Neon Lights returns for its third edition at Fort Gate, Fort Canning Park from 9 to 11 November 2018 and the scene is set for three sensational days of immersive arts activities and experiences, and a stellar music line-up. Festivalgoers can look forward to a slew of arts programmes, workshops, live art and projections from internationally renowned artistes, including Justin Shoulder’s ‘Fantastic Creatures’ and Berlin Short Film Festival award nominee Empyreal’s mesmerising ‘Liquid Galaxies’. Exciting new homegrown musical acts are joining the festival line-up, including Mediocre Haircut Crew, FAUXE and Perk Pietrek, with additional international acts set to be announced soon. These incredible experiences are poised to complement musical performances by previously announced festival heavyweights like YUNA, Caribou and Interpol.  Early bird tickets to Neon Lights 2018 are selling out fast, and can be purchased on www.neonlights.sg and SISTIC.

May Leong, Neon Lights Director of Partnership and Arts shared, “Neon Lights is a unique proposition in Singapore’s culture landscape, being a holistic celebration of arts and entertainment with a stellar  music line-up at its core. We’re thrilled to have partnered with some of Singapore’s most exciting local collectives and programme partners to bring together a diverse community of artists, musicians and culture pushers to add depth to the festival experience!”

EASY STREET & NEON ARTS

Festival revelers can discover and hone their creative vibes through three distinct and eclectic programme areas at this year’s Neon Lights – Easy Street, Neon Fun and Neon Nooks. Deep beats permeate the Easy Street stage from Friday to Sunday. Co-programmed by Sideshow, festivalgoers will be treated to performances by some of the most sought-after local producers and musicians from a wide range of musical persuasions, including house, disco, hip-hop and and jazz.

Local hip-hop collective and rap fiends Mediocre Haircut Crew take to the stage on Friday with their honest lyrics and eccentric genre-bending rhythms, followed by a vibrant set by Scottish beatmaker DJ Shellsuit, a global party-rocker whose music has moved crowds around the world. Shellsuit will be joined by Singapore-based musician and winning percussionist Ridz.

Dubbed ‘Singapore’s Hottest Producer’ by European label Top Billin, Perk Pietrek will set the tune on Saturday. The underground electronic dance tastemaker will be joined by one of Singapore’s most prolific producers, FAUXE, fresh off his new album Ikhlas and ready to drop some highly-anticipated South-East Asian inspired beats. For those itching to have a go at the turntable, established DJ school E-TracX will be running a skratch workshop. To close out the night, the renowned DJ Ulysses, who draws from a wide repertoire of genre-bending styles and has been featured in Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Festival, is set to bring down the house with a TUFF CLUB Takeover.

Attendees can groove to the jazz funk rhythms of The Jazz Djogets on Sunday, while Read Bridge Dulcimer take the world music showcase up a notch with a mixture of Appalachian old-time American and Irish mountain tunes. DJ Shellsuit returns for an electrifying festival encore to cap off the Easy Street performances.

Illuminating the nooks and crannies of the festival, Neon Nooks will bring Fort Gate to life with spectacular roving acts, live art performances and projection mapping. Be intrigued by Asia Pacific Brewery Foundation Signature Art Prize finalist, Australian performance artist Justin Shoulder’s ‘Fanstastic Creatures’ while Berlin Short Film Festival award nominee Empyreal will bring her mesmerising light projection to the festival – an experiment in light and colour using organic liquids and filmed through a lens –which will transport visitors to an alternate galaxy. 

Witness the Glitter Queen transform into an extraordinary sparkly PINK icon with her durational performance or shake things up with a rousing Samba display by Saodaçåo Capoeira Singapore. While moving between programmes and activities, fans should keep their ears peeled for roving bohemian band The Lost Hat.

There’s oodles of fun and play for the whole family at Neon Fun over the weekend, which presents an array of imaginative workshops and games for the young and young at heart to dabble in. STPI-Creative Workshop and Gallery’s two workshop stations with screen printing and marbling techniques will resonate with creative souls, along with Casey Chen’s unique sessions on wearable woodart where participants can take home their own creations. Pop in for Frankie Malachi’s amazing Puppet Exposé which showcases fascinating puppetry creations and shares the magic behind them, or to dance to DJ Itch’s all-vinyl Asian-inspired sets. Those looking to spruce up their festival getup should head straight to the It Takes Balls workshop for eclectic DIY finger bracelets, before getting active with Sideshow’s various DIY Garden Games.

MUSIC/MAINSTAGE OFFERINGS

FRIDAY, 9 NOVEMBER

Poised to open the festival with her lithe vocals and chart-topping beats will be Malaysian-born R&B superstar YUNA, all the way from Los Angeles. She’ll be sharing the stage with Thailand’s world music  sensation The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band.

SATURDAY, 10 NOVEMBER

Bringing their dynamic stage presence to South East Asia for the first time ever, the iconic Interpol is set to stun with their show-stopping hits spanning Turn On The Bright Lights to this year’s new album Marauders. Ethereal dream-pop maestros Cigarettes After Sex from Texas take to the stage next with their highly-coveted ambient-pop melodies, followed by The Vaccines, ready to show Singapore the sound of a defining British rock and roll band. Post-punk provocateurs Shame are slated to amp up the crowd next, with Riot !n Magenta rounding off the night as they indoctrinate listeners to their brand of edgy soul.

SUNDAY, 11 NOVEMBER

The last day of the festival will welcome the mesmerising Canadian electronic innovator Caribou, followed by the expansive vocals of ethereal R&B enigma Rhye. Australian multi-platinum selling reggae group Sticky Fingers will light up Fort Canning with their high-voltage, seductive tunes, and Brooklyn art-punk unit Bodega’s wild minimalism and sharp wit takes center stage at the festival next. Thailand’s alternative folk-funk singer-songwriter Phum Viphurit will bring the good vibes, followed by the affecting frankness and playful melodies of Singapore’s own indie pop trio Sobs.

You are busy, and that’s pretty much the reason you miss all of the updates about the albums which are released in 2014. In the past eleven months, we have been sitting in our HQ to listen and curate some of our favorite albums this year, each of us picked our best ones to give you some of SVANAPaper’s best picks in 2014. These albums should be in your i-Tunes player.

(Sorted in alphabetical order)

1. Chromeo – White Women

After more than 10 years in the business, this Canadian boogie-duo is still at it, with more grooves that will awaken your inner dancing queen and force you out on the dance floor featuring collaborations with Toro Y Moi, Solange Knowles and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig. The Toro Y Moi collaboration on”Come Alive”transporting them back to their electrofunk roots;the rippling guitar lines and pluckybass linesgiving way to a slick, multi-layered chorus.

Recommended Track: Come Alive (ft. Toro Y Moi)

2.FKA Twigs – LP1

Brit musician TahliahBernett hit it on the nail with her first full-length album, LP1. Being a shortlister for the Mercury Album Of The Year Award, FKA Twigs bring something fresh to her twist of Hip-Hop. The album highlights her growth that has been tended to since her first EP with “Water Me” and now is blossoming to something we’re all eager to listen to.

Recommended track: Video Girl

3.Interpol – El Pintor

After the disappointing release of their self-titled album in 2010, Interpol has showed us that they still have some capabilities under their belt with “El Pintor”, 39 minutes album which loaded with the songs that resembles the tracks from “Turn on The Bright Lights”, the album that leaped them into the big league. However, this album is still leaving the famous question, “Will Interpol ever topped Turn On The Bright Lights?”,hanging, Even though this album is not the legitimate answer, it is not a cheap take on that attempt but a nearly-there.

Recommended Track : Anywhere

4. Kasabian – 48:13

Kasabian are surely taking their latest album to the next level. With changing their musicality from the previous ones to have more electronic tunes. Eventhough 48:13 receives mixed reviews and debates regarding the changes of their style, we still praise Tom Cs’ effort to bring something new to the table. This may not their best work, but the album evolves their signature riffs to catchy synthesizers, and everything flows really well. All we can say is 48:13 adjusts with how modern a rock band can be, as we all know Kasabian have always been big with their status, and this predominantly electronic style, they might be starting for something bigger in the upcoming years.

Recommended Track : Bumblebee

5.Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence

A whole package musicality is in here. Pretty persistence lyrics, hot and cold tension ambience of music. Not to exaggerate everything, but ‘Ultraviolence’ should be considered as today’s masterpiece of music albums. With Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys produced it, the songs are composed with a beautiful dark tunes and combined with a sad and seductive of Del Rey’s voice. ‘Ultraviolence’ definitely reflects a maturity version of Lana Del Rey and the album is strongly giving an elevated soul of romanticism.

Recommended Track : Ultraviolence

6. Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

It’s hard to tell if Mac DeMarco is a merry prankster or a tortured soul, but either way, that ambivalence is one of DeMarco’s defining traits. Salad Days, his second full-length release, sees a richer and more assured refinement, as DeMarco becomes continues to grow in his slacker-rock ways. The laid-back melodies of his guitar creating a warm, watery groove that just begs for you to jump into. Layered with his quietly eloquent lyrics, Salad Days is as welcoming as a backyard hammock swaying in the wind.You’re unlikely to hear any other album this year with so many mentions of people’s mothers, but no one nails it like Mac does.

Recommended Track: Treat Her Better

7. Mø – No Mythologies To Follow

Karen Marie Ørsted adheres perfectly to the ever growingscene of electro-pop songstresses Copenhagen is producing. Being an album dedicated to the perplexities of young adulthood, you can expect this long awaited album to be carefree and full of life – just like the eccentric musician herself.

Recommended track: Pilgrim

8.Royal Blood – Royal Blood

It was hard to believe that this band is only consists of two persons when we hear their single, “Little Monster”, on our HQ. Royal Blood has delivered something that we haven’t heard in ages. Rhythmic sounds composed beautifully with a melodic riff that came from a tweaked bass. Nobody would have thought of that at the first place. We could easily spot another monstrous and festival-approved riffs on “Come on Over”, “Careless”, and “Out of the Black”. We won’t be too surprised if they emerge as a festival headliner in the future.

Recommended Track : Little Monster

9. SBTRKT – Wonder Where We Land

The second studio album from SBTRKT gives the same cool mood like what they give us in ‘SBTRKT’. ‘Wonder Where We Land’ highlights our favorites of SBTRKT’s music bass and R&B’s mixture of deep house. The album sounds very neat, moody yet very solid with help from quality vocals of Ezra Koenig, Raury, and Sampha. The core of ‘Wonder Where We Land’ gives a vision of chill ambience which once you dip your ears to the album, it swallows you to the deepest nuance of each well-structured tracks. Quoting from Paste Magazine, “This is an album about vision, movement and manifestation. It’s about removing oneself from the familiar to tap into the brain’s ability to create unprecedented and inspiring art. Success”.

Recommended Track : Temporary View

10. Warpaint – Warpaint

Forget the Haim sisters or Lauren Mayberry from CHVRCHES. The girls from Warpaint were known as the most adorable girls of indie scene (take a look at Swim Deep’s references of Jenny Lee Lindberg on their hit single, “King City” for example).  After setting off with their first album, “The Fool” in 2010, the girls from Los Angeles, California are back with their second self-titled album. This album has all the formula that catapulted them into the atmosphere. Layered guitar followed by Cocteau twins-esque vocals is a thing that we could still barely hear on this second album. However, they’re more daring to experiment on this second album. Even though there are several new and hip all-girl bands who are riding the stream, Warpaint will always remain as a titular queens of the 00s indie rock.

Recommended Tracks : Disco//Very

Here is the playlist of the recommended tracks from each albums, you’re welcome!