A.P.I dan Pelita

Selamat sejahtera,

Rasanya dah lama aku tak review tentang album, artis mahupun lagu. Asyik-asyik cerita pasal diet, kesihatan, catatan sendiri, dan projek band (peribadi). Jadi kali ini aku rasa nak review satu lagu yang aku baru saja dengar masa balik kerja tadi, cuba teka lagu apa? Mestilah lagu yang tengah-tengah nak naik sekarang ni kan? Ok, jawapannya...

Siapa A.P.I? Itu shortform untuk 'Angkatan Pemuda Indie'. Mereka ni terdiri daripada Noh Hujan (vocal), Lan Typewritter (vocal/guitar), Din Homatov Estranged (guitar), Imran OBS (drum), AJ Pop Shuvit (bass) dan loQue MonoloQue/Butterfingers (piano). Dan lagu Pelita tu pula adalah lagu tema untuk filem 'Hooperz' yang sedang ditayangkan di pawagam-pawagam tanah air sejak 22 April yang lalu. Tapi aku bukan nak bercerita sangat pun pasal filem ni mahupun nak cerita sedikit sinopsis dia, aku cuma nak huraikan sedikit pendapat aku berkenaan lagu Pelita ni. Ye la, nama blog pun EsTOM, mestilah nak kena cerita yang berkaitan muzik..

Pada pendapat aku, lagu ni unik sebab dia gabungkan beberapa elemen utama yang ada dalam band Hujan, Butterfingers, dan Lan and The Typewriter sendiri. Itu yang paling ketara aku perasan sebab yang lain-lain tu aku tak berapa layan sangat lagu-lagu band mereka.

Brother Loque berperanan sebagai pianist

Kalau kita tengok lenggok dan susunan melodi untuk verse dan pre-chorus tu terang-terangan adalah milik Noh, sebagai contoh "apa yang telah daku temui, selama ini.." (Verse 1). Kalau diteliti, kita akan perasan yang Lan cuba untuk merendahkan range vokal dia untuk bahagian verse ni sebab dia nak sesuaikan vokal dia dengan range vokal Noh yang sedikit rendah.

Gandingan dua vokal yang berbeza kelas

"selagi hayat di kandung badan" untuk bahagian pre-chorus ni aku perasan seperti datang dari pengaruh 'Loque', berdasarkan penelitian dari pemilihan perkataan yang digunakan untuk lagu-lagu dalam album 'Kembali' (Butterfingers). Ini termasuk juga satu bahagian interlude yang berbunyi

Selagi jasadku belum terkubur!
Selagi tubuhku, belum ditimpa uzur!
pantang datuk nenek moyangku,
Berundur!

Secara keseluruhan, aku nampak susunan (arrangement) untuk lagu ni seperti datang dari pengaruh Lan and The Typewriter, kecuali kurangnya iringan gitar 'slide' campur 'clean chorus' seperti dalam lagu-lagu beliau, tetapi itu telah diganti dengan iringan piano yang dimainkan oleh brother Loque.

Itu saja pendapat spontan dan ringkas aku berkenaan lagu ni. Secara tersirat, aku rasa ni merupakan satu perkembangan yang sihat untuk industri muzik sebab secara tidak langsung kita dapat lihat bagaimana bunyi sebuah lagu apabila kita menggabungkan Hujan, Butterfingers, Lan, dan Pop Shuvit. Sebarang teguran terhadap entri ini amatlah dialu-alukan; seperti yang aku cakap dahulu, ilmu muzik aku ni tak seberapa.

P/S: Klik sini untuk menonton/mendengar "Pelita" oleh A.P.I.

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Kitaran Internet OCD

Dengan nakalnya Najmi Aliff a.k.a Masamaun Chicken telah men-tag aku pada blognya berkenaan Internet OCD Cycle (rujuk post beliau di sini). Memang benar kata-kata beliau, kewujudan berbagai-bagai jenis website kat laman sesawang ni sungguh mengasyikkan hingga kita kadang-kadang lalat lalai dan lupa, terutamnya laman web sosial seperti Facebook. Nak dipendekkan cerita, berikut adalah kitaran OCD aku sendiri yang aku buat tak sampai 15 minit guna paint (cin cai cai).

P/S: Aku nak tag semua orang yang ada blog, dan yang baca post ini, untuk bagitau aku dia punya OCD. Hahaha, dah macam rantai MLM dah...

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10 Tips of How To Gain Weight For Dummies

Here are some tips about how to gain weight, that I managed to post on Facebook between 20-26 April 2010.

[NUMBER 1] Never skip your meals. Never. Please feed your mouth with good snacks (i.e mixed nuts) whenever your stomach start to crave annoyingly shouting for "Feed me.. feed me!!"

[NUMBER 2] Sleep like a baby, at least 8 continuous hours per day. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) starts to kick in to your blood stream ONLY after the first 4 hours of your sleep; See what happens to you if you sleep 4-5 hours or less.....??


[NUMBER 3] Drink 3 glasses of milk (250ml each) everyday - morning, evening, & before go to bed. A lot? Naah. I told you to act like a baby (baby do grow everyday!). Milk packs your dietary nutrition with calcium that increases your bone density/length, while providing you with protein & certain vitamins. What kind of milk? Fresh milk, and of course it comes from cow.

[NUMBER 4] Make sure you have an adequate vitamins supplied to you everyday. You can get this easily through a VARIETY of foods & vegetables; make sure to learn each fruits' micronutrients. Lazy enough? Go to the nearest pharmacy & buy a pack of Multi-vitamins supplement. Appeton Multi-vits™ costs you RM24 per pack (for a month), which has 30 tablets per pack.

[NUMBER 5] This is the most crucial part & my favorite after all. Your calorie intake (consumed) must be GREATER than calorie that your body needs (burned) that day. i.e. adding extra 500kcal to your normal 'Daily Calorie Requirement' (DCR) will help. Search these terms on Google and start to calculate your own DCR. Or consult me if you need help.

[NUMBER 6] Knowing how much you gotta eat per day, now make sure to opt 'good food' instead of 'junk food'. Of course you may eat 2 cans of Mister Potato/Lay's Chips™ to make up your 2000kcal/day. But do you thing it's healthy? Does it contain micronutrients, phytochemicals & minerals you need? Does it satisfy your hunger? NO NO NO.. (Don't Phunk With My Heart!).

[NUMBER 7] Go get, atleast a decent scale placed in your room or your bath tab. There is no way to gain (or lose) weight without tracking your progress, every week, right?

[NUMBER 8] Do few weight training workouts, applying all parts of your body (arms, shoulders, chest, etc). Do it in a right manner, i.e for each rep, do it slowly & do not depend on momentum; otherwise you just burn the calorie for nothing. You need that burning sensations (muscle microscopic tears) in order for your muscles to get 'repaired', & eventually grow.

[NUMBER 9] When having a meal, always raise these questions in your mind: where's my carbs? where's my protein? where's my vegetables, fruits? (As for fats, they are practically EVERYWHERE in your food, so you don't have to concern much about it). This is to make sure you gain weight correctly, remember that you are not looking for obesity..

[NUMBER 10] I've been observing and notice that, most people who are in easy-happy-go-lucky mood tend to gain weight easily while people who stress out tend to lose some weight. That includes my ex-gf who obviously had gained weight (since she was so happy to be with me), but later she lost some after we broke up. So peeps, moral of the story....

P/S: Please let me know what you get after few weeks you follow this tips ;p

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Hujan dalam Lirik

Salam Bloggers,

Hari ini aku nak kupas satu perkara yang tak pernah aku sentuh sejak pertama kali aku buka blog ni secara rasmi hampir 2 tahun yang lalu. Lirik.

Irama dan lagu tidak boleh dipisahkan, jikalau pisahkan, maka pincanglah lagu, rosaklah seni. Itu kata-kata Allahyarham Tan Sri P. Ramlee dalam filem 'Antara 2 darjat', yang kemudian beliau terjemahkan dalam karya terhebat beliau 'Getaran Jiwa'. Hebat sangatkah lagu 'Getaran Jiwa' sampai tergetar lutut dan hati bila kita mendengarnya? Tiada apa yang mampu melahirkan rasa bangga dalam diri kita apabila lagu tempatan digubah semula oleh artis-artis asing. Dan perasaan itu hadir dalam diri aku apabila Lobo (American/International artist) mengubah semula lagu Allahyarham dan menamakan lagu tersebut “Whispers In the Wind”.

Kembali kepada fokus pertama tadi, secara analoginya, 'irama' bagi aku itu adalah sama seperti corak/motif sesebuah lukisan, 'lagu' itu pula adalah lukisan itu sendiri. Tanpa corak/motif tertentu, lukisan itu pasti amat sukar difahami dan dinilai, dan halnya disini sama seperti sebuah 'lagu'. Sempurnanya sesebuah lagu itu ialah apabila mesej yang cuba disampaikan dapat difahami oleh para pendengarnya. Ada sesetengah lagu yang dapat difahami terus menerusi hati (instrumental, tanpa lirik), dan ada sesetengah lagu yang dapat difahami dengan akal (ordinary song-writing, dengan lirik).

Sejak berzaman manusia telah mengaitkan objek-objek sekeliling untuk menjadi 'wakil persembahan' kehidupan mereka dalam sajak, lagu mahupun syair. Aku percaya, kalian semua acap kali terdengar perkataan 'burung', 'awan', 'bayu', 'muara', 'lautan', dalam lagu-lagu arus perdana mahupun indie. Dengan menggunakan perkataan-perkataan tersebut, secara tidak langsung 'menghidupkan' dan mengindahkan lagi karya mereka, agar kita sebagai pendengar dapat 'melihat' dan menghayati lakonan yang cuba dipaparkan dalam karya tersebut.

Okeh, harapan aku sekarang agar kalian semua faham serba sedikit apa itu lirik, dan apa fungsinya dalam sesebuah lagu. Sekarang, aku nak sentuh pula satu objek yang sering kita dengar dalam lagu-lagu tempatan mahupun lagu-lagu asing (lagu omputih ke, jepun ke, korea ke) – Hujan.

'Hujan' dalam sesebuah lagu, secara amnya, boleh membawa 2 maksud, bergantung kepada tema lagu tersebut. Ia boleh membawa maksud gembira (rahmat) mahupun sedih (kedukaan, air mata). Di sini aku senaraikan 6 lagu melayu yang aku petik secara rawak (yang aku tahu, dan rasa popular suatu ketika dahulu). Ayuh kita kupas sedikit maksud-maksud yang cuba disampaikan:


1) Demi Cinta Ini – Febian

Hujan oh hujan
Menyirami taman
Taman yang di dalam kekeringan oh oh
Begitu jua cintaku padamu
Hadirmu pengubat rinduku
Kan ku setia menanti
Demi cinta ini

*Hujan di sini membawa maksud 'rahmat'.


2) Hujan – Allahyarhan Sudirman Hj. Arshad

Cinta yang bersemi
Diwaktu hujan turun
Menyirami ketandusan hati
Dan hujan turut mengiringi
Engkau pergi...

*Hujan di sini membawa 2 maksud, 'rahmat' dan 'kedukaan'. Kadang-kadang, dalam kehidupan kita ini terdapat satu elemen yang mampu memberi kita seribu macam sokongan dan harapan, tetapi ada ketikanya, elemen tersebut juga yang memusnahkan harapan kita kelak. Sebagai contoh, cinta sesama manusia. Inilah yang dikatakan kehidupan.


3) Hujan Di Tengahari – Allahyarham Tan Sri P.Ramlee

Kusangka panas hingga ke petang
Rupanya hujan di tengahari

*Hujan disini juga membawa maksud 'kedukaan' – rahmat disini digambarkan sebagai 'panas' cuaca kering; amat berguna kepada makcik-makcik dan kakak-kakak yang hendak menyidai baju.


4) Kala Hujan – Zamani

Kekuatan sandaranku
Ku dirikan masa lalu
Luruh bagai dedaunan
Dikala hujan angin datang

*Hujan disini juga membawa maksud 'kedukaan'.


5) Hujan – Adibah Noor

Hujan membasahi bumi
melahirkan keluhuran budi
mengerat perpaduan suci
kasih sayang abadi

*Terang-terangan hujan disini membawa maksud 'rahmat'.


6) Gerimis Senja – Alleycats

Ku Terpegun Di Jendela Bila Hujan Gerimis Senja
Tak ku Lihat Di Hadapan ku Diri ku Dalam Lamunan
Tiada Lain Yang ku Bayangkan Hanyalah Peristiwa Itu
Dosa-dosa Yang ku Lakukan Tetap Mengganggu Batin

*Ini mungkin spesel kes sedikit. Mungkin ramai yang nampak hujan disini membawa maksud 'kedukaan', tapi bagi aku, maksud hujan di sini lebih kepada neutral berbanding 'rahmat' mahupun 'kedukaan'. Hujan di sini tidak ubah seperti watak sokongan untuk menghidupkan elemen 'terkenang'/kenangan. Aku selalu alami situasi ini, yakni apabila aku duduk seorang diri di bilik, pasti aku akan terkenang kampung halamanku (tak perlu aku sebut, kalian mesti dah tahu).

Itulah serba sedikit kupasan aku berkenaan peranan unsur 'Hujan' di dalam sesebuah lirik lagu. Aku sarankan kalian dengar balik ke enam-enam lagu yang aku senaraikan tadi dan hayati balik bait-bait liriknya - setujukah kalian dengan hujah-hujah aku sebentar tadi.

Entri kali ini aku tujukan khas pada seseorang yang jauh, yang tabah menjalani kehidupan pada atas kakinya sendiri tanpa memerlukan tongkat duniawi itu. Walaupun dirimu sering diuji dugaan yang bertimpa-timpa, bersabarlah kamu, semoga cepat sembuh, dan teruskan berkarya. Walaupun kita tidak pernah bertemu mahupun bertegur sapa, ketahuilah, bahawasanya aku ini sentiasa menyokong usaha senimu, dan akulah bayang-bayang 'hitam' itu yang selalu memerhati dan mendoakan kesejahteraanmu dalam mengejar CINTA dan CITA. Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin.

P/S: “Raindrops keep fallin' on my head” by B.J. Thomas. Anyone?



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"My Number One" - Self Review

My Number One (Rough Demo/ Beta version)
Song/words: Ejoy
Genre: Pop
Recorded: Between 6pm – 7pm, Sunday April 05, 2010.

“My first attempt to compose a fully English Song”. Over the past 2 years, I discovered one melancholy tune while improvising few chord progressions with my Les Paul Fender Acoustic Cutaway-Dreadnought. The tune was meant for those who are confused with the definition of love, yet feeling lonesome. However, as I kept playing the tune again and again, I knew there were something wrong with the verse and the lyric.

The tune of the verse did not sound good enough and I believe it was too depressing – did not too catchy I should say. Until one day, I learned one of the most fundamental secret of how our brain functions and how does it related to creativity and arts, how does it inspire musicians to compose a wonderful piece of song and how does it influence thinkers to come up with ideas and thoughts. The class is so called a Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) and it was part of the communication module in BeST program.

That night, I grabbed Pjoe's Mitchell acoustic-electric guitar, just a moment before I dozed off, and ran on this particular pop's chord progression (I usually don't play or cover people songs, but I love to run some random progressions). The room surrounding was dark; though the moonlight was still be able to go through the window, and it was just a right atmosphere for us to fall asleep. Suddenly, there it came. Too fast which I almost did not realize how could I come up with the verse, and it suits well with the pre-chorus and the chorus I mentioned earlier. Malays call this as “Ilham”.

Later, the words were again revised and I decided to make it sounds more 'general' instead of making it sounds too passionate. You may sing this song to your friends, closed friends, or even your loved one. It depends upon that person understanding, as if how he or she to interpret the whole message, but I believe the song is all about “Friendship, Trusty, and Love”.

Recorded using my built-in web-cam microphone (ASUS EeePC), indeed the sound's quality is so cheap. I was singing while playing the guitar, and the laptop was exactly in front of me (to record my play), placed about 30cm in distance. I turned on the fan in purpose since it was damn really hot that evening. So, you may hear lots of noise, jumping and breaking up, here and there. Nothing much could be done since I left my 'real' recording tools in Taiping. In the first place, this is just a real rough demo and my intention of posting this version is just to show how the melody/words and the rhythm sound together in order to receive some feedback. Like I said before, this is “My first attempt to compose a fully English Song”, and I still need feedback and guidance.

Talking about feedback, I do receive comments from friends, mostly FB friends. I would like to share some of the comments here, listed from the most precise to the most general:


Yanglin Yeo (via FB, BeST friend)

“hey, i cant listen clearly,but just roughly the melody. i dont have any idea on the lyrics since my English very poor...hehe...the melody is okay too...did u turn on the fans during recording? maybe u can try to use headphone microphone to record and at the same time turn off the aircond and fans, this is what i tried last time and it's quite clear.”

“Then need to improve on the arrangement which i could not help (haha, i didnt touch music for more than 5 years), since just have guitar (if not mistaken), it's quite simple now, like create different 'scenes' from verse to pre-cho and lastly to chorus, something can bring the audience to the 'climax'.”

“Dont know how to express, like got 'rise and fall'. now i feel that the pre-cho is abit stronger than the chorus and the current chorus sounds like going to the end of the song. Same goes to the vocal, haha...like the song just now also, the voice sounds like u stand quite far away from the mic.”

“the sentence 'and pretend like we haven't met' maybe can do some changes, coz like all the words clump together...from the end of pre-cho to beginning of chorus, not very smooth, coz it's like 'putus' halfway...but like i said i just can give u my 'not professional' comments.”


Ahmad Aziq (via FB, ex-schoolmate)

“ejoy, i simply love the song, bila nak buat yang btul punyer? Aku ingat macam pernah gdr lagu ni kat sini, ade sket2, hehe..just nak cakap bile dgr lagu ko, teringat kat lagu yang kat utube tue.. cepat2 sket ye ejoy, bagi aku first yg dengar, yeargh!!”


Hare (via SMS, Bandmate PseudoAudio)

“Srsly lagu sedap do. Tone best. Chord biasa tapi x pa. Haha x dpt on fb dah, st*lker dah stat kaco”


Chong Min San (via FB, BeST friend)

“No wonder... I was trying so hard to connect the song and the lyrics. Anyway, it's a nice song. Thanks for sharing. Gambateh!!!”

P/S: She was first confused while listening and referring to the lyric. It turned out that I accidentally gave her the “Enigma” song, but the lyric is “My Number One”. Obviously both songs are in different language, Haha. Clumsy me..


Mohd Fadhli Hamdan (via mulut ke mulut, kawan karib)

dude, you pronounce 'met' for this part “and pretend like we haven't met” as if “and pretend like we haven't MATE”

*Mate = Mating. LOL


That's “My first attempt to compose a fully English Song”. I would like to thank Ranald Ho for his words contribution in this song, although it is just one sentence long. Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this song to all friends who know me, both from the bad side and from the bright side, and also to all BeST Programme 2010 members. I'm looking forward to record this song professionally in the near future, but do comment and correct my grammar, choice of words, sentence structure.. Please, it is still in Beta. And I'm still learning :) Till then, see you in the future, and in Facebook!

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