Urbanscapes 2013: Splendour in the (Malaysian) Grass

By Alif Omar Mahfix • 15 Nov 2013 in Features

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Urbanscapes Festival 2013 – The Big Weekend
Date Saturday 23 November ’13 – Sunday 24 November ‘13
Time Door opens at 2pm
Venue Malaysian Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS)

It’s been 11 years since Urbanscapes began (coincidentally, we’re the same age), JUICE still remembers back when its scenery was less about greenery and more about, well, urbanity – the festival had its first few iterations in KL Sentral and Bukit Bintang. This was before festivals of any sort were a thing in Malaysia, and consequently that meant Urbanscapes of yore was a full-on creative arts festival that didn’t feature music acts beyond the expected locals. But how times have changed, last year’s had Icelandic post rock band Sigur Rós headlining the festival. Elegiac post rock in the evening at a park, bookended by fireworks? It was a near perfect experience. And as we admired Jónsi’s weirdly emotive gibberish, the made up Hopelandic language, over the band’s ethereal arrangements, it became clear to us that the longest running festival might just have the potential to be our favourite. Musically, as it turned out, JUICE and Urbanscapes resonated – they just needed to go that extra mile to get there.

Lo and behold, Urbanscapes 2013 promises to fulfil that hope. The festival manages to increase the number of international bands by the power of six – nine if we include the satellite shows. Franz Ferdinand, Two Door Cinema Club, Tegan and Sara, Efterklang, Last Dinosaurs, and Black Voices make up the international lineup of the Urbanscapes weekend on 23 and 24 November while Metric is slated to perform later on 3 December for the second satellite show. And we’re sure some of you saw Explosions in the Sky and Mew last 31 October for their first satellite show. As others are busy catering to the dance crowd, Urbanscapes looked elsewhere – and boy, aren’t we glad they did so.

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