook

During my 3 years and a half stay in Brisbane, I have managed to witness Quiet Steps live performances at least 15-20 times. I’ve seen them played a house show, a warehouse, a “proper” music venue, you name it. I’ve seen them at their good and bad days. I guess I would like to say that I have gotten quite attached to their music and their live shows, but I’ll try not to be too biased here.

Quiet Steps released their first ep in 2007. It was fairly well-received, I think. I do not know how many copies they sold, but their shows around 2007-2008 always had at least quite a few people showing interest towards the band. I recall their set at No Culture Festival II and La Quiete show as being quite memorable. The way things were might have had something to do with similar style bands like James Dean and Drowned Out being around at the time.

Fast forward a few years, Quiet Steps finally released their first ever full length, entitled Think Aloud. Some of the songs on this album have been in their setlist for quite sometime now. Songs like “Assimilate” and “One Breath” were introduced as early as 2007/2008. They had a handful of songs ready by early 2009. I even remember paying a visit on one of their mixing sessions.

You’re probably wondering what took them so long to release the album. Well, I don’t know all the details behind the delay. I do know that they were trying to figure out how to release the album, if any label who would be interested to put it out, looking at their options, etc etc, that sort of thing. Maybe it had taken them longer that it should, then again maybe not. It’s their decision after all.

On to the good stuff now, Quiet Steps decided to go the DIY route and self-released their new full-length. They also urge people to download the album on the internet for free, which have been put up by the band. I believe the band is running a limited batch of hand-made packaged CD-R of Think Aloud, so get in touch with the band quickly if you’re keen for a copy!

How is Think Aloud compared to their debut EP? You can tell it’s still the same band. However, it’s easy to tell that the band has progressed a lot from their debut. The songwriting is still as good as ever while new ideas are being introduced. Clean vocals are present in the middle part of “Measure Reaction” (one of the very highlights of the album for me); “Exclusion” has an amazing danceable instrumental bit at the end, and “Surrounded” is a fast punk number running at 24 seconds. I also feel obliged to tell you that there is a lot of killer riffs on this album. The bass in particular stands out with its jazzy and yet aggressive style of playing.

I don’t know much about production, but it’s noticeably better than their ep. It’s not as clean and produced. It sounds fuller and denser. The vocals sounded as if the mic was put on one side of the room and the band at the other.

Think Aloud is an excellent first full-length by Quiet Steps. I like the direction they took with the album and the amount of creativity they put into it. At this point, they don’t really sound like anyone. I feel like comparison to Sinaloa isn’t doing them justice anymore. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait another three years for another album.

















Quiet Steps - Think Aloud

Ghaust

Ghaust myspace
Ghaust facebook
Ghaust blogspot

Starting out as a hardcore punk band with metallic influences or as some people like to call “crossover”, Neurosis slowly but surely ditched their initial style for a more experiment sound. Taking cues from bands that doesn’t fit into the standard of “metal” such as Godflesh and Swans, their later sound is heavy, repetitive and yet sparse. There is more focus on the atmosphere being created. Synths, tribal drumming, chants, acoustic guitar passages were all being utilized to achieve a big, thunderous, epic sonic assault.

A band called Isis similarly followed their steps a few years later. Guitarist/songwriter Aaron Turner is also the founder of Hydra Head Records which has produced countless of new generation of bands playing their own twists of extreme music rooted in hardcore punk and metal.

It was only a matter of time before the world took notice. Thanks to the presence of the internet, bands started popping out from different parts of the world. The term “post-metal” and “post-rock” was on people’s lips on internet messageboards and music forums. And before you know it, bands like Russian Circles, Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky got invited to play music festivals all around the world.

I saw Ghaust for the first time in December 2008 and to be honest, it didn’t make much of an impression on me (the fact that their songs are longer than 5 minutes didn’t really help, I have an attention span of a 10-year old). However, with subsequent listens I became more and more absorbed by the music. One day it just clicked with me and I said to myself “this is good!”.

It would be easy to dismiss Ghaust as simply trying to ride the “post-metal” wave since there are only a very few bands playing this sort of music in Indonesia. But if you listen to their music closely, then you’d find that they actually put their own spin and ideas and it’s actually pretty damn excellent.

Consisted of only a guitar and a drum, Ghaust choose to keep things straight-forward, riffs to riffs, one section to another. They don’t rely on huge built-up, subtle chord progressions like Isis did. What makes their music interesting is the fact that they can go from a melodic mid-tempo section, to a fast hardcore-punk inspired bit, to a quiet ambient/post-rock passage in a blink of an eye. The closest I can compare them to would probably be Pelican's early stuff. They share similar guitar tone, although Pelican's is more bass-y and Ghaust’s has more clarity and crisp. They both have that doom but melodic riffs thing going for them. Neither of them have vocals, either.

For a relatively new band (starting in mid 2005, I believe), Ghaust have made a name for themselves. They’ve released a self-titled cd and few splits with Pazahora from Singapore and Aseethe from USA, and Black Waves from Germany. They’ve also just returned from what I heard, a relatively successful Malaysian and Singapore tour along with another local, Kelelawar Malam.

I believe that Ghaust has a potential to improve themselves with each release. Looking at their level of productivity and ambition, a tour to a western country doesn’t seem that far out of reach if they can manage not to break up too soon.

Here are a couple videos from their set at Tribute to Joneh show at Rossi a few weeks ago. It’s a shame that their set was so short. I will say that it’s not the best Ghaust performance I’ve seen. The drummer looks a bit tired and unenthusiastic although the latter is probably just how he looks :D

Enjoy the videos, fellas.

Ghaust - Return Fire



Ghaust - Sleep And Release

Venue/Gig Review : FX Music

One of the biggest problems with independent music scene in Jakarta is the lack of venues. It’s even more problematic for hardcore/punk scene who doesn’t attract as many show-goers as say, the metal scene due its low-profile, DIY nature. Delight in Kemang was one of very few venues where hardcore shows consistently being held on. I personally think it was just an alright venue, but it’s better than having no shows at all. Unfortunately the owner decided not to extend their contract and thus, since mid-year of 2010 Delight is gone.

The last few punk/hardcore shows I’ve been to had been held at FX Music studio. FX Music is a hip music store who sells music instruments, band merch, as well as providing studios for practice or recording purposes. They also have a bar with a small stage directly across from it for bands to play. It gives them a really café-esque vibe. To make it even more bizarre, FX Music is located in FX Senayan, a mall in one of Jakarta’s busiest central-business-district area.

Despite all the unpunk qualities FX Music possess (hahaha), the reality is that they provide a really nice, well-equipped studio that’s big enough for a hardcore/punk show at a very reasonable rate. I too, would rather go to a warehouse show that smells like piss and beer with no lights on, but hey, at this point we’ll take what we can get! Plus, the venue is very accessible from every part of Jakarta (easy public transportation access, etc) which is a huge plus.

I went to the show with the intention of capturing live action of the bands, one song per band. However, I did miss Sense Of Pride set due to hanging outside the studio for a bit. I also didn’t get any recording of Moz Is The Reason, Degenerate and Hellowar despite staying throughout their sets. I was keen on getting some Hellowar footage, but they decided to play in the dark instead. No bueno.

I’m not doing a review of band-to-band performance. I’ll let the videos speak for themselves. I've also put myspace links for every band on the bill just in case you’re interested enough to check them out. I will mention that most of the bands playing are in the hardcore variety with the exception of Grave Dancers (thrash/crossover), Hellowar (metal/crust), Ninja Hattori (power violence/fast shit) and Moz Is The Reason (guess what they play :p). Grave Dancers got the best reception that night, and their set was the most fun.

Overall, the show went really well!

Clicky :

Final Attack myspace
Braveheart myspace
Grave Dancers myspace
Hellowar myspace
Raincoat myspace
Still Resist myspace
Sense Of Pride myspace
Moz Is The Reason myspace

I couldn't find myspace for Degenerate and Ninja Hatori. Maybe they don't have one?

On to the videos :

Final Attack


Grave Dancers


Ninja Hatori


Still Resist


Raincoat


Braveheart


Enjoy!

Don't You Know, That We Love Reunion Shows?

or do we? Reunion shows are definitely a hit or miss for me. It doesn't matter whether it's an artist/band decided to play only a few shows, do a few tours here and there, or even permanently get back together and write new music. The phenomenon of reunion shows is definitely an interesting one. Most bands that have done reunions in the past attracted bigger size of crowd compared to when they were still around.

There are so many great bands that have done reunion shows in the past few years alone. Bands that I didn’t think I’d get a chance to see. I’ll be the first to admit that a little part of me died every time I heard some bands I like doing reunion shows. Why? two reasons. First, because unfortunately as a south east asianer I will just have to settle for youtube videos instead of experiencing the real thing.

The second reason is that in my opinion most reunions suck. Sure, there are always exceptions. But most of the time it’s just a bunch of old dudes and gals trying to relive their “glory days” or make a quick bucks. I believe that most good bands (yes I realize how subjective this is) that have come out in the past were products of their environment. Their music, their messages, and their attitudes are reaction to what was happening at the time and therefore making them most relevant to those time periods. I mean, didn’t you feel awkward for the Sex Pistols when they decided to show up on tv in 2008? or when a straight edge band sing about things they don't mean anymore? Come the fuck on.

Let’s get to the very few cases where I think reunions are justifiable. On top off my head , the showcase of Burning Fight, a book dedicated to 90’s hardcore scene is one of them. It’s only fitting that bands who were involved in the 90's scene such as Unbroken, Undertow, Swing Kids, and many more made appearances at those shows. Those shows were a huge success from what i've heard.

Now, i've been to a few reunion shows myself. so i'm not just talking out of my ass. The problem i have with those shows is that they didn’t really leave an impression on me. I went to those shows expecting to see something great, but I really didn’t get anything out of them (The Saints, Jesus and The Mary Chain, don’t even get me started on Flipper). However, i feel the need to exclude Dinosaur Jr from this category. Dinosaur Jr kicked so much ass when I saw them. It was one of the loudest shows I’ve ever been to. It's almost as if they never broke up in the first place

All jealousy and suspicions aside, there are a few reunion shows from the last few years that I wouldn’t mind seeing. Rorschach, From Ashes Rise, Sunny Day Real Estate, Amebix, The Get Up Kids, etc etc. Did you hear about those Cap’n’Jazz shows? Insanity!!!

Youth Korps

Youth Korps were a blazingly fast 80’s hardcore punk outfit from Conneticut. This ep was recorded in 1982 but wasn't officially released on vinyl until 1991.

Their delivery is pretty monotone and straight forward, much in the veins of S.O.A. They also do the start-stop start-stop riffing thing (this was before Siege did it!) that later would be used by a lot of power violence bands. Most of their songs clock under a minute, except for last song, a four minute track that eerily sounds like it was taken straight from Black Flag’s ‘Damaged’.

This ep is fantastic, and definitely one of many many hidden gems that the 80's has produced. Fans of Koro,S.O.A, Negative Approach and Deep Wound should be into this.

Enjoy!

Youth Korps - '82 7" EP

Descendents - All (1987)

Descendents official site

Descendents myspace

I managed to get a copy of I Don’t Want To Gwo Up a few years ago. After a few listens, I was disappointed. I thought it didn’t have the pop brilliance that Milo Goes To College does. NeedIess to say, I refused to listen to Descendents post-Milo Goes To College material thinking they would suck.

Right before I left Australia for good, my buddy Rob gave me a copy of Descendents All which I didn’t listen to until about 2 weeks ago. And let’s just say I will be the first one to admit that Descendents made at least two good albums in the 80’s, All being one of them.

The first noticeable difference between All and their previous releases is the obvious hard rock/early metal influence. Songs like “Schizophrenia” and “Uranus” even shows a leaning towards prog-rock with its atypical song structure, tricky rhythms, and impressive musical chops. Fear not, elements of good ol’ Descendents still present on this album. With songs like “Clean Sheets” and “ALL-o-gistics”, you know these guys haven’t lost their sense of humor. “Coolidge” and “Pep Talk” in my opinion ranks up there among their best and is about as catchy as any songs off Milo Goes To College.

All shows a musical adventure of the band and experimentation to some degree. Some would even say it was a rather natural progression of the band, having a new guitarist and bassist on the board. Well whatever it was, I personally think it was a successful one. If you thought that pop-punk and hard rock/metal don’t mix, listen to this.

Fun fact : this was Descendents last album with Milo before he left to study biochemistry.

Botch

Botch myspace

Hardcore got really weird in the 90’s. A lot of bands shamelessly incorporate more and more metal sound in their music. I’m not talking about thrash/crossover bands like DRI or Corrosion Of Conformity, but bands that do the whole drop-tuned chugging riffs thing. A few bands definitely pulled off this style well and even managed to make interesting music, but for the most part I think this style was played out and boring. Looking back at it, so many bands sounded like a nu-metal band.

Botch was part of the 90’s scene, for the most part. They spent their lifespan as a band mostly during the 90’s before calling it quits in 2002. We Are The Romans was the band last full-length and probably their most accomplished work (although I love Anthology of Dead End Ep as well).

Botch plays a unique brand of metallic hardcore, focusing a lot on rhythms and dynamics. Although every single member of the band was definitely talented, it’d be hard not to notice guitarist Dave Knudson and his riffs first. Dave plays a lot of off-kilter pull-off hammer-on start-stop riffs with unusual time signature not unlike their contemporary, The Dillinger Escape Plan. If DEP’s riffs are brutal and chaotic, then Botch’s are groovy and tasteful. Botch sound was relatively new at the time. They’re not afraid to mix up their song structures or to write an 8+ minutes song. To me, they bridged the 90’s hardcore sound and the early 00’s era when metallic hardcore blew up.

Obviously this band is not for everyone. Some people might find that Botch music strays away too much from what hardcore usually perceived as. But then again, by this notion about 70% of the 90’s bands did too.