Has it really been a year since thousands braved the rain at the inaugural Laneway Festival in Singapore? Yes and on 12th February 2012, a host of popular alternative pop-rock luminaries will thrill audiences at the Fort Canning Park, where hopefully the weather will prove more hospitable than the last time out.

Here’s the Power of Pop guide of the day’s proceedings for your kind consideration.

The day will begin with Cults, who is scheduled to kick off the festivities at 1.50pm (Stage One). This buzz band is riding on the fuzz-Spector-derived-pop wave that is sweeping the indie-alternative scenes worldwide. 90s alt-rock revivalists Yuck then bring Stage Two to life at about 2.30om. Synth-pop duo Chairlift come on at 3.15pm (Stage One) before electronic trio Austra at 4pm (Stage One)

Then at 4.45pm (Stage One) Girls, one of the bands to watch, brings its retro-delic rock n’ roll to the mix and then post-punk outfit The Drums (who visited our shores in 2011) gets us dancing at 5.25pm (Stage Two). The seductive Anna Calvi (6.15pm, Stage One) and new wave-channeling Twin Shadow (7.05pm, Stage Two), two distinctive solo projects.

Laura Marling – another major highlight – will provide warm acoustic vibes at 7.50pm (Stage One) beforeThe Pains of Being Pure At Heart turn on the noise at 8.40pm (Stage Two). Still with me? Into the final lap,Toro Y Moi brings exotic, progressive beats to the affair at 9.30pm (Stage One) and then indie rockette Feist delivers heartfelt sophistication at 10.20pm (Stage Two).

And… if you’re feeling a little tired by then… trust The Horrors to spice things up with its brand of post-punk/new wave retrospectives (11.15pm, Stage One) and as Sunday becomes Monday, hot electronic band M83 will end the festival on an extremely high note at Stage Two!

But… after all’s said and done. Are you ready Singapore? And have you got your tickets yet?

Tickets available at SISTIC.

Confirmed timings

Sunday 12 February 2012

Stage 1 – Cults (1.50pm to 2.20pm), Chairlift (3.15pm to 3.55pm), Girls (4.45pm to 5.25pm), Anna Calvi (6.15pm to 7pm), Laura Marling (7.50pm to 8.35pm), Toro Y Moi (9.30pm to 10.15pm), Horrors (11.15pm to 12 midnight)

Stage 2 – Yuck (2.30pm to 3pm), Austra (4pm to 4.40pm), The Drums (5.25pm to 6.10pm), Twin Shadow (7.05pm to 7.45pm), The Pains of Being Pure in Heart (8.40pm to 9.25pm), Feist (10.20pm to 11.10pm), M83 (12.05am to 12.55am)

LAURA MARLING

English singer-songwriter Laura Marling turns 22 in February 2012. Yet this young songstress has already three critically acclaimed full-length albums under her belt! Since her debut release – Alas, I Cannot Swim – Marling has earned accolades galore for her mature songwriting and her unique appropriation of the pioneering musical styles of Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson, Laura Nyro and Judee Sill. Artists who made their mark on the music world decades before Marling was even born.

Watching Marling in video interviews, it is clear that this fresh-faced young lady is down-to-earth, casual but deadly serious about her art and craft. This is evident in her prolific output and in the artistic development pursued in her three albums so far. Her latest album – A Creature I Don’t Know – was released in September 2012 and the leaps and bounds that Marling has moved forward with her music is simply impressive.

Even her singing style has gone deeper and lower to suggest such a greater sense of maturity that it is almost impossible to imagine that Marling is as young as she is! If I could highlight just three tracks off her brilliant new album it would be the Judee Sill-channeling Don’t Ask Me Why, the evocative Salinas and the bittersweet Sophia. On these wondrous tracks, the words and music carry the listener into a lost and forgotten world – a grand time for true music fans when music was made for music’s sake – a romantic ideal where vocal and instrumental arrangements embellish the beauty that already lies within and not merely to cynically ‘hide’ flaws and imperfections.

There’s little doubt in my mind that Marling will enrich true music fans when she plays Laneway Festival in Singapore come February 2012 – I for one am looking forward to this momentous occasion with bated breath…

Official Site – Laura Marling | Official Site – Laneway

Tickets available at SISTIC.

Watch Marling perform Don’t Ask Me Why and Salinas live below.

OR HOW I LOST MY SOLE AT RAINWAY…

Where do I start? How about being hugely bummed out at missing on Foals, the band I most wanted to catch at Laneway? Or should that be “Rainway”? Most of the inaugural Singapore edition of this Aussie indie festival was a washed in showers from on high and the venue Fort Canning Park was turned into a mud bath.

Notwithstanding the inclement weather (which continued well in Sunday), the fans lapped it all up. A good sized crowd packed the park decked out in their ponchos and umbrellas, with the ladies getting all wet, the men didn’t complain too much! But it began oh so differently, when what looked initially like a passing shower blessed the festival grounds even before opening act Warpaint took to the stage but it was soon apparent that the rain was here with us to stay…

Overall, the bands were of the modern indie variety, which meant an emphasis on post-punk sounds and dance-oriented grooves, which described Warpaint, Ladyhawke, !!! and Holy Fuck to a ‘t’. Bands like Beach House and Yeasayer, applied a different sensibility to their music. In the former case, it was more reflective and in the latter case, a sharp injection of ‘world music’ vibes.

In between the various sets, the organizers set up press conferences with all the bands with a specially constructed ‘media tent’. With the rainy weather, it was a brief respite for media folk (like yours truly) to take cover but then we realized that that tent was incredibly humid and stuffy! Just can’t win I guess!

Despite the best intentions on the part of the organizers, it was tough going in that tent. As bands were still playing, you could hardly hear yourself think (the tent was very close to the stage) and most of the media folk seemed too shell shocked (partly from the weather) to ask meaningful questions. It was also quite awkward as we were herded in for the first meet with Beach House.

We kind of gawked at them for a few minutes even as the duo squirmed uncomfortably in their seats. Only one journo was game to ask them questions, everyone else clammed up and took pictures. Me? I was distracted by how pretty Victoria was… but still managed to ask them about the challenge of playing in front of festival crowds. Figuring that not much could be achieved by these meetings, I only came back for Warpaint (the girls were so high after their set!), Foals and Temper Trap. It was amusing when someone asked Dougy what he thought about Indonesian and Singapore bands and naturally, he replied that he had no clue! Crazy!!

Check out them pix.

BUT by then, the bottom sole of my track shoe had totally been dislodged and stuck in the mud somewhere. So when I came out from the tent, the rain had become even heavier and although I really wanted to stay for Foals, I was too cold, drenched, tired (and one shoe light) to survive one more minute in that hostile environment. Oh to be 25 again, eh?!?!

Still, I firmly believe that Laneway Festival Singapore was a roaring, thundering success, with everyone getting their money’s worth. Pity about the weather but that’s life, innit? Personally, I really love the time spent with awesome people yet again and so wanna thank the following for good company – Aloysius, Eric and his friends from Indonesia, Linda, Patrick, Tim, Rebecca, Keith, “Lumpy” (who I’d not seen since Baybeats 2007! Thanks for reminding me of what I’d said to you back then…), Daniel, doopz, Gonz, Caleb, Kamal, Joseph, Amran, Sujin, Mohd, Errol, Lesley, Josh, William, Renyi, George (and his English gang), Ingrid, the two girls from Youth.sg (sorry, names escape me…) and many thanks to Sammy and Linda Na for all the media support!

Well, till Laneway Festival Singapore 2012, hopefully without the rain…

Picture by Patrick Chng. More.

Australian indie rock festival Laneway makes its debut in Singapore in a few days’ time (Saturday, 29th January). LA band Warpaint is one of the bands playing and here is the transcription of the phone interview I did with drummer Stella Mozgawa late last year and formed the basis for my TODAY article.

Who is the big David Bowie fan in the band?

I think we all are in many ways. I can definitely call myself a big David Bowie fan. He is a staple for musicians these days. He is so popular and so influential, and yet so credible. We’re all big lovers of his music.

Why Ashes to Ashes? (Warpaint’s contribution to We Were So Turned On, a Bowie tribute album in conjunction with War Child-KM)

Ashes to Ashes was the first recording I ever did with those girls, after being asked to join the band. I think they’d done a few bits of it and I came in to finish up the drums on it. It’s a really really popular song of his and at the same time, it’s still creative and really interesting and the production is amazing. Just to try to emulate that was such a nice challenge for everyone – drum, bass, guitar, everything. it’s a really happening song.

How does it feel to be included to in this compilation?

Total honor. All the other bands are really amazing and some of them are friends of ours. I think it’s really a good group of new school musicians.

You joined the band fairly recently. What is your background?

I played in a lot of bands. I moved to America from Australia four years ago and I was doing a lot of session work before joining WarPaint but also playing with different kinds of bands as well and multiple bands at one time. But when the girls asked me to join their band, after a while I realized that this was exactly what I always wanted and I did not need to do anything else. So since then it’s been my main squeeze.

How did they approach you? How did it come about?

Through mutual friends of ours who live in LA. They’re musicians and I was playing with them, done some recordings. They mentioned that WarPaint did not have a permanent drummer and that I should check them out. We knew about each other but could not get together because of scheduling difficulties. Last year they called me and asked if I wanted to do the album and I was free during that time and said yes and then, things kinda spiraled out of control – who are these people and what would it be like playing with them! We should continue doing this for a while.

So it’s been slightly more than a year now?

Yes, we celebrated the anniversary of our first gig together – the four of us – on 1st December.

What has the experience been like for you personally?

Definitely, it has been the most challenging, the most frustrating, the most time consuming, tiring and also the most amazing experience of my life and I would not trade it for anything else. Finally playing music and really meaning it out of purpose rather than paint by numbers playing.

WarPaint’s music has been described as “experimental art-rock”, how would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard of WarPaint?

Really long songs. If you don’t listen to anything more than 3 minutes then this is probably not the music for you. I always thought of it as being more like progressive rock in some ways and it’s not rock at the same time cos it’s not like AC/DC or Rolling Stones or Foo Fighters or something like that – it happens to be a rock lineup – bass, 2 guitars, 2 vocals, drums, no samples or backing tracks going on. I guess moody, colorful, psychedelic music (whatever ‘psychedelic’ means) – it’s really hard to describe…

What was the songwriting process for The Fool?

Pretty diplomatic. When I was asked to come in to work on the songs on the album, a lot of the songs had been written but they were unfinished. There were some versions of them we “nutted” them out, some we did from scratch and some were not as prepared, it was different for every song. Even when we got to the studio and further beyond that, even when we mixed the record, there was a huge difference between some of the arrangements, we did a lot of things in post production – like cutting things out or leaving stops – arranging songs even up to that point. We can’t stop doing that until we’ve absolutely finished and we can’t touch it anymore. But it was very diplomatic and very shared experience. Definitely not a case of one person writing all the material and the other people coming in to play the parts on the record – its very much a band from start to finish.

I get the impression that the band comes up with titles before songs?

The other way around, actually. Some people have said that, really interesting, “did you plan out for your album the first song is more than one word, then all the songs are one word and then last song is more than one word. Like a bookend.” We didn’t realize it until someone said that. Some of the earlier songs I heard the girls say that after they’ve written Elephants, someone was saying that the bass line sounded like elephants marching. Even Undertow, much later then we named the song – just before mastering – went thru different names and stuff. generally names come after the song.

The Fool has been well received. Congrats on that. Does being signed to Rough Trade give you a cache in UK? Glowing NME review, cover feature and nominated in BBC’s Sound of 2011.

I would definitely say that being signed by Rough Trade is a compliment. People definitely take notice of it. Cos historically you know that those people have taste & they really know what they’re doing. Cricks people’s ears up initially. Hopefully there are other elements as well, just a nice introduction to what we’re doing.

What are you most looking forward to in SG?

Actually been to SG before, I think it’s amazing. Just wearing shorts and sandals everywhere will be really nice. I like to go to the traditional tattoo artists and get a crazy traditional tattoo if we have time. Something to remember SG by.

What is WarPaint like, live?

Every song is a little more energetic than it is on record. A good natural chemistry between the band that comes through live. We really enjoy playing music together – it’s not like head to the ground, melancholy music. Some people are surprised, cos they listen to the songs and they imagine that we’re slitting our wrists, like moody girls but its definitely really fun, we enjoy playing live and I think we’ve gotten much much better at it in the last year we’ve been playing together. Fact that we’re able to constantly tour is a huge advantage. I think it’s a fun show and we like people to respond to the music as well and not just stand there.

What are you hoping to get out of Laneway Festival tours in Australia and Singapore?

Playing with such amazing bands on the Laneway lineup and that’s a huge thing and why we’re lucky to be part of a lineup of bands, we really really wanna see live everyday. We’re really really excited about playing that’s for sure.

Tickets available for Laneway Festival Singapore at SISTIC.

Picture taken from Warpaint Official Site

Here ya go, indie fans.

Get tix from Friday 19 Nov from www.sistic.com

EARLY BIRD: $99.50 THEREAFETER: $109.50

(+$3 Sistic booking fee for both)

Online Booking: www.sistic.com

Phone Booking: (65) 6348 5555

Or at any Sistic outlet around Singapore.

Lineup – The Temper Trap, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Foals, Holy Fuck, Ladyhawke, Warpaint, Beach House, Deerhunter, Yeasayer.

The Temper Trap played an acoustic set at the recent press con for the festival. Video below.

Official Site

Laneway Festival, one of the foremost indie rock festivals in the Asia-Pacific region will make its debut appearance in Asia in 2011. And in Singapore as well. The press con was held yesterday afternoon at the New Asia Bar where organizers Chugg Entertainment announced that bands like !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Beach House, Deerhunter, Foals, Holy Fuck, Ladyhawke, Warpaint and Yeasayer will be performing at the Fort Canning Park on 29 January 2011.

Topping the bill will be highly rated Aussie band The Temper Trap, who (surprise surprise) was present at the press con to deliver an excellent (albeit short) acoustic set. Already expectations are sky high for this unique music festival. No quibbling with the lineup, I am looking forward to Foals, Beach House and of course, The Temper Trap though in truth, every band is an intriguing choice.

But of course, my main concern was about the possibilities of a Singapore band being on the bill. Sadly, none will be featured. Reasons were given – not sure if I buy them – so I will reserve comment for now. One massive reservation I do have is the venue – Fort Canning Park is a horrible venue. It is sloped and therefore very uncomfortable and the sound is very poor. But at the moment, it seems to be the biggest venue space we have in Singapore. Hurm.

More details to be announced, including ticket pricing. Stay tuned.

More pix of The Temper Trap