Inter Action

Let’s jump to the juicy bits… the monotony of everyday life can get a bit tedious to write about, you know, like what I ate, brushing my teeth, taking a dump… KL life doesn’t differ much from life in any other big city, it’s generally the same-shit-different-toilet scenario. So on with the show yeah? When we arrived at Maison, one of the clubs along heritage row in the downtown area, I was surprised by the size of the place. I was expecting it to be much bigger than it actually was, but it did still maintain that warm feeling of exposed brick, setting it apart from other clubs in the city. Too Phat had done their sound check so Transient Vortex set up their gear and we got to testing the mics. With the sound balanced out and in check it was straight to a couple of interviews with Hitz.TV and Channel V. Rain began pouring down outside, putting a damper on spirits in the house, but it wasn’t to last very long. In fact it helped to cool down the heat, not that it mattered inside though. HP employees began filling in as it drew closer to show-time. Free flow at the bar helped to loosen most of them up and I gathered this was probably going to be one of the company’s bigger parties of the year as Chinese New Year approaches. Sam warmed the crowd a little more, playing some downtempo joints and we indulged in the amazing buffet upstairs. As is the case, I thought I would bump into people I hadn’t seen in a while. Joey G was no exception. Since the time I met him back in 1999 at Echo in Bangsar I knew this guy was gonna eventually make some waves out here. He’s been a VJ with Channel V for the past three years now, a popular house music DJ and an overall nice guy who gave me my first ever spot on the mic in KL back when I fist rolled through in ’99.

Inter-Action, the concept was a great one. With a satellite dish set up in the back we were broadcasting together with 5 other countries; Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan. Each place featuring local/international artists with the theme of interacting with the latest HP technology – The Sputnik Laptop, the set up was pretty major. Once things got underway DJ Kentaro from Japan was first to deliver on the live feed from Singapore’s Zouk. At a loss for words, Kentaro totally tore it up and passed it on to the next spot, Taiwan. There, local production duo Haifana brought some serious live percussive grooves together with an MPC 2500 smackdown. I was again blown away. Next up was Korea. Hitting the stage was a group of local B-Boys. Long known for their dancing supremacy, the Koreans captivated the onlookers in Maison, people shaking their heads in disbelief. They then made way for Korea’s top Hip Hop act – Dynamic Duo. I wasn’t as impressed this time around, but the showmanship and quality of the music saved my opinion of the group. Local Malaysian Hip Hop heroes Too Phat were finally reunited in this event, Joe, Malik and T-Bone brought the crowd to new levels of loudness as Joey G introduced them to the other onlooker in the other 4 locations. It was Malaysia’s turn to shine. No doubt, Too Phat represented to the fullest concluding with a raucous crowd cheering them on for an encore. They obliged with their hit ‘Just a little bit’. Unfortunately, our performance was not going to be a part of the live broadcast, but that was fine by me. This was a different taste of local flavor, fusion that flew over most people’s heads. The general response was good though, I got the crowd involved on a few occasions and when Syrul joined us we just let loose on the stage and brought only the kind of vibe this type of collaboration could bring. I think it’s the start of a new branch on my tree of music, which has steadily been growing over the past few years. The boys bounced out early so I decided to check the vibe of the spot as it began to fill up way beyond capacity to a point where you could hardly move let along dance. It was crazy hot and because of the short evening rain even going outside didn’t alleviate the heat.