Nine Songs (For Like, Right Now)

...Because plugging just your own band all the time makes things pretty tasteless and boring. Aha, lighten up...

Google them or whatever. Check 'em out!



1. Milliz "Can't Get It Back" - The sound of music. One sings like the Pacific winds (Michelle) and the other (Ling) plays piano like ... how Jonny Greenwood plays guitar.



2. Quest of Quasar "Father of Lies" - The greatest punk rock band in these lands.



3. Yuna "Rocket" - Beautiful natural voice and wit. Her art is how not to be a tryhard. Just...nice.


4. Butterfingers "Joget Global" - One word: Malaysiana.


5. Mastodon "Capillarian Crest" - This is just sick. Ask our friends in Indka. Thanks Rudy, for the initial recommendation.


6. The Rebel Scum "Bakdatang" - Hip hop is kicking rock's ass. Damn son. We gotta get our shit together.


7. Love Me Butch "Divine" - Faster, stronger, more power. A lot more singing and wide-open melodies from Syarul. And Wing Meng shreds. Phuqin' A.


8. The Velvet Teen "Penicillin (It Doesn't Mean Much)" - Kudos to Lurks for spotting this influence in our new songs.


9. Stonebay's "New English Songs" - It appears our brothers have scrapped their all-Malay album and are back to them English songs. And they rock. Yeah, we've got to mix it up y'know?

Some New Vieuphoria

Some new moving pictures from our recent shows, courtesy of Stephie. Just run a Youtube search on "admonitio" (sorry I'm in a hurry...maybe I'll get around to embedding, maybe not). Just some notes on the songs then.


Rocking out at the Nokia Independent Artists' Club concert @ Zouk

"Angel Sestina" - a new favourite we've been playing

"Advertisement (Where the Hearts Grow)" - a song we've just got done mixing

"Dondang Kaseh Aurora" - a.k.a. "Aurora Blues" kept real

Plus some Acoustic Takes @ No Black Tie, May 2008

"To Be Continued" - an acoustic version of the last song on Karya

"Angel Sestina" - an acoustic version of a potential album track

Well, spot the chinks in the armoury. Uh...don't be too hard on us. And um, stay inspired...or we might just open for Daughtry or something.

Urbanscapes 2008

Well, we'll be performing at the third Urbanscapes festival. How we were invited, at what seems like last gasp, with a little more than a week to the day of the festival, is a little surprising. How we were told that it's all supposed to be according to the number of votes for us is even more humbling.

Thing is we were never and never have been into music as competition and we're aware enough anyway of our shall we say, cult listenership, and we're indebted to each and every one of you guys, but man, to be voted for once is ... unreal. So thank you dear friends.

KLue Urbanscapes 2008 is at KLPac in Sentul West next Saturday, June 28th from late morning onwards. There'll be lots of art, clothes and film exhibits alongside the music (urbanscapes.com.my/map.html). We'll be at the Lawn Stage outside at 6.30pm, which starts from 1.30pm.

Come on down and hang out. Gulp. Wish us luck. God of Rock, we appeal to you ... shine down your light!

"The Endless Summer": Humble Origins

I think I remember when the chords came to me. I was just messing about with some awkward tuning which was impossible to play anything else in except for these four chorus chords. Hmm. Alright, any fellow geetar nerds out there, it's D-A-D-Bb-D-F ... go on, take it ... I dare you to try and play something with it. It was pure luck for me, I swear to God!

I remember it was a holiday, Hari Raya in fact. Surroundings were idyllic, on a little island called Damansara Indah. The teevee had a little movie on called "Toll Gate Girl", with Amy Mastura in it.

What I cannot for the life of me remember is why I found myself glued to the screen. I wouldn't have ever given a second thought to most things on local teevee ... but this one gave me a song.

Perhaps it was the Raya spirit that just has a way of sucking you in; perhaps I just felt a rare moment of liberation of having a house all to myself on a big celebration day and knowing that everyone else had preferred to go out and I would then be at liberty to make as much noise as I wanted. Perhaps it was the weird rush of pent-up thoughts and feelings you get when you're just idiotically in love with someone but at the same time kind of tragically unrequited, too (no, it wasn't Amy Mastura).

I've been having friends in much cooler bands tell me over the two or three years since that it's such a dumb title due to our country's equatorial conditions not allowing for any seasonal changes and therefore no summer, winter, autumn and spring. I tell them that it's about our and if they still insist on being literal dicks about it, that it's about our endless Malaysian summers, smartass.

And to the band Sugar Ray, whom I discovered had a song with an almost identical title to it (I wouldn't be surprised if there are others), I'd just like to say, we have a less-cheesy sounding version so there. Ha. I actually meant it as a metaphor for true love, crippling pain and all.

I was later told that "Toll Gate Girl" (dir: Osman Ali, 2001) is a classic, and the last great appearance by Amy Mastura. I'll have to sheepishly agree, if only for this song, which I'll be grateful for forever (I can't say that about all of our songs which I've written) ... so uh, thanks a lot Amy Mastura.

I can't wait for this to come out in any way shape or form on record. I'm sure it'll be soon. If anyone likes the song as much, cool. Well at least I know the person I wrote it for likes it back.

Next: Lyric sheet perhaps?

"The Endless Summer"

Hi...

Here's a live video of a song of ours that's most probably going to go on The Altruist as one of the token 'big singles'. The video is of quite low quality though. It's a rather special song to me for one very good reason. It is for someone. Was. Still is. I don't know...well the lyrics were written for someone. It's also rather long, so maybe a refined version will be recorded.

A Malay twin exists, called "Semusim Maya di Bumi Nyata", which will also be released somewhere eventually. I just felt that our other songs have had way more attention paid to it, and I hope you guys will pay extra attention to it next time we play it live or...I guess you'll just have to wait till the record comes out.



*Next week: The (hilarious) actual inspiration behind the song's music.

Gesture of Thanks

Dear Angels & Friends,

We would just like to extend some small thank yous, love and terima kaseh to both old and new friends and listeners we've made recently, and for coming out to spend time seeing us at Zouk for the Nokia IAC concert and the acoustic show at No Black Tie in mid-week.

We had a blast onstage at Zouk even though it wasn't perfect. We apologise for "Kurnia Chinta" being messy, and I know I missed some chords and destroyed the solo (for all of you guitarists out there...ha ha). As for Hanafi dissapearing mid-way thru the song, that shall remain a mystery...let us know if we rocked, cos we have no idea. Hope it was HEAVY.

On another note, I fell in love with this music again after watching our close friends Stonebay perform their new music at the Terrace with new acoustic arrangements. It was perfect. We could only ask you guys to get to know them and their music too - they are building their own strange musical world, akin to ours.

"Professional" thanks to Jolyn and Shermen of Junk as well as Jen from Hype magazine for talking to us after that. And how could we forget our secret agent man, Vinder Singh, our band manager/booking agent/confidante and friend...we love ya. Thanks also to Haron for announcing us in a funny way, Fadhil (the man!), and the Nokia IAC and Fatboys folk for working so hard that day.

Whoever else may be reading this thank you. Thank you to our MySpace friends mostly...thank you Sash, Bala and gang, Pesawat, Shafik, Wanie, Miya, Afiq, Butterfly and all the other special souls who are with us so far. Let's keep going, because we will, Izzat, Steph, Fi and I.

I just want to say thanks to my bandmates and Hanafi for being the guest in our band we could never really replace. They've pushed themselves and gone thru a lot of pains just for our music. A special thank you to our dear friend Melina William from Tempered Mental, for lending me her microphone and giving me the gift of a clear voice. And not forgetting my guitar tech for the day Mazwan (check out his jazz/pop band, 'Asboon') - errr, better job next time eh? Heh heh...

A gesture of thanks to Shah for the encouraging comments they made about our music and performance. Our friends in Brainhead. Aban Boyd. Our brothers and sister from Lurks (nice set you guys!) Last of all Kul for liking "Beloved", and commenting first on our blog (or popping our cherry...ha). Anyone I forget...I'm so sorry. Thank you infinity. This is a start of alternatives, this is our movement going somewhere, this is the sound of our hearts growing.

What I personally would like to say is...although we may not show it, we do perform our work for the few of you out there and anyone who has ever connected with our music. I know there will be more of you out there, in time...

Til then, take care of yourselves...have fun, start bands, be inspired, keep rocking, stay inspired and keep it real.

Peace, love...and music.

This Is Auburn

Dear Angels,

This is our new blog. This will be where it all goes down here on Planet Auburn. We'll keep you guys posted on new recordings, shows, videos and just random stuff related to Auburn in both English and Bahasa Malaysia (depending on mood and context...ha ha).

Til then, our songs will also be streaming on our MySpace home (myspace.com/auburnangels) and you guys can still add us as friends there. So um, welcome, and make yourselves at home.

We'll keep in touch here. You guys mean so much to us and any new music that comes from us in the near future will be for your ears and hearts only, consciously or subconsciously.

Stay inspired...