click here for an audio-visual look at the gig highlights

***for full gig listings jump to the bottom***

Greetings:

Tonight Thursday in Phnom Penh it’s the second and final night of the Kind of Blue tribute at Bellini (although you can still catch visiting trumpet player Steve Cannon at Steve Cannon at Au Marche on Saturday), while Mirasol, James & Jed are at Le Moon, and later on The Extraordinary Chambers are at Oscar’s on the Corner. 

Friday night in Phnom Penh Space Four Zero open their new premises on St 240 (near St 19) and their 10th anniversary with a party featuring Geography of the Moon and the Cove Aaronoff Duo.  Elsewhere, Mirasol, George & Mika are at Craft, Adam Marsland is at The Box Office, Neil is at The Tin Hat and Mark Mosley does the first of two nights at Botanico.  Clay George begins a new residency at Oasis Sky Bar @ Caravan, while Jun Rockz is at Little Susie and Arome Khmer are at Bat Muk Yu.  Soselo Summer and We Are Ewe are at Noisy Chili and The Stuffs at Hometown Hangout.  Later on, Cambodia Country Band are at Oscar’s on the Corner and Miss Sarawan is at Uniga.  In Kampot, Tony Hammond is at The Bay and in Siem Reap, Scapegoat Candy are back at Laundry.  

Saturday night in Phnom Penh, Swingtime are at The Deck, Lakhon Luong (see our feature article below) are at Craft, The Blue Souls are at Aquarius and Steve Cannon is joined by Phil, Darvel and Mark at Au Marche.  Miss Sarawan is at Samai Rum Distillery, The Lazy Drunks are at Bat Muk Yu  and Adam Marsland is at Little Susie, then Alli G & TheQuilas are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  On the coast, Virginia Bones and  Don Rubbio are doing solo sets at 1960 Restaurant, Lyta Ly Duo are at The Wave: Kep West and Matsumura Fishworks are at The Bay.  In Siem Reap, Johnny Stock is at Ubuntu.

Looking forward to next week, for lovers of Irish music of the punky variety, My Druthers (USA) (see Passing Chords below) are at Pomme in Siem Reap on Wednesday before coming to Phnom Penh on Friday for an early show at Oscar’s on the Corner.

The LengPleng Feature Article 

The rhythm, the riff, the beats – Lakhon Luong

Most musical fusion efforts in Cambodia seem to be spun out of Cambodian Golden Era rock’n’roll, but one combo making its way around the venues of Phnom Penh, Lakhon Luong, has taken a direction more influenced by traditional sounds.  Ahead of their show on Saturday at Craft, LengPleng had a chat with Alli Gecikarana (guitar and vocals), Pervez Gulzar (percussion) and William Rosas (chappei don veng) about this strange three-headed musical beast.

LP: Where did the idea come from?

AG: I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long, long time.  I met Pervez when I was first in Phnom Penh, and there was a great connection, the chemistry was very good, but with just the two of us I felt it wasn’t quite complete.  I was hearing melodies in my head – but there was something lacking.   And then I met William – he was playing guitar and bass with me in TheQuilas, and then suddenly he took up the chappei.  Ah, maybe this is the missing sound!  So I talked to them: let’s make a fusion band.

Read the full article here

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

Stuart Fensom, of Irish-themed US touring band My Druthers.  “I’ve played in probably about a dozen bands since 1993. Most of them punk, some of them folk.”  My Druthers are currently on a tour of Southeast Asia that takes in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.  They will be at Pomme in Siem Reap next Wednesday and on Oscar’s on the Corner on Friday 24.

Do you have a pet musical hate/pet peeve?
I hate it when people ask us to play a really popular song. It’s like – you hear that song every day, you can listen to it whenever you want.  How about trying something new?  How about istening to something you haven’t already heard a hundred times?

A private musical indulgence:
Rabble-rousing rap music.  Real rebel hip-hop like Public Enemy, NWA, Run the Jewels, or even Rage Against the Machine.

The year you first came to Cambodia:
2013.  It was amazing. Did Siem Reap for a few days, then met a jazz singer from China in Phnom Penh and we traveled together for a bit. She was really something.  We hit Battambang and Kampot before heading to Laos.

An early music memory:
Cops. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s it was so frustrating.  Because we were punks the cops would come and shut down like every show we played and arrest us all for underage drinking.  It was so hard just to go out and play music without being harassed.  I never understood it, why they wouldn’t want us off the streets and doing something creative to work off our aggression.  I mean what would they rather us be doing? Drugs, violence & crime?

The last thing you had to eat:
Whatever that killer breakfast thing they have in Singapore is called. A couple soft-boiled eggs with some buttery delicious jam and peanut butter toast.

A country you want to visit:
The Netherlands…again. I simply love it there.

A book or movie you keep going back to:
Book – pretty much anything by Kurt Vonnegut.
Movie – Lost Horizon (1937) is probably my favorite film.  Other movies i seem to rewatch all the time are Fargo and Road to Perdition.

What languages do you have?
Fluently? Just English unfortunately. I can get around pretty well in Spanish though, and speak a very tiny bit of Vietnamese.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:
Guitar.  I was about 11 years old when Nirvana released Nevermind.  Everything changed for me after that.  I picked up a guitar and started yelling at the top of my lungs.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:
I once competed in an international swim meet in Australia against Ian Thorpe. He was very fast.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?
Operation Ivy at Gilman Street somewhere between ’87 – ‘89. Or The Clash in London in 1977.

A question from the last participant :  what was the most unusual gig or venue you have played?
Oh man, good one. Gosh let’s see – I’ve played a boat, a treehouse, a skateboard ramp, a laundromat, a bowling alley, someone’s roof, a vineyard, and a cowboy bar. They were all pretty unusual, and also pretty great.

Kampot Radio Top 100 Songs of All Time Poll – 2024 version  

Here are the results:  a cornucopia of Cambodian and Cambodian-related music stretching from the Golden Era up to and including December last year.  Congratulations to Jet Odrerir (#1), Nightmare A.D. (#2), Kampot Playboys (#3), Penh Pals (#4) and Ariane Parkes (#5)!   Big thanks to  those who took part.

Book of the year: Around the Traps 2024

Available tomorrow – the sixth annual volume collecting the interviews and articles from LengPleng during the year.  This year’s edition includes interviews with international visitors Wild Flowers and Chakra Shakers (both of Portugal), PlanB (Australia) and Skeleton Goode (Vietnam), organisers of jazz and metal festivals, local bands Checkered Past, Japan Guitar Shop, Absolute Zero and Nightmare A.D. and more – plus Passing Chords mini-profiles of the likes of Summer Lee Carlson & Mute Speaker, David Atkinson, Tiffany, Jesse Zenchuck, Cameron Smith, Carling Vail and Vince Solomons.

The price is still $7.50 after all these years, and still $5 if you’re in the book (or on the cover).

Secure your copy via gigs@lengpleng.com, DM the LengPleng Facebook page, or bail up Scoddy wherever you see him – he’ll be carrying.  

Department of Mutual Support:  Friends of LengPleng

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a Friend of LengPleng is open to venues, acts, and even private individuals; if you value the service we provide please consider assisting us financially.   For a modest contribution ($25 for three months, $40 for six months, $75 for 12 months), you get the logo of your choice into the weekly email and onto the weekly wrap page, and an automatically click through to a page on our website for further information, photos, videos and so on – we like to think of it as an alternative to Facebook.

We also pay special attention when you have a good story for us – an upcoming event or an artist you wish to highlight.  Email gigs@lengpleng.com for further details or bail up Scoddy wherever you see him.

Steve Porte Photo of the Week

Ned Kelly, gone too soon.   From the LengPleng archives: Passing Chords with Ned Kelly.

 

If you wish to receive LengPleng in your inbox every Thursday please send a subscribe email to gigs@lengpleng.com.

Musicians, venues, punters:  if there are things you know that LengPleng should know, please tell us and we’ll do our best to tell the world.

See you around the traps.
your correspondent,

 

 

Guillermo Wheremount
LengPleng.com
gigs@lengpleng.com (mailto:gigs@lengpleng.com

 

Weekly Gig Guide – week commencing Thursday 16 January 2025

** residency/weekly

For DJs and clubs, we recommend Phnom Penh Underground

Thursday

Friday

 

Saturday

Sunday

 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

*Note that Wednesday events are often not announced until early in the week – check back here for updates*

Coming soon:

  • Friday 24
  • Saturday 25
    • The Originals Acoustic Sessions featuring Summer Lee Carlson & Mute Speaker, and Matsumara Fishworks & Mute Speaker, 6 pm, The Deck
    • Skeptical Chemistry, 6.30 pm, Craft
    • Shining Hearts, 7 pm, Vinoteca
    • Johnny Stock, 7 pm, Mex’d Up (Siem Reap)
    • The Blue Souls, 8 pm, Au Marche
    • Bamboo Train, 9 pm, The Bay,(Kampot)
    • 1974 Tribute plus Electric Muxu Orchestra, 10 pm, Oscar’s on the Corner
  • Tuesday 28
    • Drumming with Pervez, 6.30 pm, Craft
    • Chinese new year supper cruise with Aisha & Jun Rockz, 7 pm, Little Susie **
  • Wednesday 29
    • Open mic with Mr Bunna, 9 pm, The Bay,(Kampot)
  • Friday 31
    • Rags to Rainbows, 6.30 pm, Craft
  • Saturday 1 February
    • The Players Ball featuring Jazz Sauce, Japan Guitar Shop and Checkered Past, 7 pm, Seekers Spirits
    • Smack the Unicorn plus Johnny and the Scallywags, 7 pm, The Tin Hat
    • The Phnompenhers, 7 pm, Vinoteca
  • Wednesday 5 February
    • Johnny Stock, 8.30 pm, Madi Bar (Kampot)
  • Friday 7 February
  • Saturday 8 February
  • Sunday 9 February
    • Get In The Penh XI with Jasons (Japan), Riot in School (China), Mi-Na-Gi (Japan), Nightmare A.D. and Reign in Slumber, 7.30 pm, Oscar’s on the Corner
  • Tuesday 11 February
  • Friday 14 February
  • Friday 21 February
  • Saturday 22 February
    • Jam-Cha plus The Wildmen plus Matsamura Fishworks, Monkey Republic (Kampot)

 

By Weekly Wrap