filled activities”. Summer Vacation is synonymous with fun ...
Fun-filled affair
2
Story and pictures by NIKI CHEONG [email protected] A NYONE who was at Urbanscapes last year can attest to the multitude of stirring and exciting performances by Kuala Lumpur’s creative arts fraternity. The 10,000 strong crowd who attended this year’s edition held on June 27 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac) would say the same. Then again, no one would have expect- ed any less from organisers KLue magazine. The big names were a given – indie bands Pop Shuvit, Gerhana Ska Cinta and Couple, music maestros Twilight Action Girl, singer- songwriter Zalila Lee and even Yasmin Ahmad’s most loved film Sepet (KLue Voter’s Choice). Yet, it was the little things that made the day complete. Right from when the event kicked off at noon, the crowd was already streaming in. Barely over an hour later, parking was impossible to find and cars were double parking as far out as the guard house at the entrance of Sentul West, in which klpac is located. The X Marketplace, this year split into three areas, were as usual a hit – local indie designers and the bazaar faithfuls selling their wares. Outside the main building, young budding thespians showed their craft in comedy through AIIA’s Improv Games, T4YP’s Room of Secrets and The Oral Stages’ The Living Picture project. The gems were inside most significantly in the event’s Cinescapes Stage such as when the beautiful sounds of the gamelan by Rhythm in Bronze were merged with the load beats of Tugu Drum Circle. That said, it was another partnership, that would prove to be a crowd favourite. Indie band Deepset’s haunting music served as the perfect backdrop for their collaboration with butoh dance specialists Nyoba Kan. At the X Lawn, it was the big names that would gather the biggest crowds and Pop Shuvit, Pesawat and Couple, among others, did not disappoint. The organisers took a great event last year and brought it to another level this year. If they can promise as good an event in 2010, then it’s bound to be explosive. And Kuala Lumpur will be forever grateful. After a three-year pe riod of working on their sophomore album, Disagree is back with a brand new record. By NASA MARIA ENTABAN [email protected] THE atmosphere at the Fat Boys Label is quiet on this particular Monday afternoon – three staff members sit on couches in front of a TV, packing CDs and press releases into paper bags in preparation for the follow- ing day’s the band’s album launch. First to step out of a glass-walled room at the far end of the space and introduce himself is Hamka Mohd Taufik, Disagree’s drummer. Minutes later the other members, lead singer Zahid Yon, guitarist David Buri and bassist Aziz Abdul, emerge from what the band calls their ‘brainstorming’ room. “We haven’t been on a hiatus,” Zahid says right at the start of the interview. “We wanted to take as much time as we needed to come up with a quality album. We didn’t want to rush anything.” Their first album, At the End of t he Day came out in 2004, seven years after secondary school buddies Zahid and Hamka started the band with two other friends. You might remember their hits Crumbs, Scarecrow Adam and Suicide Note, songs which drove music lovers to purchase 12,000 copies of their debut album. For the new album however, the band say their sound is a little more mature, more mellow compared to their earlier songs. “We all have different styles of music – I’m into grunge, Hamka is into the more heavy stuff and so on, and you can see how all this converged into becoming the songs on the new album,” explains Zahid. Throughout the creation of the album, thanks to their different music tastes, it would appear that they spent a lot of time agreeing to disagree on how the album would take its course. “After the first album, we tried out all kinds of things musically, writing seven-minute songs with long solos, playing around with dynamics. Then we switched it around and started writing three-chord, three-minute songs. The new album is a product of all this,” says Zahid. Clearly, as is evident by their performance at the album launch at Hard Rock Cafe, KL, the next day, the band have worked pretty hard on the album and are ready to get back out there to perform. At the event, Disagree performed their first single off the new album, Osaka, as well as The One, The Greatest Fall, Who We Are and a song about Zahid’s daughter, calledHaley. Zahid’s vocals still retains that husky, grunge-ish quality their fans know and love, going well with the mellow mood of the songs and crunchy guitar riffs . Disagree realise that though essentially their new music is instantly recognisable as being their style, the new album is rather different from anything they’ve ever done before. “I am a bit worried about how it will be received,” says David. “It’s not like anything that’s been done before.” It doesn’t look like Disagree are going to have a prob- lem getting through to their fans t hough. On Tuesday afternoon, a huge crowd turned up to fill the mosh pit in Hard Rock Cafe, responding with cheers and claps to the performance. Having been in the industry for a relatively long time (it’s been 13 years since their first demo), and going from being an indie band to running their own record label, they’ve done well for themselves. “When our first demo came out my hand phone number was in it,” says Zahid. “I still get people calling me in the middle of the night and texting, asking me about lyrics of our songs and what they really mean.” “I really don’t mind, we’re really grateful to have fans that have followed us all these years.” At the release of their long-awaited second album, the band hopes their faithful fans from long ago will take a liking to it, and will pull their music fan friends over to support them. For more information about the band, head to www. disagreeband.com. ■ Want to listen to Disagree talk more about their album (and their favourite Michael Jackson songs) in their own words? Log on to rage.com.my to check them out on video. YOUTH STARTWO, MONDAY 6 JULY 2009 T14 F un- f il le d affai r Br and new sounds Disagree are (from left) D avid Buri, Zahid Yon, Hamka Mohd Taufik and Aziz Abdul Enjoyable: Those who sent to KL’s creative arts festival Urbanscapes 2009 had a great time. This performance by band Deepset featuring a collaboration with the Nyoba Kan dance troupe was one of the highlights of the day. Two of the many DJS who were spinning at Urbanscapes. Whenever a DJ played a Michael Jackson song, the crowd would go into a frenzy. Fabian Tan’s Message in a Crater piece was a sight to behold as you enter the main entrace of KLpac. STARTWO, MONDAY 6 JULY 2009 YOUTH T15 The folks manning the genesis Culture Enterprise sure know how to attract attention to their booth at the X Marketplace! rage.com.m y a l l t herage@ t hes tar.com.m y Bonus! onas Yes, so the big news is that Kevin, the oldest of the Jonas Brothers is set to marry long-time girlfriend Danielle Deleasa. Don’t worry, there’s still two left. Sure, you could buys the sta ndard edition of the band’s latest album Lines, Vines and Trying Times and get a free limited edition A4 standee of the Jonas Brothers (or you could buy the Malaysian edition album to stand a chance to redeem other Universal Music merchandise) but it’s not the same is it? Well, R.AGE has som ething up our sleeves. No, we are not able to present you the three brothers in the flesh, but we do have 20 of the A4 standees and copies of the album to give out so you can go to bed listening to them and wish them good morning when you wake up! To get your hands on the prizes, just log on to rage.com.my for contest details.
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Transcript of Fun-filled affair
Story and pictures by NIKI CHEONG
ANYONE who was at Urbanscapes last year can attest tothe multitude of stirring and exciting performances byKuala Lumpur’s creative arts fraternity.
The 10,000 strong crowd who attended this year’s edition heldon June 27 at theKuala LumpurPerforming ArtsCentre (klpac)would say the same.Then again, no onewould have expect-ed any less fromorganisers KLue magazine.
The big nameswere a given – indiebands Pop Shuvit,Gerhana Ska Cintaand Couple, musicmaestros TwilightAction Girl, singer-songwriter ZalilaLee and evenYasmin Ahmad’smost loved filmSepet (KLue Voter’sChoice).
Yet, it was thelittle things thatmade the daycomplete.
Right from whenthe event kicked offat noon, the crowdwas already streaming in. Barely over an hour later, parking wasimpossible to find and cars were double parking as far out as theguard house at the entrance of Sentul West, in which klpac islocated.
The X Marketplace, this year split into three areas, were as
usual a hit – local indie designers and the bazaar faithfuls sellingtheir wares.
Outside the main building, young budding thespians showedtheir craft in comedy through AIIA’s Improv Games, T4YP’s Roomof Secrets and The Oral Stages’ The Living Picture project.
The gems were inside most significantly in the event’sCinescapes Stage such as when the beautiful sounds of thegamelan by Rhythm in Bronze were merged with the load beatsof Tugu Drum Circle.
That said, it was another partnership, that would prove to be a
crowd favourite. Indie band Deepset’s haunting music served asthe perfect backdrop for their collaboration with butoh dancespecialists Nyoba Kan.
At the X Lawn, it was the big names that would gather thebiggest crowds and Pop Shuvit, Pesawat and Couple, amongothers, did not disappoint.
The organisers took a great event last year and brought it toanother level this year. If they can promise as good an event in2010, then it’s bound to be explosive.
And Kuala Lumpur will be forever grateful.
After a three-year period of
working on their sophomore
album, Disagree is back with
a brand new record.
By NASA MARIA ENTABAN
THE atmosphere at the Fat Boys Label is quiet on thisparticular Monday afternoon – three staff members siton couches in front of a TV, packing CDs and pressreleases into paper bags in preparation for the follow-ing day’s the band’s album launch.
First to step out of a glass-walled room at the far endof the space and introduce himself is Hamka MohdTaufik, Disagree’s drummer.
Minutes later the other members, lead singer ZahidYon, guitarist David Buri and bassist Aziz Abdul,emerge from what the band calls their ‘brainstorming’room.
“We haven’t been on a hiatus,” Zahid says right atthe start of the interview. “We wanted to take as muchtime as we needed to come up with a quality album.We didn’t want to rush anything.”
Their first album, At the End of the Day came out in2004, seven years after secondary school buddies Zahidand Hamka started the band with two other friends.
You might remember their hits Crumbs, Scarecrow Adam and Suicide Note, songs which drove music loversto purchase 12,000 copies of their debut album. For thenew album however, the band say their sound is a littlemore mature, more mellow compared to their earliersongs.
“We all have different styles of music – I’m intogrunge, Hamka is into the more heavy stuff and so on,and you can see how all this converged into becomingthe songs on the new album,” explains Zahid.
Throughout the creation of the album, thanks totheir different music tastes, it would appear that theyspent a lot of time agreeing to disagree on how thealbum would take its course.
“After the first album, we tried out all kinds of thingsmusically, writing seven-minute songs with long solos,playing around with dynamics. Then we switched it
around and started writing three-chord, three-minutesongs. The new album is a product of all this,” saysZahid.
Clearly, as is evident by their performance at thealbum launch at Hard Rock Cafe, KL, the next day, theband have worked pretty hard on the album and areready to get back out there to perform.
At the event, Disagree performed their first single offthe new album, Osaka, as well as The One, The GreatestFall, Who We Are and a song about Zahid’s daughter,called Haley.
Zahid’s vocals still retains that husky, grunge-ishquality their fans know and love, going well with themellow mood of the songs and crunchy guitar riffs .
Disagree realise that though essentially their newmusic is instantly recognisable as being their style, thenew album is rather different from anything they’veever done before.
“I am a bit worried about how it will be received,”says David. “It’s not like anything that’s been donebefore.”
It doesn’t look like Disagree are going to have a prob-lem getting through to their fans t hough. On Tuesdayafternoon, a huge crowd turned up to fill the mosh pitin Hard Rock Cafe, responding with cheers and claps tothe performance.
Having been in the industry for a relatively long time(it’s been 13 years since their first demo), and goingfrom being an indie band to running their own recordlabel, they’ve done well for themselves.
“When our first demo came out my hand phonenumber was in it,” says Zahid. “I still get people callingme in the middle of the night and texting, asking meabout lyrics of our songs and what they really mean.”
“I really don’t mind, we’re really grateful to have fansthat have followed us all these years.”
At the release of their long-awaited second album,the band hopes their faithful fans from long ago willtake a liking to it, and will pull their music fan friendsover to support them.
For more information about the band, head to www.disagreeband.com.
■ Want to listen to Disagree talk more about their album(and their favourite Michael Jackson songs) in their ownwords? Log on to rage.com.my to check them out onvideo.
YOUTH STARTWO, MONDAY 6 JULY 2009T14
Fun-filled affair
Brand new sounds
Disagree are (from left) D avid Buri, Zahid Yon, Hamka Mohd Taufik and Aziz Abdul
Enjoyable: Those who sent to KL’s creative arts festival Urbanscapes 2009 had a great time.
This performance by band Deepset featuring a collaboration with the Nyoba Kandance troupe was one of the highlights of the day.
Two of the many DJS who were spinningat Urbanscapes. Whenever a DJ played
a Michael Jackson song, the crowdwould go into a frenzy.
Fabian Tan’s Message in a Crater piecewas a sight to behold as you enter themain entrace of KLpac.
STARTWO, MONDAY 6 JULY 2009 YOUTH T15
The folks manning the genesis Culture Enterprise sure knowhow to attract attention to their booth at the X Marketplace!
rage.com.m y
a l l t herage@ t hes tar.com
.m y
Bonus!
onas
Yes, so the big news is that Kevin, the oldest of theJonas Brothers is set to marry long-time girlfriendDanielle Deleasa. Don’t worry, there’s still two left. Sure, you could buys the standard edition of theband’s latest album Lines, Vines and Trying Timesand get a free limited edition A4 standee of theJonas Brothers (or you could buy the Malaysianedition album to stand a chance to redeem otherUniversal Music merchandise) but it’s not thesame is it? Well, R.AGE has something up our sleeves. No,we are not able to present you the three brothersin the flesh, but we do have 20 of the A4 standeesand copies of the album to give out so you can goto bed listening to them and wish them goodmorning when you wake up! To get your hands on the prizes, just log on torage.com.my for contest details.
