Leng Pleng - Live Music and DJ Gig Guide of Cambodia: Weekly Wrap

Tim Hall – pic courtesy of artist

Tim Hall is a ‘musician, sculptor, songwriter, player, teacher and producer’ from Sydney, Australia. Check out his great website to learn all about Tim’s incredible musical journey - from winning a local band competition at his first gig with university mates in 1990 to winning three ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) awards in 1998 with band ‘The Whitlams’. The journey has encompassed huge stadium gigs, such as supporting Kylie Minogue on her ‘On A Night Like This’ tour in 2000, as well as a great deal of song-writing and production work. Fortunately for the Cambodian music scene, Tim has recently been seduced by the charms of the Kingdom of Wonder. He currently resides in leafy Battambang. I encourage you to take the opportunity to sample his extraordinary stage presence, performance skills and great songs at Meta House this Friday and at Java Cafe & Gallery on Saturday night. Tim Hall gave Leng Pleng a little background information about his Phnom Penh gigs:

Tim’s music is on Soundcloud, including this great track ‘Lament (New God)’

“The two shows will be very different. Friday night at Meta I'll be doing a set around 9pm then another around midnight. The first set will be solo and unaccompanied. Using a phase loop pedal, I'll be layering up vocals to create tracks. Then at 12 I will take the mic and sing mash-up style over Nico's DJ-ing. This is great fun as it adds a live element to dance music. Saturday at Java will be starting at 7.30pm and once again I'll be doing two sets. I will be performing originals, singer-songwriter style, with an acoustic guitar. I'll throw in a few covers, done my own way, to host a night focusing on the theme for Valentine’s Day, ‘Heart & Soul’.”

Mekong Messengers – pic: Charles Fox

This weekend will provide the last chance to catch ‘Americana Deluxe’ band Mekong Messengers ...for a while. Congratulations to lead singer Kristen Rasmussen who will, in a few months, be introducing a new addition to her family. Unfortunately for us, that means we will not get to hear her fantastic voice ringing out around the traps – at least not for several months. There are not many singers in the region who can belt Dolly Parton, Etta James and Linda Ronstadt numbers with the poise and power of Kristen (the boys up on stage with her are not bad, either!). Equinox will host the Messenger’s farewell gig this Saturday night.

Euan Gray – pic: www.kenedgar.com

My approach to Valentine’s Day is usually to refuse to recognise it. I approach Christmas Day similarly. This behaviour does not usually go down too well with my other half, who mistakenly believes that the number of hints she drops about Valentine’s Day will be positively related to the number of presents she receives. At least I can be sure she is not with me for my money (I don’t have any). Perhaps this year I will soften and splash out on half-a-dozen coconut sweets and a new krawma from Psar Olympic. If I were a slightly more lavish type, I might splash out and take her to Euan Gray’s gig at The Doors on Saturday. The multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter seems comfortable in any musical situation. This weekend he will deliver a solo set of his own excellent original songs, in what the press release promises to be a ‘warmly-lit, intimate setting’. Steamy!

Mute Speaker will be at the Lotus Bar and Gallery tonight in Battambang, playing ‘a live mix of traditional Khmer music mixed with pre-recorded ambient sounds and his own beats.’ Mute Speaker, AKA Rob O’Hara, created a very cool album last year entitled Radio Bokor. The British underground DJ describes Radio Bokor as ‘an album of instrumental beats constructed from chopped-up songs from the 'Golden Age' of Cambodian music (1960's to 1975)’. Check out the result on bandcamp. There will also be live video mixing by Oliver Stoned during the gig at Lotus. Sounds like a cool event.