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Take a trip with Stellarium: well-equipped to unleash a blissfully edgy assault on the senses. It’s time to get your boots on and take a walk down Psychodelica Street – going down to where the shades are black, turtlenecks tight, and there’s murder in the air.

Visceral and neurotic, and dealing candy that’s both visual and sonic, Stellarium takes pleasure in exploding plastic inevitable, filling eardrums with their feedback-driven, superfuzzed white noise over deeply honey-dripping tunes, 60s ‘Spector’ Wall of Sound. Call it Dreampop, Post-Punk, Stoner, Shoegaze or Noise Pop – it doesn’t matter to them. They might just want to melt your face. Take off those earplugs and feel the heat.

Stellarium features Azman Kadir on guitars and vocals, Firdhaus Ahmad on bass and Baktiar Zainol on drums and percussion.

Join the trio as they take you on an aural exploration through gritty neo-psychedelia, noise and soundscapes together with art installation and visuals, Friday the 13th. The band will be playing a specially selected mix of songs that marks their journey from start to beyond. Also, be the first to view animations and art installation by Baktiar (featured here).

13 April, 9.30pm @ the Esplanade Recital Studio. Get your tickets now at all SISTIC outlets or from the Esplanade Box Office.

We have 3 CDs up for grabs. Email michele@culturepush.com if you want to get your mitts on one. Contest ends 13 April!

SHELVES is a come-back of sorts. With close 20 years of experience in the local indie music scene between the members playing in their previous bands, that itself seems to mean little in todayʼs fast-changing society of instant food, services and music tastes.

The band just put out a 10-track self-titled, on vinyl.  Noel Yeo: “We are not doing CDs at all. The idea is that most people just rip the tracks off a CD, and the CD is hardly every touched again. The CD essentially becomes a souvenir. So we thought a piece of vinyl would make a better souvenir. People throw away CDs, but you almost never hear anyone throw away a record. You can still get your MP3 tracks. Each record comes with a download code for the entire album, so there really is no difference.”

For Noel, Melvin, Brian and Robin, they were boys struggling to be men in the 90s. Fast forward to 2011, they are men struggling to be boys again, finding solace in the cathartic arms of playing heartfelt power pop songs that promise the aching melodies reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub, delivered with the urgency of Weezer and insouciance of Pavement. Noel first appeared in the early 90ʼs Singapore underground music scene through three EPs made with indie pop duo Silverspy. He would later form Suchness, whose single ʻSpellweaverʼ won a spot on the now-legendary BigO Singles Club (which was later declared Song of the Month on national radio station Power 98FM). That led to a publishing contract with Warner/Chappell, which gave him the dubious distinction of being the countryʼs first signed indie songwriter from an unsigned band. In 2007, Noel got back in touch with fellow guitarist from Suchness, Melvin, who decided one more punt with a fellow Big Star devotee might be fun. Robin, from seminal Livonia was himself persuaded out of rock ʻnʼ roll retirement to play drums. The final piece of the puzzle is filled by Brian, bassist for indie pop darlings, Leeson.

You can now stream and download SHELVES, or pick-up a copy from Books Actually and The Pigeonhole. You’ll be glad you did.

Make sure to catch the band live on 23 March, 8.30 pm at HOME Club and/or on 30 March, 7.30 pm at The Pigeonhole.

“Wipe clean the cracks on your palms and watch where you tread. That comforting familiarity of skin, one most intimate and dear, could be the earth that hold down the wood, for the gaps in those fissures are deep, unforgiving, and stained. Focus in the periphery and gain colour. Immerse and submerge into the ambience, the backdrop of paintbrush strokes and the echoes. So put aside your palms and read the sky, the grass, the sheer life of things, and breathe.”

This is the description of Porcelain Lenses, a four track debut EP by local indie-pop outfit Pleasantry.

Conceptualized in late 2010, the members of Pleasantry are derived from a variant of different established bands in the local underground music scene such as Amateur Takes Control, Lunar Node and Postbox. The quintet’s diversified musical interests and knowledge have influenced the manifestation of resounding tones, strung harmoniously with the use of various instruments such as the ukulele and melodica. The band feeds on eclectic music cultures and draws inspiration from dreamed-up scenarios based on real-life scripts.

The release is now up for digital download at their bandcamp page . Pleasantry will also be playing a show at the Esplanade Waterfront on the 17th February as part of the +65 indie weekend.

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It began in summer 2011, when a group of five started writing songs based on concepts engendered in their minds, but which had failed to break the surface despite having played music for some time.

That was the birth of Amnesia Haze, an alternative rock quintet that is equally adept with crunchy guitar tones as it is with ambient soundscapes helmed by gentle vocal layers. Like their name suggests, their songs aim to meander you through a diversity of influences, with inspirations ranging from strained relationships, to sci-fi impressions of dystopia.

With a sound that has been described as having its roots in 90s alternative rock, with dashes of post punk and psychedelia thrown in for good measure, the band has been hard at work in the studio, shuttling between the rigours of college and the ebb and flow of being a Singaporean band. Most recently, the band had the privilege of being selected for the prestigious Noise Singapore (2012) Mentorship Programme, with local musician Daniel Sassoon as their mentor.

A full-length record is currently in the works, slated for a release in the later half of 2012, with the ideas behind each song sure to captivate through their complexity. Watch this space.

The band will be playing at Hood Bar on the 11th of February 9pm, and at the Esplanade (Waterfront Stage) on the 3rd of March 8pm. Show them some love!

Junda Lim is a freelance motion designer, currently in his final year at Nanyang Polytechnic, Motion Graphics and Broadcast Design. His most recent project was the projection for Singapore’s National Day Parade 2011.

“Choices (top image) is a collaboration with a local band -The Summer State- and was nominated for the Adobe Design Achievement Awards 2011. It was done within a month in collab with two other designers. We conceptualized the lyrics into a story and shot the entire film. We then moved on to shoot the band against green screen and did the animations in post.”

Junda reveals in his biography a preference for motion design and graphic design, especially typography and photography, so we’ve included a few extra works from his portfolio for your viewing pleasure.

MAGUS is Mark Dolmont (Meddle, Vancouver Electronic Ensemble) on drums and Leslie Low (The Observatory, Snake Blood Union, Meddle, ARCN TEMPL) on guitar. MAGUS has its roots in improvisation, hynoptic repetition, horror, and melancholia down by the river in a van by the woods.

On their debut album, Leslie and Mark  line up in battle formation, summoning the powers of ancient spirits and riding on psychedelics to navigate the chaos of this brave new world.

Mixed from a stew of magic and distortion, chunky guitar riffs awake from primordial sludge and hefty drums tap to the beat of a primeval pulse as the modern world asserts its presence, leaking from found sounds leaping betwixt channels.

“We met in San Francisco after four months apart … not writing. In days to follow we found inspiration, and found a studio. We recorded for about an hour … thinking we might get a new song from the jam. We left with what would become Sun Worshipper.”– Mark Dolmont

The CD is available for mail order from http://ujikaji.net or in the following stores: The Substation, Roxy Music, Hell’s Labyrinth, Straits Records.

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Lunarin are gearing up to release their full-length on January 15, and in the meantime we are streaming a teaser track from this painfully beautiful new drop.

The band’s original plan of releasing a short EP of B-sides, following their second full length album, Duae, has snowballed into a full length album. This change in the band’s plan came about after they embarked on a series of acoustic shows to promote Duae. In the midst of their preparations, the band invited Natalie Soh (violins) from Serenaide and Linda’s younger brother, Victor (cello), to play with them.

“The group not only worked on the B-sides, we also took the opportunity to re-work the earlier songs released on Duae as well as on our first album, The Chrysalis, in order to play these songs acoustically as part of our set,” bassplayer Linda Ong explains. “The groups spent long hours in my apartment, located at The Midas, rehearsing and fine tuning these songs.” The end result of those hours of hard work quickly became a labour of love. “The strings brought an added dimension to the songs that I did not envisage,” Linda continues, “It dawned on us that it would be a waste not to record down all these ideas and release them after we were done with the acoustic performances.”

The Midas Sessions will be released digitally on 15 January with only limited edition hard copies for sale. Lunarin will also be performing at The Pigeonhole that day. Click here for more details.

25-year-old Clarence Chan is the founder and thought leader behind Bandwagon, an online live music gig finder that aims to connect you to live music. He graduated from SMU with First Class Honors in Economics & Business and did stints as a Strategist at MTV Asia and overseeing Business Development at Keyboard Theatre.

Bandwagon is his most ambitious project to date and was borne out of a problem Clarence saw in obtaining live music information during his travels in Europe, America and Asia. “I’ve always had a passion for music and the arts. Though an economics and business graduate, I’ve always wanted to apply what I’m learning in my field of interest. My research and papers were skewed in this direction as much as I could and I sought out opportunities to work in music and entertainment firms whenever I could. Finding someone else from my university who’s so bent on adding value and making a dent in the Arts and Entertainment scene is rare, especially amongst my peers who are mostly in banks and financial or government institutions.”

His vision is to connect the world to live music by sourcing and providing the most comprehensive information in the cleanest possible and easiest obtainable manner. “With Singapore as a start, I plan to create a working model and take it to different cities around the world, creating one global platform you can count on for live music information.”

Clarence created this web application within two months from ground up with no prior coding background and no use of templates. He hasn’t earned a cent in 7 months, but Clarence is relishing every moment of building Bandwagon. “The team has expanded from one person to a group of  five bandwagoners who are making this work. Each day we are getting more traction with this simple first prototype from venues, event companies, artistes and most importantly, music lovers.”

Bandwagon has the most comprehensive gig list for Singapore on the web with more than 200 artistes, 50 venues and 30 genre combinations. They send out a weekly compilation of our gig picks and frequently run contests where users can win tickets to catch live gigs for free. “The current product is in beta, and we are currently working on a new look to the site which is more visually stimulating and has features that would make gig finding easier and more exciting. We are also planning to roll out and a mobile app in first quarter 2012. Our dream is to replicate what we are doing in key cities around the world and give users 1 web/mobile application they can depend on for live gig information regardless of the city they are in or going to.”