We have a blast in using Ohdio.FM. With its cutting-edge features, we are blown away with the number of curated playlist and local songs that are on Ohdio.FM. To know more about Ohdio.FM, we decided to have a talk  with two of the founders of Ohdio.FM, Yoga Nandiwardhana and Ario Tamat, to know more about this radio-artist website, Indonesian music, and their ideas to introduce a qualified local music to the Indonesians.

Can you tell us the story behind Ohdio and who was the pioneer of this?

Yoga : Me and Ario. We’ve known each other for a long time. Ario once worked for a music label and we used to talk a lot about digital music. When Ario worked in Vietam, we realized that there was no music website for Indonesian music, meanwhile we could easily find a music website that contains of international artists, such as Spotify. It all started from a small talk and it led us to the ideas for making it happen. After everything seemed in the bag, we needed a programmer to run our concepts, because both of us were not savvy enough for the programming stuffs, so we asked one of our programmer friends to join the project. When all things were set, we decided to ask our friends, Citra, who happened to be very good in designing our ideas. So, the original member of Ohdio was four people. Not so long after we launched Ohdio, our programmer withdrew from the project. As the time goes by, we found a better projection for Indonesian music and it transformed to Ohdio.

So, Spotify basically inspired Ohdio?

Ario : Not really. The reason why we establish Ohdio is to give local music enthusiasts a good option to find a qualified local music. When we perused all of the details, we took some refferences from numerous music website. The story behind Ohdio is just not because we see there is Spotify, Last.Fm, or those music websites, but it inspired from my own experience in finding a good local music. When I worked in Vietnam, I had zero idea of Indonesians music.So, we come to a decision of how to get a good information of local music easily. And Indonesian music actually has one of the biggest market, despite of there are 240 millionIndonesians, there are also million of Indonesians who live abroad. These people must be having a hard time to discover good indonesian music. Even On i-Tunes, there are not so many indonesian music that we can find. And it doesn’t represent the need of Indonesians for finding a good indonesian music.

Yoga : that’s why we are trying to create a product which can provide Indonesians with a qualified indonesian music. We have a huge number of listener of Indonesian music, it is such a sad thing to know our people are not getting good references of Indonesian music, because the only medium where they can find it is just what are shown on tv.

Ario : Indonesia has a great amount of songs from the 50s to 2000s which people don’t really know. And it’s all because they don’t know where to find them. So, we are trying to make Ohdio as the place for them to discover Indonesian music.

We found it that Ohdio is using Indonesian for its language. Why not using English, to broaden the audience segment?

Yoga : Hmm, just like what Ario has said before. There are 240 million Indonesians, the number of Indonesians who use internet to listen to music are quite huge too. We already have a plan for Ohdio’s international listeners, but for now, we are focusing on our local listeners.

So, How do you approach the Indonesians to use Ohdio as their one stop entertainment for Indonesian music?

Ario : We believe Ohdio can go viral. There are so many new products with a massive campaign. They are all over the place, however once the hype is over, people don’t really care about it anymore. And we don’t want the same thing happens to Ohdio. So, it’s better to take little step than do a big leap, we need to make sure of everything. It may take some time, but once we have it, we’ll have loyal listeners.

Can you explain to us the process of updating the playlists on Ohdio? Because we saw that it has some segments for some specific time.

Yoga : yes, that is true. Everything has been designed to represent the activities and the mood of the listeners. For example, at 7 am to 12, we’ll have playlist to people who are currently working at their office, and in the afternoon, the playlist will be more laid back.

Speaking of playlist, I heard that the playlists are picked by Music journalist and music directors. How is the process to have them to contribute for Ohdio?

 Yoga : I personally approach them to create a playlist for us. We want to make the playlist on Ohdio to be curated. On 8track, everyone can make their own playlist, but not everyone can make a one hell of a good playlist. So we decided to have some music professionals to create the playlist for us.

How often does the playlist get to be updated?

Yoga : all the time! But we don’t have some strict period where we have to update them.Some playlists have their own listeners, if we find that the current songs have been the listeners’ favourite, we won’t update the playlist. For example, the songs in Ohdio Hits are the new entry songs, so we manage to keep it updated all the time.

Why use these people to create the playlist? Are you sure their picks will represent what the listeners would like to listen to?

Yoga : we always make sure that their playlists can represent the listeners.

 Ario : why we have these people to create the playlitst, because we are not only giving the listeners what songs that can represent them, but also we want to give them a qualified playlist, it help the listeners to enrich their knowledge of local music. We put some classic indonesians songs in every playlist as long as those musics can represent the theme that the playlist has. So people will know that we have Indonesian all time favourite which can work well in certain moments.

Ohdio is aiming on Indonesian music discovery, so you manage to get all the new songs to be on the playlist or you do some selection before putting them on?

Ario : The songs on Ohdio are classified by the playlist’s theme. Ohdio is a medium to express your feelings and your special moments. And we use music playlists as its language.

In 2012, ohdio was Ohd.io and now it has changed into Ohdio.FM. What makes the differences of it? Is it pretty much just a rebranding for its image?

Yoga : Yeah, we want to make Ohdio to be more memorable. And it’s just not transforming the image, but we also add some new features.

Ario : when we launched the first Ohdio, it didn’t really speak the visions that we have, so by changing it we hope Ohdio can be more fun and much easier to be understood and used. Instead of having some long explanation of Ohdio, we have described the current tag line with “Mendengarkan musik itu gampang (Listening to music is easy)” and Ohdio does make it easy.

Let’s talk about Ohdio on Smartphones. You already have it for Windows Phone, when is the version of iOs and Android will be released?

Yoga : Coming soon! It’s under process.

Ario : ( showing the interface of the upcoming version of Ohdio for smartphones)

Is it possible for a new band to have their songs to be put on Ohdio? Who knows some of their work can represent the themes that Ohdio’s playlist has.

Yoga : Totally, they can straightly send their work to our e-mail. And we’ll have it processed, either the songs are suitable for our playlists or not.

Ario : yeah, we need to be selective for the songs. Because we have to keep the idealism of having a good quality music on ohdio.

For the last two years, the live music scene in Malaysia has grown rapidly. From being under the radar to one of the best live music destinations for the live music enthusiasts. We had a chat with Ben Law, the man who also takes control in elevating the live music scene in Malaysia, we talked a lot about the beginning of Future Sound Asia, the bitter-sweet memories, and some insight story of being a promoter in Malaysia.

Hi, Ben. Can you tell us a bit about the beginning of Future Sound Asia (FSA) and did you start it with some close friends or you got to gather some business experts to start it?

I was young,I did go clubbing a lot back in the days and I loved the party life. I thought it would be so cool to be organizing these events. Then I gathered a few friends to join me to do this, we did our first event and lost a lot of money. Eventually my friends all fell out and I kept going. After a few events, I manage to cover back the loses and continue doing it.

I learn most of the business through the internet. I didn’t have any friends then who are in the industry to guide me, so I learn it all by myself.

How was the thing when FSA firstly appeared as a promoter? Did you find it a bit hard to be a promoter in Malaysia because of some Malaysia’s regulations and strict rules?

Every country has their obstacles and challenges. We find a solution to it and stick to the rules. That way authorities are happy and we still get to do our shows.

When was the hardest year for FSA to start growing and why? Do you have any specific periode for that?

I think the first 5 to 6 years (2001 – 2005) was pretty tough for us. I started pretty young when I was 21 and that time there were already so many established promoters. We find it hard to get acts as well as getting sponsors to fund our events. Not many took us seriously.

Any particular names that you’ve been working so hard to get them to Malaysia? Or some names that you actually got them booked but they cancelled at last minute?

There are so many artist that we have been trying to get them for a long time but some just didn’t workout. So we keep trying and trying. For example, I am a big fan of Tiesto, I only manage started to work with him after10 years. This year will be our 2nd time hosting him.

I am glad no one ever cancelled on us before at the last minute and I hope that doesn’t happen in the future.

Would you like to share us some insight about the promoters’ work? Since everyone is asking about its process and really keen to know how does it feel like to work with the best names in International music industry.

It’s a very proud feeling to see a great show to a great audience. That’s what keep us going. It’s a long process putting everything together. From the artist to the sponsors, to the production, to the promotion and to the show. We are always excited for every show we do. It never gets bored.

Singapore promoters have been dominating the live music scene. Somehow they could get the artists to make Singapore as the only show for South-East Asia region. Do you see it that the Singaporeans market is stronger than Malaysia and Jakarta? Or it’s the Singaporeans promoters who have a strong base in booking artist?

I think Malaysia and Indonesia market are getting much stronger in the past few years. We are getting equally fair share of good shows nowadays. Singapore currency is really strong so it’s to their advantage. If our currency were as strong, I would reckon there will be much more shows here.

Malaysia had been under the radar when it comes to live music scene, but then some huge names start coming to Malaysia to have a show. I found some Malaysians said they wish KL’s live music scene had been this great many years earlier. So, does It take time to elevate the level of KL’s concerts and festival? Or?

It did take us awhile. Back then, not everyone could afford a ticket to a show. As the time goes by and the countries economy has become better, things started to change. People have better incomes and are willing to spend a bit more. 5 years ago our ticket prices to our shows are USD10, now it’s on average USD50. We needed the market to be ready before we could do it.

It’s like you and FSA team are putting Malaysia on the map of live music enthusiasts’ destinations from Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, and Bangkok. Did you also do some survey or research about the concerts in SG/Jakarta to help you creating concerts in KL?

We are constantly surveying the market, not only in Asia but also around the world. We get our inspiration from other shows and that contributes in how we do/plan our show. We are constantly learning.

I found on twitter that people are whining about the ticket prices, meanwhile they are asking some big names to have a concert in KL. do you think this is the biggest obstacle to bring huge artists to Kuala Lumpur? And what do you to manage this kind of thing?

People are constantly whining, not only at our shows. It’s the same around the world. It will never end. We try to put out the best ticket prices possible to make it affordable. We usually don’t cut down on production so people can enjoy a good show, by that we hope they get their moneys worth.

Beside of the obstacles, do you find any advantages for being a promoter in Malaysia? Like the positive/plus sides in Malaysia that help you in bringing artists? (Example : the support from the Government)

The government recently are being quite supportive, we have a couple of shows that was supported by them. It’s good to see our own government is appreciating our work with the goal of elevating countries tourism.

What are the best thing of Malaysian live music enthusiast has that other countries’ don’t have?

Our ticket prices arguably one of the cheapest in the world.

If you were asked to collaborate with one of the Indonesian promoters, who you’d love to work with and why?

Christian Rijanto from Ismaya group. We converse a lot with each other. He has a good business sense and a great vision. You can see the events that he puts out are really top notch. It will be awesome to be able to do something together.

This year seems like a very unstoppable year for you and your team. So do you have any bigger concept or plans for next year that will blow people’s mind?

We constantly strive to do new but not necessary bigger shows. There are some ideas we are exploring, hopefully all goes well in the years to come.

Thanks for your time Ben Law. We really hope that FSA will keep bringing great artists to Malaysia! Keep rocking the country!

Tiga James Sontag is a man with fingers in many EDM pies. Inspired by the rave culture in Goa, India, he was exposed to in his earlier years, Tiga was influential in establishing the underground EDM club scene in his native Montreal. After running an also influential record store, he now manages other DJs and producers, hosts a show on BBC Radio 6 called “My Name is Tiga” and his own career as a DJ/producer is stronger than ever. Oh, and heś also a one-time film star. SVANAPAPER got the chance to sit down with the pie-poking man himself for a quick chat before his memorable set at Unknown Festival a while back.

Hi Asra.What have you been up to lately?

Hallo. I’ve been working with Pandai Besi and organizing events at @atamerica. I also take part in mixing and mastering of Max Havelaar’s album. I have finished the mixing of Monday Math Class, about to get its art cover done, I’d assume it’ll be up in just a few months. And lastly, I’m working on the keyboards for Sajama Cut’s upcoming album.

I see, it seems you have tons of things to do! Well, we’d like to talk about the stage photography.You started your career as aphotographer in San Francisco for SPIN Magazine. Can you tell us how it started?

I was working as a freelancer for SPIN’s San Francisco. There were like 4 people, and I was one of them. It was pretty accidentaI, I never had any idea that I would end up being a photographer, but I used to see photographs in magazines and for some reason it seemed to be quite fun. Then I started using my pocket camera, I went to 4-5 concerts in a week to take some pictures (of them). There was a lot of concerts, almost every night, so I took pictures and people seem to notice. One of the things that made me stand-out was the fact that I was called ‘Muhammad’, with the name like that, and being Asian, and I was always around, so the word gets around. I started my freelance work in SPIN with the help of a friend, his roommate was looking for a photographer and he recommended me.

In 2011, You released a book entitled “Backstage Pass”. How did it start? Was it because you already have a great number of photos in your “photo bank” or?

It was actually the publisher’s idea. It’s Aul’s idea, Aul is the keyboardist of Everybody Loves Irene. He used to work at UNKL, he had the first concept to launch a book and I feel so honored that someone was so willing to help me to make it happen. The publisher also wanted the book to contain of local musicians only, because they thought there was no books about stage photography in Indonesia nor a book that was created by Indonesian stage photographers. So, “Backstage Pass” is the first and only book that has it all in Indonesia.

Stage photography has become such a trend lately, what do you think of it?

The first time I saw it happened was in 2008 when I was still in SF. I started posting my photographs on Kaskus’ music forum. And then people started doing the same thing. Since 2008, I see the trend and interest of stage photographed has increased rapidly, and there’s also a community of it called StageID. So I pretty much see it as a good thing.

In music, people have their own influence, does the same thing happen in photography? Who’s your role model that has been influencing you a lot?

It’s all back to the beginning of my story. Since I jump to this field accidentally, so it’s not the photographer who inspired me, it’s more like the concert itself that inspired me to work on it. But as time goes by, there are some photographers that have attracted my attention when I was about to pursue photography, which are Todd Owyoung (ishootshow.com); he’s really active in stage photography, and NME’s Danny North, and Anton Corbijn, he is a Netherlands-based photographer and film maker.   One of his works that I adore so much is when he covered U2.

In Indonesia?

I’d say Darwis Triadi. Who didn’t grow up reading HAI Magazine? Most of teenagers in my era must have grown up reading it. Even before I had any interest in photography, I’ve known him.

If we look at your photographs, you have a certain characteristic in your work, without having it water-marked, we know that the works are yours. So, what is the process until you can find your own character?

Thanks for saying that! Maybe it’s because I used to go to a concert that is held in a small venue, so I had an easier access to take good pictures. I learn it by getting a front row at concerts. But as I returned to Indonesia, most of the photographers were using tele, not a wide-lense. Well, maybe that’s why people say so (about having a character). I always try to get the best and closest position from my object. Because I want to capture what I see right in front of my eyes and make sure that I won’t miss that moment. The other reason is, if you get to the front row, the musicians will recognize you and they might have pulled some pose.

You already have your name in this profession. Does it give any pressure to your work?

Not at all. Im not trying to be cocky, but I only take (pictures) of what I like. So, there’s no pressure at all. If I consider the photos unsuitable, I’m not going to post them.

In Journalistic photography, captioning is one of the most important things, what do you think of it?

I’m not a fan of captioning my photographs, the actual reason is because Im way too lazy to put it on. But, sometimes I put the caption if the photo has some interesting story behind it. For example, when I took a photograph of Karen O in Singapore in 2010, the interesting story was when she gave the mic to person who was sitting next to me. But if the photos dont have any interesting story, I’m just gonna let the photos do the talk.

What are your best and worst moments during your time in stage photography?

There’s a lot actually. One of the best moments was when I took photos for The Flaming Lips concert in Singapore 2010. The band really gave a great show, both for the audience and for photographers. The vocalist entered into this spherical ball, and the ball was thrown to the audience’s direction. It was theatrical. Then there was Arcade Fire’s concert in 2008, which was held in a stadium with thousands of people. It was massive, I was shocked after I entered the venue seeing how big and how crowded it is.

For worst moments, there’s not really a specific one. But sometimes it does get a bit uncomfortable with concerts in Indonesia cause the EO usually don’t understand how to serve photographers.

This is the last one, any tips to photographer who wants to learn on stage photography?

• Get as close as possible to the object you want to capture.
• Don’t post all 30 pictures that looks almost the same, it’s better to choose wisely the ones that are detailed, close-up, half-framed, or where it shows the whole scenery. There’s no written rule about this but, just don’t do it.
• Don’t give up. When I covered for 30 Seconds to Mars, it was awfully crowded and the media pit was cancelled. I thought that it was impossible to get a shot. Then I squeezed intonthe crowd and I finally got some pictures. Don’t give up until you get the picture you want.

Follow Asra on twitter and check out his works on his flickr.

It has been raining quite frequent off late, being the only two ‘seasons’ of weather that we have in Malaysia : Rain, or shine. Rain, day after day after day and it does not look like its about to end anytime soon. What would usually be best thing to do on a post rainy evening? Sit in your room snuggling under your favourite blanket, drink your favorite tea and watch your favorite movie would usually be part of the list, but on the night when Ólafur Arnalds came down to Malaysia for his “For Now I Am A Writer” tour fans all over evidently would rather choose to be at The Bee, Publika instead of watching their favorite movie with a mug of tea at home.

No opening bands, no shenanigans, and no Air Conditioning (Oh No!), Ólafur hit the stage straight to his grand piano with the assistance of a cellist, Paul Grennan, violinist, Victor OrniArnason and with the help of his trusty MacBook, they hit the stage. Needless to say, there was pin drop silence in the venue waiting for the composer to hit his first note. Well, at least till someone asks for an order or somebody dropped something in the kitchen. Other than that the ambience was serene, justifying why the air conditioners were switched off.

Opening the set was ‘GleypaOkkur’ , a track from his previous album “And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness”, a subtle start to his set. Enthralling the audience with every note haunting them from within. Personally, it even gave us chills down our spine. Moving on to his next piece, took a bit of time to show off his persona on stage by sharing a story of how the next song was written; “Poland”. The song related to his adventures to Eastern Europe enjoying what they are famous for, of course nothing other than, Vodka. Progressing into his set, several The pupils who were with us this Tuesday had a great time exploring the free school supplies and getting involved in a range of activities created by Mrs Tait and Mrs Wallace. other notable songs were played from his found songs collection to his latest album, even Victor (Violinist) and Paul (Cellist) slotted in a solo of their respective instruments to flair up the night.

Ólafur’s uncanny humor gave a more gleam feel to the gig (Its funnier with his Icelandic accent really) he took pauses in between songs to interact with the crowd, telling them stories like how he used to be in a punk rock band so the heat doesn’t effect him at all or that he actually wrote a song about bath tubs, ‘Ljósið’ and people misinterpret it to be something deeper than it actually is. Or that he’s seen nothing but his hotel, the highway and the mall that we were in leaving him to only be able to say “You guys have nice highways”. He has his eccentric sense of humor but when he started playing the piano, every stroke of the instrument is a haunting experience. Making your mind travel deep into a lake of emotion. Especially with the absence of lyrics, you are free to interpret how the music touches you on your own. It could be empowering, joyous or even just down right depressing.

Other notable songs to the night would be ‘Alltvarðhljótt’ , a song that Ólafur wrote for a film where “The main protagonists kills her friends” thus summing up the entire movie of, The hunger games. His finale to his set was “Near light”, a song that gave him a standing ovation from the entire room wishing they could have more to hear but to only leave them with nothing but what the internet people would say , “The Feels”. (Zafran Aqil)

What better way to start a new month with a concert and nothing is better than Delphic which is well-known for their alternative-dance style.Opening the show was local talent that is nothing short of amazing (not to be mistaken with the greenpeace movement though) Kyoto Protocol!As an upcoming alternative indie rock band of Malaysia which a resume that boasts their countless performances as the opening act for an impressive streak of International acts such as MGMT and We The Kings, they make the perfect fit to warm the crowd up just before Delphic comes to stage. At ten-to-nine, Kyoto Protocol took center stage with such panache psyching the crowd after performing their hit “Never know” that Delphic would come on but NO! They progressed with performing their new hit single “KL I love you” and ended with chart-topper “Give Me Nothing”.

The night progressed and the crowd has been pumped up just enough to get their dancing shoes ready for the highlight of the night, Delphic. The quartet of a band consisting of James Cook, MattCocksedge, Dan Hadley, and Richard Boardman (might I add that they all look like they came casino online right out of Lookbook) went up with such dapper style and opened with their new hit ‘Baiya’ from their latest album.  The second they started performing the crowd went wild and they continued with such energy till the end of the set.  The band really got the crowd’s attention by alternating songs from their new album and their hit freshman album with “Halcyon”, “Red lights”, and some from their new album “Mameo” and “Of the young”. Throughout the whole set I personally couldn’t shake off the feeling that the lead (Cook) looks ridiculously handsome and had a vibe to him that reminded me of Morrissey of The Smiths, from the way he swung his hips and to the way he flipped his hair. Maybe it wasjust a Manchester thing that I don’t now about. Another interesting point to note was that the rest of the band also had their own signature moves going on, with Matt and his awkward but lively footwork, and Dan with his intense head nodding.

Aside from the unfortunately poor audio quality with the overpowering pitch from the guitar and Boardman’s microphone being a tad too soft, the night as a whole met my expectations.  At the peak of the night, after the lights went dim (as requested by the band) they hit it up with their cherry to our already-indulgent sundae, “Doubt”! Oh hot fudge-cakes, this performance was beyond mind-blowing that gave us this intense rush of emotions permeating through the floor.  These people really don’t hold back when it comes to performing live. Right after, they announced their set over (BOO!!!) but only to come back on stage (what a tease!) to perform“Clarion Call”, their adieu to the whole show. Well, there they were on stage in Kuala Lumpur for their very first time and as the cat-calls indicated, the crowd loved them. Delphic definitely gave their well-acclaimed 5-star live performance that Brits and Asians(and everyone else) truly love. (Zafran Aqil)