Yes hello there fellow readers of Jiboneus, since the chief editor of this “webzine” can’t afford to pay any writers to write stuff for him, he did the next best thing by roping in his colleague who is known to not have any form of social life whatsoever. Yes I write for FREE/PRO BONO/PERCUMA/GRATIS without any compensation whatsoever.  I do it simply for the sake of killing off some spare time and hope that some eccentric chick might read this, thinks I’m avant grade  and send me a very-very graphic fan mail (if you know what I mean).

Nonetheless I’m suppose to start off with writing reviews of Indie Bands, Ironic when one notices that my nickname (Tan Sri Frank Sinatra) is based on a dead Italian American crooner whose songs are often belched out on dodgy karaoke bars with GROs by middle aged balding men. My music credentials are; up to 3rd grade practical piano lessons, a half past six guitar strumming skills and my limited (up to only one octave) note blowing ability over the trumpet which I learned in Uni.

But think about it ladies, J Sham is a macbook nerd cum (kinky!) linux based programmer who writes reviews about music and arts! So if you can live with that then you can live with me.

Nonetheless this article isn’t about me so let’s get going….

So today we feature a band that performed at the recent MAP Arts Festival in the music gig slot organised by Jerome Kugan and Panda Head Curry. In case you’re wondering Jerome is, he is that Chinese glassed dude who always hangs out at the Annexe while Panda Head Curry is well… A dish? Anyway it was a great event, an excellent platform for up and coming bands and artiste, and it was our pleasure to listen to the nerdiest band of the night performing – Tenderfists.

Tenderfists consists of 3 glassed wearing guys who makes their music mostly from pressing things on some electronic devices, literally. Probably the only band you will see in the KL scene that flashes a laptop (it’s a Dell). Tenderfists is manned by Napoleon Polarbear, Skrawlkid and The Flyingelk and don’t ask me which one is which, though I suspect the tallest one is the elk.

Now I am an Electronics Engineer, so when I see a band whose instruments reminds me of my own Testing Lab I get a bit excited, especially when I noticed one of the band members (probably two of them) was wearing a Casio. Though I was prepared to hear horrid electronica tunes slash techno beat which reminded me of the time when Madonna sodomized Don Mclean’s American Pie, nonetheless much to my surprise they sounded pretty neat. They were catchy, the beat was nice and the rhythm was soothing. Though the vocal reminds me of my circuit theory lecturer who had this monotonous hypnotic voice that would charm everyone to sleep, nonetheless that voice goes well with the geeky sounding tunes.

I think that's a Casio G Shock, then again I may be mistaken, however I am pretty sure the other dude was wearing one.

Forgive me for not remembering or bothered to write down the list of songs that was played that night, after all this is my first attempt to write a review (note to self do bring a notebook next time around) nonetheless I shall compensate you folks with a link in which you can listen to their tunes at – http://petualangan.net/tenderfist/

Their beat was really catchy, with a mixture of an electric guitar strumming, some low frequency vocals and a dash of electronics induced tones and tunes, a sort of a remake of a 70′s/80′s disco tech beat song taken from a Star Wars soundtrack, a good remake of course. Throughout the performance my legs were shaking to their beat and my body groove into a nerdy dance sequence, for a moment I thought I was Napoleon Dynamite.

Ph3ar our l33t Hax0r music SkillZ of pressing buttons and clicking icons.

Some may argue that these folks could just record the whole damn electronic sequence, save them in an Mp3 format and when it’s showtime simply click on the play button and pretend on pressing things to make sounds. They probably did that, I mean who knows, I can’t really tell but then again I could argue that the same can be said of those Disco/Club DJ’s who wears a snow cap and spins the turn table in fancy clubs, they could be doing the very same thing, PRETENDING over a recorded tune. So I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to Tenderfists, whatever the dispute may be the tunes were groovy, full stop.

Plus they weren’t just pressing things, there was a vocalist and a guitar too…

It is to be noted though, that their sort of music may not go well with some of you folks, seeing that the first impression I get when first listening to them at No Black Tie was that they sounded like a broken Windows XP. Nonetheless, be patient, it should get better in the middle and listening them live should give you a whole different experience.

His voice reminds me of my Circuit Theory lecturer, hell he looks like him too, only much cooler and I don't felt the urge to sleep. Good work.

So folks do check them out at their MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/tenderfist

They also seem to have this interesting website consists of pictures and taglines – http://tenderfist.tumblr.com     Apparently on their “website” there is absolutely no information regarding the band or their music. Practical it seems is not the tagline of this website, either that or I do not know the meaning of tumbling.

And as a reminder, check out their musi at – http://petualangan.net/tenderfist/

So In Conclusion -

Tenderfists is perhaps the nerdiest band in KL with interesting grooves manned by 3 people with very tender soft hands (SISSIES!!). Expect Tenderfists to sooth your Tenderloin, play with Techniques and shake your Testicles.

Not bad for a first review eh!

Till Then…

Ciao Cin Chao Praya