Pusher/The Pips: Split-Demo 2007 CD-R
PUSHER / THE PIPS
Split-Demo 2007 CD-R
(Knot Records)
A few weeks ago the recently revitalised Pusher (with guitarist Tholib back in the fold) went to Sri Gombak to record several songs for a split-release with Gasoline Grenade.
This is the studio where Carburetor Dung recorded our new album about a month ago. The new space is a remnant of the old Dreamwalk Studio (the outfit who recorded the Naked Butterfly’s debut and The Pilgrims 2nd album) but it’s very rundown and now only doing vocal recordings by nasyid groups and political speeches!
Anyway, a few days later the resulting recording was brought to The Ricecooker Shop for us to hear, and we found out that the recording is pretty good especially for a completely live set-up BUT, yeah, there’s a but… Pusher uses two guitarists and the problem was that the two guitarists used different tuners to tune their guitars.
Now remember this kids, if your band have two guitarists or two guitars, do tune up your guitars using the SAME tuner! Especially before recording! The Pusher guys didn’t and so one of the guitars turned out to be NOT in tune with the other.
So we sat and listened to the recording and the first thing that I heard was that guitar going out of sync with the rest and all the songs have that jarring annoyance. The actual recording as a whole is good but when your guitars don’t talk to each other proper, it’s bad, very bad.
Pusher decided to bin it, and now plans to record again, somewhere else. However, there are two songs from that session here on this 3-tracks CD-R release. One is a good, less melodic but respectful reworking of A.R.T. (Against Racism of Today) one and only proper recording, Stop The Madness.
It’s a nice reinterpretation imbued with Pusher’s own stylings; reggae-fied languid punk rock with bluesy solos that goes fast and intense at the last minute. The other track, Media Obligator, is Pusher showing it’s true promise; a mixture of the best of Rancid’s snotty feel meeting Op Ivy’s frantic speed. I like the fact that singer Alak has decided to drop the ol’ Tim Armstrong-influenced annoying “know-it-all” arrogant warble! I use to hate Pusher for it!
The first track on this CD-R is however a pleasant surprise. It’s a brand new band by the name of The Pips, basically Alak and partner and friends doing a tribute to now infamous Mongolian murder victim currently being dragged through a protracted court case. I don’t need to go through all the gory details lah. You know it, the tabloids are having a whale of a time with it, and conspiracy theories abounding with much sinister plots and twisting possibilities. I have no faith in the Malaysian judicial system, it’s corrupted, more like puppets on string, easy manipulated, easily swayed.
You can listen to the song here:
Ashes in the Wind by The Pips
The song is interesting, not something you would expect out of Alak, while the chorus can lodge itself in your head and plays on repeat. It’s pretty haunting. I constantly find the chorus in my head and that can get pretty weird considering the subject matter is a dead woman blown to bits.
The CD-R is available at The Ricecooker Shop for RM5.
23 Comments, Comment or Ping
rzman
al*****ya….Top Hot Hot Hits Charts for one week at ricecooker shop!
Jul 18th, 2007
rizie
yeaaahhh..btul tu man.aku pun suke lagu tu.ekekek.best!
Jul 18th, 2007
Lärm
I repeat, repeat and repeat again almost 6 times for only this song.
Jul 19th, 2007
Dude
Oh my…
the best song in 2007!!!
alamak…
nak kena beli laa CD ni…
Jul 19th, 2007
canabiss
haha.cant believe guys love mellow song :)
Jul 19th, 2007
rzman
we only love alak. sexy voicesss!
Jul 19th, 2007
Nox
Dude…I second that! Memang nak kena beli CD ni, the Ashes song alone worth the price. It’s bluesy, it’s soulful and yes, kind of sexy (I mean the song too!!
Jul 19th, 2007
alak
abg razman jambu menjadi inspirasi sebelum tidur kpd semua lelaki dan wanita!!!!!
Jul 20th, 2007
canabiss
alak’s sexy voice is workin..hehe
Jul 20th, 2007
shahrizal
hahahahaha
Jul 20th, 2007
damya
he2..
Jul 20th, 2007
zai kuning
emmm ya like all you guys i think alak voice ada getarannya. and i personally thinl such voce is best when (when it sing) it ‘talk’it out and alittle slower.
i like it as it started but i am fairly disappointed when it get into the name “alltantuuuuuuuya” as chorus its toooooo catchy and predctable somehow. considering its a horrible story we still dont know the truth though i think many already know she is such a sad song.
i felt it should go alll the way wiithout the chorus
nothng personal alak ya just my limacent opinion
Jul 20th, 2007
anock mayran
lagu ‘berhantu’ ni….ekkekekeke…
Jul 22nd, 2007
alak
well thanks zai for the comments.
anyway i did’nt sing for that song.hehe.The vocals was done from a girl friend of ours named yoyo.Frankly speaking,in order to finish up that song,all of us thought the chorus did’nt blend well with the song,but surprisingly it just happened and just went along with it.haha.
Jul 23rd, 2007
zai kuning
oh not alak’s voice emmm how strange i also tot its alak. so yoyo should be singing more cos its “good voice”. hope to get the cd when im in kl. by the way im curious if joe is serious about having SAME tuner. is there any tuner that gve different pitch?
Jul 23rd, 2007
alak
well one guitar was tunned using an analog tunner and the other one was tunned using a digital tuner.we didnt realize it was out of tunned during the live record.maybe our ears had problems.after that we noticed the slight difference from both guitars.
Jul 23rd, 2007
anock Mayrun
wa got the cd last nite! yoyo, i like ur voice ar…ade getaran…hahah
Jul 23rd, 2007
zai kuning
oh analog V digital. Ya man yoyo voice(d) ada getaran mcam getaran jiwa hehe
Jul 23rd, 2007
Panda Head Curry
“Now remember this kids, if your band have two guitarists or two guitars, do tune up your guitars using the SAME tuner!”
Like all automation technology, one needs to validate results. Don’t trust machines.
Your ears and brain are capable of processing far more efficiently than an RM 100-300 collection of plastic, metal and silicon.
Despite having nice automated tuners, I love my Parkinson’s head stock clip on, I still rely on my ears to tell me if something is fucked up.
Before these gadgets became cost effective and common place, we tuned off of pitch pipes, normally tuning one string, then the rest using the relative note positions.
After a couple of years, you start developing some pitch recognition and should be able to tune without any tools.
Or practice pitching in a quiet room, pluck a string and sing the note - if you use a tuner with a mic, you can validate your note by singing into the mic. If you use a clip on - you can actually clip it on to your nose (strange but true). If you can sing it, that means you can hear it.
Aug 1st, 2007
affuan
Hehe. Nice one. :)
Aug 4th, 2007
ekspres rakyat
review the pips ada masuk dalam paper SUARA KEADILAN bulan ogos.
Aug 24th, 2007
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