We got a lot music sent over, handed at gigs or bought at the merch tables we were at. They would then be stacked on my work table and after a while it became a nuisance, so it’s time to cut down the numbers messing up my space. Today, we will concentrate on the regional CDs; recent music from Southeast Asia; some with a mp3 sample, some don’t.

If you have releases for us to review, just send them over. The address is at the end of this article.

CDs reviewed are by: LOW FAT / CARCASS GRINDER / ORBITCINTA BENJAMIN / WARTILLERY / TSA / CORPORATE YOUTH / BALOK PEOPLE / KELADAK / ROSEWOOD / DICHI MICHI / OCEAN OF FIRE / V / KERENANEKO / ARCHAGATUS

read on:

LOW FAT / CARCASS GRINDER
Split-CD
(MCR)

When it comes to Thailand’s hardcore-punk or similarly-inclined bands, there’s only LOW FAT who have been rocking my boat for these past few years. Are there any other hardcore-punk bands up there in Thailand? Am not sure.

The other question is whether LOW FAT a proper Thai band or not; since the mainman Sano and most of the members past and present are/were Japanese living in Thailand. But that’s more about borders and geography really. What’s important LOW FAT rock my socks off every time.

The band are based in Bangkok and so far I’ve managed to grab hold of their debut demo CD-R and also the CD-R version of the debut CD “Fresh Wasabis for Rotting Sushis”. This split-CD was immediately bought at the recent Germ Attak show at Noisy; its colourful cover sparkling like diamonds in a sea of monochrome d-beat/crust products.

CARCASS GRINDER, on the other hand is from Nagasaki, they have been around since the early 90s and features DAMAGE DIGITAL’s amazing, amazing drummer Justice. Unlike the more modern and multi-faceted wackiness of DD, CARCASS GRINDER is more of a straight-up Jap-grindcore with its guitars and tunage toned down to the old school sound. I find them nothing special though, so my constant spin of this CD repeats the first four tracks, all of which LOW FAT.

So how would you describe LOW FAT anyway? Intense, wacky and irreverent mix of all the good stuff from currently more popular hardcore-punk sub-genres without attaching itself to any one of them. It’s a mash-up that works, mainly because they have great, galloping short songs with interesting and unpredictable breaks, while Sano’s jeering vocals cuts through the dense riffage like rusty hot knife on butter. Four tracks in less than 6 minutes. Short, sharp and awesome!

Rating:

myspace.com/lowfathardcorepunk
myspace.com/newcarcassgrinder

ORBITCINTA BENJAMIN
6 Songs CD
(Deaf At Twenty Two)

I believe this is the first proper collection of tracks from OB after the 2006 demo and a slew of compilation appearances. To tell you the truth, I’m not that keen on screamo bands, basically due to the incessant wailing, i find it totally annoying. What I like about these bands though, is the musical part; the rough progressive post-hardcore delivery, the jagged and angular attack and, of course, the impossible urgency.

6 Songs has all of that, reminding of the days when I was checking out early Gravity Records roster screaming their heads off – bands such as Heroin, Angelhair and Orchid. It is of this connection that makes OB special, there’s that ramshackled rawness which they share with these acclaimed combos. It’s like they are keeping up the tradition with newer Euro-screamo touches.

The CD comes encased in a box made from a sheet of nicely printed card, quite a fun packaging, different from the usual CDs you see on the merch tables. That said, I do wish the CD would have more songs with variations that would challenge that groove OB are currently stuck in.

Rating:

myspace.com/orbitcintabenjamin

WARTILLERY
Your War Sucks Without Artillery Demo CD-R
(self-release)

Missed the band playing last night at Noisy but I bought the demo. There are 4 songs here, wrapped in a simple black/white photostated sleeve. People say they are good and hark back to the mid-80s thrash metal fever. And I was wondering how would a metal band in Brunei practice its craft?

Well, that question is not answered here but i must say these guys can play, and if you’re into the current thrash metal revival fever, WARTILLERY should be in that must check out basket for it is a good band in the tradition of the original Bay Area explosion.

The onus here seems to be a return to the sound of early TESTAMENT, FORBIDDEN, VIO-LENCE and all the now legendary big names I would not need to mention here. That said, this is more of a mid-tempo dampened bar-riff attack, with minimal revisits to the relentless speed famously attached to the genre.

Thing is I have a problem with the whole thrash metal revival thing, be it with current darlings MUNICIPAL WASTE or whoever being raved by the metal press. They just don’t have the songs.

I mean, they can play, they can thrash and go into that Henneman/Kerry overdrive but there this lack of songwriting ability which would be on par with what happened in the mid-80s. Thus most of the time it became quite a generic re-threading, a play-by-numbers kinda activity which pales in comparison to the real stuff.

WARTILLERY falls into the same rut but the tracks here are good enough to get me thinking of my long ignored ACID REIGN cassette.

Rating:

myspace.com/wartillery

TSA
Back To Kindergarten CD
(Rough Draft Music)

Currently based in Singapore where the band members are working at, TSA is one of the few veteran Philippines punk bands still going after the initial detonation of the first Southeast Asian punk scene there in the early 80s.

Unlike GI & THE IDIOTS, THE DEAD ENDS, IOV, URBAN BANDITS etc. TSA came into the scene immediately after that bunch of great bands, and fittingly, this CD features the band running through 15 covers of their early Philippines punk rock heroes.

As a tribute of sorts, this is an excellent project; breathing new life to old hardcore classics and presenting them back to a whole new generation who have missed the boat first time it was around.

The band did a good job too, all delivered with much passion and gusto; especially singer/guitarist Pedro going all out intense charging up to the challenge and sometimes reminding me of prime Al DiMalanta fronting the great DEAD ENDS.

However, the ultra-clean modern production; with precisely-played guitars bordering on a more metallic take and the drums played to mechanical perfection, really takes away the gung-ho, murky and reckless nature of the old classics.

It may not be the fault of the bands though. I mean how would you go back to the days of only knowing three simple bar-chords when now you can go on a lengthy and perfect blazing solos?

TSA tacked two new tracks at the end of the disc (Fuck Authority & Life’s Slipping Away) for us to hear how would they sound like when not playing covers, and I must say, both are raging straight-ahead hardcore punk. I just wish the band would go for a more dirty, sloppy and reckless recording than this though. Now that would really make my day.

Rating:

myspace.com/tsahardcore

CORPORATE YOUTH
1 Song Demo CD-R
(self-release)

Stumbled into a facebook post about this band a few weeks ago, checked out their myspace page. love the song there and suggested Alak to call them up for that recent Mika benefit show. I was not there but apparently, CORPORATE YOUTH played a good set and being a young band, really enthusiastic at their craft, something which is sorely lacking in many nowadays!

This is just a track burned on a CD-R with no sleeve, just a sticker, a pretty nice one which would be on my guitar case soonest. The song here is the same as what’s on the myspace page, so you can go check it out yourself.

The song Download This is a-typical of the current crop of melodic punk rock bands, where a lot of influences past and present rumble together as a whole, but unlike many others CORPORATE YOUTH tunes it up very well indeed; especially helped by cracking production values (very crispy and nary a smudge!) and great vocals fitting to the style. Most importantly though, it’s a good catchy song with a lot of promise.

Rating:

myspace.com/corporateyouth

BALOK PEOPLE
Small Boy Big Heart CD
(MeLAYAN Records)

Finally listened to the CD and i must say i am crushingly disappointed. it’s all home-recorded, midi-driven, cheesy-keyboards, ultra-lite-reggae. the whole thing sounds more like a demo rather than a proper album.

That said, I’m no enemy or home-recording, in fact there may well be a lot of tunes coming out from this very computer very soon. The problem here is that it’s not done very well.

Besides that, a few songs here are on the average side while the rest are basically fillers. None really stands up to be counted. They may sound different with a proper band or presented live I’m sure but on this, they are all looking pretty weak.

Rating:

myspace.com/balokpeople

KELADAK
Keladak Demo CD-R
(self-release)

Malaysian folk-rock with the habit of doing great covers; first time I saw them they played Bento from Iwan Fals’ project SWAMI and when they played Rice Above! #04, they went into THE STOOGES’ 1969! Now that’s totally unexpected and pleasant really.

This 3-track CD-R however saw the band fleeting through several styles, from harmonica-driven Malay folk-rock of Oh! Mama to the rootsy American pop-rock of I Won’t (a bit like Counting Crows) and ends with the laidback, lazy-jazzy pop of Biru Bintang Pagi. All are delivered with good production and good musicianship, vocals right on par with the standards on show.

That said, a proper grounding and direction would really benefit the band instead of going all over the different genres, seemingly confused on where they wanna go. Out of the three, I believe Oh! Mama would be my choice as the folky nature of the song really fits with the band’s affable, simple nature. But that’s me.

Rating:

myspace.com/keladak

ROSEWOOD
Reggae Cinta EP CD-R
(self-release)

There are quite a number of bands playing reggae over here since the past 6 years, but are they “reggae” bands? Now that is quite an elitist thing to say. Just like many other music scribes (even the retired ones like me), we are snobs! And snobs don’t like what they like being fucked about with no substance to show.

I’ve been checking out a lot of local reggae bands and i find all of them wanting, specially in the production department. It could be that all they need is a good producer who understands reggae, or maybe the bands themselves don’t understand the sonics which constitute reggae; that deep, bowel-thumping bass, that humongous space resonating within dem wikked riddim and most importantly that honesty which slices through everything else.

ROSEWOOD, just like locals such as PURE VIBRACION, and to some extent, THE REPUBLIC OF BRICKFIELDS et al, are the commercial face of local reggae. This is bland Malay pop music with reggae structures, very light and totally unconvincing. It could have been saved by catchy songs, alas they not here. And lets not talk about the production.

Rating:

myspace.com/rosewoodreggae

DICHI MICHI
Sounds of New Hope CD
(DichiMichi113)

Utterly commercial teenybopper pop-punk band which would soon to be playing over and over on the airwaves and TV via some telco advert, that is if it hasn’t already.

Other than the usual vacuum associated with such bands, DICHI MICHI are good are what they aim for. Their forte is catchy year-2010 corporate-baiting guitar-pop as clichéd and predictable as it can be.

Four songs with crispy radio-friendly production and all the hallmark of a MTV-bound combo. Nauseating for me, but could probably be a life-changing experience for my 14-year old nieces and nephews.

Rating:

myspace.com/dichimichi

OCEAN OF FIRE
Destination CD
(self-release)

This one was given to me by Alex (Solaris) after he went and checked OOF at No Black Tie and can’t stop blabbing about how good they were. Apparently, the guitarist won some Battle of the Bands best axeman and now endorsed by some guitar brands, etc. Not really something I look up to, I must add.

Anyway, OCEAN OF FIRE is a progressive hard-rock band from Penang (that’s what I heard from Alex anyway) and this CD is a collection of 12 tracks played by a very well-schooled, dexterous bunch of rocking musos. They are the sort who all of you technical-minded, musicianship-is-the-bomb nerds would gawp at with reverence and awe.

At some points of this CD, it reminds me of poodle-haired band EUROPE, but without the cheesy lyrics and vocals. Oh, must tell you that OOF is an instrumental rock band. No singing dude prancing with them. And at other times, there are bits of germ-free 80s YES or that old MAHAVISHNU-style fusion pretension or SPYRO GYRA’s smooth jazzy BMW-driving yuppie contentment. All the while, the guitar would go widdly-widdly-triblly like the best of a subdued Malmsteen.

If you like such loftiness and over-the-top pyrotechnics, OOF is a god-sent awesome, awesome local band. As for me, well, I would not want to sit with this ever again.

Rating:

myspace.com/oceanoffire1

V
Tahun Ular CD
(The End of Recordings)

Singapore’s very capable bunch of recent veterans coming together to do a sort of tribute to Malay rock only to get better results than most of their old heroes. Featuring Force Vomit’s Nizam on vocals, V could have SEARCH and WINGS or even DEWA run for their money – that is if they would be promoted proper.

That is because V have the ammunitions to go further than most Malay rock bands out there; what with their inclusion of a more modern-rock delivery and measured approach to the songwriting; invoking some of the recent and better Indonesian pop-rock examples. Add to that the band’s propensity to write catchy multi-part melodic tunes which are way better than anything I’ve heard of recent local stuff.

I must add this is totally off the grid from my usual listening pleasure and I admit, I would not be able top put this on for more than one spin since I can’t stand the usual over-the-top sentimentality attached to this sort of stuff, but despite all of that, a good band at what they do is a good band indeed!

Rating:

myspace.com/vvuvv

KERENANEKO / ARCHAGATUS
Mince To Death Split-CD
(Cactus/Bullwhip/Pissed Off/Stong)

An old release which I’ve only managed to snag last night. A multi-label split release from 2007 featuring Malaysia’s own KERENANEKO and Canada’s ARCHAGATUS; a band favoured by “mincecore” originators AGATHOCLES themselves as one of the newer bands for all of us to check out.

But I’m not into mincecore much, thus even the great AGATHOCLES multitudes of releases never really made it into my collection. I heard a few tunes but they never really impress apart from driving me back to the old grindcore classics (TERRORIZER/ND/CARCASS/GENERAL SURGERY etc.). I still think that genre have been subjected to too many revisits which degrades rather than keeping up the standards. As of recent the only one grindcore project I really dig is the genius that is PARLAMENTARISK SODOMI.

To the uninitiated, “mincecore” is the sound of grindcore at its basic early days; the raw, simple, crusty and grinding punk of yore; before it went all metallic and commercially viable. Most importantly, “mincecore” is the reaction towards grindcore’s other permutations such as porno-grind and gore-grind – sub-genres which are flirting with sexism, fascism and utter senseless violence; effectively skirting the outer boundaries of anarcho-punk ideals. In short, “mincecore” is keeping the true anarcho spirit alive within its genre by going against all that crap.

OK. So how’s this split like? Well, I can listen to both bands without much cringing. That’s pretty good! Other than that, both fall into the same trap of rehashing what have been established over and over before, without offering sparks of something else for me to hold on to. Concisely, this is a rather generic collection of early grindcore tunes for those who don’t mind getting pummeled with the same thing over and over again.

Rating:

myspace.com/kerenaneko
myspace.com/archagathus

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After all of that there are still 30+ CDs on the table, not as I hoped for lah. Hopefully I can visit that stack next week. Fingers crossed.

Send your releases to:

The Ricecooker Shop
c/o Joe Kidd
14A Bukit Ceylon
50200 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA

btw: do register the package if you can or else it may get lost in the mail.