Now for shots from the Tribute To Radiohead, 20th July 2007, KL Jamasia.

Dopplegengger, who started with Just (which I’d rather have as an outro song, with everybody on the floor ala the video), Electioneering, Let Down and Paranoid Android.

Somewhere before it all the electricity tripped, and I took this 1 second exposure at 50mm F1.4 ISO1600.

The self-declared awesome possum in the picture above can solve one of these! (Of course, the Rubik’s Cube shown here was solved by me. Some chick just bought it and I pretended it was my first time figuring it out… in near darkness.)

I would like to take credit for teaching her how, almost entirely over SMS. 😀

Back to the show! Now Everyone Can Play Radiohead was this band’s name.

They played Fake Plastic Trees, High And Dry and I don’t quite remember what else.

Gotta love Izuan’s fire hazard guitar effects.

These guys were so good, the intensity of the haunting music was so strong, I felt it rip through the very fabric skin of me. The emo-ness of it all was too much to bear, I wanted to rub myself against the effects pedals and self-combust. The emotion was beyond wanting to cry. Of course, only two people ever knew what really happened to me.

I distanced myself from the stage, walked to the back for some fresh air, and their set was over.

Ham of Seven Collar T-Shirt is well prepared for anything Jonny Greenwood can muster.

“Wow, that looks like so much fun. I wanna headbang too!”

Yep, Evol, who I last saw at the Incubus Tribute, did a rockin’ cover of Karma Police. It was the first song I heard from them…

…and one that is so great to swing and headbang to.

Moonshine, July 12th, 2007, at good ol’ Laundry Bar.

Lied, with special effects of the angry rock variety.

Adlin Rosli is shiny.

Adil shreds for Milli’z.

Milli’z is sometimes dark, sometimes acoustic, sometimes dreamy, and always enjoyable.

MeetUncleHussain! Jumpy vocalist with high pitched falsettos.

Kickass riffs and emo falsettos like MUSE.

Guess who he’s playing for now!

Guess who he’s playing for now!

…Stonebay, grunge rock. Kickass riffs too, but with low macho vocals instead.

4th July 2007: Tempered Mental‘s album launch at Laundry Bar. The album, titled The View From Here, features 10 solid songs of the progressive metal/rock variety. As a fan of them since the very first gig I had been to in the original No Black Tie, where I first saw them, this was a long-awaited album.

However, none of the songs overlap with the previous Honestly single (which had, well… 7 songs) so we got mostly fresh works with the great Greg Henderson on production. Then, there’s Trust which I downloaded from their official site a looong looong time ago.

Why no local independent band has an album out with more than 10 proper songs, I don’t know. However, Tempered Mental could have added those 7 songs from the single in to beat complete the record. However, it might sound disconnected because the album has funky effects applied to the vocals (which I took a while to get used to) while the single doesn’t.

From left: Jack on guitar, Melina William on bass and vocals, Jimmy on drums, Greg the producer.

The album I got at the launch had a misprinted cover and a missing third page. However, I’d like to think of these as rare editions. 😀

Oh, and my name is there in the thank yous! Go look.

Guess who I bumped into? Grace and my little Transformers Movie Barricade.

Melina, always looking effortless when singing and playing complex basslines. Jimmy drums in the back.

Jack the ripper shredder.

Funky graphics played on the screens behind.

For once, Laundry Bar looked extremely well-lit.

Jimmy the master of groove. He is one of the few rock drummers who know how not to hit too hard, so the rest of the band does not have to pump up the volume and make it difficult for everyone.

Slyde looks lost.

Vig shows us how it’s done with just a Nikon D200 and Nikkor AF-D 35mm F2.0.

They performed Superstar, Undone, Nothingness, Open, Cross and Design. Unfortunately, they did not have a second set. Price and where to get the album will be available once their uh… manager gets back to me.

28th June 2007 was Crossborders at Laundry Bar! After more than two months of not going there for gigs, I returned… to find about nobody familiar other than the people who work there.

First up was alt-rocking Hujan.

Ho yeah!

They seem to be working the screens above much more, now.

As always, I am trying different post-processing looks.

Jeffrey Little of Prana, on percussion for Pure Vibracion.

“Ooo, isn’t that someone’s brother?”

Everybody reggae!

Put your dreads in the air…

…and wave them red yellow greens!

This is how you ska. As always, every reggae outfit must play a Bob Marley song. Which makes me wonder if he was the only relevant reggae artiste.

Next up: Inspirational Joni. Dancy dancy!

This Indonesian band brought a massive crowd… and at least 8 cases of crowd-surfing to Laundry Bar. Amazing!

Shout, stomp, rock to the anthem. They had a healthy dose of electro and punk. Most reminiscent of The Clash and Republica, perhaps.

…and where were hot Indonesian chicks like these when I went to Bandung? I love her swept hair. Very CFM-ish.

Not just one, two surfers! The singer was thanking the crowd for totally rocking out. (I’m guessing you can’t do that in Indonesia… but then, the way no safety gates are built there around construction, I’d think they wouldn’t care.)

I’ve got a fever and the cure is more cowbell! Sexiness multiplied.

That guy with red pants must’ve been up at least 5 times.

No thanks to this cube-faced creature here, I have now been infected with a real-life Bananaphone – Daft Punk’s Discovery album!

Had I heard the album any other time, I might not have liked it, since One More Time annoyed the heck out of me; but thanks to recent exposure to Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, Jamiroquai and Nine Inch Nails, I found this a lot more palatable.

Daft Hands – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger on Youtube!

If you thought it was just some silly hand jig, think again. Must watch, for the lyrics!

Carleton Singing Knights did an a cappella of Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger on Youtube!

Also, check out DRSMOOV‘s videos on Youtube. He makes Transformers mashups and dubs them himself! My favorite one is Heavy Metal Fight. Click!

Yes, it also explains why I was so proud of Optimus Prime in the action movie, for not being such a benefit-of-the-doubting wuss like he was in the cartoon.

Finally, speaking of transforming objects, and getting back to music at that, check out Mikey Guitars for a transforming guitar. Just by pushing a slide, the guitar fretboard changes from fretted to fretless! (It then sounds like slide guitar.) It is also available in bass guitar, for some fretless bass action!

Cosmic Funk Express was having yet another farewell gig at GrooveJunction, this time for sure, as Zack was leaving for Melbourne to further his studies.

No wait, make that two farewell gigs, on the 22nd and 23rd of June 2007. Their last uh… farewell gig was a year back.

But first! I met Hannah Tan again. Image cropped from my ever-popular Peleng 8mm F3.5 fisheye.

(Note: If you have read of such accounts of the encounter, they are all fabricated lies!)

Zack the double-guitar tapping god. Personally, I love it when he rips the intro to Adante Con Moto, or the Allan Holdsworth-like Conjunctions, or the funky funky Outhouze.

I like the accidental effect of flashing the top with a slow shutter speed to expose the bottom. I must stress that such effects can only be gotten with a performance with spotlights.

Alex Ang drums for the Cosmic Funk Express, and you can see him picking up steam.

One Buck Short guests and performs Christmas Morning.

Goreng pisang Pisang goreng!

Savy joins on keyboards.

Izwin sings and does a cover of Stevie Wonder – Superstition.

Alda meets the slow-sync zoomed-flash.

I see a lot of people trying out this method, but I gotta say – they need a lot of practice.

These guys have stage presence and energy. All three of them.

Alex makes like a Pink Floyd album cover.

New effect alert! This time, I will not specify how I did it. Make a guess and try to replicate it!

Funky spinners in the stirrer. Blow it to twirl! (Sadly, my iced lemon tea was not refillable.)

“Hey Zack! You gotta try this honey lemon carbonated tea! It increases finger dexterity and makes your fingers glide across the fretboard!”

Alex looks on suspiciously as Zack downs the drink.

“YEAH MAAAN!”

*chokes* “This isn’t honey lemon carbonated tea! You poisoned me!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, that is why you should not accept drinks from your bandmates.”

Okay, so that is not how the second night ended.

Every entertainment venue in Desa Sri Hartamas was raided by police. They came around, collecting our identity cards, checked them, and returned a whole bunch of them much later. Yes, that is a Chinese policeman whoa!

It almost looks like he is peddling identity cards.

The Fireflies acoustic gig 31st May 2007, also titled “Tell your boss you went to pick up his Persian cat from the pet motel and… wait, what do you MEAN you don’t have a cat?” featured Yu-Ri and Vostok-1.

On my softie lens combo.

Flirting With Sleep, some trippy Bjork-y industrial new-wave-y stuff. I think. I have no idea. It was awesome.

Yes, with Lipei on vocals!

These guys are hardly acoustic. But then, Yu-Ri and gang didn’t get the idea either.

Paolo Delfino gets the idea, and plays acoustic. Not like he wasn’t before.

Alaling featuring the cuuute doorstop Ching!

Her pennyless acoustic guitarist.

Malokaigruv!

Her voice would be discussed at the mamak later. “Her voice so nice lah. I damn shy lah lucky I sang before her.”

Some jazzy bits over soulful tunes.