Music & Me

I love music. Rock, pop or jazz..soothing or loud, systemically harmony or complicated-garage noise, my taste in music is pretty eccletic. I wake up to "The Cure", doing my job in office to the sounds of "I am Kloot" and retire to my "tilam bujang" to the sounds of Norah Jones or Franz Ferdinand ( more often than not). A friend of mine, Fahmi Reza introduced me to the edgier sounds of punk , my fiancee recommends U.S based rock bands like LIVE and also indie rock sounds like Sonic Youth etc. Another friend, Din just further reaffirms my choice of music since my school days. We found solidarity in the music of The Verve, Jamiraquoi, Stone Roses, The Smiths and new "brit-pop" bands like Starsailor. Whereas, me on my own, found bands like "Shanon Knife" and "The Monkees" amusing and fun!

Local music rarely interest me. Although I admit that we do own some hidden gems. I am still into Zainal Abidin `s songs. I was his fan since his Headwind years. With or without the presence of Annuar Zain, I will always hailed him as one of Malaysia `s best male vocalist. Then, you have our local sifoo (which is actually imported from Singapore) ; M.Nasir. I actually prefer his songs with "Kembara" but his solo act is also highly-acclaimed, of with in my case, my fave choice will still and always be Canggung Mendonan.

The emergence of local hip hop, ska and alternative scene is to me a refresher. But when we are talking about the "existence" of these music waves, it actually goes back years ago in the form of "underground act". If i am not mistaken, because my knowledge in this area is very limited, some if not most of the groups that carry the mentioned genres are from the "underground scene". I could still remember during my years in SEMSTI (that is 1995) , one of my juniors passed me Butterfinger 's earliest cassette. With photocopied self-designed covers, Butterfingers find their niche in the Underground scene plus quite a number of following. I wasn't at that point of time find this inspiring or remarkable. I got Metallica, Soundgarden and The Police to hold on. You can say I am pro-major label. But as a word of justification, I wasn't that socially or politically conscious too, at that time. Should Britney Spears start up an all women (or girl) band during that era, I might "fall in the trap of commercialism" too. Hehehehehe * laughing sheepishly*

Anyway, 7 years later, I was reformed. It was the eventful year of REFORMASI and romance. I met my fiancee in that year and we got steady within a year. His tactic of expressing his feelings to me is by recording some songs from certain bands that are unknown to me and asked me to listen to it. I recalled our "theme song"; Bidadari by Indonesian band "Padi". Then, come Iwan Fals with his "Matamu Seperti Bola Pingpong" ( I interrogated him on this and the answer is negative). Then, on days where I`m down or having a sour mood, he will drive us around KL with the radio blasting with 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain"by The Ramones or any of The Cranberries `s hits. We ended singing our hearts out and all form of mood swings just dissapeared. You can say music unite our feelings too.

A year later, my music horizone is further stretched to encompass garage and indie rock music. I make some new friends during my trainings overseas and also in chatting rooms. They sent me song clips of U.S based bands I have never heard of. That was how I came to know of groups like Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (who remains my fave group), Pavement, Death Cab for the Cutie, Beulah etc. Some of these quickly became my favourites whereas some just further exposed me to new genre of music. Jazz came a bit later. liking "Jamiroquai" means I am also into acid jazz. But I never explore the mysterious realm of jazz yet until I went to Montreal `s International Jazz Festival. After 8 hours of jazz experience, I became a confirmed believer. If not the conventional sounds of Al Jareau or Harry Cornick Jr. still, the streetwise blend of jazz and folk music amazes me. of course, when you heard the Cuban Jazz or other South American fusion, you just feel like you have to be on your feet and start moving. My expression, exactly.

And this year, I am again fated to know more local talents or as the media dubbed them "fringe artists". In the days of glam-rock or urban hip hop, it is truly inspiring to get hold of some local bands that play power pop music. "Couple", one of these bands proved to be a band with huge potential. With catchy music that resonates the sounds of Beatles, they are not just your average band. And I heard there `s more out there that deserve mentioning but sorry, I am also trying my best to get to know these bands more.

Looks like my "syok sendiri" account of my experience with music ends here. I might have forget some influential musicians here but that `s okay. As I face my dry dull world of paperworks and meetings, I guess a song or two will work just fine. Or maybe three four songs?