Khottal

Let’s face it. Aren’t we all getting a little tired of those so-called indie rock bands? You know, those cutesy teeny pop darlings with goofy haircuts? Luckily for us, there remain those still willing to push the boundaries of twee rock. The 10-piece Khottal is a prime example of such a band.

Led by Hafidz and Uzir in their hometown of Jasin, Melaka, the band started a year ago “with the mutual purpose to be the messiest band in Malaysia,” jokes Hafidz before concluding that it was their passion for music that brought them together.

Childhood, college and long lost friends, Qairul, Chorie, Ezha, Hafidz, Uzir, Farhan, Azfa, Zarul, Suboh and Nona have expanded their sound beyond the normal band set-up to include instruments such as accordions, melodeons, glockenspiels, ukuleles, mandolins, recorders and violins.

Before you can say Arcade Fire, Zarul is quick to point out that the only reason people compare them to the Canadian baroque pop band is because of their numbers. “Our response would be like ‘Hey, why not Broken Social Scene?!’”. And although they shun the comparison, on their Myspace page, Khottal admittedly list the aforementioned 2 bands along with The Vaselines, The Velvet Underground and British Sea Power amongst their influences.

Being eccentric usually pays off in music. The band’s name is shrouded in mystery. Hafidz relates, “We googled Khottal and found that it was related to ancient Chinese medicine. Later, we tried again but the article didn’t appear. Weird but that’s why we used it.”

Although they have been hailed as the toast of Urbanscapes 2009, Khottal did have their early misadventures. “During our first gig, we were sweating nervously because the monitors malfunctioned. It was like performing in mute mood where you can’t hear each other. Luckily we had lots of practice and the feedback was really unexpected,” says Zarul.

As of now, Khottal is still in its infancy stage with no proper studio recordings. If you search for the band on Youtube, you’d probably find low-key live performances on beaches, neighbourhood streets and Perak’s heritage site of Kellie’s Castle.

Hopefully, when the band releases their debut single somewhere in September this year, the clarity of a studio recording won’t ecclipse their lo-fi charm. Otherwise, it’s back to those goofy haircuts and whinny heartbreak songs.info from here

Khottal Facebook

Khottal Myspace

Mono

Mono are a Japanese instrumental rock band, formed in 1999 in Tokyo, Kantō,Honshū. The band consists of Takaakira Goto (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Yoda (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Tamaki Kunishi (bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, glockenspiel), and Yasunori Takada (drum kit, glockenspiel, synthesizer).

Mono have released five studio albums. The band spent their early years, from 1999 to 2003, touring Asia, Europe, and America continuously, and released two studio albums, Under the Pipal Tree (2001) and One Step More and You Die (2002) on theTzadik and Music Mine Inc. record labels, respectively. From 2004 to 2007, Mono signed to Temporary Residence Limited, released two more studio albums, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (2004) and You Are There (2006), and toured worldwide in their support. In 2008, the band took a break, returning one year later with a new studio album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind(2009), also on Temporary Residence Limited. During the tour that followed they recorded Holy Ground: NYC Live With The Wordless Music Orchestra which was released in 2010.

The band's style of instrumental rock music is influenced by the genres ofexperimental rock and shoegazing, as well as by both the classical andcontemporary classical periods of classical music, and also by noise andminimalism. Mono's sound is characterised by the lead and rhythm guitars of Goto and Yoda respectively, both of whom make extensive use of reverb, distortion anddelay effects. The band's live performances are noted for their intensity, both in the playing and in the dynamics.

Mono Myspace

Mono Facebook

Mono Webpage

Some Mono Video Song

Akta Angkasa

The band’s name literally translates to “Space Act”. Not that our country is privy to such a legislative act yet but Klang Valley-based outfit Akta Angkasa, now a highly recognisable name in fringe music circles, isn’t about to be limited by the confines of general acceptability. Akta Angkasa is an experimental art-rock/noise band from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The band first burst on to the scene in late 2005 with boundary-breaking musicianship in mind. Back then, Akta Angkasa, arguably, had the numbers in its line-up to fill up any stage in town. Initially running a roll call of members that was almost sizeable enough to have a competitive football match, Akta Angkasa were a logistical challenge and massive musical puzzle.

But the band’s main man Zul (guitars), who oversees the studio and live creative process, has since saw it fit to trim the numbers down to a much more manageable quartet.

Despite the smaller line-up, the band now consisting of Ned (bass), Mamel (drums) and Fie (synth) has lost none of its jugular-grabbing musical dynamics. All the band members are in their mid-20s, and looking to soak up as much experience in the music scene as possible. But, as Zul shared, the band did not start out with a grand masterplan to take over the musical landscape with a literal army of musicians.
Instead, the band started out purely as a simple musical concept between Zul and former guitarist Nabil nearly five years ago.

Akta Angkasa Webpage


Some Videos From Akta Angkasa

Deepset

Deepset, a quartet from Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia, discovered the trial of compo-sition that has been appropriated by indierock after being refined over
the centuries by harmonic and sonic experimentation,the birth was late 2002,
the band pushed the enthuse to produce instrumental piece which as the band
believe that music is nothing without inspiration that has an influence.
Releases :
2005 - Self-Titled Demo – 3 songs 
2008 – "The lights we shed shall burn your eyes" 





Deepset Myspace
Deepset Facebook

Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire is an indie rock band based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It consists of the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Will Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Jeremy Gara, and Sarah Neufeld. Arcade Fire came to prominence when they released their debut album Funeral in 2004 to critical acclaim. The band plays guitar,drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard,French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin, and hurdy-gurdy. Most of their instruments are taken on tour, and the multi-instrumentalist band members switch duties throughout shows.

Arcade Fire has won numerous awards, including the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year, the 2011 Juno Award for Album of the Year, and the 2011 Brit Award for Best International Album for their third studio album, The Suburbs, released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial success. In earlier years they won the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year for their second studio album, Neon Bible. They also received nominations for the Best Alternative Music Album Grammy for all three of their studio albums.

Arcade Fire Homepage

Arcade Fire Myspace

EF

It all started in Göteborg, Sweden back in 2003; the embryo of ef was already active, but this was the year that it all took a whole new direction. New members came into the group and the sound was totally reformed.

The following years it all went pretty quick; Besides four self recorded demos, one 7” single, one remix CDEP and two full length albums (“Give me beauty… Or give me death!” – 2006 and “I am responsible” – 2008) they accomplished 10 full EU tours, numbers of festival shows and weekend adventures. ef was featured on television, student radio, did 100s of interviews and also did a live radio session for Belgiums biggest radio station; Studio Brussel.

ef may now count themselves as one of the hardest working independent bands in Europe – and they still think there’s more to achieve.

It's fall of 2009 and the three remaining stabile members of ef have locked them self up in the rehearsal room to write and arrange the songs that will become their third full length album;“Mourning golden morning”.

The album is later that fall beeing recorded by Magnus Lindberg from Swedens finest metal bandCult of Luna in the legendary vintage studio Music-A-Matic. This is the first time the band let someone else produce and put the final touches on the mateiral.


Ef Myspace
Ef - Sons Of Ghost Mp3

Pg.Lost

An orchestra of the heart, a playground for the long lost sporadic thoughts of giving in or getting back. Pg.Lost is a swedish band of many directions, but most of all a band throbbing with great melancholy grinding against the precious high hopes of not just individual human thinking and feeling, but also contrasts within pushing the sonic boundries of endless instrumental experiments of prolonging. Pg.Lost recently recieved a lot of press attention because of an American individual attracting a record deal by falsely using their music as his own. But then again Pg.Lost does have a way of sounding like a deep emotion or unresolved issues, so no wonder a fraction of us get confused, and start mistaking their music for something private.

Download Here