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

Greetings:

In Phnom Penh this afternoon Bar Oz is holding an Australia celebration from 4 pm featuring Joe Wrigley, Scott Bywater and others.  As the Thursday night in Phnom Penh gets underway, The Sock Essentials are joined by Penh Pals at Botanico, Gareth Bawden is at Penh 278 and The Blue Souls are at Trattoria Bello   The Extraordinary Chambers go late at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap The Exile are at Pasta La Vista , Simon & Leo go classical at Villa D, and Sokunthea & Giuliano are at Harry’s & The Welsh Consulate.

On Friday night find Ariane Parkes & Scott Bywater at Craft, Khmer Magic Music Bus at Bouchon Wine Bar and The Broken Cymbal at Tacos Kokopelli.  Lewis McTie and Cove Aaronson are at The Tin Hat, Billy Page is at Sundance, Hugo is at La Petanque and Keicy & Efren are at Beer O’Clock.  The Green Leaf Motif open up for Srey Ka & K’n’E at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Erhan is at Pasta La Vista and The Screaming Riels tear up Laundry, while Gerard is at Republic Bistro and Giuliano Turello is at Ambar.  In the south, Gipsy Tryo are at Kep Natural.

On Saturday in Phnom Penh there’s a Burns night with Kheltica at Raffles Le Royal, Sister Srey are at Seekers Spirits , Rokustic are at Lantern and Chor Yee & Limkiang Sokyam are at Craft.  Japan Guitar Shop are joined by Gareth Bawden at Perch , and at Cloud there is a seventh anniversary party featuring John Prak, As The Heart Betrays, Vanocean, Sin Visal and DJs.  JunRockz is at Duplex and Billy Page/Phil Javelle & Friends play Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Kep, Christian Herve is at Kep Natural.   In Siem Reap Andy Luna is at Pasta La Vista , Mr Zee is at Villa D, and getting louder, Electric Soup are at Arin’s and The Groovy Tuk Tuks are at Laundry.

Department of New Releases

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now available in book form: Around The Traps: the collected LengPleng.com interviews from 2022 PLUS the collected Passing Chords mini-profiles for the same period – secure your copy with an email to gigs@lengpleng.com.  300,000R/$7.50 (or 200,000R/$5 if you’re in it).

Department of Possibly Overdoing It  

Our recent feature article:  Getting bums on seats and beer into patrons: how venues and performers can use Lengpleng.com to the greatest advantage

TLDR:

  • Gig listings throughout Cambodia, every Thursday afternoon, from our page lengpleng.com, via email (subscribe at gigs@lengpleng.com), and our Facebook page.
  • Absolutely free: no charge to use or list
  • Performers and venues: just send us the name of the act, the time and date, and a link to the venue (Facebook or otherwise). It’s even easier than setting up a Facebook event.
  • Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kampot, Kep, Battambang, Koh Rong – we aim to cover these and any another locations
  • Bonus for providing a poster or image – that gets you in the video weekend preview
  • Even more bonus if you have a special event or visiting act that would warrant a full length interview for added promotion

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: David Flack

Liam Jones. “I’ve spent a few years travelling, initially workin in Australia for a couple of years, before starting teaching English and taking in Vietnam, Spain and Cambodia. I’ve played in bands on and off since the age of 11 but have only recently discovered what it feels like to play in one where we actually work well together. We’re called Penh Pals, come and see us!”   You can do just that tonight at Botanico where they perform with The Sock Essentials.

Do you have a pet musical hate?
Slowed-down, melancholy acoustic versions of songs that were originally recorded at a high tempo for a reason. A great exception to this is Neil Diamond’s reimagining of I’m A Believer on his 2010 album Dreams.

A private musical indulgence:
Sitting at home with wine and an acoustic guitar and belting out all my favourite tunes full throttle, and probably ruining my neighbours’ evenings.

The year you first came to Cambodia:
2019.

An early music memory:
Being in Parc Guell in Barcelona, aged 9, six months after getting a guitar for Christmas and making precisely no progress. A man was playing breathtaking classical guitar in a shaded area with a crowd of people watching in quiet awe, me included. I decided that when I got home I would start practising everyday so that one day I’d be able to play as well as that. It’s been twenty years but I’m not there yet. I’ve been back twice as an adult and tried to pick out the spot but I couldn’t find it.

The last thing you had to eat:
Tossed salad and scrambled eggs, inspired by the theme tune from Frasier.  Recommended.

A country you want to visit:
Nepal.

A book or movie you keep going back to:
Withnail and I .

What languages do you have?
Spanish, some very latent French, and a tiny bit of Vietnamese and Khmer.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:
The guitar.  I started learning properly with my uncle in January 2003.

Something people might be surprised to know about you:
At a Blur gig in Sydney in 2015, I threw a small strip of raw steak gristle at Damon Albarn halfway through Song 2, having been dared to do so by an equally callow friend back at my hostel, where said strip was wrapped in clingfilm on the table. It whistled past his ear, and made him bang the microphone against his head in disbelief. There’s footage on YouTube. I’m reasonably confident I’m the only person on Earth who can claim to have got his attention in this way, although I probably wouldn’t do it again.

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the past. What do you choose?
Either The Clash at Bond’s Casino in New York in 1981, or Benicassim 2012, where I saw the Stone Roses play a gig that I know was fantastic but have virtually no memory of for fairly obvious reasons.

A question from the last participant: Dead or alive, one person you can choose, who would you love to work with? Why?
My late grandad. Mostly just to spend time with him again, although he also had a very strong voice, and it would be lovely to accompany him on some old classics that we both loved. Aside from that, he wasn’t a very talented musician, which would suit me. If I chose any of my musical heroes, I’d probably feel too intimidated to do anything meaningful.

Steve Porte Photo of the Week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greg Beshers reads Andrea and Cat Isaacs reads Virginie in a dramatic reading of a Geography of the Moon interview at the launch of Around the Traps 2022, a collection of interviews from the pages of LengPleng.com last year, at Botanico on 23 January 2023.

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 26 January 2023

** 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:

By Weekly Wrap