Talents abound at indie event

I AM greeted at Cloth & Clef on Changkat Bukit Bintang by a young man, flamboyantly dressed in blue and white sailor’s smock, colourful neck tie and oversized white-rimmed glasses.

Called only Ethan, he is a member of KL’s indie dance music collective Vice Modern Disco, or VMD, the organiser of the music event held two Wednesdays ago.

He seems to me a perfect ambassador for alternative music — articulate, eclectic and openly counter-culture.

Vice Modern Disco has been running an event once a month for eight months now. This was its first party at Cloth & Clef in Kuala Lumpur. For the occasion they invited their friends, Dudesweet from Bangkok.

“VMD is looking for; side-shaved boys, trashy whores, neon kids, fluorescent hats, printed tight lovers, robot dancers and old skool sneaker freakers.” declares VMD founder member Goldfish on his MySpace page. Goldfish, by the way, was also performing that night.

But really, these are talented artistes masquerading as trash culture.

In person Goldfish (real name Alvin Teoh) does not fit his online persona. He is savvy and polite with a hint of geek.

Under another alter ego, DJ Goldtronic, Teoh is one of Malaysia’s leading hip-hop musicians.

The geek bit makes sense now. To win a DJ battle requires lightening wit, impeccable rhythm and, you’ve guessed it; hours of practice with electronic gadgets.

The self-appointed spokeswoman and protective big sister for the Dudesweet collective is called Air. Just that.

This party was in honour of her birthday. I didn’t dare to ask her how old she is.

“We love coming to KL” she told me. “This is a much cleaner city, more relaxing and so close (to Bangkok).

That night, there was a spirit of collaboration which linked KL with Bangkok through a motley bunch of music lovers.

DJ Knatz of Dudesweet is as modest as Air is brash, but once behind the decks, he revealed an energetic stage character. His smiley face bobbed up and down as his hands darted back and forth. He played an infectious mix of tunes with a strong bass rhythm that made you want to dance all night.

“Dudesweet started as a small underground group of musicians and artistes in Bangkok” explained David Brown, a fan standing at the bar and the Asian representative of London dance music club Koko.

“People liked what they were playing and pretty soon they developed a big following.”

“We play anything we feel like” said DJ Knatz. “I love the mashup” he added enthusiastically.

The “mashup” means ripping off music from different genres (such as hip-hop, techno and 80s electro) and playing it back to back or even on top of each other.

It is made possible by computers and mixing decks. Anyone can do it but it takes skill to make something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Releasing records in this style treads a fine line with the copyright police but it’s difficult to restrain a “live” performance. The edginess may even be part of the appeal; there is a feeling of being slightly out of bounds.

Breaking with convention might be at the heart of indie music but the musicians won’t survive if they can’t sell records and only play free gigs.

“You have to understand the demographics of this region” explained Brown. “In the UK, it’s all about ticket sales, but here the money is in corporate sponsorship. Asia has a huge young population and companies want access to that market.”

I sensed that purists might call this “selling out”, but no one at Cloth & Clef seemed to be bothered. They were too busy enjoying the free party.