The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Placebo's new track, 'Loud Like Love' Posted: A new single from British group Placebo. British alternative rock band Placebo has a new single out called Loud Like Love, which is also the title of its upcoming seventh studio album, due out on Sept 16. The first single from the album was called Too Many Friends and was released last month. The music video was produced in Los Angeles and is a collaboration between the band and American novelist Bret Easton Ellis. Other songs in the tracklist are: Scene Of The Crime, Hold On To Me, Rob The Bank, A Million Little Pieces, Exit Wounds, Purify, Begin The End, Bosco and Pity Party (Of One). Placebo is made up of vocalist Brian Molko, guitarists Stefan Olsdal and Bill Lloyd and drummer Steve Forrest. The album is distributed in Malaysia by Universal Music. |
| Posted: Linkin Park took a decade to return to Malaysia, but its Monday night concert was well worth the wait. THE show was supposed to start at 8pm and 40 minutes later, Linkin Park was still nowhere to be seen on stage. (I know, I checked my watch. Twice.) It was cold, the venue was wet from the evening's downpour, and somebody thought that it would be a great idea to place an industrial-sized fan blowing directly towards the area which accommodated the media. I was shivering like a Chihuahua, my hair was all frizzy and my shoulder was acting up but no, none of it had anything to do with Linkin Park's Living Things World Tour. I was just annoyed ... really annoyed. But all that changed the moment Tinfoil blared from the speakers at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur and the music slowly faded into the intro for fan favourite Faint. Annoyed, who ... me? Never happened. The earlier atmosphere, which was creepily quiet for a nu metal and rap rock hybrid concert, disappeared as the 20,000 fans in the arena made their presence felt and whoa, they were loud. In his usual cool demeanour, turntablist Joe Hahn got the party started and the band's lead vocalist Chester Bennington, rapper Mike Shinoda, guitarist Brad Delson, bass guitarist Dave Farrell and drummer Rob Bourdon kept it going throughout the concert. The band didn't waste any more time and cruised through three songs, including Papercut and Given Up before Bennington stopped to take a breath and greet the fans. "Sama-sama, thank you for being here," he said, not realising that his Bahasa Malaysia wasn't up to snuff, but seriously, with the kind of talent and stage presence Bennington possesses, he could've spoken in an alien language for all the crowd cared.  Mike Shinoda (left) and Bennington got the crowd going from start to end. You know, sometimes, when an artiste performs live, and you kind of wish that they didn't? Well, no one could wish that for Linkin Park as the band sounded incredible in a live setting and performed their tracks with nary a glitch. The last time the sextet was in Malaysia was a decade ago, and although many fans had claimed that the 2003 concert was awesome, there's no denying that Monday's show was just as good ... or even better. Maybe that is how this crew always rolls, or maybe it's because Kuala Lumpur is the final stop in the Living Things World Tour. Still, the boys gave their all throughout the concert like it was their last show ... ever. Even as the band reached the end of its set, Bennington's voice never once cracked after screaming his lungs out for almost every track. Drenched in sweat and soaked by Malaysia's humidity, it's a wonder he didn't fall flat dehydrated on stage. Shinoda alternated playing the guitar, sampling pad and keyboard as the band performed most of its hit tracks such as Somewhere I Belong, Points Of Authority, Numb, One Step Closer, In The End and Bleed It Out and as he had told The Star in a telephone interview last month, the band used this as an opportunity to road-test their new material off their latest album, Living Things. "This is the last show for the rest of the year. We'll be working on new material and playing games on Facebook. We want to say thank you to those who have been with us all these years," he told the screaming fans. If there was one thing that was more awesome than the band that night, it had to be the crowd. Maybe it was the effect Linkin Park had on them, or they just wanted to get rid of their Monday blues by screaming their hearts out, but simply said, the fans were downright fantastic. It was amazing to see them jump and sing along to the songs and the band definitely fed off their infectious energy. Even when the band did the whole "we'll disappear from the stage and let you guys scream for an encore" jig, the crowd knew what to do – call out the band's name until they re-appeared. Seriously, you have no idea how many bands have seen the crowd disperse when the lights go off at a concert's final minutes without knowing how the "encore jig" works. It's pretty embarrassing and I've witnessed similar incidents with international acts here. Anyway, the band was awesome and the crowd was perfect and together, it was a concert that was worth the 10-year wait. Now that I think about it, maybe Bennington wasn't wrong in saying "Sama-sama" (You're welcome) instead of "Terima kasih" at the beginning of the concert. I guess its us who have to thank the band for choosing Malaysia as its final stop in the Tour and giving us a Monday night we'll remember for a long time. So, here we go – thank you Linkin Park. |
| Posted: Being picked to sing the cute action song Gwiyomi was her big break, but Hari wants to do more. The song is Gwiyomi and so is the singer.The term is Korean slang for "cutie" and Hari, the singer of the hit song, could well pass for a manga character in person. At a media conference held at her distributor Warner Music Singapore's office last week, she was dressed in a cream and black dress with dainty pink nails, her hair done up in two little buns. The 23-year-old also had a variety of gestures to accompany her responses. They range from holding up her hands to cover her face to sticking her tongue out. When asked to demonstrate what she looks like when she is angry, she gives herself pretend-horns with her fingers. Speaking through an interpreter, she says, though: "I don't intentionally try to be cute, but people around me say that my actions are cute. Maybe it's also because of the song's cute image." She performs the ditty with a series of cutesy hand movements and, for the final flourish, she lightly kisses the five fingers of one hand and the thumb of the other hand. The video went viral early this year and has since been covered by fans across the region, as well as top South Korean groups such as Super Junior and Girls' Generation. While some have speculated on the Internet that it was BtoB boyband member Jung Il Hoon who came up with the song, Hari clarifies that this was not the case at all. She says: "The lyrics have been going around in Korea without anyone claiming the rights to it, so have the actions. But we added the melody to it and released it officially." She thinks it might have been a high school student who came up with the gestures. Hari's manager interjects to add that Jung did the male version of Gwiyomi and that is why people think he came up with it. So, for the record, Hari is the original singer of the official version released on Feb 18. Her video of the song has notched up more than 4.4 million views on YouTube. It is her first single and it seems to have come about entirely by chance. Before becoming a singer, she had part-time jobs such as waitressing and working at a computer gaming centre. Hari, who lives in Seoul, got to know Dandi, a record producer, as he was "someone in my neighbourhood". It was Dandi who approached her to sing the Gwiyomi song and had her audition over the telephone. "I didn't even know he was a producer before that," she adds with peals of laughter. Thanks to the popularity of the song, she flew on a plane for the first time to come to Singapore for a promotion tour. Then it was off to the Philippines and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, flying is not an experience she relishes. With pretend shivers, she says: "I have an acute fear of heights and I had to take some medicine to slow down my heart rate. Even then, I felt quite scared and was sweating and didn't enjoy the flight." Hari is not the only one enjoying her success. She says: "My parents like the fact that I've become famous and my younger brother likes to show off that I'm his sister." If she is worried about being pegged as a one-hit wonder, she is certainly not showing it. She adds: "I don't mind if the song is more popular than the singer, that's fine." Having stumbled into singing, Hari, who is single, is now determined to make it work. She says: "I'm going to work really hard and I see myself being a singer for a long time." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Music To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan