iabaskos! rice is good.

Somewhere between May and June, I had an amazing experience back in the land of the m0st amazing rice. I stayed in a village, and I've the privilege of teaching keyb0ard to a c0uple of guys. They were from different villages. 

Don't ask me how did I end up teaching them or why was I there in the first place. The amazing part is that out of 5 fellas, 2 of them speak 2% English, and s0metimes when I talk they just l0ok at me with0ut saying a w0rd. I smile, they smile. I ask them 'do y0u understand?' they smile. S0metimes they n0dded, laughed or just stared at me. It was a challenge and because there was only one keyb0ard available, each shared an octave and it was just en0ugh for 3 pers0n so i taught them from the fr0nt so i need to play with my fingers upside d0wn. One of them had the basic ch0rd kn0wledge while the others had n0ne. Oh! Btw they d0n't use C D E kind of ch0rd, but they use Do Re Mi etc which was similar to what we use at dog-eating-place. It was less than 3 h0urs for 2 days but it was well spent :) I h0pe they will still remember what I taught them th0ugh.

One thing that I've learned is that music unites people. I was amazed that the guys can get what I meant when I hum. Also they are all strangers to me and we d0n't speak the same language so music kinda broke the ice, especially when one fella play the C ch0rd with his fingers f0rming the image of a chicken's feet. It was also hard to keep a straight face when one of the guys asked me how to play Soledad - Westlife xD Another example of why music unites people, here.

Oh mayn. I want to post their pics sooooo badly. But I am not allowed to. So, yeah. Damn I miss those fellas. I hope that they'll keep playing >.<

ipop

When I watch TV back home *dog-eating-place*, I'd definitely w0n't miss this thing called 'inf0tainment' whenever i tuned in to a l0cal channel. N0rmally I'd expect news like celeb A and B is n0w div0rced or maybe s0me crap like celeb C was at a hair sal0n f0r a creambath. This time they were talking ab0ut the emergence of b0ybands and girlbands in this c0untry plus sh0wing s0me of their mvs.

Mediocre face + mediocre dancing + medi0cre singing + mediocre music. yuck.

Acc0rding to them, these guys and gals jumped in the b0yband/galband wag0n pretty recently in resp0nse to the great K-waves *m0re like a tsunami actually*.

Well there were several cute ones. H0t ones? N0ne. The others were so-so. And oh, d0n't even get me started on the gals. They wore heavy make up which added like 8 years to their actual age. Their ch0re0graphy were heavily influenced by the K gals, those kind like.. y'kn0w.. 

Well this is supp0sed to be an impr0vement of the current mainstream over here in a way that there is a new kind of stuff taking place in the midst of th0se shall0w ones that has been g0in on f0r years. I'm no pro, but i think  ipop is just.. sad.. Basically m0st of the stuff that we have n0w are derived from those guys in the 90s or even earlier, and now the Ks are d0ing it BUT they make lots impr0vements and they even raised the bar!! For instance,

                              Then                                  Now

They broke the rule of 5 or 4 in a gr0up by having odd numbers instead, also in terms of their dancing the Ks are waaaaaay better imho. The singing, puhlease. Even though the Ks have bigger number in s0me gr0up, each one of them can sing well unlike those western ones that tend to have 2 g0od ones in a gr0up and use the rest as dec0rati0n. 

In additi0n...

THAT will definitely seal the deal.

*n0sebleed*

With incredibly shaped b0dy added to the list, l0ok at h0w high the standard has bec0me.

The Ip0p is...*sigh*. I was h0ping that at least they can sing better. They have 'ok' v0ice but n0t that great. They don't harmonize as much, and they're not that good doing solos. They need major brush up on their v0cals. Maybe they c0uld also c0me up with better music or at least m0re up-to-date music arrangement. B0th the b0ys n gals of ip0p really need to polish up their dancing skills. There's no o0omph to their m0vements. This wh0le B0yband/Girlband thing aren't really my thing. N0t anym0re. But when i saw SuJu's SorrySorrySorry for the first time, I was literally h0lding my breath and my eyes were barely blinking. S0meh0w I can feel the energy. Even th0ugh I d0n't like the s0ng but the dance was so good that it glued my eyes to the screen 'till the s0ng ended. But when that s0ng is on the radio, I usually teleport to other channel pronto.

Actually i think It'll be better if they have s0me kind of training first bef0re they go out there. So that when they go out, they're equipped with all the packages. Well i saw the K ones underg0ne this, and l0ok at h0w it turned out! It's a good example.

Ip0p guys seri0usly need to hit the gym =.=

F0r the girls, i n0ticed that Ip0p gals have nicer and curvier b0ds than the Ks, which is a go0d start! In terms of fashi0n, hmm. Still can't be called a 'trendsetter'. They need to see the kind of event they will be perf0rming at. I watched one of the galband perf0rming outd0or and guess what, i saw s0me of them w0re a frickin l0ngsleeve plus turtleneck, and all of them were made up heavily! Dang. With all that plus the heat, they're g0nna melt. I think they need to change their stylist and makeup artist. Oh! No need slutty cl0thes so that "th0se pe0ple" w0n't have any reas0n to ban y0u. They also need to firm up all the flabbiness here and there, do l0ts of sit ups, take less0ns to sing better and l0se the heavy make up f0r g0odness sake!!

*y'know why i don't put up any of the ipop stars' pic? Entertainment byotches here like to sue. Nuff' said. 
img credits to: cafe.daum.net

a flute and a panda

[sorry for the '0's. Too used to it when typing on the phone]

I never n0ticed that chinese flute's s0und is actually really awes0me! Sm0oth as water g0in d0wn the stream *chinese pr0verb attempt fail* 

 

This fella played it, and well, he did great. One thing ann0ying th0ugh, he presented when pe0ple are eating. So the s0und of the flute was p0lluted with tingling cutleries and chatters. So frickin ann0ying.

Aaanyway, I've g0t l0ts of less0ns ab0ut harm0ny. Th0se main instruments were acc0mpanied by a chinese orchestra. So there was pipa, er-hu, some sitar-like thing, cello, c0ntrabass, etc. The orchestra wasn't really tight with the main instrument. T'was like they were 2 different perf0rmances that was playing at the same time. S0metimes they s0und like they do, but m0st of the time they didn't. If i take it as separate items, the c0ntrabassist and cellist were d0ing a GREAT j0b, and I l0ve their lines. This orchestra l0oks c0ntemp0rary to me rather than a pure chinese orchestra because of the existance of cello and c0ntrabass that is c0nsidered 'non-chinese' instrument. N0w that makes me w0nder h0w it will s0und like if th0se traditi0nal instruments are played in heavier music?..

There was this er-hu performance as well. I think it is a really melancholic instrument. When playing minor slow songs with it, the sound kinda makes me wanna rip my heart out. Faster songs, mellow factor will still be there, and if it's slow major stuff, it'll sound verry peaceful.

There were other performances such as harmonica, singing, and choir but wasn't as appealing as those above.

After that dinner, we watched Kungfu Panda 2!! This was officially the first time where I actually paid attention to the music in a movie. No. It was more like the music stole my attention!! And the first time was when Po the panda and his homies were running to safe a village down the cliff. From that moment on, I couldn't help but realize how incredible the music was. I noticed also that during scenes that involved running, fast and complicated stuff would be played. The thing that i love the most was the combination of traditional chinese instruments with modern orchestra. The whole thing sounds totally chinese. I mean, the progression, choice of notes, and the feel. Well of course, since the setting was in China. The music where panda met master Shifu in s0me kind of cave was mind bl0wingly peaceful...

Man. I think I'm gonna watch Kungfu 1 and 2 again.  

That should be all, i guess.. 

Reporting live from mamak stall,  good night.
*Man.U. vs Barca is on!!*

[you name it]

2 days ago we went to the usual to do the usual. It was pretty much the same and we were listening to the usual. Everything was just as usual, and there was a couple of other guys over there watching some Metal documentary. I placed my cellphone on top of the table in front of the tv, and then suddenly my cellphone alarm rang. Well, being an avid fan of Maximum The Hormone, I set my alarm ringtone to What's Up People?! and when it rang I quickly turned it off. There was one guy sitting right in front of my table and when I turned the alarm off, He looked at my cellphone, looked at me, and then looked at the phone again. And looked at me. Then he sprayed "Hey, your ringtone just now is Maximum the Hormone right?"

 

OH MY GOSH I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD BE THE ONLY PERSON IN NEGRI JIRAN WHO ACTUALLY LOVE MTH!!!!!!!

and he was like "yeah! I thought so too!" Then we went on about their new singles, and new PVs that he missed out. Oh that reminds me! I gotta post the link on his fb page *runs*

Aaand so we continued on about how epic their shows are but then he was pretty disappointed because Japanese crowds don't mosh. He also stated that he haven't been listening to them for quite a while and the last album that he listened to was Rokkinpo Goroshi, but surprisingly he is familiar with Buiikikaesu which came out afterwards. He likes Enter Shikari as well. Wah. I finally met another  MTH fan (do MTH actually have a name for their fans? Hmm.)!! It's so nice that when you talk to people with similar taste of music you can just ramble on without being stared at or simply ignored :P

Last night, we went there again but then too bad Earth couldn't make it. There were a bunch of guys watching G.I. Joe when we arrived, including the BLANC" voc guy. He said that Earth was pretty busy and they didn't get enough sleep so he said that Earth might be dead tired. So it SEEMS like we came in vain, so we headed out after gave the fellas some buh-byes. We were about to go down the stairs when voc guy came out and asked "Hey, who played the keyboard for your song?" then Tmg and Oxymoron pointed at me. Kinda awkward, so I just smiled. Then he mentioned that they will have a gig on july and kinda implied an invitation to play with them for that gig. When "JULY" came out from his mouth I knew I wouldn't be able to make it because I'll be at dog-eating place by then. So, I explained my situation to him. 

The expected expression from me should be "OWHHH MAAAAAYYYNNNN *bang head to the wall*" or "*kneel down to the ground and scream* WHHHHHYYYY?!?!" But then at that time, I didn't feel any disappointment/regret/emo or anything of that sort, but I was pretty happy. Even I find it strange. When he said "july" this came to mind "If it's not meant to be, then IT IS not meant to be. It's not for me."

Then inside the car Tmg said "we went there and the fella is not around. It's like we went there just for you to get the invitation and just to found out that you can't go. It's like in vain." I said "Means the gig is not for me. Just like me and -this other band- that asked me to play keyboard for them." If I agreed to join -that other band-, probably now I won't even know Tmg at all and I'll never be in the same band with Oxymoron hence nobody will call her 'Oxymoron' xD. The fact that i was invited already brought me to cloud 9 so let's just leave it at that :)

...No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him...--1 Corinthians 2:9

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"--Jeremiah 29:11

an ok ok trip after the thunderstorm ;)

Hey hey! there's still some time to kill before office hour ends so lemme tell ya what happened last night :)

Last nite me, Oxymoron, Tmg, Wei2 and Jlt (a guitarist btw..) went to Earth's to check out stuff. Again. :) I was the last one who entered the door that leads to the stairs and when one of my feet was inside, I kinda catched a glimpse of a bunch of guys on my left. Of course la got bunch of ppl since the mamak stall is on the left but I felt like I know one of them.. So I put on my reverse gear to get a good look. And guess what, BLANC" BASSIST!!!!!!!! He smiled, I smiled then I continued walking towards the stairs that lead to Earth's hood silently hysterical xD 

FINALLY we meet again *dancedance*. So I was hoping that I'll meet the rest of them upstairs. I bet Oxymoron will be ecstatic to see their drummer :P

So we entered the hood and met a bunch of guys--apparently Earth's other band called 'V' a couple more guys, plus voc guy from BLANC". So without further ado we got down to beesknees and during that time V was jamming in the other room so Earth invited us in afterwards. YAY:D Oh! And guess what, the BLANC" bassist guy apparently plays for V too!! YESH!!

So we sat on a sofa and enjoyed the little "private" concert for free! I got a nice spot *again* which is right in front of the bassist (Oxymoron got a nice spot as well which is around Earth's 10 o'clock :P) hahah and here's some of my observations:

Last time Earth said "Let the stick bounce by itself". That theory is proven. It sounded amazing. I saw it with my own eyes. So far, there's only 2 drummers that I've ever seen play like this live. First one was the drummer in my first band (in this country), and second one was Earth. My frickin goodness. I was able to see his movements and seemed like he did minimal movements but yet the sound was complex and when I focused on his hands I can see shadows cuz the strokes were fast and he made it looked sooo easy. Oh. They played metal stuff btw. His facial expression was neither serious or excited. It was more like a blur. Y'know, the expression when somebody just woke up, sit on one side of the bed and just being idle until that person is fully loaded, he had the exact expression--only with the whole body moving xD. I didn't really pay attention to the tempo or styles or anything because the Guitars kinda stole the limelight.

The two fellas on the guitar were AH MAY ZING. Well granted, they played typical metal style with lots of shreds but they both seem to blend especially during the parts where they need to harmonize. I liked it. I don't know which one is the lead guitar because in most of the songs they played both will share solos.. This fella with red flying V was epic. Not only his skill was MAD, but he played evil heavy and energetic metal songs with the facial expression sooooo peaceful and tranquil as if playing Enya's songs and reached enlightenment. Sometimes he looked at his fingers and had this little smile on his face as if watching his little daughters showing off their ballet skills. *even an image of Buddha with flying V on his lap came to mind* Both of them shredded a lot, and I could barely see their hands. I saw shadows. Too bad I forgot to charge my camera and I was too shy to take a pic with my phone >.<.. I'mma have to put a sticker over the flashlight.. 

Up next, the bassist. Hm.. Not much from him last night cuz he was playing metal. But it wasn't bad since I saw triplets and noticed his good fingering. One of the bass lines were pretty similar to Rolling1000toon's pre chorus (very fast double pedal+bass thingy) but then he used pick. Oh! I'm lovin that Hartke stack at Earth's :)

The vocalist has great voice! Very typical metal but still good. He had lack of expression as well. Even in high notes sometimes he closed his eyes. But many times seemed like he was just staring into the abyss xD

Oh. I got an i-don't-know-whether-this-is-really-important lesson. KEEP A SET OF ALLEN KEYS  WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. During the jamming the drum pedal went loose and Earth didn't have one key with the right size so he felt uncomfortable while playing. Hmmm. Reminds me one time when we were practicing at church, the same thing happened hence Oxymoron was having a hard time. Thank goodness I had my bass with me and the keys were inside my bass' case that I could lend her one and fixed the problem. As a musician, you might not know that suddenly you might have an opportunity to jam and need to make some adjustments to the instruments. So, always keep a set in your pocket/wallet or maybe hang those together with your keys. Same goes to guitar picks. I've always keep some in my purse just in case me or my friend or anyone need it at that moment, and now I gotta put some allen keys to my purse :P

 

Greatest the Hits!!

yeah yeah it's been a while since the last time I posted a review :P

I was too busy. This sem has been HECTIC. Before this I thought that this sem will be a very laid back one since I'm only doing my internship but I was wrong. Hence, I have no time to listen to stuff. My list is getting longer =.=" I've been listening to the same song over and over and over and over again. Some of my peeps know why *nudge nudge wink wink*.

Recently I've been listening to local music as well, so reviews comin' up :) this time I'mma review my fave band of all time--Maximum The Hormone.
They released new single entitled Greatest The Hits around March if I'm not mistaken.. I've found out about it when I saw sakosakosakkon's update on youtube. He never cover any song other than MTH's, so I knew something was up!! They released an MV!! I was so very dang frickin really surprised. It was Chiisana Kimi No Te and Maximum the Hormone. A medley. 

 I was like  when I saw the video because it was so... pop... Moreover, what's with Nao's side curled ponytail?! Also, She has LIPGLOSS on and she's cheerfully taking a walk in the park??!!! WHERE IS MY HEADBANGING DOUBLE PEDAL-ING NAOOOOOO??!!

The other guys' attire weren't as usual (y'know black graphic tees and sneakers/sandals except for Ue-chan who is always shirtless) but instead they were wearing some kind of tracksuits! @#$%^& AND WHY THERE ARE KIDS IN THEIR MV?!?!?!? I mean, if rotten babies, then maybe. But cute baby?!?!? And since when Daisuke-han become scream-less?!?!?

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS WORLLLLLDDDDD???????!!!!!!!

I was really sad because I thought when they finally make an appearance again after a pretty long hiatus they will knock my socks off but then.. this?!?!
And then I said to myself "well, even though they've become like this, I will still love you MTH! I'll never forget how awesome you guys were :'( This song is not bad anyway *sob* and then I continued watching.
In the middle of all the 'happy and hopeful' kind of mood, the camera zoomed out and it turned out that the song was being played on TV with Ryo on top of it

VOMITING!!!!

and then he came in with his riffs, a little fill in from Nao, a big jump and then GROOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL!!!

My MTH's back!!!!

And then the rest was mind blowing. Like always *roll eyes*.
The level of evilness was normal (nothing trumps Tsume Tsume Tsume), and the bass lines was different since Ue-chan tapped a lot and used some effects! The concept of the video also was quite 'religious' I would say, because of the chant-like verse and everybody's style of playing. You'll know what I mean when you see the video. It's quite visual. Hopefully those aren't really chants tho :p I have yet to find the lyrics and their meaning.
If on Tsume Tsume Tsume they used kind of a bdsm theme, they have pregnant ladies with gas masks and dolls this time. Pretty creepy I admit :P

Oh! Fyi, Chiisana Kimi No Te is not included in the single. The other 2 songs sounds like typical MTH stuff-- punkish and funkish yet heavy with a hint of pop and cuteness in it :P
 

now you see why I heart them? 

hey hey!

I had a pretty neat night! Well there's still some stuff not accomplished, but overall, it was a fruitful visit :)

Everybody was getting pretty cranky cuz maybe everybody's tired, and sleepy.

Last night we were doing some business when suddenly the vocalist of BLANC" step inside the room! I was so surprised! He shook hands with everyone and then he went to the back room to talk. And then there was this 2 ladies came inside. They were the ladies from a mamak stall next door. They came to look at what we were doing, and simply just talk. They both were friendly and have impeccable knowledge on Indonesian celebs LOL! We talked about some gigs and it was quite surprising that those 2 ladies know famous gigs in historical city!

After some talk with the ladies, they went off and then BLANC" guy came out but then he went off! Akh. Too bad. But then after a while, he came back! So me and Oxymoron talked to him. We got to know his name. He was like "I think I've seen you guys before.." and we reminded him that we actually took picture with him during the UG gig weeks ago. And then I asked him where are the other bandmates *cuz obviously i want to meet the bassist again so friggin badly* but then he said that some of them are working and the drummer is still studying. The drummer is his younger brother, but he is only their sessionist. The real member was only 3 of them. I got some info about the bassist as well :P Last time I only got to know his name and some other things, and now I got to know that he actually plays for other bands too as their sub or sessionist. I told him that last time I asked the bassist where did he get his Punk en Ciel bass but bass guy told me that it was a secret. Voc guy just laughed. Dang. I was hoping that he'd spill. I was too shy to ask either =.=

Then I asked them how come they play J-Rock since it's pretty rare to see senior bands playing J-rock. He said that at first they don't know about it but they had a friend that was so into Japanese stuff. From anime, drama, songs, etc. After they hang with him for quite a while, it started to get into them and they started feeling it. They thought that it was not bad so they decided to play J-rock style. They weren't purely J-rock and he also said that they have a particular task for each. One will be the arranger and others will do other stuff. He didn't specify. Man. I really do hope that I'll be able to watch BLANC" live again... I forgot to ask what are they doing these days. I'm so looking forward to their next artwork :)

The night still went on after he left but I think I'm just gonna end it here cuz I haven't done my 'homework' #$%^&*(*&^%$# dang.