I guess
sometimes the city has to hold its breath. Waiting for something...
mass demonstrations, the end of the rainy season, the start of the tourist
season... but the music continues. It never ends. Maybe we’re still
waiting for the unresolved situation to resolve itself, and for our
venues to fill up a little with the tourists that we love to moan
about. But without those tourists we wouldn’t have much of a music
scene. Down on the corner of Street 51 and 172, the tourists are
still here but yes, it’s quieter than it has been.
Slur Bar
still manages to pack ‘em in alright. Its location very near
Pontoon, Golden Sorya and The Heart of Darkness ensures a steady stream
of white males and ladies of questionable repute, mixed together with
lots of backpackers, expats and music-lovers. Just the way Jack likes
it – a shifting swirl of humanity that can be boisterous and noisy
but is always interesting and often surprising. Taking the stage here
on a weekend is not for the faint-hearted, as bands have to prove
themselves above the din of a noisy bar, and try and grab the
attention of itinerant drinkers moving swiftly through a Friday or
Saturday night.
Those
pausing at Slur this weekend will find some new acts and a Phnom Penh
favourite. Proceedings kick-off on Thursday with the city's latest
Jazz outfit, Little Jack Fruit. The energy switches up a gear on
Friday night with Joe Wrigley & The Jumping Jacks (what is it
with all these Jacks???), who attempt the unlikely combination of
Rockabilly plus Khmer vocals with the help of special guest Mealea
Lay.
Finally on
Sunday you can be at Slur for the return of Station to Station, a
project born from a shared love of The Thin White Duke, David Bowie.
All of this weekend's acts and their listeners will benefit from some
serious work that the guys at Slur have carried out to improve the
sound of the PA. It can be challenging to make a live band sound good
in a room full of concrete and reflective surfaces, but the venue has
improved things by stuffing the inside of the stage with sandbags and
installing some acoustic foam on the walls.
Meanwhile,
Anthony at Equinox is still raving about his new 32-channel mixing
desk, and you can watch him twiddling his knobs this weekend when he
does sound for The Fumes on Friday night and Jaworski 7 on Saturday
night.
Jack’s
alternative Saturday night choice is Swagger at Meta House. The night
is presented by Phnom-Penh based record label, Invisible Agent. The
label is focussed on music styles such as Electro, Ambient, Techno
and Breakbeat, and is headed by Warren Daly, whom you may have seen
recently as part of the WASH performance collective. Warren is DJ-ing
on Saturday, along with Salmon Allstar and many others. You can also
see some live painting from local artists Dina Chhan and Adrianna
Snochowska. Any creative enterprise trying to do something
alternative in Phnom Penh has to get the thumbs up from me.
While
things may be a little quieter on the music scene this week, the city
confirms itself as a destination for visiting international
performers such as Steve Murray from the UK, who takes to the stage
at Sharky Bar on Friday night. Saturday sees Malaysian heroes Hydra
visit The Village for some bombastic and slick South-East Asian
pop-rock.
Away from
the capital, Spaceship CSP will be landing in Battambang and Siem
Reap this weekend. Here Be Dragons is a new venue in Battambang that
will host The Cambodian Space Project on Friday, before the band head
down the National Highway to Siem Reap, where they dock at The
Laundry to bring the house down and bring August to a close with
their mind-boggling psychedelic crossover.
Lots of music to look forward to in September, as new arrivals and old acquaintances combine to produce new sounds. The Village will be hosting what is quickly shaping up to be the gig of the year on Thursday 5th September, the Leng Pleng Mix to be hosted by Princess Soma Norodom and to feature some truly great Cambodian musicians from eras past and present. You are probably already familiar with greats such as Sinn Sisamouth and Soreysothea, but have you listened to the amazing Dra Kha Band? Check out the link below, and also be advised that Leng Pleng Special Operations are dispatching a team to Mondulkiri Province this week to locate Blind Nyel, the virtuoso Bunong guitarist keeping a unique music tradition alive. Below is the video document of what happened when Srey Channthy and Julien Poulson visited his home.
Absolutely fantastic - a star if I ever did hear one!
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