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Clip taken from the film A-Go-Go-67! Something from 40 years ago! Dang!

Thanks to Joe Pareira (Singapore’s imminent rock historian) for pointing this out.

Back in the early to mid-90s there’s one little band from the Singapura which me and my friends in Brickfields really dug. When they split-up I wrote to one of the band members planning to rerelease their many demos on one CD but that never really took off as expected, it could have been a super release but I’m still hoping.

Anyway, out of the blue today, Ben H of Etc. pointed me to a MySpace page featuring the band and it brought back a lot of love. I have three of their tapes (I think) but the thought of wading through the junk in my store is too overwhelming.

The MySpace page featured four downloadable songs but as MySpace has seen fit to make life difficult for most of us here in Boleh-land, I can’t listen to it, nor can I download the songs; maybe you’ll have better luck.

Still did a take on melodic and thoughtful DC hardcore with Fugazi and Dag Nasty in the mix. Great songs, brilliant band. One of the members is now playing with The Antiques, a little indie-rock band in Washington DC while the rest disappeared into the post-expat unknown.

Still on MySpace | The Antiques

Back in the late-70s, punk rock’s open-ended exuberance and will to break walls (imaginary & real) got me going ultra-obssessive about whatever sort of music that was deemed “good” out there in the brave new world and power-pop was one of the most exciting variants of the punk/new wave spin-offs.

I got into The Jam-influenced mod bands of 1979 (Secret Affair, The Lambrettas, The Chords, Squire, The Vaporz etc.), their American pop cousins (The Knack, The Plimsouls, The Cars, The Real Kids etc.) and also “pub-rockers-touched-by-punk-rockers” such as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Joe Jackson.

One mysterious band I found was The Records. Their song “Starry Eyes” really did me in when I first heard it on a comp LP (long forgotten the title now) but I’ve never managed to get their full albums here in Malaysia back then. It was only back in the early 90s that I managed to get their brilliant comp CD; Smashes, Crashes And Near Misses (1988).

Anyway, I stumbled upon a fine collection of various live recordings by The Records earlier today, so those who like their pop sharpened with spiky, stripped-down Byrds-ian guitars, driving catchy beat, teenage love tales and fine harmonies, go download!

The Records Live Tracks | The Records @ Wikipedia | therecords.com | Full download of the “Crashes” comp here

What is “Power-Pop”? Go here

Some cool people has decided to put up a page for the oft-forgotten and totally unsung R. Azmi, genius lyricist and hugely popular pop-singer of 50s Malaya. Four songs are posted there, do check it out!

Those who love oldschool Malay-Pop music should keep your ears glued to RTM’s Klasik FM (93.9 FM – Klang Valley). Ricecooker is a huge fan, especially when the music played is from the 1940s-1960s period, complete with scratchy vinyl warmth! Basically, it’s the only local radio station worth tuning into.

Here’s a bit of the write-up on R. Azmi on the MySPace page:

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Before Observatory and even before Humpback Oak, most talented Singaporean singer-songwriter Leslie Low was in a bedroom duo called Twang Bar Kings. His side-kick was Don Bosco, a familar name for those who used to read the now dormant BigO magazine of the early 90s.

Earlier today I stumbled upon twangbarkings.com, a shrine of sorts by Leslie and Don themsleves. What’s exciting is the collection of unreleased demos recorded way back in the early 90s and available for you to download and enjoy.

Go here: twangbarkings.com

I found this old flyer from 1993 and ended up writing a lot of historical stuff on it on the Carburetor Dung site. Those who are interested to know more or eager to share your recollections, do go here:

Saturday, 6th November 1993: Banned in KL @ Voodoo Lounge, KL

Yup! The original article. The forefathers of them all. The ones who started it all back in 1982!! This is where the name Silkhannaz came from, adapted and used by a band who worshipped them. And guess what? They’ve just recorded an album, their first ever after so many very rare live bootlegs have been changing hands worldwide. What more stunning is that they have a MySpace page and it offers a glimpse into two songs in rehearsal mode!

Go here: Blackfire@MySpace

A suitably bombastic article follows:

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as usual, let the video load first and then press replay.

go here to “encourage” the “band” further

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