Australian singer Ruel’s first appearance was greeted by his fans roaring last night at Soehanna Hall, The Energy Building, Jakarta in a concert titled Ready Tour 2019 held by Ismaya Live.

A total of 13 songs performed by Ruel at the concert which began at 8pm yesterday included Jack Garratt’s song “Weathered” which he had brought in the Like A Version triple J radio segment where Ruel became the youngest performer in the segment.

“This song is one of the songs that started my journey,” Ruel said before singing the song. The screen on the stage also displays television images with various cartoon shows.

In addition to delivering flagship songs such as “Dazed & Confused”, “Not Thinkin ‘Bout You”, and “Say”, Ruel also performed three songs that he hasn’t released including “Real Thing”, “Unsaid”, and “Pain Killer” .

Ruel also performed two songs from The Weekend and John Legend namely “Call Out My Name” and “Who Did That to You”.

Ruel closed his first concert in Indonesia with “Don’t Tell Me” and “Younger” which had been certified Gold in Australia. “Thank you! I promise I’ll be back here soon,” said Ruel.

Ruel’s performance in Jakarta was part of Ruel’s first Asia tour which visited 7 other Asian cities besides Jakarta including Manila, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

At the age of 16, Ruel has taken the world’s attention with his unique voice through singles such as “Younger”, “Dazed & Confused”, and “Don’t Tell Me” from his inaugural EP “Ready ‘” released in June last year.

Last weekend, thousands music fans once again congregated at The Meadow at Gardens By The Bay for St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival – Singapore edition, which become annual year festival. And for their fifth year’s edition they brought sets from Chet Faker, Pond, Mac Demarco, Jon Hopkins, Angus & Julia Stone, Courtney Barnett, Jungle, FKA Twigs, Little Dragon, Banks, Future Islands and many more.

But it seems like it’s not only for the sake of music only this festival was meant to be, but also for commercial entertainment to show Australia’s summer music festival vibe feels like. Combining the old and new Laneway’s alumnus, we can expect new generation of so called music lovers and festival goers gather together experiencing whats new and what have they missed from previous festivals. With three stages which divided based on either different genres or target market, crowd are force to choose between the acts they knew more and new acts they have never heard before. Another unfortunate but understandable thing also happens when the rain started to poured down just not long after the festival get started, the humidity is just unbearable to see especially for all hipster’s outfits who came not only for the music but for the scene.

Started the festival by English post-punk band Eagulls, rocking the main stages of Laneway with fun yet angry sounds made the punk lovers bopping along to their tunes. Continued by Perth psychedelic band Pond, crowd can enjoy the modern age of rock and roll with an Australian twist. With the distortion of the guitar, heavy drums, swaying vocals and groovy Australian attitude. And that marks the start of the festival.

Another fun sets came from the witty solo singer – songwriter Mac DeMarco and his band. The Canadian-native Mac DeMarco attracted the largest afternoon crowd at Laneway, with his jizz jazz laid-back music. Whilst he fixed up some technical issues, his band mate covered Yellow with some karaoke style goofiness. And as usual, Mac ended his performance by crowd surfing over the soaking wet crowd.

Talking about women’s day not long after the festival, we can see that there are long list of female performance for this year’s festival. Starting with Melbourne, singer-songwriter and guitarist Courtney Barnett, her performance is just as sweet and sly as her music style. Playing songs from her EPs, we can pretty much enjoy what she had brought to festivals such as Glastonbury, Lollapalooza and Coachella.

We also experienced another awesome rock band from duo Royal Blood that afternoon. With the guitar-like bass and drums rippled among the crowds, we definitely thank the promoter for not being too mainstream.

Angus & Julia Stone, the formidable brother-sister duo, hailing from Sydney, which also another top act who have performed at a large-scale event bring their heartbreakingly beautiful lyrics and honey-like harmonies is just nice to company couples that afternoon. Follow by local Singapore acts .gif and Hanging Up The Moon, with their folk acoustic tune which suits the timing for the crowd to have a break for food or just chilling before the sun goes down.

After the sun goes down, the party started up. As expected with big crowd, London’s tropical mambo jambo percussion rhythms band Jungle, serving up without doubt the funkiest set of the day, just nice to start the weekend night. Continued with some other girl power such FKA Twigs, and Swedish band Little Dragon, and followed by Banks, whose electronic efforts were almost wasted on a crowd that was running for cover. As expected with bigger crowds, they are as impressive as what electronic with lots of sound effect could offer. Name that we couldn’t missed was Chet Faker, man who was once a faceless musician with a powerful voice, and became the best of what electronic soul has to offer. After collaborations with the likes of Flume and his hit remixes of songs like Trembling Hands by Australian band and previous Laneway Festival Headliner’s, his live performance is one of the too bad to be missed that time.

Probably things they need to take notes of next time when they want to do such festival in Singapore, are consideration of what exactly the target audiences wanted to enjoy, and again when it comes to after party. We think if they still wanted to held such festival in one of the cleanest place on earth, maybe they can hire some volunteer to do it or just simply not having too much waste cause commercial booth – you know, it’s supposed to be simple raw music festival for music lovers not farmer’s market with lots of unnecessary pop up booths. So lets see what they can bring next year, will the festival be more commercial or they can introduce us to more of music options like what they will do in SXSW. (Photos : Michael Reily)

2014 is infront of us and one of the festival we’re looking forward is no other than St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival on January 2014. Here’s our introduction mixtape for the festival which consist some line ups with songs we like the most. Hope to see you guys there!

Track listing:

Jamie xx – Far Nearer
James Blake – Retrograde
Daughter – Smother
Haim – Falling
Frightened Rabbit – The Loneliness and the Scream
Jagwar Ma – Man I Need
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – FFunny FFriends
Savages – Flying to Berlin
Chvrches – Lies (Tourist Remix)
Kurt Vile – Never Run Away
Youth Lagoon – Cannons
Mount Kimbie – You Took Your Time (feat. King Krule)

We decided to put something for those who loves garage psychedelic punk music, so David from Dead Farmers take turn this week to contribute on our Mixtape Monday with the some musics from other fellow Aussie’s band to sounds of The Ojays. Hope you enjoy it!

DIY Psychedelic Punk (A Mixtape by Dead Farmers) by Svanamix on Mixcloud

Track listing:

1. David Bowie – Changes
2. Dead Farmers – Never Enough
3. Total Control – Stonehenge
4. Brian Eno – Another Green World
5. Uv Race – Gypsy King
6. Velvet Underground – Heard Her Call My Name
7. The Ojays – Love Train
8. Paul Mccartney & Wings – Let Me Roll It
9. The Men – Open Your Heart
10.Dick Diver – Head Back

Tracklist:

1. El Guincho – Bombay
2. Goldfrapp – Happiness
3. Wild Belle – Keep You
4. Twin Sister – Stop
5. Supercar – Yumegiwa Last Boy
6. Radio Dept. – David
7. New Radicals – You Get What You Give
8. Modjo – Lady (hear me tonight)
9. Atlas Sound – Logos
10. Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
11. Blur – Song 2
12. Fleetwood Mac – Dreams 

Pond was formed in Perth, Australia. Ever since their formation, there have been some changes to their line up. Current members include former Tame Impala member Nick Allbrook on vocals and guitar, Tame Impala’s Jay Watson and Cam Avery on guitar and drums, respectively, Joseph Ryan on guitar, and Jamie Terry on bass.

In 2008, the first three members of Pond, Nick Allbrook, Jay Watson, and Joseph Ryan stayed at Allbrook’s parents’ residence and recorded what would be the first LP for their band; Psychedelic Mango. The LP was then released in January 2009 with only 500 copies pressed, and was later re-released digitally in 2010. Psychedelic Mango was full with catchy, feel-good summer jams. It’s filled with ultra-feedbacky guitars, repetitive bass lines, and lots of weird chanting. And as the band’s first LP—despite the lack of buzz it received at the beginning—it had given them a great start line for their career. It wasn’t even a year later that they followed up with a second album, Corridors of Blissterday, which Spinning Top has described as “a frenzied effort recorded live with an eight piece band at some point (nobody seems to remember exactly when) in 2009.”

And while the band has had members of Tame Impala as their line up, Pond is most definitely not a side project. Aside from the fact that Pond was formed before Tame was, there was also the slight difference in their style of music. Pond combines not only a mix of psychedelic rock, garage rock, and funk, but also a taste of Bowie-esque glam rock into their music.

The original idea of Pond is to get anyone they want to make whatever music they wanted in a collaborative way, and boy, don’t they stick true to their concept. It shows in the way their music sounding a lot like firecrackers; bursting with fiery spirit and untamed creativity. You can hear their excitement and passion dripping in each song they write. And according to those who have had the privilege of seeing them live, Pond’s live shows are much like a punch in the face that you’ll really, really enjoy.

Their third album, Frond, was released in May 2010 and featured a heavier pop influence than previously heard from the band. But it wasn’t until their fourth album, Beard, Wives, Denim, was released in March 2012 did the band start to get a boost of real critical acclaim. Beard, Wives, Denim was made in twenty weeks, with ten people involved in the project–neither of them had gotten any sleep throughout the whole process. As the result, in the record you can hear people coughing, or woo-ing and laughing—which to us, makes the record sounds raw and somehow much more alive. The first single off the album, Fantastic Explosion of Time, is explosive, jumpy, and brilliant. NME branded it as sounding like “The Stooges playing an early Kinks raunch-rocker for a ‘Nuggets’ compilation,” and later also called the band as the “Hottest New Band in 2012.”  It was also Beard, Wives, Denim that ushered Pond to the North America market, securing them 31 shows, including 8 at South by South West.

Pond might sound like a bunch of friends who make music because they truly love it and they’re having so much fun doing what they do—which, is actually how it should be done. But passion isn’t the only thing they have; they have shown the decency to write only the amazing songs. This is why we feel like we should be keeping an eye on these guys. Judging by what they have laid out in store for us so far, it seems like Pond have both the blooming talent and the extremely fertile mind grapes. Their next album, Hobo Rocket, is set to be released earlier this August. While speaking to Tone Deaf, guitarist Jay Watson had said of the new album: “We were going to do a really nice, beautiful orchestrated album, but we figured we might as well capture the live band as we’ve been touring… So that’s what ‘Hobo Rocket’ is, the full on, manic acid rock.”

Following 2010’s critically acclaimed debut Gold on Gold (“instantly charming” 7.7 – Pitchfork), a sleeper hit on seminal New York underground dance label Plant Music which steadily worked its way around the globe over a two year period, Clubfeet return with what is destined to be their breakout sophomore album, Heirs & Graces. We surely want dig more about the band’s new album and the story behind it. Luckily, we got a chance to interview the bassist of Clubfeet Yves Roberts so we can reveal them all!

Hi,Yves! This is Alonzo from Svanapaper.com. So, How did the tour go? Was it greater than the one that you have done before? I saw on your web that tour ended on the 1st day of March. Any plan in doing some more?

Part 1

Where do I start? How do I begin to describe a band that have been reviewed a million times, by far more talented writers than I, and make it compelling enough for you and others to want to read it?

I could start by describing how a Metallica stadium or festival show these days just look fantastic, no matter where you are. For the last ten years or so they’ve had an enormous screen acting as their backdrop which allows you just as good, if not better, a view as those at the front. Being men of advancing years themselves, they understand people like me who may take advantage of seats that act as quick escape to bar & toilet, ease my aching feet, and facilitate the avoidance of continued chaffing of my poor damaged thighs.

Or, i could begin with how James is back. Hetfield absolutely owned the stage tonight. I’ve seen Metallica many times over the years, and post therapy, he’s certainly turned into a lovely fella, but during that time, to me anyway, he lost the ability to aggressively, physically fill and dominate that stage. Definitely not an issue tonight, this was like the old 80’s and 90’s James in terms of dominance, without the nasty edge. He was light years removed and forward from the rather by rote performance at Donington last year.

What about starting with the setlist? Started with “Hit The Lights”, ended, of course, with a beach ball strewn “Seek and Destroy”. Some killer highlights in “Master of Puppets”, an incendiary “Orion” driven by Rob Trujillo who was celebrated by James for his ten year anniversary, and with a touching nod to Cliff Burton at it’s conclusion. “Fade To Black” doesn’t get played at every gig now like the other standards, but alongside “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, also played tonight, shows that when Metallica do power ballads they have more balls and energy than most other bands’ blitzkrieg rockers. I, for one, would be delighted to hear Fade instead of the overplayed and somewhat one dimensional “Nothing Else Matters” at any and every gig. I’ve already claimed it for my funeral song.

It’s “One” that still showcases the very best of Metallica. Kirk’s fluid runs, the bane of anyone that’s played Guitar Hero, the staccato Hetfield guitar bursts, the pyro, even Lars having to concentrate and keep it together. Bass, nah, there’s no bass on “… And Justice For All” is there?

However i start it, it needs to make sure that the fact that this was a stellar performance, by one of the world’s greatest live bands at the absolute top of their game is made evident. A true vindication of Soundwave promoter AJ Maddah’s ambition and vision for the 10th anniversary Soundwave 2013.

So, how shall I start it? Ahhhh, who cares!! (SGSN Steve – SGSN Posts)

First Published On Something Gold Something New

I was feeling strangely low on energy and not in the best of moods as I wandered up at the unearthly time of 10.45 to the much improved entry point for the show. My energy levels can be blamed on the man flu I came down with the next day, and my mood was not helped by either the two absolute knobheads on the gate accusing me of having been drinking … at 10.45, or the subsequent non-appearance of Sharks whose gear hadn’t arrived from the previous day’s Brisvegas Soundwave. AJ Maddah’s day went to shit from here as he sought to resolve the rogue missing trucks and get Garbage and Paramore’s gear before their sets. Paramore eventually went onstage after Offspring, while Garbage had to cancel altogether. Such as shame, as I was looking forward immensely to them. Shirley and I have a festival relationship stretching all the way back to Reading 96 and her pink feather boa.

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards, the day got better for both Sharks and me. They got to play an hour long set in Garbage’s slot, and I headed off, much to my own surprise as much as anyone elses, to mostly eschew the punky outer stages for a day of main stage metal … hey it was boiling hot and frankly I couldn’t be arsed to walk all over the shop when there were some quality bands to watch.

First though, a detour for first actual band of the day, Red Fang. The force of Sabbath, Mastodon, Kyuss and Sleep is strong these chaps, and despite the oppressive heat at their indoor stage performance, they cheered the sizeable crowd with solid grooves, mucho banging of heads, great sound and riffs, glorious riffs. None more so than the fantastic closer of, ironically, debut album opener Prehistoric Dog. A great start, likely to only get better as i head off to the main stage to catch …

Anthrax. I’ve seen Anthrax many many times over the years, with Joey and with John Bush, with variously Dan Spitz and Rob Caggiano on guitar, but always with Scott Ian, Frankie Bello and, until today, Charlie Benante directing things from the back. Soundwave’s drummer curse started with Charlie having to stay back in the US for ‘personal reasons’ so Jon Dette has upped sticks as it were and Shadows Fall’s Jon Donais replaces Rob Caggiano on guitar. All this is seamless though as Anthrax just crush their way through a set full of classics. Frankie, Scott and, despite the cheese, Joey are constant cheerleaders starting and ending with all time ‘thrax classics “Caught In A Mosh” and “Madhouse”. Both songs are almost 30 years old but still sound fresh and vital. Surprisingly there were 3 covers in the set, but they’ve always been able to make them their own. In fact most think “Anti-Social” and “Got The Time” are their own songs anyway. No denying though that “TNT” isn’t theirs, but it guarantees a whole stadium singalong and their complete devotion too. Brilliant set.

From 1986 to 1989, my live journey through my teenage years continues with Mike Patton and Tomahawk. I don’t know whether it was the heat, the subdued crowd or Patton’s lack of engagement, but the first half of the set felt one paced and boring. However, as the first torrential downpour came down, Patton woke up and out came the quips, “hey, we’re one of the few bands here with our original drummer” (maybe a show of solidarity for Fantomas bandmate and erstwhile Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo), and the songs like old Mit Gas favourite “Rape This Day”.

The first enormous crowd of the day arrives for Bullet For My Valentine. In the interests of full disclosure, I have a soft spot for Bullet and, for the same reason Funeral For A Friend, as they’re from the same small Welsh town as me. Bullet have always been pretty weak on record for me, especially lyrically. I often cringe when listening to them, but live, when you see and hear the outstanding riffs, and sheer physical assault from the band it’s easier to overlook them. Even Temper Temper improved live, but most joy was reserved, in  an excellent, hit packed set, for crowd pleasing “Tears Don’t Fall” and “Scream, Aim & Fire”.

Kyuss Lives! were a fantastic surprise to me at last years’ Download Festival in the UK, so I definitely wanted to catch them here. Not a surprise in terms of songs, i’ve loved Kysuss for 20 years, but in the fact that despite the fact that they don’t have Josh Homme, (and since Donington have also rather carelessly lost Nick Oliveri), those songs still crush. In the afternoon heat here, steam rising after the rain, they fill the main arena with that beautiful, trancelike sound. Most people didn’t know the songs, but it didn’t matter. They’re moving on now with a new band name, Vista Chino, which is probably best for all concerned, but in the songs like “Thumb” and “Green Machine”, Kyuss still do live.

Due to my hypothesis that stupid masks = stupid band, and the fact thatI’ve never cared for their music I’ve never really been a Slipknot and therefore by association Stone Sour fan, but today Stone Sour bring it, and convert me. Corey Taylor has a great voice, and is a personable, captivating frontman. I also realised i knew far more of their music than i thought. Most pleasant surprise of the day .. Slipknot are still a stupid band though.

Most tarnished band of the day are undoubtedly Slayer. “Dave’s not here man” was the only reference to the absent, fired Dave Lombardo. No Lombardo? No future for Slayer, period. Yes the were bruising, yes Jon Dette (again, after his Anthrax heroics) was fantastic, but it all seemed so clinical, Slayer Inc. There was zero interaction between Tom Araya and Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman is also still absent. This was just a brutally efficient tribute act, which was enough for most of the crowd, but just left me hollow.

Ghost are late to stage, but it only serves to ratchet up the anticipation for this most mysterious of bands. Papa Emeritus II, replete in skull mask (ok ok, they’re probably stupid too, but good songs ) and his 5 hooded nameless ghouls have racked up a lot of friends over the last couple of years. Papa’s voice is the key, he genuinely sings with no need to shout, yet it’s power easily rides the waves from his charged, creative band. New single “Secular Haze” comes over particularly strongly and bodes well for further success.

And so i, like everyone else, head to the main stage for Metallica, in doing so catching the end of Linkin Park. Now, like everyone else, I though Hybrid Theory was pretty cool, and enjoyed it’s follow up Meteroa (or Hybrid Theory pt 2), but live they’ve always come across as way to formulaic and clinical. Everytime I’ve caught them at festivals, they’ve bored me. Maybe i was in a more receptive mood, maybe I was nostalgic, but i enjoyed, really enjoyed in fact, the half hour i saw. Walking in while “In The End” was playing helped as did the renditions of Numb and Faint. Chester Bennington is still a magnificent, powerful singer, (his stage raps haven’t improved any mind) and thankfully Mike Shinoda contented himself to a more backgound role for the bit I saw, while “One Step Closer” reminded me of why I once thought them such a good band, more raw and ragged than their most recent material. It was like meeting an old lover and remembering the good times.

Come back tomorrow for Metallica, they deserve their own spread. (SGSN Steve – SGSN Posts)

First published on Something Gold Something New

The dynamic duo brings back the baggy music to the 2000s era. If Baggy doesn’t ring you a bell, we’re going to explain it. Baggy  was a dance-oriented music which was such a happening music in british in the late 1980s – early 1990s. Baggy was pretty much on the same way as the madchester’s band. And Yes, The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays can be considered in having baggy influences. Enough with the music history lesson and now Back to Jagwar Ma! Jagwar Ma attract the praises from the press after releasing another song “The Throw”. The press applauds the dup for their skillful way in mixing the music, the madchester scene got intertwined with a psychedelic glazed and more groovy tunes.

According to their Facebook page, Jagwar Ma got their influences in making music by Aphex Twin, Phil Spector, and Martin Hannett. In the early 2013, the duo were chosen to be one of the line-up for Big Day Out 2013’s side show. The duo are now with the label Future Classic ( which also has worked with Tensnake, Classix, Flight Facilities, and many more).

Jagwar Ma are just another prove of how great Sydney’s music scene in building their amazing new music. And eventhough we are still confused why they put their location into “Antartica” as they also said that they are living in Sydney plus having great moments in Berlin and Tours. Those places don’t even have a connection with Antartica, well, You shouldn’t even care to stuffs on Face Book (And why are we discussing it anyway). We just can’t wait to see how Jagwar Ma wrap up their debut album and demolish their greatness, mate!

Foals are living one such moment. Tonight, on the first of two, sold out in nanoseconds, Big Day Out sideshows at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory, they nervelessly, exhilaratingly stayed in our sights long enough to confirm what we already knew. Holy Fire is the one, the record to transform them from big in their own small pond indieness, to ocean boiling, mermaid shagging, neptune’s inner circle residing, big rock behemoths.

Tonight Yannis doesn’t say much, and they play a pretty intense set, but it’s clear that all and sundry are fully into it and enjoying. Such is their confidence, that not only did they start with a new song, but an instrumental at that, and yet “Prelude” proved apt as it grooved and built, in a superbly paced set, allowing the crowd to settle into the gig rather than completely lose their shit for the first 3 or 4 songs and then have nothing left.

Seemingly alone in the world “Spanish Sahara” passed me by first time around. It just didn’t grab me in the same way that the early singles and Antidotes did. Well tonight it clicked, sandwiched by another formidable newie “Providence” and old favourite “Red Socks Pugie”. Maybe it was the euphoria of the set, or maybe just the beer, but it’s perceived blandless became elegiac, it’s slow pace became tension build and, in the context of a live set, it took on new meaning.

First encore “Inhaler” took on no new meaning though, it just confirmed the existence of a new classic. This is a song to bridge generations, the song to breakthrough. Foals tonight were superb, a gig where you can say “I saw Foals when they played clubs.” Get on that beanstalk after them before you lose sight. (@SGSNSteve)

First published on: Something Gold Something New

We’ve been waiting for ages to see this band have a show in Jakarta! As we know, in 2010 we heard through the grapevine that Weezer will be one of the headliners for a rock festival in town. But, it didn’t happen. Well, many people got dissapointed (and definitely their avid fan). And then until in the middle of 2012, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer randomly posted Australia and then followed by Indonesia. That was pretty much gave a big question mark to us. Until, Marygops Studios tweeted on their official Twitter’s account that they will bring Weezer to Jakarta on January 8th 2013. By that time, we were sure many Indonesia’s Weezerian got starstrucked with that info.

The concert itself brings “Performs A Greatest Hits Set, Followed By The Blue Album From Start to Finish” as their title. Weezer’s concert in Jakarta will be promoted by four proffesional promoters, they are Marygops Studios, Blackrock Entertainment, Star D Pro, and Asia Live Ent. The concert will be held at Lapangan D Senayan, Jakarta.

Weezer were formed in 1992, the personnels are Rivers Cuomo (vocals and guitar) , Patrick Wilson (on drums), Brian Bell (on guitar) and Scott Shriner (on bass) 2001 – present) . The California-based rock alternative band have released nine albums, Weezer (The Blue Album) (1994) ,Pinkerton (1996) , Weezer (The Green Album) (2001) , Maladroit (2002) , Make Believe (2005) , Weezer (The Red Album) (2008) , Raditude (2009) , and Hurley (2010). Their last album, Hurley, is their first album that they worked with a new record indie label, Epitaph Records. What are you waiting for then, one of the best bands in the world are coming to Jakarta which also be their first time ever show in town! Stop doubting and start grabbing your ticket to see them live. (Alcander Alonzo)

Details :
Weezer Live in Jakarta “Performs A Greatest Hits Set
Date : January, 8th 2013
Location : Lapangan D Senayan, Jakarta.
Ticket Price : Reguler IDR 550.000 – Premium IDR 850.000 – VIP IDR 1.200.000

The ticket can be purchased here : http://tinyurl.com/9873ymj (Via Rajakarcis)