Burning Civilians
Demo 2006 CD-R
(Imaginasi Records)

Burning Civilians is from Perak (I think they from Kinta or somewhere nearby) and I like the name a lot! Been seeing the moniker on some gig flyers recently, so I’m quite excited to get this demo at the Terengganu Raya gig.

There are nine songs here, all rendered with clear recording but they are all weakly-played with not much meat in it. I think the band has enthusiastic singers and band members but they lack a certain spark that would make it special.

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Steve Towson & The Conscripts
Shah Mat CD
(Criminall Records / Redneck Records)

Australian troubadour Steve Towson is a man driven. Right from the point where his first CD-single (When The Revolution Comes / It’s Breaking) was released in 2001, Steve has been keeping on keeping on.

He put out at least one recording each year and never stopped playing, travelling, gigging around half of the world. At one point he was “supporting” Billy Bragg’s Australian tour, that is by busking outside of the venues where Billy Bragg and his entourage were performing!

And as you may have known, the man is no stranger to these shores, especially the DIY punk scene in general. He has been visiting Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and playing with local punk/HC bands at small clubs and jam studios all over.

Steve’s first album, In A Shattered State CD (2002), 2nd single The Madness Of King George CD and second album, 1 Shot At Freedom (both released in 2003) all feature him alone; a punk rock folk singer with his lonesome raw electric guitar giving the world a piece of his mind.

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The Flesh Happening
The Flesh Happening CD
(TFH)

Anal Joy. Shit On Me. The De Sade Suite. Bleed. These are the songtitles on Flesh Happening’s CD they sent over to me over five months ago. Yup. I’ve been sitting on those review CDs again; but let not lose ourselves over my predilection for classic Melayu procrastination, Flesh Happening is a top band and it’s my duty to convert all of you readers into blathering worshippers.

About six months ago, I came across The Flesh Happening’s website. I listened to their song Kamikaze and immediately felt this sense of joy and utmost exhilaration. I wanted more and boy, I was lucky. The site was offering anyone who would write a free promo CD, that is if that anyone would send a picture of his or her “rude bits”.

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Wolfgang Bang
What Are You Going To Do?
(ESM)

Man, it’s heartening to know that Ricecooker is actually being read by kids from as far and “exotic” as Los Angeles! I must say, I’m well chuffed and so inspired that I have pretty much decided to devote this day do reviews of overseas stuff sent over many moons now.

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This Is Not A Break Up Compilation CD
(a split-release by 17 local DIY labels/distros!)

Yup! 17 different DIY labels/distros got together to put this comp out. A pretty amazing and laudable effort supporting the current tour by Japanese emo-rockers Curve (not the English indie-duo featuring Depeche Mode’s Alan Moulder, mind you) and also Dip Leg, another emo-derived Japanese band but of a more pronounced mid-90s style.

This CD, pro-printed and pro-pressed, features 13 tracks; two each from the Japs, and one each from two Singaporean bands and seven Malaysian combos. Recorded separately, the sound can vary from good to best but the levelling is good, so you don’t need to man the volume knob much.

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Thrash Never Dies Comp 2006 CD
(thrashneverdies.com)

This is an 11-band compilation of worldwide thrash metal bands put together by Thrash Never Dies portal, a site dedicated to documenting and promoting the original sound of Thrash Metal as heard with earlier incarnation of Metallica, Exodus, Slayer, Nuclear Assault, Megadeth of the early to mid-80s.

For many these were the golden years, the period where offshoot terms such Death Metal and Black Metal were still in its infancy. It was the days when Metallica’s (now dear-departed) bassist Cliff Burton was still “Pulling Teeth” and Exodus’ Bonded By Blood bonded us all for a circle pit.

I remember those days well. The 11 bands here could be anyone of those local bands sweating up the walls of small clubs in Kuala Lumpur in the mid-80s; all the Punishers, Nemesises, Picagaris of yesterday. This is nothing but an exercise in nostalgia. There’s no concession allowed for new ideas, or aural progression. It’s a time-travelling hole in the wall where you go in and found yourself in California’s Bay Area of 1984.

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Mr. Sterile Assembly
Hulagu CD
(Skirted Records)

Actually they prefer to be “mr. sterile Assembly”, note the lowercase spelling. I’m not sure why the preference is so, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that mr. sterile himself is a solo act and the Assembly is actually the realisation of his songwriting onto a more traditional band format.

However, mr. sterile Assembly is NOT a traditional “rock” band, not at all. If you’d ask me what would the lineage be, I would say the wacky early 80s avant-garde new wave bands like Invisible Sex (saxophone tooting UK punk band of the early 80s which appeared briefly on the Urgh! A Music War film), early Devo and maybe very early Split Enz; all especially for the kooky, anarchic nature and also a predilection for colourful costumes.

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Gerodok / Kerna Dia
Split Fucking Demo-Lition CD-R
(Avail Records / GustixKatilxDistro)

At first glance this CD-R looks like another grind/crusty/d-beat/anarcho release. All black’n'white with fearsome skulls and bones. I was expecting dark blast beats, bottomless belly-scraping roar and a lot of the typical “extremity”; but what I get, pleasantly, is a fine set of three-chords simplistic melodic street-punk!

It may have been a while since this CD-R was released as I have seen some local zines reviewing it. I only got it last January, from Iem of Avail Records when I was there hanging out with him and friends in fair Kota Kinabalu. He also gave me the Hasrat tape which I still can’t listen to at the moment (my tape player is still very kaput).

Anyway, Iem told me to pay particular attention to one song on this split, a tune called Bulan 8 Di Sandakan. According to him the song has been covered to death by a lot of bands in Northeast Borneo, so much so that people can’t tell who actually wrote the song! “Well, here’s the original article,” said Iem. So next time you hear the song, remember the name Gerodok, because it is them who were responsible.

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Shock System
Stagnantation Disorder EP CD-R
(Self release)

Shock System is one hell of a misunderstood band. I’ve heard some kids dismissing them as a posey Korn-wannabe or something equally dire. I find that really unfortunate, if not preposterous. Shock System is a powerful band through and through, and if you know the people in the band like I do, you’ll dismiss the talk immediately.

Granted, I’m not into their style of music at all but credits are due to the band for forging ahead with a nary a thought to what some people are saying behind their backs. They just move on away from the negative noise and do their own thing.

Playing a mixture of metallic hardcore, heavy but groovy breakdowns, slight rap-rock elements and soaring modern rock/grunge bits, Shock System is pretty hard to pin down. The band not only mixes it all up but also very progressive in its collective vision, always working for something a bit different from the rest of the herd.

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The Goodnite Goodies
Fictitious CD-R
(Self-release)

The great punk rock hope of Dungun, Terengganu is back. This time more muscular, much faster, more pissed-off and yes, a hell lot more melodic!

Every single song here rocks! The Goodnite Goodies has made good of their promise made with last years’ Anti Establishment Demo EP. However the direction which I’ve liked so much, the quirky almost post-punky sound as featured on the old song Realize is no more. Not that it’s bad though.

The band has now resolved to go with the style heard previously on Visit From An Old Friend, which where melodic pop-punk meets old-school HC; with faster and harder tempo!

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Marionexxes
Indie Secret Admirer – Exclusive Promo: The Cabaret Rehearsal CD-R
(Self-Release)

A guy with an electric guitar recorded in a bedroom somewhere. This reminds me of a tape I found lying beside the road near my house many years ago. In it, a guy played guitar and sung in his bedroom, doing well-known Scorpions ballads, some terrible original tunes and basically goofing off in private. Pretty charming stuff to listen to but immediately disposable, not to be foisted upon the public at all cost (unless you are some sort of superhero singer-songwriter with names such as Nick Drake or Billy Bragg).

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Okay, here are five bands I found on MySpace which had kicked-started my mornings with much good vibes.

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Civil Disorder
Yeah Right Whatever CD-R
It’s A Warning CD-R
(Self Release)

Slotted to play at the cancelled YR Dawg, Unclogged CNY 2006 show, Civil Disorder arrived early at NBT, bearing guitars and fresh-faced enthusiasm. I really wanted to see them play that night, but all we ended up doing together was hang-out at the nearby restaurant exchanging CD-Rs and feeling pretty low due to the shock cancellation.

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Disarseter Records Presents Panic in the Peninsula Comp CD
(Disarseter Records)

Panic in the Peninsula features various “genres” of the local indie scene, leaning slightly on the more radio-friendly end of the spectrum. And so you have cod-reggae, cod-nu-metal to safe modern-rock and ponderous post-rock to some offbeat stuff which I like etc. In a nutshell, it’s pretty good picture of what’s going on in the larger “independent” scene, quite different from the usual fare featured on Ricecooker, but potentially a big hit with those who religiously posted on Malaise and JamTank forums.

Lemme go through the ones which I like. Lucy in the Loo’s Each Other’s Circle is pure Swedish guitar indie-pop of the mid-90s, which would be familiar to those who checked out Westside Fabrication’s releases imported here by PonyCanyon those days. Sparkly, fey and jangly, with it’s stated “amatuerish” feel which I always find endearing.

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Ila Mitra
Satyagraha CD-R
(self-release)

When my band finally played in Singapore for the first time a few months ago, we were picked up from Woodlands’ MRT by Seelan, one of the nicest guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to shake hands with. Young, handsome and fashionably (!) skinny, Seelan runs with the Lion City DIY crew, works with an animal shelter and also plays drums for grindcore mavericks Fallen World.

Along with madman Zai Kuning’s impeccable hosting skills, Seelan and friends made us feel at home in the usually cold and calculating island state. We were wined and dined with stimulating discussions all the way to the wee hours of the morning.

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