After our ‘indie’ weekend early this month in Singapore for Camp Symmetry, we headed to the neighbor Malaysia with even bigger festival which combined art and music in MAEPS with big line ups such as Tegan & Sara, Franz Ferdinand, Efterklang, Sore, Obedient Wives Club, and much more.. too bad due to Alex Trimble’s of Two Door Cinema Club all their show in Asia had to be canceled. But anyway we met lots of friendly people and cool art stuff around, and for you who didn’t get the chance to get there, here’s our review of the fest so maybe you want to plan ahead for the next year!

How we get there? We went there by bus from Singapore, yes you read it right, 5 hours bus to Perhentian Serdang and a cab to the festival. Rain and sun can’t stop us from seeing what’s Urbanscapes all about. The venue itself was gigantic, maybe since it was actually Malaysian agricultural place, and the crowd was about the same as Singaporean festival goers or even more vary, since it was music and art festival. Many food stalls (so you won’t get hungry), exciting artwork and fancy pop up market.

How’s the first day? We were prepared with raincoats, boots and stuff, but the only thing we used that day was sunblock. Even though it was raining pretty heavy in Singapore, it was sunny like hell in Serdang. We arrived when Sore was playing at the Urbanscape stage, performing their hits as smoothly as usual. After that we scrolled the venue and couldn’t be more proud to see our bands performs and some friend’s art works exhibited there. Back to the main stage we saw Oh Chentaku perform, which was great indeed. Band that famous with their ‘Sing It Rock and Roll’ song, succeed brought the crowds to paid attention till their very last song.

We also went to the Next Stage where we witness some of the most random performance mixed by rapper and local ghost after. Its a bit surreal and funny at the same time. We dont have much time as we are heading to see another Indonesian act at Upfront stage, which is one of the line ups we didn’t expected to be amazed by. The Experience Brother, Daud and Ibrahim, proved once again that rock and roll are still alive. With songs taken from their Eye Contact album, the band succeed mixing Zeppelin’s rock and roll style with the spontaneous quirky only Indonesian can do it well, not to mention when they performed ‘She’s Alright’ which made the crowd couldn’t help but to sing a long.

Right after them, it was the Aussie’s very own next big thing, Last Dinosaurs. We’ve seen them several times already just in a year and yet they are still fun to watch. And apparently, they have huge fans here in Malaysia! Lots of teens, boys and girls, local and regional flew to Malaysia just to see this band. Performed the same set list as in Jakarta and Singapore, the band still being asked to do encore. Well, we hope that will encourage and inspire them to make more music for the next album.

And the headline of the night was Tegan & Sara. Even though we’ve seen them in Jakarta before, duo that known first time as ultimate commercial songs (well, I knew them from an advertisement) still had the thing to ‘heart-rob’ the crowds. Playing their hits such as ‘Alligator’ ,‘Back in Your Head’, ‘I Was A Fool’ to ‘Closer’ the crowd couldn’t be any happier than sing a long for more than an hour.

How’s the second day? On the second day we’re mostly chilling with our friends and people we met at the festival, talk with the artists around and enjoying ourselves by the cool vintage lo-fi performance by Obedient Wives Club. Group that has been recognize not as the female muslim group, but a group that consist of Singapore very own Keith Tan, YinQi, Sulaiman Supian, Lennat Mak and Cherie Ko, played songs from their EP ‘Murder Kill Baby’ and captured the crowds of lo-fi spectorgaze fans.

Beside OWC, we also ran to another stage where -another 4AD acts, Efterklang, performs. After our interview with Casper, we couldn’t be more surprised when Mads used ‘Angklung’ we gave for the intro of Hollow Mountain, followed by Casper and Rasmus on stage and that’s when all the magic of sounds happens! I mean really, they literarily used everything, from normal instruments, to ipad apps, to stage’s pillar like those Berlin Blue Man Group with less disco vibe. Despite of the heat outside combine with people inside the tent, this Danish band amazed the crowd with their electronic wave sounds. My worried about either the crowd were already melt by the heat or were there because of the music has been answered, when they forced to ‘pause’ their performance due to afternoon break, the crowd still remind the same. Ended by their hits Modern Drift, this band is definitely one of the band you must listen to if you are fans of Sin Fang, múm, and other Scandinavian experimental electronic music.

Right after Efterklang, we went to the highlight (or mine) of the festival seeing Franz Ferdinand! Even though I wasn’t a big fan, I couldn’t help but to sing a long and dance to their song. They performance were just addictive and let’s face it, no one could possibly stand still watching their energetic act. These Scottish ‘uncle’ brought all their hits to the table from Bullet, The Dark Of The Matinée, No You Girls, Tell Her Tonight, Evil Eye, Do You Want To, Walk Away, Horizon, CSF, Fallen, Jacqueline, Michael, Take Me Out, Love Illumination, This Fire, to Ulysses and not to mention their encore with Right Action, to Outsider. I think it has been a long time since I sang very loud and dance very passionately in a show.

As the technician packing the instruments, crowds went home, so it’s time for us to get back to reality. We took the last bus to the city center and grab the first bus to catch our flight home. Lets hope to see some more exciting line ups with less animal cause itchiness next year, and don’t forget to catch Urbanscapes’s final Satellite show featuring Canadian indie-rock giants Metric this December 3rd 2013.

More photos from the show here

For our fellow readers in Malaysia, the hypest two-dayer festival, Urbanscapes in Malaysia is back!!! With Franz Ferdinand, Two Door Cinema Club, Tegan and Sara, Efterklang as their headliners, Urbanscape will kick your ass. This festival will be held at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) on 23-24 November 2013.

Beside of three big headliners, the festival will give you top notch international and local names, fashion retailers, art installation pieces and comedian shows. This annual festival will feature three indonesian bands, they are L’Alphalpha, The Experience Brother, Sore plus Oh Chentaku, Kyoto Protocol, Obedient Wives Club and They Will Kill Us All for the regional performers.

The other good things about this year’s Urbanscapes is it’s not about the big weekend but they’re also adding two satellite shows. The first one is before the big weekend (on 31 oct) featuring Explosions in The Sky and Mew and the second show after the big weekend (on 2 dec) featuring Metric. Urbanscape founder and organiser Adrian Yap explains that the reason they made satellite shows is because they don’t want to lose out on acts who aren’t able to make it for the weekend festival. So for you cool Malaysians, are you sure you want to miss such a great festival experience like this one? Go grab your Urbanscapes tickets!!

Weekend passes:  RM187 (early bird); RM227 (presale); RM247
Satellite show: RM177 (per gig)
All-Access passes (festival plus satellite shows): RM397
Tickets are now on sale at www.ticketpro.com.my

Follow urbanscape on twitter and facebook for more info!

For some it may seem like a normal 9-5 Wednesday (15/05), but for music enthusiasts, it was a surreal dream come true. Big Sound Festival (BSF) 2013, one of the most talked festivals in South-east Asia happened at Lapangan D Senayan. Blur, the Temper Trap, Tegan And Sara, and Van She were ready to give a musical earthquake.

Van She, who once have come to Jakarta in 2012 (for Playground 5), paid their second visit for BSF. They were the kickstarter of the festival. Van She shone out the early comers of the festival with their sparkly synth and electro-rock musics, the crowd were incrementing as the sun set.

Let’s double the fun with Tegan And Sara. The twins brought eleven songs including ‘Back In Your Head’, ‘Walking With A Ghost’, and ‘Feel It In My Bones’ a song that they worked with Tiesto. Their amiable approach to the crowd made the show into an intimate kind of show, even though they performed a short set, they managed to partially sang a requested song from the crowd that was not listed in the setlist.

As the night got crazier, the Temper Trap went to the stage as the last performer to open the night for Blur. The Australian stunners opened their performance with ‘Love Lost’, Dougy Mandagi’s vocal was pretty jaw-dropping and we were sure he didn’t miss any high notes to reach his heavenly falsettos. The night’s most fascinating moment evolved when the band performed ‘Drum Song’. The band successfully invited the crowd to sing along to their well-sought and worshiped song, ‘Sweet Disposition’.

Three amazing bands had opened the night and it led to a one legendary name that the crowd had been shouting since they entered the festival’s area, the one and only, Blur. It looked like the crowd couldn’t hold their feelings to sing their lungs out for Blur’s song, even before the band hit the stage, the crowd sang Tender’s “Oh My Baby, Oh My Baby, Oh Why, Oh Why”. The backdrop of the stage started revealing a huge picture of “Under the Westway”, as a clue that the band would be on stage just in a few minutes, the lights were dimmed, and Blur, one of the most historical bands, appeared on stage!

The crowd erupted to a great mass dancing scene when the band launched ‘Girls & Boys’ to start off their show and then followed by ‘Popscene’ which turned up the energy into another level. As the show went on, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon loosened up by performing ‘Badhead’, ’Beetlebum’, and ‘Out Of Time’. The band who were awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2012 Brit Awards played ‘Coffee & Tv’ which its video was being known as one of the most iconic music videos. The karaoke session didn’t stop there, the band then played the intro of ‘Tender’ which was immediately responded by the screams of excitement from the crowd, the soul of the song brought the atmosphere into a much deeper power. Furthermore, the addition of a horn section and four backup singers brought another level of depth to Blur’s sound. After receiving the daunting ambiance  the band bombarded the fans with ‘Country House’, ‘Parklife’, and ‘End Of Century’. The band decided to went off from the stage after they performed ‘This Is A Low’ which simultaneously made the crowd to do the classic encore cheering. After a few minutes of cheering an encore, Blur wandered back to the stage and played ‘Under The Westway’ and ‘For Tomorrow’. When Blur performed ‘The Universal’, the crowd got mesmerized to the song, but the peak of the show was not to the very glorious of ‘The Universal’. The crowd had recognized (and according to their setlist on their show in Hong Kong) that ‘Song 2’ would be the last song to perform. And it was. The last song totally shook the crowd and Song 2 was an epic closure to wrap up the memorable night for Blur’s fans.

Blur jammed the nineteen songs just like it was their first time to pump the crowd, even though they have become wiser in age, they still know how to captivate these songs, sounding as great as how a legendary band should be. Witnessing Blur in Jakarta, where A-list bands don’t come too often, is another reason why you should be in for a whole lot of woe if you didn’t catch their live performance. We witnessed most of the crowd having glassy-eyed and even cried when the show ended. Knowing Blur also felt happy with the crowd has proved that Jakarta has one of the best crowd that the band have been performing to. Whether they will come back to Jakarta or not, they have dropped one hell of a good show. Let us all cross out ‘Blur’ from our ‘Artists That You Have To See Before You Die’ list.

1.Jaw-dropping Line-ups

Eventhough this is the very first volume of Dyandra Entertainment’s concert festival, Big Sound Festival has shown its fangs on the very first time they released the line-ups. The event will be featured big names like Blur (UK), Van She (AUS), The Temper Trap (AUS) and Tegan & Sara (CAN). Did you just say “Is this really happening?”. YES, IT IS!

 2.The Reasonable Price

We know at some point you’ll whine about the price of the ticket, but guys, take a look to the line-ups one more time! They got Blur, Van She, the Temper Trap, and Tegan&Sara. Four bands and it only costs you IDR 950.000 for the regular festival and IDR 1.250.000 for the VIP festival. And there are so many offers that give a discount (Check Dyandra Ent’s twitter to find out the offers). It must be out of range for some people, but if you want to experience one of the most anticipated music festivals in 2013, this is one hell of a “You Shouldn’t Miss” event.

 3.Completing the series

If you went to Road To Big Sound Fest 2013 (the pre-event for Big Sound Fest 2013), we really think you are in a halfway to complete your music festival series. You started it with a good experience in April with the Kooks, Delphic, and the Radio Dept., why not wrapping it up with Blur, the Temper Trap, Tegan & Sara, and Van She?

 4.One Of the Biggest Events in South-East Asia

People from Singapore, Phillipines, Malaysia and some neighbour countries, are coming to Jakarta just to catch this festival. They have to get some extra fees just to get in to Jakarta, meanwhile, you, who live in Jakarta, only need to pay for the ticket concert. And if you are a live music enthusiast, this should be on your must-see concerts in 2013. The excitement waves from international visitors have confirmed how BIG this festival is!

 5.Blur!

This is the strong point of why you shouldn’t miss Big Sound Festival 2013. Blur is a legendary band who have made a remarkable career in the music industry. NME also put Blur as one of the 50 artists that you have to see before you die. The chance is just right in front of your eye balls! Furthermore, we live in a country where it’s very seldom to have a super legendary band to come to your city. Psst, Blur’s set in Jakarta will be 2-hours long!

After reading the 5 ultimate reasons above, you might have an eye-opening moment and start realizing how must you have to attend the Big Sound Festival. Save your spate of “thank you” words to us, the only thing that you have to do now is rushing to the nearest ticket store or buy it online as soon as possible. See you at Big Sound Festival 2013!

Go to Dyandra Entertainment‘s website to know more about Big Sound Festival 2013

And today (February 19th), the promoter revealed another name to the current line-ups, The Temper Trap!

Blur are an English band which were formed in London in 1988. the group consists of (singer/keyboardist) Damon Albarn, (guitarist/singer) Graham Coxon, (bassist) Alex James and (drummer) Dave Rowntree. In 2008, Blur dediced to do a reunion for a concert at a London Hyde Park on July 3rd 2009. And, the latest Blur’s achievement was in Brit Awards 2012, the band were awarded for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2013, Blur are scheduled to headline Coachella Festival 2013.

Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie-rock duo. Tegan and Sara are identical twin sisters. In 2013, Tegan and Sara nominated in Grammy Awards for “Best Long Form Music Video”.

The Temper Trap are an Australia-based indie rock band, The Temper debut their first Indonesia’s show in 2010. Last year, the Temper Trap got nominated for three nominations on  Aria Music Awards, and they scored two of them!

If you are a huge fan of Blur, this is a thing that definitely you don’t need another think coming about whether you should go or not to Big Sound Fest (FYI, this is the very first Blur’s appearance in Indonesia!). And,sure, Tegan and Sara and The Temper Trap are a kickass performer!. The presale tickets will be on sale on February 21st 2013 in a very limited number, so, game on! (Alcander Alonzo)

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Ticket Price :

Festival : (Presale) IDR 750.000 | (Normal) IDR 900.000

VIP         : (Presale) IDR 1.000.000 | (Normal) IDR 1.200.000

Tickets can be purchased via online February 21st 2013

The duo has been producing numbers of record for 13 years and this year they finally released their 7th album “Hearthrob” on January 29, so here’s a bit review of what I think about the album.

Who are they? This multitalented Canadian twins has been buzzing around in the music scene since they were in school in 1997, but it was in 1999 they released their first independent album “Under Feet Like Ours”, and in the following year they got signed to Young’s Vapor Record labels and released “This Business of Art” which made them touring around for quite some times. In 2002 the band released their 3rd album “If It Was You”, well they haven’t got much attention but it was in 2004 when they released their 4th album “So Jelous” they gain wider success, especially when their song “Walking with a Ghost” covered by The White Stripes. In 2007 to 2009 they collaborated with many producer and musicians, such as Chris Walla and Jason McGerr (DCFC), Matt Sharp (The Rentals), Weezer, Hunter Burgan (AFI), and Kaki King, and then released their 6th album “Sainthood”, and received high feedback from music medias such as Spin, for their honest lyrics and music. Their “Get Along” live footage was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video at the 2013 Grammy Awards.

How’s the latest album goes? They recorded Hearthrob album in february last year, and the first single “Closer” was released last Sepember. When I saw the video we can see that they still have the pop young influences of two teenager, and off course this single if I can say is like a better version of Carly Rae Jepsen, and I wonder why she was more famous than Tegan and Sara, I mean, this duo is much a better pop artist than any solo pop girl out there. Anyway back to the review, this album was so much mature then their previous albums. If we hear more of an upbeat, pop rock version of teenage girl bands, in this album you can hear more of an adult adolescenes kinda of music. The second of the album, “I Was A Fool” remind me of band Tatu mixed with M2M but less the disco and gay kinda sound, its a nice pop song you want to hear in the middle of the rain as your breakup song though. “Now I’m All Messed Up” is a very unique ballad and pretty much a catchy song to be use as love movie soundtrack. A little of electronic synth sound can be hear on the song “Shock To Your System”, another nice catchy tunes that I found interesting is “I’m Not Your Hero”, here you can hear more of the pop less indie but still it’s the kind of song you can’t compare with other teenage pop songs, but if you’re looking for an indie pop songs try to listen to “Feel It in My Bones” maybe it’s a little bit sounded like the up beat version of lo-fi songs of Lana Del Rey, a little bit of both. But in general I like this album because it was a good music for everyone in general, even if you don’t like or trying to listen to alternative pop songs.

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