SINGAPORE COMMUNITY RADIO
Online music platform Singapore Community Radio has gone through a major revamp. and now champions an even wider range of Singapore creatives from various backgrounds and disciplines.
New programmes include bi-weekly show The Potluck Club, which features guests such as design collective Tell Your Children and carpentry studio Roger&Sons; High Tide, which focuses on Mandarin indie music; and 10 Tracks, where artistes, producers and personalities will each share 10 songs that define them.
Besides its regular roster of DJs such as DJ Itch and Kim Wong, musicians such as ambient artiste Kin Leonn and electronic artiste The Analog Girl will also be invited to curate and present their mix of music.
Other new offerings include The Same Page, a podcast by local bookstore The Moon and The Squelch Zinecast, a podcast that spotlights the local zine community.
This and next Saturday (Oct 3 and Oct 10), the platform will celebrate the fifth anniversary of local record store The Analog Vault with live-streamed performances by home-grown acts such as .gif, Intriguant, Hanging Up The Moon and RAH.
WHERE: Various online platforms including Twitch and Spotify
MUSIC AT MONUMENTS
This new series features four home-grown acts from various genres who had festive-themed music videos filmed at national monuments. The videos are released monthly.
A cappella quintet The Apex Project sang an English/Chinese medley of tunes associated with the moon in the first video that was recently launched. Shot at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, the video is released to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is today.
The medley features the group's interpretation of classics such as jazz standard Fly Me To The Moon and The Moon Represents My Heart, the song made famous by late Taiwanese icon Teresa Teng in 1977.
This month (October), Mandopop singer Derrick Hoh's video will see him sing Liang Wern Fook's xinyao classic Write You A Song at the Asian Civilisations Museum - in conjunction with the Chong Yang Festival. The Chinese holiday to celebrate senior citizens falls on Oct 25 this year.
Contemporary Chinese musical group Musa will sing Deepavali tune Unnaikkandu Naan Aada (As I Dance Upon Seeing You). The video, to be released in November, will be filmed at Jurong Town Hall. Deepavali is on Nov 14.
December's video will feature R&B/hip-hop quartet Fingerfunk belting out Yuletide staple All I Want For Christmas Is You at Goodwood Park Hotel.
The series is a collaboration between National Heritage Board and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, and part of arts and cultural sector initiative #SGCultureAnywhere.
WHERE: National Heritage Board and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre' social media channels (bit.ly/30kLB7G and bit.ly/2Gk1ap5)
WHEN: A new video is released monthly until December
BTS: TINY DESK (HOME) CONCERT
The Tiny Desk online concert series by American media organisation NPR Music has long been acclaimed by music aficionados for its eclectic mix of feted artists from various genres.
It recently featured K-pop megastars BTS, who broke its first-day viewership record just 25 minutes after the video was released.
Before Covid-19, Tiny Desk performances were filmed at the desk of NPR host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The guest artists now perform from various locations.
BTS recorded theirs in a record store in Seoul. Backed by a live band, the seven-member group sang hits including Dynamite, their first song to hit No. 1 on the US charts.
WHERE: bit.ly/36onoRB
FLOCK AT THE NEST
Here is a ticketed online concert with a difference - viewers can have cocktails or mocktails delivered to them so they can enjoy a drink or two while watching the show.
Flock At The Nest, the first instalment of this new series, features a home-grown line-up that includes singer, songwriter and actor Benjamin Kheng. The member of pop quartet The Sam Willows put out his debut solo EP, A Sea That Never Stops, in June.
Also on the bill are singer-songwriters lewloh, who formerly performed as LEW, and Marian Carmel.
The hour-long concert was filmed at The Nest, a new, cosy venue within Pasir Panjang Power Station A.
The series is put together by 24Owls, the organisers behind indie music festivals Laneway Singapore and Alex Blake Charlie Sessions. The drinks are from local cocktail brand Gudsht.
WHERE: www.24owls.sg
WHEN: Available for streaming from Oct 9, 8pm until Oct 11, 11.59pm
ADMISSION : From $15. Go to www.24owls.sg/tickets
POST-PUNK/ROCK
ULTRA MONO
Idles
4 stars
Ultra Mono reflects a band coming to terms with success and grappling with their growing prominence.
British group Idles saw their popularity soar and received plenty of plaudits for their first two albums, Brutalism (2017) and Joy As An Act Of Resistance (2018). Neither critical nor commercial success has dulled the band's edge.
In fact, the Bristol punk quintet seem to have ramped up its politically charged missives, without losing their caustic wit. Guitars squeal incessantly, the drums pummel as frontman Joe Talbot rails against socio-economic inequalities and struggles with inner conflict.
The track Model Villages takes on racists and homophobes, and Ne Touche Pas Moi, with guest vocals by Jehnny Beth of English rock band Savages, celebrates safe spaces in the mosh pit and dance floor.
Tunes such as Anxiety and A Hymn deal with fear, regret and insecurity.
On Mr. Motivator, Talbot displays his acerbic sense of humour, picturing Public Enemy rapper Flava Flav riding on the back of Hollywood cowboy John Wayne and nature documentary icon David Attenborough clubbing seal clubbers with basketball star LeBron James.
The band's raucous energy is infectious and you cannot turn away.
