Traxx FM / Maya's Invitation

I have been invited to be at Maya's Thursday's radio show at Traxx FM after corresponding to her via email for a while.

Being a radio freak since I was a teenager, I was really thrilled with the invitation. I was also a member of Radio Society when I was in the university more than 10 years ago in the U.K.- we tried to set up a radio station that didn't work out due to lack of sponsorship and financial issue. I wanted a show similar to John Peel's radio show in BBC Radio 1 in my university.

I've offered to help supplying Maya the crazy music that I love. The songs list is as follows:

CD1:

Sundae – The Fridays
Released in 2006
EP: Love, Hate and Other Four Letter Words
Indie band from Ampang, K.L.

Liquid Separation – Front Line Assembly
Released in 1994 (Roadrunner Records)
LP: Millennium
Canadian industrial band

Happy Hour – The Housemartins
Originally released in 1986
LP: Now That’s What I Call Quite Good (The Housemartins’ compilation)
Song was originally titled French England
Form Beautiful South after The Housemartins is disbanded

Ode From A Psychopath – Brodwyn
Released in 1996 (Positive Tone)
LP: Boys and Girls 1+1=3 (various artistes compilation)
Local indie band

334 – Little Champions
Released in 1999 (Barsuk Records)
LP: Pillow
American indie band

My Baby Don’t Wanna Play With You – Subculture
Released in the 90s
LP: Love N’ Hate
A local punk band influenced by Ramones. Very active in the local underground scene in the 90s. An excellent live band.

Peek-A-Boo – Siouxsie & The Banshees
Originally released in 1988
LP: Twice Upon A Time – The Singles (Siouxsie & The Banshees’ compilation)
UK goth band from the 80s. Siouxsie eventually went solo in the 90s.

Year Twelve Conspiracy Theory – G.O.R.B.
Released in 1999
LP: The Underworld Chronicles – Chapter 1 (various artistes compilation)
Local band

Trash City – Transvision Vamp
Released in 1988 (MCA Records)
LP: Pop Art
80s UK band with punk and new wave influences (similar to Billy Idol and Sigue Sigue Sputnik). Lead singer, Wendy James, released a few solo albums in the 90s. Another male member of the band formed a new band eventually (I forgot the name of the band)

Theme From Gorky 5 (Russian Song) – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
Released in 1998 (Mercury Records)
LP: Gorky 5
No band info

Generations – Inspiral Carpets
Released in 1992 (Mute Records)
LP: Revenge of the Goldfish
One of the established UK indie band in the 90s along with Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Happy Mondays, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, etc

Dead Pop Stars – Altered Images
Originally released in 1981
LP: The Best of Altered Images (Altered Images’ compilation)
An 80s Glasgow indie band. One of the members eventually formed Texas.

Diet – Intoxicated
Released in 1996 (Positive Tone)
LP: Boys and Girls 1+1=3 (various artistes compilation)
Local female punk-pop band

Nothing Wrong – Wannadies
Released in 2003
LP: Before and After
An indie band from Stockholm, Sweden. Famous in the UK

Say Hi – Couple
Released in 2006
LP: Top of The Pop
An indie band influenced by The Beatles. From K.L./Ipoh. The female member, Hana, is also the lead singer of Lucy In The Loo. She also plays in her boyfriend’s (Jay) band, Free Love.

Grey – Fudge Tunnel
Released in 1992/1993 (Earache Records)
LP: Creep Diets
Maybe it’s an American band

Marathon – Damage Digital
Released in 1999
LP: The Underworld Chronicles – Chapter 1 (various artistes compilation)
Local band with some Japanese members

God Speed Your Love – Telebury
Released in 2003
EP: Is There “Us” In You?
An indie band from K.L. telebury@yahoo.co.uk

End Of The World – The Cure
Released in 2004
LP: The Cure
A goth band that has been around for almost 3 decades. Robert Smith is the main band member

Maid Of Orleans – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD)
Originally released in 1982
LP: The Best of OMD (OMD’s compilation)
An 80s UK electro-pop band along with Depeche Mode, New Order, Erasure, etc

CD 2:
Failure – The La’s
A highly acclaimed indie band from the UK

First Day On A New Planet – Yatsura
Released in 1996
LP: Self titled album
No band info

Waiting – The Rentals
LP: Return of The Rentals
An American alternative band formed by one of the members of Weezer

Anyway – Lemonheads
LP: Lick
An American modern rock band that started as a punk band and grew famous during the grunge era in the 90s. The line-up of the band rapidly changed. Evan Dando was the only original member remained in the 90s. The band eventually moved towards folk-rock territory with punk influence in the 90s with hit songs such as Mrs. Robinson (Simon and Art Garfunkel’s cover), It’s A Shame About Ray, etc.

Animal – 3D’s
LP: Strange News From The Angels
An excellent New Zealander independent rock band with great influence from Sonic Youth

Time To Get Ready – The Bats
LP: The Law of Things
Another excellent New Zealander indie band good in producing melodic tunes

Overdrawn – Verlaines
LP: Ready To Fly
Probably it’s a New Zealander indie band

We Have Forgotten – Sixpence None The Richer
LP: Self titled album
American dream-pop band famous for covering The La’s There She Goes

Makan Gaji – Azmyl Yunor
Released in 2005
EP: Tenets (bonus track from Azmyl Yunor’s EP) & LP: Panic In The Peninsula (Various Artistes compilation)
A band member of the inactive Maharajah Commission. Also a member of Ben’s B*tches. A very active singer-songwriter in the local music scene with lecturing as his day job.

Strangest Ways – Southern Culture On The Skids
LP: Plastic Seat Sweat
A unique American independent band that incorporates surf music with country music

The Wind Knows My Name – Fairground Attraction
Released in 1988 (RCA Records)
LP: The First Of A Million Kisses
An 80s British band that incorporate waltz, country music, folk, pop, blues, and jazz into their excellent album, The First Of A Million Kisses. Their famous hit songs are Find My Love and their number one UK hit song, Perfect. Unfortunately the band didn’t last long. The band members went their separate ways. The lead singer, Eddi Reader, went solo and another member formed a new band.

You Can’t Find Me – The Datsuns
LP: Outta Sight/Outta Mind
No info

Crazy Town – Velocity Girl
Released in 1993 (Sub Pop)
LP: Copacetic
Rather odd for this American indie band to be in the record label, Sub Pop, famous for mostly grunge bands in the 90s.

Remember Me – The Zutons
LP: Who Killed….
No info

Bucket – Kings Of Lean
LP: Aha Shake Heartbreak
No info

Water Boy – Imperial Teen
Released in 1996 (Slash Records)
LP: Seasick
An American indie band without much info available

Prisoner of War – Civil Disorder
Released in 2005
EP: It’s A Warning & LP: Come Together compilation
A local teenage positive punk band from Ampang, K.L. Currently active in the local independent music scene

Ceremony – New Order
A British electro-pop band that emerged from the ashes of the darker Joy Division after the suicide of the lead singer in the 80s. The band is still alive and kicking today.

Your Smiling Face – The Oddfellows
LP: Teenage Head and LP: Bugs & Hisses
A famous Singaporean indie band lead by Patrick Chng.

Red Lips – Distortion Felix
LP: I M An Athlete
No info

Lifestyles… - Track Star
LP: Communication Breaks
No info

Giant Steps – Toenut
LP: Two In The Pinata
No info

Come Together Compilation

As a Malaysian independent music lover for over a decade, I decided to work on this crazy project at the beginning of 2005.

The idea is to get together various local independent bands to release a compilation album. At the same time, the bands can help one another to promote other bands' music to their friends and fans.

The project was filled with frustration for me. I almost gave up a few times but someone somehow will managed to convince me to carry on. During the project, a favourite band of mine pulled out, I lost the financial backup, lots of delay in obtaining the songs, lots of delay in the production, etc. No doubt I learned about management and music business in the process.

No commercial corporate is involved in the project. The project was done individually by a music lover for music lovers.

With the help of Fathul from Fathullistiwa Soundscapes (former member of Infectious Maggots and Spiral Kinetic Circus), he managed to get Love Never Dies to participate in the compilation and also managed to get his friend to do the remastering in a low cost budget.

The compilation managed to be released around Feb of 2006 around Chinese New Year. There are totally 19 songs from 19 bands.


Songs list:

1. Come On - Bittersweet
EP: Night & Morning Tales
Genre: Indie

2. Paula Malai Ali - Ben's Bitches
LP: National Disservice
Genre: Punk

3. Stand Still - Lucy In The Loo
EP: People & Things
Genre: Indie

4. Slingshot - The Fridays
EP: Bigger Than The Both of Us
Genre: Indie

5. I'll Be Waiting - The Sweetest Thing
EP: The Sweetest Thing
Genre: Indie, Punk, Emo mixture I think

6. Blood - A Mantle The Sea
EP: Take A Powder
Genre: Indie with jazz influence

7. Electro Synapse - Lurks
Single: Synapse
Genre: Electro-pop, Bjork influence

8. Full Throttle - Predicate Not Defined
EP: Childhood of Civilization
Genre: Metal

9. Prisoner of War - Civil Disorder
EP: It's A Warning
Genre: Punk with Reggae & Ska influence

10. Bone Dry - Azmyl Yunor
EP: Tenets
Genre: Singer-songwriter, alternative country

11. Cuma - Fathullistiwa Soundscapes
LP: Romantikarat
Genre: Electro-pop with goth influence, Fathul calls it Pontianak pop

12. Only One - Harmacy
EP: Here To Here
Genre: Indie, folk

13. Point of No Return - Shock System
Unreleased at the time when this compilation is done. The EP is released now
Genre: Metal/Hardcore

14. Stay - Evert
Unreleased
Genre: Indie

15. Exit To Misery - Furion Escalada
Unreleased
Genre: Metal

16. Endless - Criedbaby
EP: Endless
Genre: Indie, grunge

17. Disco Sludge - Maharajah Commission
LP: Dialogue Amoureux
Genre: Experimental , indie, sometimes reminds me of Pavement

18. Sweet Revenge – Love Never Dies
Unreleased
Genre: Electro pop, goth, reminds me of New Order

19. A Night In Shamayin - Eye Of Shamayin
Upcoming EP: Eye of Shamayin
Genre: Lo-fi, dream pop

Price: RM6 only (hand to hand)

Please contact umbrellarec@gmail.com for more details