Makara at KEXP
Makara at KEXP
Thailand’s Molam Goes Global
Taxi driver music!! What is taxi driver music? Once looked down upon by locals and tourists in Thailand because of its ubiquitousness in taxis, molam has become a worldwide quasi-psych phenomenon in the last decade. It is a traditional Thai musical genre that dates to the 18th century. However, it developed its psychedelic veneer when American GIs were stationed in the region in the 70s. With them came the 60s and 70s, rock, funk, and soul records and radio programming. They also imported the gear to make the noise (Tuhoy, L. 2016, March. Thailand’s Country-Psychedelic Music is Having a Global Renaissance? Vice Magazine). Molam is full of the exotic-sounding pentatonic and anhemitonic scales that are typical of this genre. Guitar and organ riffs of the modern style emulate the khaen, a bamboo mouth organ that has traditionally played within these scales. You may also hear the hooks of favorite classic rock songs injected therein. Did you catch a buzzy version of Iron Man in season 3’s “White Lotus,” set in Thailand? Perfect example!
One of the latest groups to deliver this particular genre to our western shores is Thailand’s power trio, Makara. They grew up listening to molam, yet they are no strangers to the sounds of The Beatles, Zeppelin, and other classic rock, which has also informed their music.
Makara recently shared their wares in a live KEXP performance hosted by Diana Ratsamee. Meet members Makara Dolsuklert (aka Q) on guitar and vocals, Yanaphon Wiboonwitayanan (aka Of) on bass and vocals, and Thakorn Aunyaphanon (aka Max) on drums and vocals. They’re a well-oiled ensemble, and their delivery is crisp, dynamic, and ebullient inside the bulb-studded KEXP studio. All three musicians make playing music look so fun and easy. Q plays up and down the neck of his chunky, custom Telecaster and sings through his guitar fills with serious aplomb. He is charismatic, with an all-knowing grin that beams periodically through his raven-black beard, which starkly contrasts his white short-sleeved dress shirt and tie. Of navigates his Hoffner violin bass with sheer facility. He goes for a real 1960s look with his striped Marinière jersey. Max, dressed in a white shirt, sports a short, season two of The Monkees Davy Jones haircut, and he plays drums effortlessly and clean. The three of them sing the songs in their native tongue, but also in English.
Jim Bennett
All instruments are exquisitely mic’d in this performance. The guitar has just the right amount of reverb that carries the heft and heavy gauge strings of Q’s Tele. The bass sounds warm and complements the Tele perfectly. The snare drum is crisp with gorgeous kickback which anchors the high-hat and crash cymbals.
The group starts off strong with an unreleased track called “Yong Song”. It begins teasingly with suspenseful drums and a hook that sounds familiar to 60s music fans— that quasi-Peter Gunn guitar riff you hear in The Animals’ “It’s My Life”. More swelling crash cymbals, and then a brief pause. The band resumes with a strutty groove with bendy surf guitar.
“Samare” is another track Makara plays in their set. This is a toppy, upbeat number with a hybrid samba or a syncopated West African beat that compliments the molam sound. You can catch a recent live Bangkok Music City performance of this song on YouTube. It’s quite different to see them perform before a live audience, but it is vibrant as well.
Makara plays two songs from their album Ngong Ngong, released last August. If you haven’t heard it, there is definitely something in it for everyone! One stand-out track is “To-Mee-Ta”. Floating over mixed meter and traditional Thai overtones is a Miles Davis-inspired trumpet solo, which echoes just over our heads. But the two songs from this album that get the ASMR KEXP treatment are “COCO” and “Strawberry Mind”.
Jim Bennett
The live recording of “COCO” wears an entirely different mantle from the album recording. The sound is intimate but also magnanimous. Q and Of sing in Thai in unison while Max chimes in periodically, not forgetting to tap at his green plastic Blast Block. Something about this song reminds me of Culture Cub’s spellbinding dub bass during the bridge in “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”, a bassline that has lodged itself into my grey matter since 1982.
Makara finishes their set with “Strawberry Mind”, an epic 23-minute, multi-faceted rock operetta, wrapped into about ten minutes and change. At its onset, it has characteristics of the 60s favorite “Spooky” by Classics IV. The song is sung in English, with smooth, woozy, inquisitive harmonies that help you come down gently. Guitar playing styles vary from Knopfler to Dale, all while remaining in the signature molam scales.
Towards the end of the song, Q taps repeatedly at the on and off switch of what looks to be a Blues Driver pedal. He looks like he is having as much fun doing this as when we would slow down and speed up a record with our forefinger on a turntable as kids. He cruises up the neck and changes key as the tempo speeds up, and you realize that you’re a frog in the boiling water. You can tell that Q experiences such joy as he manipulates all his gear to get the right sounds to fit the frenetic energy at this moment in the song.
Another thing that has given Q Joy? He recently became a dad. He prides himself on the fact that he hopes to be a “non-toxic dad” and that he is happy to follow his dream.
Makara recently toured Japan, which they beamed about with Diane after their set. They enjoyed the exchange with Japanese audiences and were thrilled to see them dancing at their shows.
I do believe that this delightful performance will help Makara secure a place among fans of psychedelia and molam here in America and further abroad. You will certainly enjoy seeing this KEXP presentation!
Riffindots is Britta Pejic–a musician, songwriter, artist, and foreign language teacher who grew up in Maine and lived in France (The Basque Country). Follow @riffindots for cartoonish fun and visual mayhem or simply enjoy her music at https://brittapejic.bandcamp.com
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