The top 30 local tracks of 2015

Ali Aiman is back after last year’s solid first release that was the ‘Overture’ EP. In ‘Morning Sun’ he sings of what we assume is ennui, and around the second minute a piano bit plays on, giving all the jazzy feels that in a few years’ time will definitely be known as the Ali Aiman signature sound. Nadia Rosli

www.facebook.com/aliiaiiman

This track by Akhyla kid Nicholas Siau aka nemo plays like a short catch up on what’s been going on with his life. Crafted in the style of a last letter and mixed by fellow labelmate Kain, there’re two different stories on this track. On the first half, nemo goes on about parental issues and, after that, dishes out some notes on his love affair with a taken girl, ‘Don’t make me fucking lose it and spell your name out in my raps’. Nadia Rosli

soundcloud.com/nemoakhyla

The latest addition to the HOAX Vision family, Viktoria’s ‘The Only One’ is an astute, quiet triumph – cue an expectant, steely-eyed gaze, eyes peeking out from side-shaven hair. It’s a minimal, mid-tempo brood backed by eerie electronics; altogether, it combines sparse, subtly sophisticated arrangement following in the vein of her earlier two tracks, ‘Baby Got Me’ and ‘Nebraska’, with soft vocals that come across more speaking, less singing. Movingly melancholic, she asks: ‘How could you love someone like me / I’m the last thing you’d ever need’, and then beckons, almost pleading: ‘You are the only one, there’s nobody else’. ‘The Only One’ lingers, as these tracks do. Ng Su Ann

soundcloud.com/viktoriamusic

Tenderfists’s ‘Tourist Car’ came out at least three years ago and while the band has hinted that they’re working on new material for an upcoming album, band member Faiq Zamir has come out with some solo tracks as Half-court. ‘Now’ is mildly reminiscent of Todd Terje, if Todd Terje commutes on a pastel-hued subway and is a wee bit moody. Nadia Rosli

soundcloud.com/half-court

New kid on the block Sasha Ningkan’s bilingual tune plays like a lullaby as the English verse aims to soothe with ‘Those tears will go away / And things will fade away’. Starting with a very subtle after-the-rain-like beat, ‘Mimpi’ is one of the pleasant surprises of the year. Nadia Rosli

soundcloud.com/sashaningkan

What a name – Bastard Malaya – but Bastard and Orang Malaya, as well as their producer f r s (also known as Faris Malik, one half of Dái-Kan), aren’t in it for the controversy; they’re in it for the chill. ‘Not Really Us’ is Atlanta avant garde; as outliers operating from the periphery of our hip hop community, the bedroom lo-fi laxity, fluid, lazy swag and offbeat charisma of Bastard Malaya hint at an anti-conformist aesthetic that’s unseemly seamless. Bemused and loose, they sing about McD, girls and screwing (this is, of course, a polite euphemism) around with girls – and on the strung-out, unpolished ‘Fever Til 44’ produced by f r s, you can almost hear fresh talent turn skilled pro. Ng Su Ann

soundcloud.com/hoaxvision/sets/bastard-malaya-not-really-us

A definite highlight from Enterprise’s ‘Episode One’ EP is this collaboration of a song with singer-songwriter Bil Musa, whose vocals add a nice touch while retaining the band’s signature intergalactic vibes. She rambles on in French and we don’t understand a thing (in fact, a Google Translate of the song title comes up with nothing of note), but everything sounds beautiful, so for a while, it doesn’t matter. Nadia Rosli

www.enterenterprise.com

Jaggfuzzbeats are a self-assured pair from Shah Alam – that insouciant rock-star drawl, and vocalist Azrul Zainal’s cut-glass cheekbones. That there’s nothing new to be found here is a common complaint – they’re a rock’n’roll act with a country, folk-ish twang, and that ground has been trod on often – but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t embrace and enjoy Jaggfuzzbeats, yoking the spirit and styles of retro folk and rock riffs. Ng Su Ann

www.facebook.com/jaggfuzzbeats

Is ‘Mother’s Couch’ by the mysterious and talented Orang his Netflix-and-chill song? Most probably, as he channels Panda Bear: ‘So here we lay on your mother’s couch / Where I said I’m getting out of here’. It’s a short, almost three-minute track that leaves you smiling like an idiot – and for what exactly, you’re not sure. Nadia Rosli

soundcloud.com/orangorang

‘Comet’ is pretty, especially in the patches when Jeannie Lee sings. It’s also pretty poppy, which is a bit of a departure from the electronic duo, from whom we’ve come to expect a darker, more brooding sound – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, with ’80s synth flourishes and just enough shimmer to hit the sweet spot. Ng Su Ann

www.facebook.com/weare2db

‘A Chinese who can’t speak Chinese? / Yo, the struggle is real,’ raps Jin Hackman on ‘Banana’ (‘Yellow on the outside, white on the inside’). The song, catchy and tongue-in-cheek, is deserving of a spot on any banana’s year-end list. But if you disagree, then go back to watching Wong Kar Wai’s films with subtitles. Ng Su Ann



www.facebook.com/jinhackman

It’s tragic that not more people have listened to ‘Trofi’ – the music is moving, not just physically, but also intuitively, spiritually, perhaps on a dim dance floor. The clicking loops, the rhythmic throb, a noise that hisses and rattles until it breaks through; Adam Kasturi is KL’s most visionary producer, ambitious and atmospheric. Ng Su Ann

Read our interview with Adam Kasturi.



www.soundcloud.com/admkstr

The Ampang pop band, with the release of their true blue fulllength ‘Verklempt’ and resulting relentless gigging, sheds their slacker image; it looks and sounds, you know, like they’re genuinely trying. In ‘Poverty Jet Set’, The Fridays aspire to an early The Strokes aesthetic: taut guitarwork versus woozy nonchalance, evoking images of frontman Acap F staying home, ‘arranging the magnets on the fridge’. Ng Su Ann

Read our interview with The Fridays.



Note: This version is a very early demo recording. For the finished track, buy their album ‘Verklempt’ at selected stores or get in touch at www.facebook.com/thefridays.

‘Assassin’ bubbles to the surface but never boils over completely. Eff Hakim and Mohd Faliq, as Pastel Lite, unleash a sinister, subversive heap of seething intensity with ‘Assassin’: ‘Yes, you could’ve done much better / Yes, you should’ve done much better’, Eff snarls over Faliq’s dark, urgent electronics. Ng Su Ann



www.soundcloud.com/pastel-lite

Dae Kim has a distinct sound: Half the time it’s hip hop, and when not, it’s fuzzy, lush electronics, communicating love and longing. We like it more when it’s the latter. On ‘Baby Blue’, the light flickers and wavers, but it never goes out. Ryota sings ‘I wait until you come home’, and in that sentence is a small universe of all the things lovers say to each other. Ng Su Ann



www.facebook.com/doesanyoneelsee

‘Bummer’ – the third track from the girls’ mixtape ‘Saccharine’ – snapshots a moment in music right now and it’s a memorable accomplishment. Produced by Fariz Malik, it invokes Doja Cat’s ‘So High’, only dreamier, hazier, slower; the succinct, quick raps, the velvety vocals, it’s all anchored by barely-there, stripped synths. To be fair, it’s not the most pristine of works – but ‘Bummer’ taps into a sweet spot that’s more than the sum of ‘Saccharine’s parts, and it’s a start. Ng Su Ann



soundcloud.com/zsyia
soundcloud.com/viktoriamusic

HOAX Vision’s poster boy has been hard at work – in the past few months alone, he snagged The Wknd Recording Fund, and naturally, celebrated with the release of his record ‘Radland Inn’. He’s at home on ‘I Might Be The One’; it’s the signature Orang Malaya song: moody, muted, a little on the edge. He slurs over slinky, sombre beats. He snaps into weightless, vampy flows. He goes where the muse takes him, and we go with him. Ng Su Ann

Read more about Orang Malaya.



soundcloud.com/orangmalaya

When Leo Ari sings ‘Sometimes, it feels like / I don’t love you anymore’, a lesser listener would accuse the song of sinking into the pitfalls of schmaltz. It doesn’t. His skills become evident sometime past the one-minute mark, and at 1:26, sugary synths shake up ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’; he has a knack for analogue warmth, and it shows on this song’s lush production. This one’s for the heartbroken and the hung-ups at the clubs. Ng Su Ann

Read our interview with Leo Ari.



www.facebook.com/artbyleoari

‘Commemorate!’, as a whole, is a brilliant album by a brilliant band – but ‘Kyū / Jū Roku had us from the get go. A Malaysian math rock band making mechanical, muscular music, they veer ever-so-slightly into self-indulgence on ‘Kyū / Jū Roku’; it conjures up specific snapshots in your headspace (Jonathan Glazer’s ‘Under the Skin’, sped up and soundtracked by beeping heart monitors, for instance). More than anything, the song defines and refines the Dirgahayu sound. Ng Su Ann

Read our interview with Dirgahayu.



www.facebook.com/orkesdirgahayu

OJ Law returned this year with the top-notch album ‘Let’s Be Adult’, leaving behind his brand of brooding, bedroom rock for dance and disco-esque tunes. It’s also his most overtly personal record to date, one that, more so than any other before, talks about love, the loss of love, and all in between. We like ‘Introverts’ – not because we’re introverts (we are), but because this is all solid songwriting: glossy, glacial synth-pop with sick hooks and serpentine lyrics. OJ Law is our favourite introvert. Ng Su Ann

Read our interview with OJ Law.



ojlaw.co