Son Of Age




I know i haven't been active in more than 3 months on this blog and i guess i've been hiding inside my lab trying to concoct a new song to give you guys. I realized while within my absence that the fan-base is growing, some that shows it with likes and some with verbal communication face to face albeit not fans on my facebook page: (http://www.facebook.com/sonofanage)

UPDATE 2.0:
click on the LINKS BELOW and click vote on each page: 
Best Hip-Hop Act:
http://bitemymusic.com/best-hip-hop-act-son-of-age/
Best Hip-Hop Song:
http://bitemymusic.com/best-hip-hop-song-son-of-age/

results will look like this


Read More …



Yes, i know, it's a little too late to have a review of this "amazing" movie. 

When I first heard that a reboot of the neighborhood-friendly Spider-man franchise, I was ecstatic, not withstanding that I am an avid fan of “Spidey” but because the 3rd installment of the Sam Raimi’s  Spider-man was sub-par and really was one of the worse adaptations of the vigilante superhero.  

I felt that the 3rd movie fell of its pedestal with an unrealistic venom suit (designed by the original creator, Todd McFarlane) and a shoddy plot with an overly emotional hipster Peter Parker. That being said, I was expecting a lot more from Marc Webb to bring a new glorious reign of a feel-good hero inclusive of web shooters and full on spandex.

The new suit doesn't really look as good as it could be
and what's the deal with the glowing web-shooters?


Reeling into the movie with an open mind, the story begins with an 8 year old Peter Parker playing hide-and-seek with his father. He enters his father’s study and found it ransacked.  His father enters moments later, grabbing his son and a few hidden case files and leaving parker with his uncle Ben and Aunt May, never to be seen again throughout the whole movie.

Really promising and awesome start…


Unlike the 2002 version, the movie focused on his parents’ disappearance which is the premise of Peter finding himself in the process (reminds me of the Ultimate Spider-man version, somewhat). Without divulging too much into the zone of spoilers, I didn’t like the way Andrew Garfield portrayed Peter Parker but I like his portrayal of Spidey, a very close likeness in attitude and form with the comic version.

However, Peter Parker in this version doesn’t fit very well with me, especially seeing Peter daringly fighting back against Flash in the first half hour of the movie.  Now for those of you who have never read the comic version, Peter Parker was a lonely nerd who didn’t dare to fight back to his suppressors and only fought back with Flash after his Spidey-powers kicked into gear. Peter was the proverbial luckless, naïve nerd that doesn’t get the girls in school, you know, the “real” outcast of the school.

In this movie version, he’s the cool, brooding, antsy-ridden teenager who skateboards. Far from the luckless Peter Parker I love reading in the comic books. To be fair, Tobey Maguire played a good Peter Parker (I & II) but didn’t really play the Spider-man role as good as Andrew does.

The romance build-up was too fast in retrospect, I mean there was no real struggle for Peter to get the girl, even with the “James Dean” awkwardness that would get any “I can change him” girl to fall in love with him.
Could Ms. Stone have been a better MJ than
Gwen Stacy?
The amazingly bodacious Emma Stone was playing the part of the swoon-over Gwen Stacy; I can’t help but feel that she would have been a better auburn red head, sassy Mary-Jane because her roles in previous movies showcased that sort of character.  

A side note here, I didn’t like Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane either and practically imagined someone hotter and more Mary-Jane worthy to play that role.

While I am cool with romantic angles in superhero films, I didn’t like how much they focused on it, I really felt like I was watching a twilight-ish version of Spider-man from time to time.  But what should I expect from a director whose breakthrough movie was about a romantic comedy?

The movie also didn’t focus on the Lizard man as much as it should. Perhaps due to the Lizard man not being as big of a “movie star” as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin or Doc Ock but he could have given Spidey a run for his money if given the right premise rather than the less-than-spectacular conclusion of the movie.

The fight scenes between Spidey and Lizard man was interesting, fast pace, energetic, action-packed and suspenseful but had far too little screen time in the 2 hours and a half of the movie.

The training sequence in the movie was unnecessary and was too long.

 It was also strange to see Spidey unmasked most of the time. What’s the point of a secret identity if you’re not going to hide it?

Overall, the movie has memorable moments and can take you back to the days of reading Spider-man graphic novels/comic books, taking a journey alongside Spider-man but it wasn’t as amazing as the first film back in 2002. It was definitely better than the third installment. The movie itself felt more like an alternative universe where Peter Parker is a whole new different character, the problem with that is that Raimi’s film adaption was so close to home, you can’t help but feel like comparing both franchise to each other. Often so in the movie,  the romance bits felt like it had the teen wolf/twilight moments, which I assume got the girls feeling giddy in their seats.

The movie felt half-assed and the 3D scenes were ridiculously out of place. The beginning of the movie was realistically close to Nolan’s Dark Knight Series but took a turn for some retardation of the highest kind. It’s like the writers (Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves and James Vanderbilt) were forced to write the movie in such a way to draw in the current trend of morose vampires and awkward werewolves.

I think my thoughts on this won’t stop the general public from loving this movie but as for myself, I am disappointed. On a brighter side, the movie sparked my willingness to read Spider-man comics once again to see what I’ve missed for the past three years or so. 

Hope dark knight rises won't disappoint. 
Read More …




Two days ago, i was checking my inbox when i received an email entitled 
"A letter from June 15th, 2011 from your rapper self". send from futureme. 


This website gives you the chance to send an email to yourself in the near or distant future base d on the settings you choose. At the time i timed the email to be send one day later, when i received it, i decided to set the timer to a year. 


Fast forward to the 16th June, 2012, i completely forgot about futureme and the contents of that email but after reading it, i decided to share it to you all and hopefully you'll try it yourself and share it with the rest of us. 


The following is an e-mail from the past, composed 11 months and 30 days ago, on June 16, 2011. It is being delivered from the past through FutureMe.org



Hi future me,
 I do hope you have and please, let's keep it far and away from being classified as 'the roots' carbon copy cause we've never been about that.
I hope you didn't sell out and i hope you didn't use autotune. I hope your guitar playing gets better by now. I hope your lyricism has reached a new level of intensity. i mean i believe we've reached a pretty good level lyrically.
Remember, don't think about the rules, just follow the flow. Be yourself. Don't care what your friends say or tell you about how it's so hard to do this and do that.
 I hope and believe your insights would be better by now and you've reached an international level.
Hey, funny, i just thought of a song. I think you remember? maybe you've wrote it already.
Anyway, since this is public, i hope someone who is reading our personal chat between each other would check out our website.
 let's skip the pleasantries shall we?
As you would know, most of our shared 'life' we wanted to have something to do with the music industry among many of our other ambitious dreams.
Now i am sure you remember a year back your past self (me) wanted to form a rap live band (not group).
I wonder if you've come up with a better rapper name than ''Stereomanic'' (google me) or at least an alter ego that is easier to remember rather than being called ''Stereomaniac'' although that actually sounds nice.
Right now in 2011 we've got roughly 600+ fans so far. i wonder what is the amount now in your time?
Don't forget we've reached far, we've got a really good job and people actually liked our music as we've believed would be the outcome before.
I do hope you stay humble throughout and don't forget man, religion is bad but God is cool.
 I hope and believe your insights would be better by now and you've reached an international level.
Hey, funny, i just thought of a song. I think you remember? maybe you've wrote it already.
Anyway, since this is public, i hope someone who is reading our personal chat between each other would check out our website.
http://www.reverbnation.com/thestereomanic
Read More …


Canibus, a great lyricist without a great marketing strategy

Recently at a King Of The Dot (KOTD) rap battle league, the in-house champion ‘Dizaster’ took the challenge of battling one of hip-hop’s most underrated and begotten son of hip-hop. Canibus

Canibus is known for his complex rhymes where he brings a more scientific, abstract and philosophical approach to his music, sometimes releasing albums that are more conceptual than others.

For example, “C True Hollywood Stories” where he raps from the point of view of ‘Stan’, the crazed and obsessive Eminem fan who killed himself along with his pregnant girlfriend by driving off a bridge but in Canibus version, he survives and joins a hip-hop band.

 He is also known for having beef with rappers like Eminem and LL Cool J.  With both battles he came off at the bottom end. However, his string of bad luck doesn’t start from there, from bad collaborations to bad producers and being blackballed by the industry, TWICE. Canibus cannot catch a break.

In his most recent rap battle, he was definitely kicked in the nuts by Dizaster. Sadly he was not only disseminated by the vicarious KOTD champion but Canibus broke the unspoken rule of hip-hop in a freestyle rap battle, he brought out his notebook because he forgot his rhymes. 

But do take note, that this dude is an amazing rapper but his style may not be for everyone and some people see him as a bitter person and to a certain extend I think he is. 

Plus his records were not critically acclaimed and he doesn’t have big bags of cash like the others. However that doesn’t prove that he doesn’t have skills, he just wasn’t marketed well. 

To be honest, I pity this dude but he seems to get a reverse effect, people are checking him out even the Eminem dick-ryders (not all of them) are slowly starting to listen to him more carefully. Well maybe he can gain a bit of exposure, a bit of luck on his side.
Check out the battle here: 

Read More …


Do anything to be caught in sight, underground it, you’re overbearing, don’t need your shit, I can swallow mine” – excerpt taken from “Pussycat"

27th March 2010...

It was a tepid, windless night, the first ever Earth Hour event in Kuching was held at the parking lot outside the Green Heights Mall.

The friends I came with were scattered everywhere but the stage area. I was on the side, listening to a guy bawling his brains out by attempting to sing “My Sacrifice” by Creed.

[warning: criticism towards local music ahead]
Malaysian bands/musicians in general always had this copycat mentality and at the event, I was a bit disappointed with the Sarawakian side so far as I was hoping for some local talent to wow me with their musical prowess.
[end of critical insight]

It was bad enough that we were surrounded by yuppies and hipsters, seemingly there for the scenesterism but I could be wrong.

At this point, I was already at my peak of tolerance conjoin with pure, unadulterated boredom and sweat. I wasn’t in the mood to hear another acoustic version of some Lady Gaga song and I wasn’t that ecstatic for the next and final act all the way from the urban jungle of KL.

I didn’t care much for their runner-up status in the Yamaha Asian Beat Competition or whether they won second place at Global Battle of the Bands (GBOB).

Kyoto Protocol…

Why did they name themselves after a protocol created by the UNFCCC to combat global warming?

The band got up on stage, their lead vocalist introduced the rest of the band members.

The band comprised of Fuad Alabester on Guitar and lead vocalist, Gael Oliveres  the backup vocals/Keys, Hairi Haneefa on guitar, Shakeil Bashir playing the bass and Shanjeev Reddy on drums.

[Note:  At the time of the event in 2010, Rashid Brown was the drummer for the band]

I can’t recall what their first song was but it took me by surprise from the beginning, whether it was the shredding of guitar riffs in perfect harmony with the keys and drums or the strong boisterous clear crisp vocals of Fuad, either way, the band was charismatic as they come.

They commanded the crowd with back and forth sing-along songs and superb crowd interaction.
I heard their two original songs that got me hooked as a stalking fan boy.

The first one was “I am not (Marlboro Man)”, a modern day country western and “Pussycat”, a bleeding heart social commentary on following the crowd mentality.

The night ended the show on a good note. I zealously search them via Google the next day and found their reverbnation page, coincidentally I have my own reverbnation page and it was easier to comment on their page.

They commented back, even complimenting me on my songs, even recommending me on their twitter account . Take note, I don’t care much for those 'MySpace' artists fanning me back because I fan them or vice versa, I’ve always wanted honest supporters and they seem to fit the bill or at least they’re good at lying.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I met them once again this year at an Earth Hour event at Damai Central. Prior to that, we kept in touch online once in a while. When I was working at the peninsular side, I wanted to watch the band perform but I was always kept busy.

So after their performance, they were hanging out at the “Escobar” lounge, showcasing their merchandise and I went up to say hello, thinking that Fuad and the rest won’t recognize me even if I was wearing a shirt that said “Hey, I am that dude online you talked to and supported”.

From left to right: Shakeil, Fuad, Joyce, Son Of Age (me), Gael and Hairi


I was wrong. I was met with a loud energetic holler from Fuad followed by the rest of the band.

We chatted and hanged out at the bar with Trigga Figgaz, a local Sarawakian rap group with a taste for west-coast apparels and gangsta rap styling.

I got their album[KP's] before the night was over and eagerly listen to it the next day.


Let’s start with the album cover design.
Kyoto Protocol - An Album


The album entitled “Kyoto Protocol – An Album” was fashioned in a white frame with a soft coating finish. The album art has two circles intersecting with a bomb overhead ready to be dropped in between and the band name transparent across the two circles, the first one depicting the ocean and the second one the moon.

The album contains 5 tracks, Mosquito, Big Machine, Pussycat, Gimme Nothing and lastly Never Know.

Mosquito started off with a drum fill followed by a rip from the guitar 6 seconds later, maniacally imploring a string of blaring guitar riffs before allowing Fuad to come in proclaiming “It’s my nature to destroy you…”, setting the mood of the album and starting on a high note.

The next song, Big Machine, proclaims loudly how we are manufactured and follow a set of rules like sheep.  The song reminds me very much of Pearl Jam with Eddie Vedder’s startling vocals giving the music life, likewise with Fuad’s on this jam.

Pussycat, their hit song, the more pop-friendly vocal delivery along with the catchy beat reminds me very much of Franz Ferdinand but unique enough to hold their own.

Gimme Nothing, one of my favorite songs from their album, in my interpretation, the songs talks about how we compromise for others but we get nothing in return.

My favorite line “I might’ve changed for you but you gave me nothing

Never Know, another favorite, in my opinion, talks about that sexy foxy lady that didn’t give you the time of day but instead dates assholes who normally leaves them with burn marks and scars. If she gave a chance with you, you’ll treat her right but well, we’ll never know.

Final Thought

The album is packed with raw energy that can pump you up and yet be calming and reflective.
they convey their message in their songs while not being overly preachy and also have a hell of a good time doing so.  The pricing of the album is fair and worth the price, it’s almost a steal considering the professionalism, the mastery of the record. If I had to give a con, I would say that the album should have more tracks but I take this album as an introductory to the awesome that is Kyoto Protocol.

Check out their links below:


Website:           http://www.kyotoprotocolband.com/
Twitter:             https://twitter.com/#!/KyotoBand
MySpace:         http://www.myspace.com/KPband
Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/kyotoprotocol?v=app_2405167945
Reverbnation:  http://www.reverbnation.com/kyotoprotocol
Read More …

First of all, thank you for visiting my new and improved blog. Secondly, take a sit, listen to my music and tell me what you think. This site is still a work in progress and may vary in the design from time to time.

I kinda like where the theme is going, feels very professional (at least in my eyes) and easy to navigate (so far).

The original theme can be found here . While significantly, the theme itself remains intact, there are some minor changes i made which i think you can tell.

If you are from my old blog stereomanic-blog . I would like to welcome you to this one.

It feels like a new chapter has opened and like my music, i hope to elevate along the way and make something worthwhile to read and hear about.  I do hope you find this site interesting as i have making it. I'll keep this short and simple but in the mean time, download "art of distraction" (found in the album downloads) and give me your thoughts.

You can email me: ask.sonage@gmail.com
give me your thoughts, your ideas, your compliments, your hate, whatever, just hit me back.

CHEERS
Read More …