I am happy to announce that I made the headlines at Tom Vater‘s website… check the piece here.
I recently met Tom in Bangkok; he is a travel/guidebook and adventure writer based in Thailand (check out his guides to Cambodia and Angkor Wat out on excellent MOON Publishing), and also former guitarist of Bangkok garage punkers Pussy and the Learjets. In brief, the kind of person I consider a hero. (more…)
Ok, I’ve just finished watching TAQWACORE and what’s better than penning down my fresh opinions in Monkeyrockworld? Nothing, especially as this is so much up my alley of interests. I do not want to be annoying retelling stories you may read elsewhere on the net, but in a nutshell, Eyesteel Films produced the documentary on the explosion of “Taqwacore”: what the heck is that? Muslim punk rock baby. Yep… if you can get more controversial than that, please try to explain it. Named after the famous novel “The Taqwacores” by Michael “Muhammad” Knight (which is another movie all to itself, not to be confounded with this one), TAQWACORE is the first wave of American punk bands (and well, all spectres of punk as we go from the almost ska outbursts of the Kominas to the full-on crusty sludge of Al Thawra) who earned a reputation for bringing it out on a quite impressive coast-to-coast American tour. This movie documents that trip on the “Green Van” of Taqwa (the Muslim concept of God consciousness), the reception from the American Muslim punks, a paradoxical road trip ending with a real punk performance at Chicago’s American Muslims conference. The Taqwacores really bring a spark of excitement in the otherwise dull, middle-class, plastic American punk contemporary scene by bringing new lymph into the movement. It is definitely interesting. (more…)
E’ uscita una mia intervista a David O’ Dell, padrino Texano del punk cinese e della scena pechinese, su China Files e non vedo perche’ non pubblicizzare l’articolo anche sul mio blog, che ultimamente sta diventando una carretta causa il mio scarso tempo… ergo lo uso anche per queste comunicazioni, da ora in avanti. Perche’ alla fine, se di mia scrittura si tratta, allora va bene anche indirizzarvi ai miei articoli, giusto? Tutto in Italiano, come consuetudine China Files. Ecco il link:
I am happy to announce the digital release of BRUTAL POKHARA’s first installment of extreme Asian music’s compilation… this collective based in the beautiful land of NEPAL has had the great idea of trying to collect a snapshot of what today’s extreme music scene has to offer in the greater Asian region… such a challenging task, I’d say, ended up with some non-Asian bands thrown into the blender for a balance.
Anyhow, if you are as curious as me to listen, and especially listen for FREE, to some unknown and hideous spew of Asian hostility, this is a great opportunity to start with. The beauty of this compilation lies in its (obvious) abundance of bands from the almost oblivious South Asian scenes; countries such as Nepal, India, Pakistan (oh yeah) and Bangladesh are all represented, giving (at least to me) a first ever glance of extreme music crafted in such odd destinations for the average Western listener. (more…)
Ok, year 2010 and the beginning of this 2011 have not been that prolific for Monkeyrockworld. Without getting into too many details, I just would like to say that having to deal with an Asian university flamboyant requirements and trying to jet start a freelance writing career, without counting house and “da wifey” administration, is not the ideal situation to sit down and write. I also didn’t travel that much, in the first place, although yes, I do have many reports about Sri Lanka and my return to China still to pen down. Anyways, what I care to write now is about something I got back in. I did not think this would happen, but eventually, it did: I’m back into the music scene again. It seems I cannot get rid of this passion of mine; for it is too strong to be neglected… so let it be. I did not think also that an apparently sleepy place like Penang could hide so much underground talent… I knew Malaysia was full of hardcore, metal and punk, but all those kids seemed like hidden under rocks until three weeks ago more or less, when I shot a few emails here and there resulting in fast ties with the cream of the crop of East Asian punk, some metal and hardcore scenes. (more…)
The night was dark (and I have to tell you I am sorry for the video recordings), but you cannot really help when your country just switches off the generators and the electricity is non existent anyways: the moon was our lamp, the torchlight opening up the vision of the night… together with the cigarettes’ burning ends and the flashes provided by some lighter. And of course, Kit Yeng’s flashlight. The blues poured down the night’s throat like an ungodly wine… we needed a real singer, and we needed it bad, before Monkey Motherfucker decided to make it even worse… enjoy the RAWK from Myanmar first and most primitive BLUES PUNK, offered by the one and only BAGAN TIGERS… (more…)
Hell yeah, it took me so long to fix up a new computer, find a PCI card supporting a damn Firewire port, and finally unearth some fantastic, lost, incredible footage I shot in Myanmar almost one year ago. I almost forgot I found a band when I was there… a “one night stand band” in Bagan… THE BAGAN TIGERS!!! The best, most soulful rawk n blues to ever come out of Western Burma since the Britsh left!! Fuck yes, probably even before!! Possibly, the ONLY blues to have ever come out of Burma as of today!! (more…)
