Alda: We regret to inform you that this will be Cosmic Funk Express‘s last gig.

In times like these, they must put on their hats and carry on.

Their last performance was at the Sunrise Jazz & Rhythm Fest, August 4th, 2006. (They also performed last year and the year before.)

Howdy cowboy.

Alda has always been an entertaining bassist with stage presence.

This picture is so wrong. (Alda has a knack for standing on things.)

Alex Ang on drums.

This guy is a technical beat math whiz.

Izwin joins for the covers, including the very funky Incubus – Summer Romance. Yes, Cosmic Funk Express is otherwise an out-of-worldly instrumental funk/jazz rock band.

Savy is the often forgotten keyboardist, who joined for the covers. I did not notice if she played for all the songs.

I’ve been following Cosmic Funk Express since their first drummer, Elliot. I’m not sure if the first time I’d seen them play was at Shelley Leong‘s album launch. I mourn the loss of an amazing Malaysian band, who’d play Eric Johnson – Cliffs Of Dover when I shout for it. A band that would win a Battle Of The Bands. The first time I touched a Canon EOS 350D, I took pictures of them.

Please click on the links in this post, so you can see what my pictures used to look like. If you haven’t done it, scroll up!

Yeah, maybe you noticed that I introduced the band in alphabetical order – Alda, Alex, Izwin, Savy, and… and… Z… ZZZ. I gotta sleep man. Next update: The superstar of Cosmic Funk Express, and videos, when I figure out how to reencode them.

And now, for pictures from the 15th of July 2006 KL Sing Song performance!

Jasiminne sneaking up to Ariff Akhir of The Sofa Sessions, with Nicole of Rhapsody looking over.

Performers perform their songs in round-robin fashion, meaning they take turns to play one song each.

Ariff, with Lagu Malas.

…but really, he’s funny.

Gotta love the lights and smoke.

These colored lamps gave me a comfortable 1/13 to 1/40 seconds of exposure at ISO 200.

Broken Scar.

This time, the modern rocker performs alone.

“Watch the orange explode…”

Ywenna observes.

It is then Rhapsody’s turn to play, with beautiful jazz/soul/R&B melodies.

“No nonono no no no nooo!” is one of her most memorable lyrics.

A candid moment as they remind the audience what their website addresses are.

The next three performers get on stage, including…

Meor the bare-footed busker, singing the gritty blues.

These feet were well-travelled.

Another well-travelled face was Pete Teo, acoustic singer-songwriter extraordinaire.

Once upon a time, he was a heavy metal shredder, but found acoustic guitars more challenging.

Check out his boots, yo.

Mei Chern had some songs of activist nature.

In the meantime, while waiting for their turn, they look pensive.

Pete playing a game of chess in his head.

This is how tall the stage was; long exposure, no flash.

The unspoken rule is that flash photography is not allowed when you have such bright lights on the performers, but one annoying n00b kept flashing, such that they made it a spoken rule during the intermission. Guess which one was the n00b!

Backstage, flash photography was allowed.

Joy Lee sook fun behind the video camera!

Edit:
Original pictures are at Broken Scar‘s (so you can see what Photoshop can save from a noisy ISO 200 picture), with more shots at Jasiminne‘s. Also, a review for Xfresh.

Pictures from the Moonshine gig, 13th July 2006, at Laundry Bar.

Broken Scar, modern rock, with Kevin on guitar and Alda on bass.

Shelley Leong guest stars sings. Note the T-shirt she bought from Sungei Wang!

Lied has a knack for stealing bassists from Dragon Red, be it Adam the crooner or Natalie the bassist.

Adlin feels a pain in his tummy. Must be karma, all those bad reviews he wrote on movies and CDs. 😀

Seng Kiat on guitar.

Az Samad, the usually uncaptureable-without-flash violent acoustic fingerstyle guitarist sits down!

Malokaigruv‘s vocalist is hot, singing to some upbeat funky jazzy stuff.

Telebury returns with softer indie rock.

TwoSidesToAStory, alternative rock.

Chris Theseira on open mike.

I didn’t catch this band’s name.

Grace the photographer uses my shoulder as a tripod. Check out the tattoo on the girl walking by!

I couldn’t do justice to Suzanne Lee‘s funky highlights. She was to braid them the next day. Argh.

Now, for pictures from Broken Scar and Reza Salleh at No Black Tie, 28th June 2006.

Broken Scar was in his bare acoustic modern rock setup today; just one man and his guitar.

There was also a hot photographer chick! Waitaminute…

It’s Suzanne Lee with a Canon EOS 20D digital SLR!

I knew her from 2002, when she worked in Xfresh as a marketing executive. She also brought me to a gig in Saloma, where I saw and was entranced with Damn Dirty Apes for the very first time.

Last I met her, she told me she just did a beer ad. Little did I know that the money from that ad would be used to buy her first, a Canon 300D; she then modelled and travelled the world, selling her photos (hmm that doesn’t sound right) and got… THIS! The white Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM zoom lens is a premium luxury lens for sniping in the dark.

Spot the photographer!

Meanwhile, all I have is my Canon Powershot A520, and my infrared-modded Fujifilm Digital Q1. Seen here is Lionel modelling for his friend.

Apparently, Reza Salleh and Suzanne Lee were finalists for the KLue Blue Chilli awards. That might be how they met. Or through the underground band Prana.

Reza was backed with a full band; here’s Stephanie drumming. To achieve this effect on the drumstick, use flash, and a slow shutter speed (in Tv/Shutter Priority mode.)

Melina of Tempered Mental on bass, for all you grou fans out there. She probably couldn’t be happier when Reza breaks out into a cover of Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under The Bridge.

Hanafi of Estranged (and sometimes Tempered Mental) does quite a few solos.

Reza invites Broken Scar up to the stage, as his Seattle-grunge voice is better suited to cover Stone Temple Pilots – Plush.

And now, for the feat of delayed musically-related pictures, most specifically from the Fete De La Musique 2006, a musical celebration held all over the world on the 17th of June. Pictures and commentaries will tell you that this is not any ordinary gig with specific genres or themes.

Click on any picture to view it at twice its resolution.

Top to bottom, left to right:

• When Cheneille and I first reached Alliance Francaise, La Casa was playing. Funky, jazzy with some electronica thrown in! The turntablist is also the trumpet player, and they make funky sound effects too. You must go to their site and download their free MP3s.
• Tony and Ian, a gospel rocker and an alternative rocker; Soft Touch, singing Disaster Radio, a tirade against a certain radio station that wouldn’t play their music.
• Wow good-looking white boy rock band! Too bad the band sucked. They kept messing up cover songs; between parts of songs, one guitarist would play a different chord, or the drummer would forget to change beat.
• Dewangga Sakti with the Gambus; the rest of the group, and…
• …a very gothic-looking fiddler; Jeep Latino Jazz Band.

Meanwhile, at the back of Alliance Francaise, top to bottom:

• Azmyl Yunor in Cpilaq, Ronnie Khoo plays the synthesizer, Azmyl makes anti-music. Cpilaq is meant to go against the norms of music anyway.
• Y2K is true to punk rock, X-Cited Screamers rock your caps off.
• Dragon Red, rap-rock at its best; Adam swallows the bites off the microphone’s head.
• Amil hilariously broke a string before the show, so he was relegated to a single-coiled Fender Stratocaster. We pointed and laughed at him (since he didn’t have the thrash metal humbuckers of his ESP JH-1!) Last time that happened was when we saw him play bass at Fete De La Musique 2005! Right: Henry shreds for Triple6Poser.
• Eddy is the hard-rocking frontman, and Khai plays guitar!

Top to bottom, left to right:

• Sourtury, with some progressive thrash metal (uh, heavy with changing beats, but without those synthesizers…). Check out the hot bassist!
• Can’t remember the name of the band, but he used to be in Service Provider For The Poor, Syefri‘s former band; she’s on keyboards.
• Lightcraft plays British indie rock! Excellent work from the keyboard and synthesizers. Then there’s the spot-on British drawl on the vocalist.
• Inside Alliance Francaise however, is Superbar; there’s also a piano where Shelly plays Chopin; it was the first time I heard that song Zack usually plays on guitar with Cosmic Funk Express!

On to Bangsar, Telawi area, top to bottom, left to right:

• Some emo punk band performed in front of the stage in front of Ronnie Q, but the stage was shortlived when the restaurant cut the power. 🙁 Right: Beat The System was on full blast at the main stage, however.
• Later that evening, La Casa performed again, this time, to more than 30 people (Alliance Francaise had a maximum of 100 people at any time). Big crowd, fantastic reception. We all danced! Right: Wwanao the quirky rainbow-colored world music outfit.
• MC Switch drops it like it’s hot with a rabid hip-hop-loving girl… who is still seen dancing as Vespertine prepares in the background.
• One Buck Short from the back; Frequency Cannon from the front.
• Soft Touch returns, with Melina of Tempered Mental playing percussion, and Wong shredding.

Left column, top to bottom: Alliance Francaise; didgeridoos; Jayaram, one of the usual emcees, the night crowd at Telawi, Bangsar.
Right column, top to bottom: An Indian emsemble; harp; a van equipped with wheelchair-loading lift and an old-school air-conditioning unit (I loved the smell); and finally Edge Of Fire, who was a bit off, with a different lineup. As of late people say I look like some dude from that band; I hope it’s this handsome bugger they’re talking about.