♥ MIKERU ON MUSIC TODAY ♥

You must be wondering why we're blogging about Anugerah Juara Lagu (loosely translated: Best Song Awards). A brief background: AJL as it is popularly known is an annual awards/competition in Malaysia between the songs that garner the most public votes on Muzik Muzik, a very popular Malaysian music variety show. AJL is one to note as it has, in the past, shown much love to the independent scene.

The past two winners of this coveted award belonged to Meet Uncle Hussain (for 'Lagu Untukmu') and Estranged (for 'Itu Kamu'). This proved to be a departure from your standard winner which, before, consisted of more mainstream (by Malaysian standards) artistes and music. The full list of past winners can be found here.

This year, we're hoping the best for some of Junk's favourites. Yuna's been nominated for 'Dan Sebenarnya', and so has pop-punk princes Bunkface for 'Situasi'. Past winner Estranged is in the running again with 'Aurora' and indie rock heroes Hujan gets a nod for 'Aku Scandal'.

OK, we may be speaking on a biased standpoint, but we're really hoping one of them walks home with the grand prize of RM35,000 in cash. First runner-up will receive RM12,000 and second runner-up, RM10,000. So as you can see, it's a MAJOR prize. Witnessing how hard they've worked from day one to get here, we can't help but wish them all the best!

Here's the songs they were nominated with. My personal pick? Kinda hard to say but I'll go with Yuna for the win on this one. Yours?

Time: January 10, 2010 from 1pm to 5pm
Location: One Cafe Kuala Lumpur
Street: Jalan TAR
City/Town: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
You're all invited to New Year Rendezvous Fest with Senoritas, Restraint, Flicked Mind, Asthalin, Manis, The Voks, Widuri and more! Only on 10th January at One Cafe. Be there! We'll have fun, mosh, rock and pump out! ;) Cheers~

The crowd of mostly KAMI-generation teens (in gormless slogan T-shirts) danced and moshed with abandon in spite of the dampness. All the requisites were there – from unrelenting downpour that stirred the grounds of Stadium Bukit Jalil into a quagmire of mud, to the brace of technical glitches and insalubrious mobile toilets.

The rain bore down after a guileless sunny day – forcing the organizers to halt all performances by 4.20pm before resuming at 5pm. The Main Stage, the biggest platform on site, boasted a good sound setup – one that a big act like The Times used to their advantage when cranking out gig staples like ‘Khayal-khayalan’ and a rather loose, but spirited cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation’.

The Chillout Stage saw acts like Free Love’s Mohd Jayzuan crooning in minimalist, acoustic fashion whilst The Indie Stage – emceed by Xfm deejays was the second best attended site after the Main Stage – with people commuting back and forth between the two. It was here that bands like An Honest Mistake dialed the enthusiasm level suitably high with frontman Darren Teh growling into the crowd like his idol Syarul Reza whilst the latter traversed down a decidedly mellower jazz/indie route with Labrat – beaming excitedly beside the singer's wife who’d joined him onstage.

Lineup changes and new band personnel seemed to be the order of the day at the main area – with Meet Uncle Hussain performing with Black (of reality show Mentor) and another vocalist in light of Lan’s departure. The duo proved more than able to not only match Lan’s signature vocal acrobatics but categorically dismissed the erstwhile singer’s earlier flaccid, cringe-worthy turn with Azlan & The Typewriter. To hear ‘Lagu Untukmu’ delivered by singers of such fine fettle reinforces the truism that one man does not a band make.

Bittersweet emerged as a Voltron amalgamation of three Britrock-inspired outfits with Dance to the Radio’s vocalist stepping in for Pijie (who, with Hafiz the guitarist, had quit the band for full-time jobs), and former The Times’ Irfan (drums) and Moon making up the rhythm section. Decked out in bomber jackets and identical Wayfarers, the transient superband plowed through a tight set, albeit mechanically. Perhaps the new members’ probationary status was a factor for the lack of on-stage chemistry. "Pijie and Hafiz are no longer with the band. We are all still friends. In the meantime, we are trying out our new members,"
confided Aman, the band’s manager.

Close to 20,000 thronged the main stage after the Maghrib obligations, though each act from Yuna onwards had to cut their three-song sets to two due to time constraints. With the addition of technical bugaboos and inconsistent audio balancing, the experience became a tad lugubrious.

This is especially so in the wake of awesome three-song ones by Republic of Brickfields (read: massive skankin’ action). Love Me Butch and Seven Collar T-Shirt’s sets, though reliably stellar, left the audience visibly unsatisfied, especially after delivering their calling cards (‘Reconcile’ and ‘Faith’) and filliping the mob up to a sing-along, crowd-surfing frisson and crescendo – only to depart to make way for the next act.

Exacerbating the already slipshod time management was the lengthy transitions in between bands. The emcees of the night soldiered ably with brickbats and informal banter as bands sound-checked and pilfered more precious minutes away from the midnight curfew. The last act, Bunkface only managed to play ‘Bunk Anthem’ before the fuzz muted the speakers – although, in an act of cheeky defiance, they saw through ‘Revolusi’ (barely audibly) as the disgruntled crowd began to trail off towards the parking lots; a rather deflated end to what should have been the climax of Malaysia’s own rock festival.