Yellow Fang’s “The Greatest” album took 10 years to complete. Their unique sound, great live performances and excellent sense of fashion (they all graduated from fashion school) pretty much earn them the right to be the best female rock band in Thailand.
♪♫ Listen: “I Don’t Know” (my personal favorite since before they officially recorded the track) or check out the whole album on Deezer.
Minimal Records is a small record label located in the Northern Thai city of Chiangmai – a college town filled with art galleries, coffee shops, pubs and a vibrant live music scene. This album is a compilation album comprised of several folk musicians from and around the city.
♪♫ Listen: “Little Man” by tapping guitarist Mike Sriviengping, or listen to the whole album on Deezer.
Bangkok collective Monomania call themselves an alternative band. However, I would emphasise the strong shoegaze element in their sound, reminding me a lot of Radiohead in their earlier years, though their new album “Another Side of Human” is a thoroughly original piece of music.
♪♫ Listen: “No rainbow (after this rain)“, or check out the whole album on Deezer.
aire is an instrumental math-rock band with three Japanese and two Thai members. “You Are Here” is their first LP following their EP “Inhale Slowly, Exhale Shortly” released in 2013. Their live performances are exhilarating and perfectly synchronized on odd time signatures, which is probably the reason why fans keep coming back for their shows.
♪♫ Listen: “Withering“, or check out the whole album on Deezer.
Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band have a perfect musical mixture between traditional Northeastern-Thai “Molam” and funk/disco. They have been playing in festivals all over Europe, from Czech to Germany to Switzerland, and just launched their debut album, “21st Century Molam”, on December 1, 2014, available on Spotify, Deezer, and iTunes.
♪♫ Listen: “Lam San Disco” on Deezer/Spotify.
Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band on Soundcloud, Facebook, official website.
Although this particular song – “By My Side” – was included in their 2013 EP “Here”, KOBE just released it as a single in October 2014. With meaningful lyrics and cheerful melody, I have personally selected this song for my wedding presentation video, making it one of my favorite songs of 2014.
KOBE on Bandcamp, Deezer, Fungjai, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter.
Part Time Musicians – you could already hear them on beehype – is an indie folk band with 6 members including male and female vocalists and also a violinist, producing quite a unique sound no other band in Thailand has. After 4 consecutive successful singles, here’s their 5th single, “Message in a Bottle”.
Part Time Musicians on YouTube, Soundcloud, Facebook, Fungjai.
Bangkok group POLYCAT has officially brought back 80’s pop music back to the Thai scene. “So Long” (พบกันใหม่) is one of three songs they’ve released at the same time, which created an good impact to listeners in the indie music community. They will soon release their new album accompanied by a limited cassette tape version of the record – definitely a highly prized collectible.
The Isan Project is led by UK music producer Will Robinson who came to Thailand for a holiday and discovered artists from Northeastern Thailand (locally called the Isan region). He traveled to Isan to discover more music at their source, took a camera crew with him to set up a video blog and created music, which is a fusion of Isan sounds and Western contemporary music. It’s impressive how The Isan Project mixed EDM and the traditional Isan “phin” guitar in this song.
“Jai Yen” (ใจเย็น) is a pretty bizarre song from an even more bizarre Bangkok band called l _ / \ – l _ / \, which is supposed to be pronounced as La-La.
l _ / \ – l _ / \ on Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Fungjai.
“Thang Pee Sart” (ทางปีศาจ) literally means “The Path of the Devil” in the Thai language. The blues rock band Sonnet and Alcohol really brings out the meaning of selling one’s soul to the devil through this song.
Sonnet and Alcohol on Facebook.
Solitude is Bliss is a neo-psychedelia band from Chiangmai city, the capital of Northern Thailand. And “Don’t Expect Me” – presented earlier on beehype – is their first English song. This small band will definitely have a great future in the Thai music scene.
Solitude is Bliss on Facebook.
Although the Bangkok four-piece My Life as Ali Thomas haven’t yet recorded any studio version of their songs, this live recording of “All My Inventions” is totally mesmerizing. I really look forward to listening to more of their music – whether recorded live or in the studio.
My Life as Ali Thomas on Facebook and Soundcloud.
“How Long” is the first single for the all-girl electronic rock / dream pop band, Jelly Rocket. These talented young ladies recorded, produced, mixed and mastered this song themselves. They are continuously following up with new songs while playing live at venues all over Bangkok, whenever they don’t have exams or homework to do, that is – two of the three members are still in college!
Jelly Rocket on Facebook, SoundCloud, YouTube, Fungjai.