Top 10 Things to do This Week (Mar 19-25)
For March full listing, check out KMC’s The Monthlies.
[PICK OF THE WEEK] Jessie J ‘Who You Are’ Tour
Singapore Indoor Stadium l $85-175 from Sistic
Mar 20, 8pm
Bursting into the industry with top 10 singles “Do It Like A Dude” and “Domino” taken from her 2011 debut album Who You Are, the Londoner has since inspired the setup of two camps of critics. Her soulful voice riding on the back of pop and hip hop sensibilities has had her compared to everyone from Cindi Lauper to Katy Perry –both whom she had toured with. But aside from her mainstream viability and appeal, there are some who are also critical of her talent, believing that she’ll reach her fullest potential only if she stops trying to be like everyone else –namely her idols Rihanna, Pink and Katy Perry.
Top 10 Things to do This Week (Jan 29-Feb 5)
Jaguar Skills
Zirca l $16-30 includes two drinks
Feb 3, 10pm
Guised as a ninja, the British mash-up sensation made his mark by slicing and dicing through BBC Radio 1 and other radio stations with his eclectic mixtapes.
Top 10 Things to do This Week (Dec 26-Jan 1)
Trus’me & Druzzi (The Rapture)
Avalon l $35 includes one drink
Dec 30, 10pm
While Trus’me’s “Nards” propelled him to dancefloor supremacy (Gilles Peterson named the track the best of that year) in 2007, New Yorker multi-instrumentalist Druzzi and his band The Rapture was on a tour with two particular Frenchman who called themselves Daft Punk. Acid disco, funky house and unreleased tracks and samples will be on the cards.
Top 10 Things to do This Week (Dec 5-11)
THEM JAM 2011
Avalon l RSVP
Dec 7, 8.20pm
The full-fledged local showcase will feature art, music, fashion, design and dance all in one spellbinding night. With a fashion presentation by Quincy Teofisto from Blackmarket and art installations by Alvin Tan from :phunkstudio and Jason Tong of Mystic Vintage, the party kicks off with a music and dance collaboration curated by Felix Huang from Radikal Forze. More music offering coming from Pushin’ On, Bamrah Bros and a special set by audio-visual collective Syndicate and the Bedsty collective tips the night off.
RSVP with the code: KMC to get your exclusive invites.
Top 10 Things to do This Week (Nov 28-Dec 4)
ALTER XL feat. Markus Schulz, Lange & tyDi
Avalon l Advance two-night ticket (includes entry on Dec 2): $50 from TicketBooth; At the door: $30
Dec 1-2, 10pm
Three of trance’s biggest name will take on the decks at Avalon for a special 2-day Alter night. Featuring heavyweight Markus Schulz from Germany who’s also known as Dakota on Dec 1 and British trance giant Lange and Australia’s no.2 ranked DJ tyDi the day after, trance-heads will be treated to a heady dose of banging trance and that I’m-flying-in-the-air moments. Local stalwart and club resident Effen opens on both nights.
Syndicate: Ground-breaking Audio Visual Collective
Redefining Singapore’s Electronic Music
In an era where popularized electronic dance music is defined by how far you can reach up the anal canal of mainstream media and be famed for being famous, there are a few that thread between a dystopian world of electronic dance music and creating their own.
These days (thanks to technology), everyone is a DJ, a producer, or a creative connoisseur; all highly deserving of a record label, gigs, groupies, money, fame and whatever that most would associate to being famous.
Through reciting exaggerated accolades from the mouths of hear-say, dropping big names of partial relations, talking up stature that hasn’t been built, and talking down competitors from their shallow halls of inadequacy; these are the individuals chasing a construed vision of a dream by repeating the formula that has been set by the mass for the mass.
And as long as the purveyors of pop culture are rooted in creating music for music sake just to grow a pretty tree, that tree can be easily shaken.
If audio-visual collective Syndicate represents a tree in today’s electronic music scene, it will take more than the most expensive chainsaw of popular culture to cut them down. The collective is carving a musical landscape, an island where creativity is refined and free to roam, where quality precedes quantity, and where it’s really okay to be yourself.
Syndicate don’t think out of the box, there is no box in the first place.
Top 10 Things to do This Week (Nov 21-27)
Little Fish
Nov 21, 7pm at Timbre @ The Arts House
Nov 22-23, 8pm at Timbre @ The Substation
Nov 24, 7pm at Timbre @ Old School
The Oxford rockers are anything but little. Frontwoman Juju Sophie has been compared to the likes of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, the band’s organ player Ben Walker is a trained musician, and Little Fish has grown a massive community back home. The deeply rooted band has total disregard for musical rules, doing only what matters to them. Their DIY spirit has seen them leave a label that founded them, and gone on to play alongside Supergrass, Alice in Chains and Placebo. With appearances in Glastonbury, BBC Radio 1, and even on the video game Rock Band 3, Little Fish plays in a really big ocean.
Interview: Kiat
[ThinkMaven] Audio-visual collective Syndicate has been creating mad buzz that have seen them on global demand playing everywhere from clubs in London and Manila to the Worldwide Festival in France. Co-founded by Kiat, the collective is known for their eye on intricacy and uncompromising quality in both their experimental sounds and mind-blowing visuals. I met up with Kiat ahead of their much-anticipated Syndicate Sessions at the Esplanade Recital Hall (tickets on sale at Sistic.) Get to the know the man behind a movement that will define a generation.
Top 10 Things to do This Week (Nov 7-13)
Obey Radio: Singapore
The Pigeon Hole l Cover: Pay what you want
Nov 8, 8pm
Every week over at The Crosby, California, the boys from OBEY put on a show where underground DJs, street artists and creative lovers come and party. Following in the same vein (even the poster is identical to the ones in Cali,) audio-visual collective Syndicate have gathered some of the most forward-thinking local musicians today. Headlining the party, Los Angeles native Roam Intl from OBEY Records will be helming the decks. Joining him are local stalwarts Funk Bast*rd from Cosa Nostra, Kiat and Izaak Stern from Syndicate and rapper Kevin Lester from Sixx. OBEY’s Shepard Fairey’s art showcase will also be launched on the night and will run till Nov 22.
Top 10 Things to Do This Week (Sep 26-Oct 2)
Dealer’s Choice
Drama Centre Theatre l $35-65 from Sistic
Sep 29-Oct 16, Tue-Sun, 8pm and Fri-Sat, 3pm & 8pm
The critically-acclaimed comedy by award-winning director Tracie Pang tells the story of six men going through different phases of their lives, and dealing it out with a game of poker. Each relating differently to the game, humour turns to suspense as they begin to expose the complex relationships they have not only externally and with each other, but also with themselves. Starring Adrian Pang, Keagan Kang and Daniel Jenkins.
