all I want for Xmas is a finger exerciser!

THAT has nothing to do with this post. 

Been extremely busy that I almost have no time to sit and listen to stuff that I like or those I've never heard before. sigh.

But then it's good in a way that now I have a BUNCH of stuff piling up for me to listen to once I'm free. I have listened to 1 - 3 of their songs, but in order to make a thorough and un-biased reviews, I'm gonna have to listen to the whole discography :) Here's the list:

- B.B. King --I got poisoned by a friend :P

- BACK ON --I only listened to a few songs and got lazy downloading =.=

- Shugo Tekomaru -- Don't like his singing style but LOVE the music. Somehow 

  makes me really happy on the first play.

- PE'Z -- "The Samurai Jazz Band."Never heard of that in my entire life. So 

  HECK YEAH I gotta check 'em out!

- Abingdon Boys School -- I'm outdated. Wanna check out their new stuff.

- L'arc En Ciel -- Too.many.songs. Lazy to download. But now I'm on my 

  search of someone who's gracious enough to lend me their L'arc-filled-HDD

- Hinder -- still considering, tho. Waking up the devil is awesome but it freaks 

  me out at the same time idk why.

- Ikimonogakari -- My collection is only up to the one with Blue Bird. I wanna 

  update!

- Dave Matthews Band -- Call me lame. I don't give a flying fart. I HAVE to 

  broaden my horizon.

- High School Musical -- You saw that right. bleh.frickin hate it but I need it 

  for my film scoring knowledge and HSM was recommended by the fella that I 

  wrote about last time. He said the compositions and arrangements are good. 

  *composition? film scoring? I'll explain in other post*

- John Mayer -- Indeed skillful with the guitar but why the hype? Wanna find 

  out.

- Punk Goes Pop -- Just had several songs. Wanna listen to all 3 volumes!

I think I should stop there.

Btw, there's a HUGE gig coming up :) Another one worth writing, I hope.

In the meantime, whoever reading this blog, please pray for me so that I'll be able to finish this semester well, and then get to the internship beesknees with laughter. >.< Thanks!

keepingthisblogalive

I am missing those days where all I need to do for the day is just wake up, go bathe, pick up my bass then go jamming. Haiyah. Now I got a LOT of stuff to do but don't have the mood to do it. The strange thing is, when my friends ask me to jam for a gig, or maybe there is worship team practice, then I come back to life. Now that I'm done with the ramble, check THIS out. 

That is by far the most epic stuff I've ever seen. Can't say more.

BIG BLACK BOOTS

Whaddup peeps?! I just got back from one legendary gig. heheh. So, as I told y'all in the previous post, me and my peeps were playing at this prom thingy. Btw, the venue was AWESOME. It was actually a club on a rooftop of a famous shopping mall in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The lighting, seats, and foods were awesome. The sound system was not that suck but not good enough. The amps were small, but all were mic-ed up and the bass was connected to the d.i so everything was combined through the PA system. 

The night went fine at first, it was actually pretty cool because we were playing at the dance floor and the crowd actually came down and dance while we play. We played 6 mainstream songs, and when we ended the last song, the crowd's face was like still waiting for something to come up and one of the organizer asked us if we can play some more songs. I suggested Jet-Are you gonna be my girl, and everybody agreed. This is where the epic part started *grin*.

We started the intro fine, and when it came to "4,5,6 "then it all went wrong. That part is where we all need to stop playing and then continue after the word "honey" but then instead of that we came in too early and everything goes ugly after that. It's kinda hard to explain in writing. It's waaay funnier than what's written here. I was thinking hard during that time because I really really really don't want us to stop playing. It will be much more embarrassing, so we just continue playing. The song never got better and the vocalist himself was confused, and later on in the car he himself revealed that he was thinking hard and actually wanna end the song already but then suddenly he sprayed "big black boots..." then somehow that line was everybody's savior because during that disaster everybody didn't seem to know where we were until he sang that line. 

The intros were a total mess. During the part where we need to stop, some of us stopped and some of us didn't and during the part that we didn't need to, we stopped. We were looking at each other hoping that we can telepathically communicate but we couldn't. I was trying to sync us up by giving some hints to our guitarist by facing toward him so that he could see my hands but then he just smiled awkwardly and I think that instead of "hey look, you're supposed to play these" message, maybe he interpreted it as "hey let's do that cool style where we both facing each other and cross our guitars while playing!!" message!!! The 2nd guitarist was at his own zone *syok sendiri*,  the vocalist was confused but tried so hard to be calm, and our drummer was also confused and was just giving us straight beat until she finally found out where we were going. It was even worse when they turned off the light! According to our vocalist, our guitarist was counting the fret in the dark but then didn't manage to find the right one and then ended up starting the solo in a wrong key! It was all over the place. But then we just ended where it suppose to end. We finished what we started.

There's another thing. Before this song we were playing a song by Girls Generation (SNSD) - Gee, the rock version. It went ridiculous!! Because it's in Korean, and it's hard to memorize!!! We learned that song not long ago!! That song went really funny as well, because the vocalist kept on mumbling random words, and during the pre-chorus, me and another friend backed him up but then all 3 of us were singing different words but we kept hantam and goreng 'till we finish with a big bang. The vocalist kept on saying 'neomu neomu' and 'nuninunibusyeo' and during the bridge which he wasn't to familiar with, he talked to the audience then only sang again when the chorus came.

This was my first time being in a disaster, and it was worth it!! We laughed it all off in the car for hundreds of kilometers. I was having headache from all the laughing. Indeed everybody was quite disappointed at first, but then our mishaps were actually really funny. This is by far my funniest gig (expecting more to come >.<), and it's one of those that I would remember for the rest of my life (one of them is the one where we got lost :P). I had a lot of fun tonight and I really thank God that all of us came back safe and sound though it was raining cats and dogs on the highway.

Oh yah!!! I totally forgot about the lesson!!!

Well I have one for y'all. When the song goes wrong, just keep playing. Listen to the vocalist and follow his/her lead instead of going into different direction even though the vocalist is the one who is wrong. If you are still at the beginning of the song, maybe during the first 10 seconds, then you may choose to stop playing then start all over again. But if you have finished the first verse and things go wrong, don't ever look back and stop because it'll be so much embarrassing. Who knows maybe things will get better as you play--or not in our case :P. Also, no matter who made the mistake that cause everything to fall apart, quit blaming each other, take it as a lesson and laugh it all off on your way home. It can strengthen your bond with each other somehow, plus, that was one moment that you'll never get back, so  why bother?! Just keep playing and rock the next gig!!

isuckatchosingtitlesbutthethingisiamsoexcitednow

I'm goin for another gig in a couple of hours :)
It's kind of a formal night by a university but the event itself will be at a rooftop of a shopping center in KL. Hopefully this will be another one worth writing, and we won't get lost again this time >.<

isuckatchoosingtitles

heyhey! Been itchin' to blog but I have nothing to write about =.= well now I have!!!

I had a gig last night in campus. It was conducted by the uni's music society. This event has been held every academic year and finally I got to play in that event!! I played with my fellow rubbers--another 'finally!!!' moment-- and I got to play with fellow 2nds. I subbed for their bassist who is currently studying abroad. 

That was fun! Although a lot of mishaps, wrong chords, and unbalanced sound system, it was a gig worth remembering. Every gig teach me different lessons, so yeah. This will be another lesson :) Here's what I've learned:

First, playing as an opening band is actually not so bad after all. Me and fellow rubbers didn't expect to play as opening band because we were informed that we'll be playing 2nd or 3rd. And when we reconfirm, we were supposed to be the 1st. So we were kinda surprised. The thing is, you'll get more time setting up gears on stage and that's a big advantage! Because of that, I didn't feel nervous anymore. 

Second, GO BUY A LOOOOONNG JACK, or maybe a wireless one if you can afford it. This will come in handy. I bought a 6m jack the other day --well it's not actually that long, but it came in handy last night. The amps position last night was like: guitar amp-drum-bass amp-guitar amp. When I play with the 2nds, the guitarist was using the rightmost amp. So, if I stand in front of my bass amp, the position on stage will be verry awkward because that will cause the vocalist not to be at the center. That's why I need to move to the left side in front of the guitar amp. The stage is quite wide, but thank God my jack is long enough and I still can play freely at the other side.

Third, playing for 2 bands at the same gig is EXTREMELY STRESSFUL!! I don't know. Maybe this is just me. Or maybe because this is my first time for such situation. I got verrrry busy because of the double jamming, spent a looot of money for studio rent, and all the songs and sequences were mixed up in my head just like when I was having 2 exams on the same day. Also, not to mention the sound setting! The settings for some songs are different, so I got extra stuff to remember. Plus, I am a sub for the 2nds, so it kinda gave me extra pressure because if I didn't do well, I'm afraid that I might ruin their reputation >.<... Man...

Fourth, the sound that you are hearing on stage is TOTALLY DIFFERENT than the one off stage where the crowd is. I think it's because the sound of all instruments are combined and come out through another speaker which totally has different equalizer or something. During the sound check, the sound on stage was awful, but Mr.Manager said that it sounds good from his stand point. But the thing is, during the real performance, the one on stage sounded good to me, so I really hope that it didn't sound awful for the crowd (x.x). It will be better if you have somebody who can direct you from the crowd stand point. Thank God we have Mr.Manager to do that :) For amateur gigs, we can't control the equalizer of the main speaker, and worse, we can't really coordinate with the sound man or complain the drum's bass is too bass-y or the lead guitar riffs is so faint. I don't really know how these things go in a professional gig though. Y'lemme know

Fifth, own a pair of earplug. I've been to heavy jamming sessions these past few weeks, and because most of the studio I went to only have small jamming rooms, we stood really close to each other and I was always stood near the drums. Actually, wherever I stood didn't really matter because the drum will still be loud. I usually become deaf after jamming, and my hearing will be normal after 15 minutes. Months ago rubbers' drummer gave me 3 pairs of earplug heheh and those things came in handy. I didn't turn deaf after jamming anymore. Even if it's a very loud one. The earplug also came in handy during the gig. We didn't have monitor facing the band, so basically we can't hear ourselves singing. But when I use the earplug, I only plug my right ear so that I can still hear the music and listen to myself at the same time. Don't plug both ears if you will be singing because you might not be able to listen to the music and ended up singing off key. My first time using an earplug, I went off beat (=.=").

Alright, hope it helps! :D

orgasm

Just came back from the musical practice, and the musicians didn't do really well tonight.. But there is this one song that we just learned a couple of hours before the rehearsal which is really uplifting. I was feelin 'high' while playing. When it came to that part during the rehearsal, we play our hearts out without even care about the dynamics and stuff, we just blast and our lead guitarist was having the 'guitar face' all the time. After we finish playing the outro, we ended with a loud "JEEENNNNGG!!", then he put down his guitar and said "I just had an orgasm." I cracked. LOL

That was so unexpected hahahh but that was today's highlight. Nothing really significant happened.

Oh ya! On the way home, we were listening to the radio and apparently they were playing some old school rock and roll. The song at that moment were sooooo goood so we were trying hard to listen to the lyrics so later we can google it at home. One of my friend actually loves that kind of song that's why he was soooo excited to find out, but then suddenly our pianist realized that he forgot his ipod at church so we gotta call another friends who are still at church. When my friend was on the phone, we turned off the radio.... By the time we turn it on again, it was during that song's instrumental part. So we waited for so long in anticipation of the lyrics but then it never came.The song ended. WHATTHEFRACK?!?! We'll never gonna know what song was that. Too bad.

Anyway, I should be doing reviews about bands or songs or whatever, but I'm friggin busy these days. The only time where I managed to turn on my mp3 player was only when I'm about to sleep or on my way to musical practice, or on my way to class which is very short. =( I have no time to properly listen and digest... Well, I gotta play at a gig soon, hopefully it'll be such a gig that is worth writing.

Edwards vs 190

Heyy all!

So I had a visual programming class yesterday, and I was bored so I decided to check out IKUO's blog. I found this :

I went gaga. First was because finally people can buy the bass that is similar to his LONG WAY 190 Red bass. Second, he look HAWT in that pic lol. The fella worked again with ESP to produce this bass which is practically the siblings of his LONG WAY 190 one. You might ask, why "Edwards" then? Well, Edwards is ESP brand made only for Japanese market. ESP and Edwards are produced in different factories, and Edward's quality is said to be equal with ESP originals. The difference was in the hardware as stated by Wiki.

Too bad they don't produce the red one, it means no LED lights, and no 190 on the fretboard on the Edwards. Well, the red one is his signature model and it's ESP not Edwards. The Edwards' pickups are Seymour Duncan with active circuits, same like the red one. Those two have different body, the red one is swap ash while Edwards has alder body. You can check out the complete specs HERE. I don't know how does it sound though, and  It's sad that the color options are verrrryyy limited and those Edwards aren't as sophisticated as the red one.  The price is quite reasonable, which is around RM4000. If they were to sell the red version, hmmmmm. I think it'll cost much more than that... Btw, here's the red one..

 Oh yah, what I meant by the LED lights and 190 on the fret board was this..

Awesome rite? Heehehe.. I hope people will buy it, play with it and then post it on Youtube so I can listen to the sound... Btw, last time IKUO was endorsed by ESP and he had quite a number of basses made. You can check out the his bass gallery HERE complete with their specs.

Alllriiight, 1 sizzling pic of him to end the post ^^LOL

Image credits to:
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/gallery/ikuo/
http://ameblo.jp/grooving-myself/

Arranger -- mind u, another long post :P

I know this guy who is an arranger. Y'know, the one like David Foster, or Erwin Gutawa, or.. Err.. You can wiki the rest :p This guy works with my dad. My dad usually compose the songs and then he will be the one who settle the music arrangements, mastering, and other stuff.

He is pretty cool. He can create a very rich kind of accompaniment by using only software and keyboard. Well, I can't really describe his music with words because it is complexly beautiful. Let's put it this way, he can make my dad's songs sound like being accompanied by an orchestra and a huge choir by only using software, and less than 6 additional singers. N0ne of them s0unds fake.

Towards the end of my holiday, he came to my house to work with my dad as usual and that night when I was watching TV my dad said "You haven't listen to my songs have you? Let's go upstairs and check 'em out."  So I went upstairs and this guy was there. He let me listen to the stuff they are working on, and afterward I got to talk with him about a lot of stuff for several hours while my dad entertain grandma and grandpa who came halfway . He taught me a lot of things as well. Last time he did music for a living and he was a band leader for over 10 years.

He told me that if we play as a band in a cafe, we need to play with the audience's emotions. It will be wise if we play songs with major chords as starters so that the audience's mood will boost a bit. Towards the middle, we can play minor songs and then end with major stuff. We gotta differentiate between major fast, major slow, minor fast and minor slow.

He doesn't really like copy paste as well. I mean, playing a song exactly like the original. He said that he likes to rearrange it, add some stuff or sometimes he turn it into different beat. But he said that we gotta be careful not to add too much or change too much because the audience might think that we play it wrong or simply don't like it. His band usually medley top 40 songs with the traditional ones. It was pretty funny I think. He said it was pretty ridiculous but the audience liked it because it was unexpected.

He added that being an arranger, you gotta have a good taste of music. Somehow your music preferences will be reflected in your music arrangements. He told me about one of his friend who likes live music that all the music that he created for his clients are all sounds like being played in live performances. Then I was like, oh snap. I like metal. So how about that? He said "Don't. You gotta listen to David Foster... You're gonna have to listen to many kinds of music, don't stick to just one."

 

That dude is very talkative, so he told me a lot of stuff and I really regret it that my phone wasn't with me because if it was, I would've recorded every single thing he said. Well, towards the end of our talk, he told me a number of important lessons.

1. Don't be stingy. Share your knowledge to everybody, and help those who need help. One day you might need help from them.

2. Don't be judgmental and looking down on others. When you see people playing on stage, don't start criticizing them by getting all "oh man. It'll be better if they play like this and like that..." or "dude, they suck" or anything because there must be something they can do in which you can't.

3. Be humble. No one will get along with pig head no matter how great the skill is. People will be pleased to work with you if you maintain good attitude. No cocky pig heads will be successful.

4. Be active in the community. Befriends everyone especially musicians. You can learn a lot from each other.

A couple of hours well wasted :)

Heat Energy Sweat _\m/

Hey! Finally I'm back. Actually we were supposed to audition last night. But we didn't. We got lost. The whole journey was supposed to be only about 2 hours but instead, we spent 4 hours on the road. Some of the bandmates were already there. Me, the drummer, and the vocalist depart later because our drummer had classes. We were supposed to play in Tropicana City Mall, and none of us in the car has ever been there before. Even though our friends gave us instructions, it was just so difficult. The town is HUMONGOUS, and we didn't have a GPS. So, we got lost endlessly in the toll, we were even asking strangers in the middle of traffic light, and the guy was really helpful to us by leading us through the phone. Sadly, we never get to the Tropifrickincana Mall because on the way there, our friends told us that the committee were tidying up already. It was over. 

Well, one thing leads to another, and then we ended up spending the night at our friend's apartment, and decided to join the other slot, which was this morning. I skipped my classes, the vocalist skipped his meeting, and the keyboardist went back home last night because he has classes today. 

So we played at a college, under the sun! It was AWESOME! My first gig under the sun ever! It was so much fun and we were the only band that played on the afternoon session so far. hehehehehe When we were finished, the committee asked us to play again because they didn't get the sound right or whatever I kinda forgot. So we played the same song again! :P Thank God that we got lost. Because if we didn't, it will just be the same like other auditions or gigs. Nothing really special, and it won't worth the long hours on the road. Man. I love playing under the broad daylight. You can feel the HEAT, ENERGY, and SWEAT!!! 

As usual, I brought back some lessons.

First, OWN A GPS. That thing is one of the bands-must-have I think. Why? Cuz we got PWNED by the signboards and tolls yesterday. It helps you get into places you've never been before, and cuts the time spent on asking around as well as your phone bill (when you're lost, you tend to call some friends right?).

Second, keep a large bottle of water at all times and place it at the side of the stage so it won't bug you while you're rocking. Playing under the sun is awesome indeed, but it wears you out easily. During the first run,  we were so fired up  but then after that we were exhausted.. Fortunately we have water with us.. That's why you'll need some H2O so that you can quench the thirsty and crack-y throat, also makes you fresh again and ready for the next song.

Third, when you got lost in the middle of nowhere, keep your cool at all times. Blaming others or panicking won't give you the right direction. 

Fourth, make sure to reload your phone credits and have it fully charged before hitting the road.

Lastly, do some sports!!! I just realized that sport is important because, it increases your endurance while playing. You'll be able to jump around or run across the stage or use the double pedals heavily without running out of breath easily. Declining tempo during a fast song isn't funny.

Ok that's it for now, Hope it'll be useful :D

gigGIGgigGIGgig

Peeps! I gotta go for another gig in a couple of hours. It's actually a competition.. They're gonna choose the best 100, and then narrow it down to 10. The prizes are kinda cool.. the top 3 bands will get RM5000, RM3000 and RM 2000 respectively plus a 12-tracks studio album. Those who got into the big 10 will have RM1000 each and contribute 1 track for a compilation album. Sweet.

I'm gonna be playing with 2 bands. Thank God. I've been craving for gigs lately :P

But in one of them, I'm just covering for their other band mate who can't make it for this audition, so if we got in for the finals, I won't be joining them. As for the other one, I don't know yet. most probably I'll be joining 'till the end IF we ever got in. Heck with that, I just wanna play. I don't really care if we got in or not *it'll be sweet if we got in though.. LOL*

But then, I'm kinda sad cuz I didn't get to play with my fellow 'rubbers'. I'll be playing with our drummer tho.

Update y'all later :D

MKMKMKMK

Yowyow :D

So I touchdown-ed here last week but been busy with practices for a musical, so I've been dead tired ever since. Well, ever since I came back the significant things happened only during the musical practice. Nothing else interesting besides that. I'm involved as one of the musician/director and I've been playing from 9am - 12am every day. Thank God no blisters :D Now that the intensive week is finally over, we only will have practices on weekends, and we'll be doing that for a couple of months.

Enough for the updates. 

A couple of months ago, I found this club called MK Club. This club held LOTS of gigs, and they have those almost every month. The gigs are mostly punk, metal, rock kind of thing, and just now I found the picture of the club and their activities. When I stumbled upon this on FB, I've been dying to go there because I wanna meet the local indie musicians and it seems like they like to hang out in that place a lot. But then, when I saw their pictures from a recent gig, gosh, the place's flooded with DUDES!!!! The picture shown that there were actually girls, but they were in 2 different pictures. At pic 1, a girl was smiling and for pic 2, the other girl looked terrified and she was standing behind a guy that might be her bf cuz she seemed like using that guy's back as a shelter. In front of that guy, there seem to be people moshing. Haiiiiiizzzzz the hope of going there alone is now shattered T.T

What if I go there and I am the only girl?! Man that's scary. Or maybe should I disguise as a guy? Because  fyi, I do sound like a dude especially when I just woke up LOL.

What if they start moshing?! Man I hate it when they start because they just simply bang people and it hurts darn it. But the guys seemed to enjoy this and they actually don't really care when those people step on their foot or push them or elbow-ed them. I learned this the hard way ~.~

As brutal as it seems, I would LOVE to join the moshing crowd  believe it or not. Because watching by the side is not fun and I might get hurt. Man. I would really like to try that one day. But maybe I gotta wear some kind of shields inside my clothing so when they elbowed me, pushed me  or stepped on my feet or anything, I won't feel it. 

I hope one day I can visit that club and join the moshing crowd >.<

Now I gotta go and watch "a guide to moshing and concert survival"

stuff on TV

Somerandomfella, still reporting from dog-eating place...
 

I was watching tv, and I stumbled upon the local channel which was displaying some talk show. By local I mean that this channel only broadcast in my hometown. The host was interviewing some guys and I was surprised when I heard them talking about music. The topic was "Komunitas Gedung Juang tahun 90-an" a.k.a Gedung Juang Community in the 90's. They are apparently a bunch of musicians who usually play in this building called Gedung Juang. They held a lot of gigs there and establish a community. They are now aged, and most of them are not that active anymore as musicians. They were reminiscing their old days as musicians and the place where they play were called "ocean". That community had raised a number of national caliber musicians. One is now the guitarist of a band called Ungu, and one is with Bondan and Fade2Black. Those bands are now very popular in Indonesia.

Anyway, those bunch of guys were cool. Some of them looked like typical band guys but some of them just look like a normal working guy except with long hair. The host asked them what were their roles in the band, and he asked them to demonstrate as well. One of them was vocalist. At first that guy didn't want to demonstrate. I knew straight away that he must be from a metal band because he really refused to sing.  The host forced him, and then after a while...

Host: Cm'on!! I wanna hear it!

Vocalist: ahem ahhem *clears thr0at*

*GROOOOOOOWWWWLLLSS*

Host: =.="

So he growled. Hahah!  It was a little rusty but it's still good considering that he is aged now. Hahah.

While watching this, I was wondering where was I when they were rocking back then. Well, those guys were like the forefathers of rock and roll in my hometown and now I'm pretty impressed knowing that that kind of community exist here and finally think that my hometown isn't that suck after all hahah. Well, the place is not called "ocean" anymore I don't know since when, and that place is now a university if I'm not mistaken. The guys said that the community is still exist but they are now playing in different places. Sometimes they have gatherings but no common place to play in a gig together anymore because that community is now only on FB. 

The host asked what was it like to be a musician in that community back then. They said "just like the saying -- Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. We lived that philosophy back then" and then the metal fella added "we tried all that, but there was nothing in there." It's pretty impressive to hear that from the mouth of a person who lived the Sex, drugs, and rock and roll last time hahah maybe they were impacted by some of their friends who died of overdose. Also, they confessed that during those times the people who go there are mostly drunk, hence triggered some fights. I asked one of my cousin who used to go there regularly, and he said that it was true.  I think that this kind of thing makes other people think that rock or maybe hardcore musicians are bad people *sigh*.

The host also asked when they will stop being a musician. And the fellas said that they will not stop. "we might not be active as last time, but we will not stop being a musician." I thought since they are already old, they might stop playing already because most of them already have a family and a steady job, but surprisingly the spirit is still there even though they are old. I was inspired.

I hope I can still play bass even when I'm already 60+ years old. Well, if God allows me to be that old and given that I don't have Parkinson disease or any other that prevent me from playing hehehe.

Oh yeah, I wanna share the messages they gave at the end of the show..

"Be humble, don't do sex and drugs especially just to prove that you are 'cool', cherish the friendship with fellow musicians, and be creative."

This came from those guys who lived the Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll philosophy. Wow.

Abingdon Boys School

I've f0und this band l0ng time ago. I d0n't really remember h0w, but when I d0wnl0aded their s0ng 'h0wling', I just listened to it once, and then deleted it straight away because I was freaked out by the narration at the beginning of that song.. Y'kn0w.. "the night sky full of cries.. " and so on. I wasn't a fan of such music back then when I f0und them. But then after a while, a friend sh0wed me their video clip of this s0ng, and I liked it. At that time I became a fan of 'n0isy' music already. Heheh. You should check out "Blade Chord" I think it's pretty cool. Well, I was m0st interested to their drummer and bass because b0th of them were soo0o0 tight. 

Takan0ri's(voc.) v0ice kinda ann0yed me at first because of his over-vibrating style of singing. But hey, that's what makes him special, and also that style blends with the s0ngs well anyway. Oh! Takanori is T.M Revolution btw. The one who sings Heart of Sword-Kenshin ost. 

I d0wnl0aded all of their s0ngs and then did s0me research. I was surprised when I f0und out that their drummer and bassist were additi0nals, so the original member was only the v0calist, 2 guitarists, and 1 keyb0ardist/pr0grammer.

In terms of music, their c0ncept is quite the same as other J-rock bands alth0ugh they s0und kinda g0thic in several s0ngs. S0me of them s0und p0p except with heavy guitar riffs, or s0metimes the keyb0ard d0minate the wh0le thing.. Btw, the guitar guys were awes0me. My fav0rite piece of the riffs was during h0wling, after the ch0rus of the 2nd verse. I call it 'the lightning' part. Heheh. Because everytime I listen to that s0ng, the image of lightning c0mes to mind. 

Anyway, their live sh0ws were awes0me! Y0u can always Y0utube them. They were always wearing male sch0ol unif0rm. They all look g0od on it :p The v0c's v0ice were so stable!! The music were tight as well. But, it was a pity that the drummer and the bassist were placed in the shadows, never get to wear school unif0rm like the other members =.=" and it was s0o0o hard to find out who they are.. 

So I did my homework and found that they are Ikuo(ba.) and K0ji Hasegawa (dr.). Ikuo's the one from Bull Zeichen 88/Lapis Lazuli, etc. My 2nd favorite bassist. I'm not really interested in where Koji's from:P Because b0th of them were just additi0nals, it's hard to listen to the basslines because it was placed in a subtle v0lume, which is just en0ugh to fill the emptiness, but n0t n0t clear en0ugh for learning purp0ses. The drum lines were clear though..

 F0r all of y0u guitarists out there, the two ABS guitarists are w0rth listening to because they have unique s0l0s and not to mention the unique music arrangements as well. But f0r those who just listen as a wh0le, ABS may s0und just like any other J-r0ck bands.

image from last.fm

Spots

Hello :)

So I'm finally back in my h0met0wn--the dog eating place. Well, there's no internet c0nnection at h0me, so from the phone it is.

It's pretty g0od to be back because I can sh0w y0u my ultimate sp0t that I usually go to when I want to digest s0me s0ngs.. 

Yes, y0u saw that right..

It is l0cated in my r0om. Whenever I want to do my 'number 2', I quickly grab my mp3 player, then go in there to do the business with my mp3 on the play. S0metimes I spent h0urs in there, and I stayed there even after number 2's d0ne heheh. I can figure out riffs over there. And whenever I finished listening, I just clean myself, go out, take the guitar, then play the stuff that I just figured out. Heheh.

This has been g0in on f0r a c0uple of years. This t0ilet is friggin' peaceful and I can get all the silence I need even though my earph0ne isn't the n0ice-cancelling one. Also, I d0n't have to w0rry ab0ut h0w l0ng I will stay there unlike the t0ilet in my apartment, I can't really spend my time there because we are sharing.

My sec0nd favorite sp0t is in the car. No matter what car it is, as l0ng as it can m0ve. I just l0ve l0ng j0urneys because I can listen to stuff f0r a l0ng time while l0oking at the outside views. It is s0meh0w relaxing.

Well th0se are my sweet sp0ts. What ab0ut y0u?

Chiodos

Brilliant bunch of fellas. Never heard of them bef0re  'till a friend rec0mmend it to me. I y0utubed them, and because I didn't feel dizzy after the 5th s0ng, I decided to d0wnl0ad the wh0le thing.

 Each title of their s0ngs are unusual and kinda funny e.g. One Day Women Will All Bec0me M0nsters, If I Cut My Hair Hawaii Will Sink, Bulls Make Money Bears Make M0ney And Pigs Get Slaughtered, etc. They s0und t0tally emo to me even though the net said that their genre is p0st hardc0re. Oh wait, does p0st hardc0re stuff always start with min0r ch0rd? Y0u lemme kn0w. Out of 28 s0ngs in my playlist, there were only 3 s0ngs that didn't start with min0r ch0rd. The one that s0unded 'happier' to me was only Who's Sandie Jenkins. Hahah. The guys didn't look emo to me though.

The v0c's v0ice ann0yed me. Seri0usly. All of the s0ngs are high pitched. Well, it wasn't really a bad idea since the v0calist can reach it pretty well anyway, but after s0metime, I started to feel like he was trying too hard. So I w0uld say that I w0uldn't listen to them on a r0adtrip. Well maybe I can handle 1 or 2, but n0t the wh0le thing. Th0se will kill the excitement hahah.

The only thing that makes me able to keep listening to them is the music. They put t0gether hardc0re stuff with piano, strings, and synth. The piano and the strings sound pretty classical to me.  That's why I called them brilliant. Th0se things kinda add m0re 'o0omph' to the music. 

In conclusion, they're n0t bad. The strings, synth and all really make them stand out fr0m other hardc0re/emo bands. Highly recommended to those in favor of emo stuff.

Image from www.chiodos.net

Bull Zeichen 88

L-R:: Junji (dr.), Sebastian (gui.), Eijiro (voc.), Ikuo (ba.)

They're my sec0nd fav0rite band of all time after Maximum the h0rm0ne. I f0und them when I was d0ing my research on Abingdon Boys School (ABS) which only c0nsist of 2 guitarist and 1 keyb0ardist. The  bassist and drummer are additi0nals. They are b0th wicked that's why I wanna find out who they are. I f0und that the bassist named Ikuo and when I l0oked him up on yT, Bull Zeichen 88 came out. It was one of their s0ng entitled Pr0l0gue. And that first enc0unter was amazing. I fell in l0ve at that first s0ng and decided to do further research which means reading their biography, then obtaining all of their albums and singles.

So far they only have 18 s0ngs. They have no album, just maxi singles. One night, I turned on my mp3 player with all of their songs on the playlist bef0re I went to bed, then start to listen.

I c0uldn't sleep.

I was amazed by each track and I just went speechless because f0r the first time in my life I listened  to 15 tracks and l0st myself (it was 15 cuz the other 3 came out recently after I bec0me a fan). I mean, when I was listening I was just so l0st until the mp3 player st0pped playing because it had finished playing the last song. I was just staring at the ceiling like a retard. Felt just like 5 minutes, but actually it was alm0st 2 h0urs. When it st0pped playing, I was like "..man..". I c0uldn't sleep because I became too excited hahah.

Also, that night I f0und my 2nd bass hero--Ikuo. Hahah. He's one b4da55 bassist aaand kinda hawt hahahah

The s0ngs are full of surprises. There are several genres just in 1 s0ng (do y0u have a pr0per term f0r that? Lemme kn0w) and the arrangements are verrrry unique. Good stuff. Non-conventional chord progressions, and a lot of interesting twists. From punk to reggae, metal to disco but with heavy guitar riffs, and many more. N0t to menti0n the awes0me basslines and drumlines. Well of c0urse, b0th of bassist and drummer are highly s0ught after musicians. They play f0r fam0us singers such as T.M Rev0lution, Yasu in Acid Black Cherry, Abingdon Boys School, etc. In other w0rds, they are inv0lved with famous japanese singers and bands. They also play f0r s0me anime and game s0undtrack if i'm n0t mistaken.

Sometimes, I feel sad because I can't play ANY of their song :( but I feel motivated to practice harder :D So far, there are only a few people on youtube dare to cover their songs. There were only 2 bassists, and one of them can pull the bass lines of HAUU pretty well even though sometimes the fella can't keep up with the tempo especially for the solo parts. Well, it is understandable since HAUU is probably the most difficult out of the bunch.

Listening to Bull Zeichen 88 bef0re study or finishing up my assignment is a TERRIBLE idea. Because I will usually bec0me too excited, and end up picking up the bass and play rather than doing what I'm supposed to do =.="

Recently, their new maxi single came out, and there was a website pr0vide a demo feature. So i listened to it, and there was I, staring at the screen like a retard with m0uth opened. Same reaction. And it was only the demo!! C0uple of days after, I f0und the full versi0n. Wanna catch a glimpse of their awesomeness? Click here

Also, a couple of weeks ago somebody uploaded some video of them doing recording for HAUU maxi single. Aaaand finally, I can figure out what the Ikuo is playing during S.o.S.

F0r those who do n0t fancy 'n0isy' music, this is not f0r y0u :)

I'm back with some 2 cents.

yow all! The past couple of weeks has been HELL -- y'know, projects and stuff, but thank God now it's kinda calm. I did a bunch of reviews which will be posted later, and also, I got a couple of gigs. First one was a bridal fair, and the other one was a moon cake festival held by some local music academy. I was performing with a couple of friends for both gigs. One thing I love being in a band is that I got to meet new people and those that I've met so far are humble ones. They were very friendly and helpful to me too! :)

I've learned a couple of lessons throughout the week, so I wanna share with y'all.

For all of you band dudes and chicas out there, drum speech, guitar speech, keyboard speech or bass speech or any tone speech ooorr music language is VERY important. Especially when your bandmates don't speak the same language with you. Even though y'all speak the same language, sometimes you still don't really get each other. Lemme give you an example.

Drummer: "Hey, itadakimasu mitsubishi sushi sashimi daihatsu!!."
Bassist: "ngomong apa sih lu,nyet?"
Keyboardist: "char siu pau lo han guo wo pu zhi dao wo ai ni wan tan mee!!"
Guitarist: *points at the drums and say* "dukduk tak drudududuk tak", *points at the keyboard* "tulilut tulitit tulilut", *points at the bass* "du-du-
du-dumdum"
Dr & Bass & Key : "ooohhhh!!"

see what i mean? :P

I played with a bunch of Chinese guys, so basically I'm floating like a retard when they talk to each other in Chinese, and they usually tell me what were they talking about in the end. Sometimes they forgot to tell me and the next thing I know, we're playing the pre-chorus.  hahahhah. But in the end we still managed to put it together. hehehehh .V.

The second lesson is, when the amp suck and not loud enough, you can always request for a mic to be placed in front of your amp, then ask the PA guy to crank up the volume of the mic. The amp that I've used for the moon cake thing really sucked. When I crank the volume, it BUZZed like mad, and it's still not loud enough even with maximum volume. Fortunately one of the sound guy came and told me that they're gonna find a mic for me. Fiuhh. So, when you're trapped in this kind of situation and nobody offers you a mic, ask for it.

Third lesson, LEARN GRAPHIC EQ!! I learned this the hard way. During the bridal fair, there were only a few knobs in the amp which was only the master volume, gain, and mid if I'm not mistaken, and the others were graphic EQ. It was a reaaallllyyy old school amp. I was screwed during the first slot, because the bass sound was really treblish and I don't like it BLEH. But then during the 2nd slot I tweaked the graphic EQ a little bit and thank God I moved the right one that produced reaalllly solid and warm sound. I was too happy that I forgot which one did I move.

And so that lesson brings us to the next one which is NEVER EVER UNDERESTIMATE OLD SCHOOL AMP.

Fifth lesson, NEVER EVER BE LATE FOR A GIG. The traffic jam screwed us that night, so we were late for the moon cake thing, and the organizer was pissed. But then once again, thank God they still allow us to play in the end. Even though you know exactly that the organizer himself will come late, show some effort and be there on time. It creates the impression that you are professional, and you might have a chance to be contacted again for another gig.

Now I'm tired typing.

Peace & Stay clean :)
 

This Is It

Last nite I watched MJ's d0cumentary This Is It. Well, I've watched it bef0re but never th0ught of writing ab0ut it. Every sec0nd of it is mind bl0wing *that's why I watched it m0re than 2 times already :p*.. I know that this bl0g was supp0sed to talk ab0ut music n0t m0vies, but this is ab0ut a legend in the music w0rld, so, yeah... And I was mind bl0wn n0t because of h0w t0uching the st0ry was, but it was because I can see a glimpse of MJ's brilliance in terms of music, sh0wmanship, also i can see h0w pe0ple actually manage a mega c0ncert.. It was really inspiring. I wasn't a fan, I am familiar with only a few of his hits and didn't really bother to check him out last time because I was all for Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, and Westlife back then. Also because..

THIS. Scare the crap out of me.

Looks waaayy hotter this way don't you think?

But the d0cumentary changed my mind. He is so amazing that his face didn't look that scary to me anymore hahah. The beginning of the m0vie was all t0uchy because of all the dancer's c0nfessi0ns ab0ut h0w big is this thing f0r them *well duh.. U get to dance with the man who created m0onwalk f0r g0odness sake*. When it c0mes to the part where they were rehearsing, W0w. It was hard to cl0se my m0uth.. The way they all played the music was just mind bl0wing.. I am n0t really a fan of pop-funk kind of music, but MJ's stuff are just.. G0od. Can't st0p shakin my head and feet while listening to them.. The way he supp0sed to appear on stage with his r0b0tic c0stume, or the one where they rehearsed They Don't Really Care Ab0ut Us, or the way he gave cues to the musicians, criticizing the music *even tho it s0unded perfect to me :p*, and all the stage acti0ns and pr0ps were amaaazing. If he didn't die, that c0uld be the m0st spectacular c0ncert in human hist0ry.I think. I had g0osebumps just by watching the rehearsal!! Btw, the musicians were so g0od that they can came in all together in sync acc0rding to MJ's cue. Then I w0ndered h0w.. Cuz his cue was nearly imp0ssible! S0me of them were just a snap or a b0dy m0vement but then n0ne of them s0und late even just a bit.. It was all in perfect sync! They must have really awes0me chemistry.. There were only 1 white musician, which is Orianthi. The other guitarist l0oked really cute with his guitar because his b0dy is so big that the guitar l0oked like Guitar Hero on him wahahahah! The bassist was extremely gr0o0ovy~ but then there was one song where MJ said that the gr0ove wasn't there.. Hmm. That one isn't gr0ovy en0ugh f0r ya M? W0w. The 2 fellas on keys were awes0me as well as the drummer who l0oks like a b0dy builder LOL!

Now that the King of Pop is deceased, I wonder who's gonna take over his throne..Cuz there's no other artist wh0's as good as him in the p0p w0rld.. Well let's see...

lady gaga? so unladylike, and bad for kids.

rihanna? e-e-e-e, NO.

Justin Bieber? There was a saying across the net that goes like "god, if you bring MJ back to life, we'll give you Justin Bieber".

Adam Lambert? Can't dance. Nuff' said.

In conclusion, MJ is --as Beyonce would put it-- Irreplaceable.


image credits to :
stupidcelebrities.net
http://celebrityphotos.sheknows.com/

Incubus

from the phone. Notice the 0s? :P

Hm.. Where sh0uld I start? I decided to listen to this band when I was b0red and at that time i suddenly remember a friend who likes this band a lot and was the one who intr0duced me to Anna Molly. So I gave them a try.

I checked out some of their s0ngs on y0utube e.g, drive, love hurts, and some other hits, and each of them leads me wanting f0r more. So i decided that i will listen to their stuff from a-z. Well, turns out that they are t0tally w0rth my time. Every piece in the album is mind bl0wing given the fact that they didn't sound straight up alternative or pop or rock. But each song has different feel of genre that you can't really tell what kind of s0ng will come next. Many times they start the s0ng with just plain weirdness in the beginning, then r0ck out the ch0rus, s0metimes they go flat out funk, s0metimes alternative or even nu metal-ish *correct me if i'm wrong* due to the heavy guitars blended with funk basslines plus the rap and occassi0nal scream e.g, a certain shade of green. Aqueous Transmission is totally CHINESE. Check it out :). They keep me guessing everytime. 

The basslines are great!! That's one of the pre-requisites to survive in my playlist hahah. The mel0dy of their s0ngs are s0metimes pretty hard to grasp the 1st time you hear it because it was s0mewhat random and unusual. Especially the S.C.I.E.N.C.E album, many weird stuff there--a 'good' kind of weird hhehehe e.g calgone, nebula, vitamin, etc. The DJ guy indeed makes a l0t of difference to their music. Fungus Amongus album s0unds rather funk-ish to me. 

Oh! Did i mention that their lyrics are good? Hehe. I like the fact that they d0n't f0ll0w the mainstream trending theme these days which mainly rev0lves ar0und sex sex and sex *it feels good, i get it!! but c'mon!!! D0n't u pe0ple have other things in mind?!*

Anyway, I like the v0calist too! He's versatile. D0esn't matter whether it's funk, or r0ck, or whatever, he still s0unds g0od. 

Well, after 70+ tracks f0r a c0uple of days, I didn't even feel b0red listening to them over and over again *i still listen to them 'till n0w* and n0w I finally understand why my friend became a big fan. They're one of my fave band n0w hehe.

Hjfreaks

HJfreaks.. One of my youtube bass heroes. I found him 2 years ago (i guess...), almost the same time as Piyohikocsss. During his first videos, he seem normal to me.. But then as the time goes by, his outfits changed. He wear maid outfits, gothic lolita kind of thing, mini skirts, hot pants or even cheongsam which is @.@. But despite of the outfits, this dude is frickin' awesome. He managed to do the lucky☆star anime opening soundtrack which has quite repetitive bass lines but I'm sure it's darn tiring cuz it's mostly slaps n pops. He did it well. He did a lot of covers with his own basslines and He has a LOT of basses. One of them is a custom made with a picture of Konata--a character from that anime. The bass is supercute!!!

Btw, I like his style because he looked really happy in almost every videos. *sometimes so 'happy' that he flashed his undies LMAO!!* He usually does "cute" jigs while playing which I found really funny and so cool at the same time, because he can still dance even though he is playing difficult stuff. I think it will be really awesome if there is a female bassist who can do that hahah. Oh! come to think of it, there is! Check her out HERE but that girl didn't dance as cute as he did hahahahhah

He inspired me to do some 'moves' and look happy at the same time when playing the bass. It looks easy when he does it but it's actually verrry tricky. I tend to press the wrong note when I move too much and usually fail to look happy because sometimes I was concentrating too much on my hand that I ended up look scary rather than happy *scratcscratch*