Kevin Yeoh

Just got back from Imran Ajmain’s ‘Dengan Secara Kebetulan’ album launch for Malaysia at Annexe at Central Market, which was titled ‘Dengan Secara Akustik’. Here are only a couple of snaps to tease you and as usual, you have to wait for my review in Junk magazine.

And now to the videos.

After the show, I went through the rain, crowded train and traffic jam back to my house with this Altimet riot.

“Congrats Imran!”

That’s a name you should be looking out for.

This boy’s got plenty of potential ahead of him, and I am not talking about eating Oreos. We love and crave for fresh talents and this is one endangered one. Big up to Iman.

I bet you have no idea I dig Chinese songs too. Yes, I used to own cassettes by a few Chinese artistes. It was a phase as I watched too much Jade Solid Gold show on TV. Faye Wong was always the revolutionary one amongst the rest, although she did stole Björk’s look way too many times. At least she was brave enough to do something different and not so prim and proper. Oh that voice. Simply mesmerisingly beautiful. She’s got this pretty tone that can be pretty creepy at times. Probably channeling both Björk and Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries. I remember oh so well how she covered Tori Amos’ ‘Silent All These Years’, Karyn White’s ‘Superwoman’ and The Cranberries’ ‘Dreams’ in Cantonese. She was considered ‘alternative’ in Chinese music. Faye has a lot of great moments in music.

This is the first and only CD I got of Faye Wong.

It’s a July 1996 release and I love love love it until today which I cherish so much. This album, 浮躁 which translates Impatience, spawned some great tracks from her and this Mandarin release was really groundbreaking for me to hear Chinese music in such an edgy move. Sometimes she chants lines that nobody understands, which is just so Björk. I guess it’s probably her Buddhist chants as they were her elements at this period of time. There’s a great haunting track written by Cocteau Twins which I simply adore called (Sao Xing) which in translation means ‘Repressing Happiness’. Download it here.

I miss Faye. I wonder what happened to her?

This post makes me want to go out and get her CDs. Oh, godammit, I want this 1994 討好自己 (Integrate Oneself) CD!! Arghhh! Anyone has it? I really want it! I want it I want it I want it!!

The latest Juara Lagu has just ended on TV3. Adibah Noor’s ‘Terlalu Istimewa’ deserved hers last year and it is probably one of the most beautiful local songs I have ever heard. She’s dope, but she deserves better songs and props. Let’s move on to this year’s. It’s at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil, which is a bigger venue and it looked grand. I have followed Juara Lagu on and off since school days already, and it has grown so much, it’s making me feel old. Dayang opened the show and I think it’s probably simply because she is awesome, she can do the impossibles, looks awesome and they are ashamed they can’t have Dayang as one of the nominees these year. Hell yeah.

I noticed there were 2 types of camera working on, which made it confusing for me, as I was looking at it from a production point of view. After Dayang did her cover of Ning Baizura’s ‘Senang Tari’ and Tiara Jacquelina’s ‘Asmaradana’, the 4 hosts appeared out from behind the dancers lined in front of the stage, but the blue lights did not show them clearly, and it got cut to a long shot from the top, with intersections of the backstage, which clearly was a mistake and I can totally understand live shows. I let that go.

First part of the show, they prompt out the wrong name for Farah Fauzana, which Cheryl’s name actually appeared. Then I realised how technical I was getting at these, so I let it go too. One thing I wasn’t happy about recent Juara Lagu competitions are it’s also SMS based. Well, at least the voting is only valid during the performance of the competiting song. But still, I hate SMS votes.

Now, let’s get on with the show. First up was rock band Jinbara who definitely is in need of a stylist, yes they do. I didn’t pay attention to ‘Farhana’, but it was really kapak.

Nora sounds great on ‘Samudera’, though some may think of her as boring these days. Ain’t feeling the song though. She just doesn’t evolve at all, from the beginning of her career. Nora is predictable.

Fazli Zainal was so dramatic, he looked like Michael Jackson and he should stop flaring his nostrils. He performed ‘Harapan’, a song he wrote with Hazami. It ain’t good enough.

What was Siti wearing? Oh dear God. The hood and soldier/Smurf look is so old. It’s inappropriate. Don’t know how she got to the finals though, because ‘Destinasi Cinta’ ain’t that good, but it’s great to see her out and about, and dancing (better). I am in fact, a fan of hers. No more tackiness ok, Siti?

I don’t know who Fiq is, but he sure does look bad with the red ends hair, he looked like the lead singer of AFI, a monkey and a girl put together. Yo, too much make-up, unless it’s on purpose for his ‘edgy look’. ‘Mahakarya Cinta’ is orginally nominated for Faizal Tahir, the guy who tool off his shirt on national TV and got banned for showing nipples, so this nutcase took his place. His look was so loud, I don’t even remember the song!

Aishah came on next with ‘Kasihnya Balqis’. I love Aishah’s stage shows. She definitely knows how to work it as an entertainer. Yo, I loved her ‘Cinta Beralih Arah’ and it won Juara Lagu too yo! Don’t mess, she’s got great vocals.

First duet song of the night was on. Andy of Flop Poppy looked great, but he did put on weight on the face. He may look round, but I want his jacket!! The ‘Sembunyi’ duet with Misha Omar is no good. It sounded so messy. Performance was too small for the stage no matter how hard Misha tries to ‘work it’. I think our artistes need to know stage control. Presence, especially.
Another band I have never heard of was next. Sofaz’s ‘Janjiku’ sounds predictable, but nice. Decent. I think competitions like these, one should know not to shout out, ‘Apa khabar Stadium Putra!!?’ It’s just so not flattering.

Sahri of Akademi Fantasia did ‘Izinkan Ku Pergi’, which is a Kaer song. Kaer is in Jakarta and could not compete, unfortunately. He did not make the song any pleasant… I wasn’t pleased. I tried not looking at the TV while he was performing. Oh gosh, that blinging purple jacket has to go! Was wishing so hard that Kaer was doing it himself, really.

Werrlllll…. Deedster’s boy, Mawi was next with ‘Angan Dan Sedar’. This ‘phenomenal’ artiste got these almost-hip dancers for his performance. It was so not him and I cringe. His gimmick of a wardrobe change behind a black cloth leading to younger dancers change were tacky. I bet Deedster likes it much. Sorry Mawz, I still ain’t feeling ya.

‘Ceritera Cinta’ by Jaclyn Victor and Lah Ahmad of Ruffedge was an obvious crowd-pleasing song. I think I am beginning to be annoyed with Jac’s voice for some reason. Lah needs to control his vocals with the microphone. They did not look solid together, for sure. I did not enjoy this at all. Probably it’s because I am not so into Jac…

Azwin’s band, Estranged was next with their big Malay hit ‘Itu Kamu’. After oh so long, this song still lives on. I didn’t like the arrangement in the beginning of their performace. It seemed pretentious with the quiet things down and made it dramatic. It’s actually interesting to see the show categorised this as Pop Rock, when this obviously is a ballad, in reality. Ah well, that’s just how the beauty of Muzik Muzik is.

I was mesmerised by the intro Ramlah Ram’s performance, but it did not flip well into the song. It was a nice song though. Loved the Chinese elements of ‘Dirgahayu’ which made it so grand. It’s amazing how she has lasted so long in the industry and still looks almost the same after all these years. I give props to her.

Because Faizal Tahir is banned from the show, his other competing song is replaced by the very gay Akademi Fantasia guy, Bob. ‘Kasih Tercipta’ is a very nice song and I wanted Bob to do a bad job with it. Fortunately for him, it was a job well done, actually. But the host had to cut in at the wrong time at the end, thinking it was the end, but actually a dramatic pause before the high. Luckily it was saved quickly. Bob’s got a good voice. I think the problem with my beef with a lot of artistes in Malaysia is their bad music selection. Sigh.

While waiting for the results, there were a few performance based on the theme of love. But before that, host Ally Iskandar, said ’senget’ instead of ’sengit’, which I thought was really funny. Random, I know. Alright, so the very gay Hazami started with his ‘Kata’ which won him a Juara Lagu Pop Rock category before and I have no comment. Then it was Hattan and Dayang Nurfaizah with ‘Gejora’ which was definitely a weird combination, but Dayang sounds awesome with her soulful interpretation. Oh, before realising it was Hattan, I thought it was Joe Flizzow! Forgive me Joe. Nikki came on next with her ‘Caramu’. Yo, what’s up with the hair? It looks BAD. Then I was so happy to see Ziana Zain performing her brother’s ‘Keabadian Cinta’, coming out from the back of the audience. She looks amazing, but her version of the song was lacking greatness. It was all over the place and not as on point as she used to be unfortunately. A hot mess for sure. 3 guys called The Lima came out singing Siti Nurhaliza’s ‘Seindah Biasa’, and it was super weird and not good. La di da.

Alright now, the winners. Do you know the Juara Lagu winner gets RM25,000?! What the fuck? Why do they still need to win money?! Ah well. Who am I to even question a legendary show’s regulations and prizes.

Best Vocal went to Jac and Lah and I went to a whattt? I am in disbelief. It sounded like a mess and predictable because it’s Jaclyn Victor. Mawi then won best performance. Well. I back this win for he does have a great stage presence. Big up to dancing Mawi. Ethnic Creative category went to Nora with ‘Samudera’, which was surprising. I wished it was Ramlah Ram, though. For Pop Rock, Estranged won with ‘Itu Kamu’! I had goosebumps when it was announced, probably for knowing Azwin. For the usually-biggest-category, Ballad, Kaer’s ‘Izinkan Ku Pergi’ won, but it’s Sahri who got the win. Congrats Kaer! I knew it, but still bitter Kaer did not performed that song himself.

Now. The big winner. The 22nd Juara Lagu went to Estranged’s ‘Itu Kamu’!

That’s definitely a big win for the band and I am happy for them. Well, let’s hope it’s not a one hit wonder because of that particular pop move of ‘Itu Kamu’ which became a massive hit. I always thought it was a I-heard-this-before song, but it slowly went alright with me. I sure hope they will continue to do well, despite this being a very different move for the band. Have you even heard their album? Probably they will be writing more Malay songs from now on. I won’t be surprised.

Overall, super interesting show this year. The ‘magical’ theme would have been much bearable if host Farah Fauzana did not stress it so much. Good effort. Can’t wait for next year’s!

I think it’s time for some rap to take over Muzik Muzik maynnneeeee. Let me see… Malique, Altimet, SSK and The Rebel Scum are the names from the top of my head now. You know how we do.

Yet still, it’s weird how recording artistes are going after each other in a singing competition.

Watch the whole Anugerah Juara Lagu Ke-22 show here.

Look, I love Mary J. Blige a lot, but she doesn’t give me the excitement to look forward to her music anymore. The goodness in Mary left last at her Mary album. In this world we live in that screams crowd-pleasing songs, it’s rare to find anyone would come and blow the shit out of me.

Erykah Badu does just that. She excites me and makes me oh so curious about her next release since day one with her Baduizm CD. The only other person who creates this spark of excitement would have to be Björk. The ladies know how to be revolutionary and real with their music, without doing it as music snobs, but what’s true rooted in their soul and hearts.

I got to know of Erykah when I saw her ‘On & On’ video being played on TV and on my first visit to Tower Records in KL Plaza years ago, I knew I had to get Baduizm, along with Mary J’s The Tour and Maxwell’s Embrya. I was in love with Badu’s neo-soul vibe that was so beautiful, I didn’t miss any of her albums. I absolutely loved her last CD, Worldwide Underground, despite the lack of recognition that it deserved.

Even without releasing the new album that will be out February 26th, there has been so much hype about her already. This is New Amerykah Part One : The 4th World War.

Those of you big on music news would probably know about this news and album cover too. You’d probably heard her leaked song, ‘Honey’ produced by the wizard, 9th Wonder, which got us all talking and bumping to it for weeks, I know I did. She even talked a little about ‘Honey’ in this clip.

I just got to check out her Madlib-produced single - ‘The Healer’ and it’s dope. I just got to know about Madlib yesterday and to find this single today was just meant to be. This track has a deliciously nostalgic ambiance, when R&B, Soul and Hip Hop were so fresh to listen to. It’s got it right here. Oriental twinkling and those voices that creep in to respond to Erykah every now and then. Hip-hop soul and R&B are basically synonymous today, but it’s rare that you hear something so deep come up against singing, rather than rapping. Love it when she dropped the line, ‘This one is for Dilla’. Word. This is the sound of a woman totally giving herself over to music, both that which she’s creating and that which created her. ‘The Healer’ is my favorite single of 2008 so far. Ya dig?

This ‘Analog Girl Living In A Digital World’ talks about the album.

Here’s the tracklisting that I found for the much-anticipated album:
1. “Amerykahn Promise”
2. “The Healer / Hip-Hop”
3. “Me”
4. “My People”
5. “Soldier”
6. “The Cell”
7. “Twinkle”
8. “Master Teacher”
9. “That Hump”
10. “Telephone”
11. “Honey” (Bonus)

End of February, please come soon!

Oh, let’s not forget Maxwell’s loooooong-anticipated new album called Black Summer’s Night to be released this year. 2008 sounds good already.

There were Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs’ Bad Boy Records’ first Bad Girls, Total. They released this classic R&B album in 1996, when R&B girl groups were hot back then and of course, R&B were at its best. Total has collaborated with LL Cool J on his ‘Loungin’ single and Ma$e’s ‘What You Want’. Kima, Keisha and Pam were smoking hot back then with that bad girls image and vocals that sounded like they just had shots of vodka and butterscotch. It was real smooth and sexy.

I remember the first time I knew of them was ‘When Boy Meets Girl’ that garnered local radio airplay, even though it wasn’t really released as a single. It sampled Bee Gee’s ‘Love You Inside Out’ classic, and it features 112 as background vocals. I just discovered this last year that the track was produced by The Neptunes, back when they were really starting out. It explains the song so much more now.

Fortunately enough for me, I got my hands on their first cassette in Sitiawan. It was in my walkman player for weeks. I loved how urban it was, because it was edgier than the stuff that was around and it did come across as cheeky, naughty and bad. I’m proud to say I got my CD in the mail a few hours ago, which I bought from eBay because I just can’t help myself.

I was so in love with ‘No One Else’ that featured Da Brat and samples KRS-One’s ‘South Bronx’ that J-Lo sampled for her ‘Jenny On The Block’, FYI. That was how I learned about hip hop too, cos Puffy was sampling so many hip hop elements to the stuff me makes, which I had the most access to listen to. It was tough learning R&B and Hip Hop by myself when I have no resource. Puffy was a big source for me, which is why I still read every word in CD inlays. Not so much these days though.

After that album, Total did a track with Missy and Timbaland for the soundtrack to Soul Food called ‘What About Us’ which was probably their biggest hit ever. It was also one of my favourite work from the duo producer back then. Missy and Timbaland were no doubt, ground-breaking to the scene where they started to introduce new sounds and what was seemed as ‘futuristic’ back then. They opened up careers for Ginuwine, Magoo and the late Aaliyah, who took the risk to sound new. Total collaborating with them was a genius idea.

Total’s sophomore album titled Kima, Keisha, Pam was released after that and I thought it kinda sucked as they were trying too hard already. I guess that happens to a lot of artistes when you are not careful with your sophomores. It spawned one not-big-enough hit, though. That was the end for Total. It was pretty sad.

I miss the good ol’ days of R&B when everything was really good and you don’t need to scream to prove you’re good. Don’t you?

‘Rockstar’ comes to mind when we think about Heath Ledger’s death yesterday. Sleeping pills. Found naked. Though he surely doesn’t seem to look like that sort, but hey, it’s Hollywood.

Now that he’s gone, everyone’s on his business. People are more curious about his films and wanna relive the moment with his films. Just like how everyone worships Biggie and Pac right after this death.

When you say Rest In Peace, it means let the person rest in peace, literally. Not go bringing him back in mixtapes and mash-ups with other artistes. Yes, leave 2Pac alone! I’m sure he’s hating on a lot of his collaborations in store because other people are making money of their deaths. That is so wrong.

Enough of headlines about these Hollywood deaths. Yes it’s sad, but what about the other worse issues going on in the world that we ignore?

Rest in peace, Heath. You’ll be missed.

I just got to know about this Faizal Tahir case after Adlin asked me what I felt about it online last night. Let’s not pay attention to him as the runner-up in the first season of One In A Million for a second. Forget him as a reality star. Just focus on the situation.

He is banned from TV because he is a Malay entertainer who peeled off his shirt and threw it to the crowd, then revealing his faded-painted ‘S’ (for Superman) on his bare chest while performing live on TV for 8TV’s anniversary show. Right. I can understand that this is a Muslim thing, and the fact that he was a former member of a nasyid team that they made this such a big deal. Sometimes I feel this whole ‘Malaysian rules’ are getting very out of place. He’s a guy. Men walk around topless. Luckily they ain’t breasts or penis flopping around on stage.

Even though I am not a Faizal fan, especially since I have no idea whatsoever about his music, I think pulling him off TV, banning him from Juara Lagu and resembling this to that Janet-Boobie-exposure incident is really unfair. Come on. How many times have you watched television and see a topless man? Yeah, here and there. How many times have you watched television and see women scandalously clad in mini bikinis? Plenty!

Look, even if Faizal didn’t do it on TV, every other medium is anyways. People can download, surf, buy and see skin everywhere they go. If we are really conservative and so controversial, why didn’t we ban Siti Nurhaliza for not wearing tudung? Why did they allow local Malay female artiste perform in a club and showing off their belly? Why did Hannah Tan, a fellow Malaysian, allowed to show so much skin on an album cover? Why didn’t we talk about that Malay rap artiste who goes on stage with a cigarette?

Then there are people hating on the action and concentrating on his health. Quoting “Listen fag.. quit eating like a pig, cut down the carbohydrate, increase your protein, hit the gym more often with cardio and weight, and do this strip-shit again, hopefully that’ll cool down the public reaction abit. That sweaty lardy-gut just made all these people puke, what a disgraced scumbag!” I laugh reading that on how concerned and angry that person was with his physical look and that artistes are supposed to be perfect? Oh my oh my. It’s 2008, shouldn’t people realise artistes are human too and imperfections are allowed?

Bottom line is, this gimmick of his is totally acceptable, in my humble opinion. It’s not like nobody has never seen a topless man or with his underwear showing a little? It’s everywhere. He’s a dude, easy on him. It’s part of his repertoire and it’s because of you motherfuckers that we don’t get big artistes like Beyoncé in this part of the country.

Welcome to the real world, people. Cuti-Cuti Malaysia…

(22012008 Oh, I get the real story behind it already. It was bloody staged. Ah well, it figures. Somebody’s gonna get fired.)

I rarely see dance competitions around and I think they need to be given more props than what they have been getting. I’m sure there are a lot of talented real dancers out there, so, to all event companies, stop using amateurs to make your event look so weak.

This is the first time I have heard of this dance competition, 4th T-Hop Dance Master Challenge 2008, to be held at T-Hop on the 6th Floor in Sungei Wang Plaza. Straight up hip hop street dance competition and you won’t wanna miss it. Write it down in your calendar.

Thanks to Kimberly for the info.

These are the videos during my interview with DJ Premier a while back ago. This was my first big interview I ever did for Junk magazine and I was so happy meeting the legendary Primo himself. I was scared and nervous, but also super excited because oh come on, it’s Primo! I just thought I’d upload these and humiliate myself for a while. Let’s rewind back to 30th November 2006 night backstage at Zouk KL during Ghetto Heaven. Here we go.

I still can’t believe I actually sat beside him and spoke to him.