Malaysia's Dian Bang is truly electrifying

电棒 (Dian Bang)
边缘世界的猫(Cat of The World Edge)
Self-released, 2007
Sounds like a trip through a dark world and back
http://www.myspace.com/dianbang2005

I picked up this EP a few months ago at the Citizens of Ice Cream gig at Home and finally got around to listen to it!

电棒 (Dian Bang, which means vibrator in standard mandarin) plays the type of atmospheric, dark and heady, electro and techno which will fit nicely on a mixtape along with like-minded song crafters like Lali Puna, The Knife and MU. The kind of songs which sounds good on the dance floor, as well as in the armchair. Dian Bang also sounds like they drew their inspiration from the works of mainland chinese artists like 窦唯 (Dou Wei) and their melting pot of electronic, rock and ethnic music.

What makes the songs especially compelling for me is lead singer Vanes Ching’s voice of reckless abandon but with a strong presence which thankfully saves it from being overly dramatic.

Curiously, on the excellent mü-nest’s compilation We Are All Cotton-Hearted, they contributed a song which sounds like a playful Takemura Nobukazu music pretzel and nothing like the songs on this EP.

I am interested to hear more from Dian Bang. But for now, listening to them has led me to dig up the album Ver 2.0 by Hong Kong group Juno which produces songs that are clubbier, ranging from drum and bass, techno, trance to downtempo. I just love it when music joins its dots.

PS: The picture is taken from Dian Bang’s Myspace page. My copy of the EP is a reprint. While it features the original artwork of a robotic musical cat by JunNü, I did not manage to get a piece of the t-shirt. If you would like to buy the EP, go try contacting the group on Myspace.

The next British breakout band is Strange Idols!

Strange Idols
It’s No Fun!
Rallye Label, 2006
Sounds like the 80s again
www.myspace.com/strangeidols

Formed in 2005, sold out 2 singles, nothing’s gonna stop Strange Idols from becoming famous.

You know they will be big when their 1st single was released on Shady Lane Records which is run by Neil Halstead of Slowdive and Mojave 3, as well as Julian Mash, the Strange Idols guitarist who had a hand in writing most of their songs.

Gareth Parton, who has worked with Placebo, The Futureheads and The Pipettes, produced their latest 3rd single.

All the songs are sung by Laura Coxeter who is cute as a button, with a blonde hairdo reminding of Dusty and looks great and sounds great fronting the band.

They have a Japan-only release on Rallye which contains 6 songs compiling their 2 first two singles plus 2 previously unreleased songs, Say Anything and Old Times.

The truth is Strange Idols is excellent and a group to watch out for in 2008.

So what does a group which derived its name from a Felt album of 1984 (The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories) sound like?

They sound like they picked up the best tips from Felt to The Smiths to Blur to New Order and made their own madly catchy indie pop hits for the dance floor of the 21st century. It does not hurt the feet that the lyrics are clever, sometimes about love but never clichéd.