This month marks Hurts virgin foray into Asian territory and it’s about time, guys! The Manchester duo has been scoring props all over the place – the band having just landed an NME Award for Best New Band, their debut LP, Happiness, having gained a critical foothold, and their epic and emotional pop having soundtracked your latest heartbreak – so their arrival on our shores can’t be anything but hotly anticipated. Bali’s Hard Rock Club was Theo and Adam’s first AZN stop (Singapore’s next! 10 May!), and just to give you an idea of how these guys do it onstage, here be some beautiful pictures.

Hurts plays Singapore on 10 May (that’s tonight!) at the Esplanade Theatre. Tickets are still available from SISTIC.

Ever get the feeling that you’ve pushed the envelope too far? Yeah, that never happens with the audio-visual aliens from Syndicate. Recently the electronic dance collective teamed up with the equally vanguard local outfit The Observatory for a collaborative improvisational session that pushed all kinds of boundaries as what to visual art and soundscape expressionism can be. A back and forth that seamlessly blurred the lines between indie rock, beat making and far out imagery.

Norwegian duo MoHa! and noise maestro Horacio Pollard (of Cau_Cational Betreet) joined in on the fun as well and provided the perfect complement to the cutting edge sounds. With Anders Hana on guitar and synthesizer and Morten J. Olsen on drums and supercollider, the MoHa! boys mightily impressed the Home Club floor with their showcase of optic epilepsy and guttural, mutated metalgaze. Horacio Pollard also stepped up to mash minds with his untraditional structure of feedback frenzy and anti-melody. As you can figure, it was a night of strange and intense bedlam – precisely how we like it.

Text Hidzir Junaini
Image The Observatory

www.syndicate.sg

Fort Canning played host to a double-bill Anglo-electronica invasion with trip hop legends Faithless and St Albans upstarts Friendly Fires featuring as special guests. The alliterative headliners drew out a couple of distinct demographics, each there for different acts, but both leaving as fans of a new band. Isn’t that just heartwarming? As much as “Paris” and “Skeleton Boy” have become dance-rock anthems for the hipster present, the indie kids who missed out on Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz in the mid-90s were wholeheartedly converted to the church of Faithless by the end of the night. And judging from the reception Fires received from the old-school ravers, the appreciation was mutual.

The younger Englishmen kicked off the hillside sweat-fest with multitude of drum-heavy grooves and endless jaunty dance moves that left the crowd eager to follow in vocalist’s Ed MacFarlane’s nimble steps. With only one album in tow, Friendly Fires didn’t take long to deplete their repertoire but what the introductory set lacked in length, the boys more than made up for in dripping charisma.

As rollicking fun as the opening act was, the senior statesmen of trance-pop wouldn’t be outdone. Popping up bathed in smoky red neon, a topless Jazz displayed a skeletally ripped physique (can you believe he’s northwards of 50!?), as Maxi’s tireless energy and precisely intonated bellows tied together the cacophony of synth and percussion. The call to service erupted immediately upon the somber opening beats of “God Is A DJ” – senses at once drowned out by the frenzied crowd singing along. By the time the feverishly pit-pleasing “Insomnia” dropped, a state of enraptured bliss swept through the lager and Jäger-drenched masses.

Wrapping up the night with the populist-tinged “We Come 1” was a sure-fire way to whip up a hysterical delirium fit for the glory days of yesteryears’ Ibiza. Nearly two decades on, Faithless have proven that not only have they still got it, they’ve never lost it, kiddos. For a night at least, the strange blend of rapturous old-school rave and skanking reggae rhapsodies came calling for a whole new crop of dance-heads as if to emphatically decree that yes, divinity is behind the decks.

Text: Hidzir Junaini
Images: LAMC Productions

Now this was a special night – when Andy Fletcher, one of the key cogs of Depeche Mode, alighted upon our little red dot and gave us all something to shout about. If you know your DM, you’d realise that we’re talkin’ one of the earth’s major electronic groups and one-third of that counts for quite a bit, kiddos. Happening as one of Ku Dé Ta’s Blue Velveteen Sessions, the event was well-supported by local jocks like Shigeki, Dave T and Godwin P, and augmented by a visual feast orchestrated by Flex, Jasmine and Quincy. All that ably paved the way for the Fletch himself, who travelled light (just a laptop, sans the headphones), but played a heavy and tight game of tech-house. Ah, bliss! And of course, with the amount of diehards in attendance, the guy couldn’t leave without dropping the odd DM track (“Enjoy The Silence”, anyone?) to keep those fists in the air. Electronic gold set against an awesome skyline and with one of your teenage heroes behind the deck? If you just couldn’t get enough, you weren’t the only one.

Text: Min Chen
Images: Ku Dé Ta

A legend’s in the house! A professional in all matters of drum ‘n’ bass, LTJ Bukem has active on the community since its early days, and it shows in his hefty discography (which includes the vital four-volume series Logical Progression) and pioneering label Good Looking Records. And of course, he’s also right at home behind the decks, where his brand of d’n’b comes animated in all its progressive glory. Us and a bunch of hardcore junglists saw it all happen one night at Home Club, where LTJ and his longtime partner-in-crime MC Conrad made good on their seasoned chops. Lightly flavoured with techno and breakbeats, and wholly jungle-friendly, LTJ’s set whipped up a dark and bewitching storm on the dancefloor, skillfully helped along by Conrad’s bright and steady wordplay. Oh, you bet a party was in session. Heads were bopped and feet were moved, as these jungle cats explored every dimension of d’n’b and delivered on an intelligent session in progression – just the stuff legends are made of.

Text Min Chen
Images Home Club

Who says fashion has to be taken with a serious face, darling? At Style Wars, it’s meant to be every bit fun and wildly imaginative, but without once losing the glamour that comes with high fashion. Pitched somewhere between a rap battle and a runway show, this fashion tournament faces off teams of young designers in knockout rounds of speed styling – where each of them have just five minutes to turn ordinary, everyday objects (lamp shades, aluminum foil, etc) into bold and original fashion statements. The idea originated from New York’s artsy duo, House of Diehl, but has lately drawn battle lines across four continents – and our side of the world has not been spared.

So put away that scowl, Lagerfeld, ‘cos it’s the local debut of Style Wars at The Butter Factory. Woot! House of Diehl’s deadly combo of M a r y J o D i e h l a n d R o m a n M i l isic was in the house to play friendly hosts and to kick off the battle with a live styling demonstration involving umbrellas and lots of quick wit. Ably following up on the experts were up to six teams of contestants, who got their hands all over duct tape, rubber gloves, straw hats, bin liners and other doo-dahs to shape up looks that were mad, bad(ass) and dangerous to know. Rapid rounds of cut, tear, paste and i-D-worthy pieces on, the champions were duly crowned by a trio of the judges (veteran stylists, natch) and the audience: the pairing of Nathaniel and Shanna came up tops for its creative use of um, tape and spray paint, and scored an opportunity to compete in the Style Wars Championship Battle in New York City. Now that, dear friends, is simply stylin’.

Text: Min Chen
Images: The Butter Factory

Those roars you heard behind Marina Bay’s Pit Building weren’t the revving engines of finely-tuned horsepower but the thumping reverbs of Singapore’s largest street party. Organised by the People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM) to celebrate its big four-oh, this year’s City Alive! extravaganza saw a over 6000 body-grooving youths taking it to the streets. The F1 tracks turned into a massive 360-metre dance floor as guest Japanese deck wreckers DJ Tashi, DJ Sarasa (aka Silverboombox) and Singapore’s very own DJ Andrew Chow dished out the choons for the b-boys and flygirls to go nuts to.

Dance crews around the region were also given a platform to bust their moves and battle it out in the finals of “Tri-Crew – Best of Asia” competition. Bragging rights and more importantly a cash prize of $3,000 (cheddar makes it better) went to the Philippine Allstars. Chris and Cedric, a pair of 18-year-old wunderkinds who were recently crowned “DJ Protégé Of The Year”, followed the dance-off with an astonishingly sleek set that whipped everyone up into highly coordinated spasms. It really is too bad if you missed out on the curvy Cyber Japan babes and hip hoppin’ goodness in general but hey, there’s always next year!

Text Hidzir Junaini

www.cityalive.sg

The local leg of Hard Rock Café’s worldwide Battle of the Bands saw a sonic skirmish between six of Singapore’s finest: Final Cut, Stage, B.A.R.B. (Bay Area Roc Blasta), We The Thousands, Mad Fellas and ETH (Earth To Heaven). After three closely contested qualifying rounds, the final night’s campaign found everyone slinging their stringed axes and pounding their war skins for glory. The spoils of victory was the opportunity to share the bill with luminaries such as Bon Jovi at the prestigious Hard Rock Calling 2011 held at Hyde Park in June.

Judged by a panel of industry experts, the night’s rock warriors were closely scrutinised for showmanship, originality and crowd reaction. After each band rocked our socks with two originals and a Bon Jovi cover (“I’ll Be There For You” seemed to be a popular choice), B.A.R.B. were declared the grand winners. With a lead vocalist garbed like A Clockwork Orange-inspired voodoo priest and a calypso ska rendition of “Bed Of Roses” these boys were hard not to root for. London’s calling and we wish them all the best!

Text Hidzir Junaini

www.facebook.com/hardrockcafesingapore
www.myspace.com/rocblasta

The second Syndicate of the year saw JPS bring his Operatives-certified beats right to the floor of Home Club and its tripped out denizens like it was a homecoming of some kind. Well, actually it was come to think of it – JPS may be currently Melbourne based but the dude was born and bred in the Lion City. And now he has returned with one sole purpose – to rile your emotions and tear your sonic caverns a new one. That he did… and then some.

Of course no Syndicate would be complete without the complementary vanguard visuals of Brandon Tay and Rafi Dean to freak out to. Peppered by killer sets from up Syndicate loyalists Max Lane, Izaak Stern and Darren Dubwise along with Funk Bast*rd and MC Masterpiece from the Pushin’On collective, the night took us to frequencies off the beaten path and proceeded to beat us with it with glee. More, please?

http://syndicate.sg

You couldn’t have found a happier and more pumping dance floor than the one at La Maison last month. The newest stop for hipsters and scenesters of all shapes and sizes, the club was enjoying its official launch – and what a night it was.

Ramming its premises were sexy and sweaty bodies, overflowing champagne and the perfect party atmosphere, while the decks were ably helmed by not one, but two special guests. André Saraiva, French graffitist and entrepreneur (La Maison benefits from his input), was one, and the other was Gildas Loaëc, one-half of Kitsuné. Their resulting tandem DJ set marked the first of La Maison’s collaborative X Parties, and also happened to feature a bangin’ cross-section of indie-electro (from Le Tigre to La Roux). And judging by the fact that every surface of the club was being occupied by a dance move or 86, we know you loved it.

www.lamaison.com.sg